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I have about sixty hens. So I buy my feed in 50 pound bags from a feed store. I usually buy 16 at a time. I have through the years accumulated a number of large plastic garbage barrels and when I get the feed home, I transfer it into the barrels. Each barrel holds three bags....150 lbs...of...

California is over-regulated on anything and everything. That's why I moved to Montana 22 years ago. Here in Montana I sell eggs at a local Farmers Market during the summer. The only requirement is to have nice clean cartons....even if they're second hand. And to keep the eggs refrigerated...

My chicken and pheasant pens are made of six foot high dog runs. Whenever I see a 6x10(usually) dog pen for sale in the want ads, I buy it if it isn't too expensive. Raccoons can't chew through that cyclone fencing. They can, however, climb over it. So at night, I make certain that all my...

I will say one very pertinent thing. If a dog....any dog....gets a taste of chicken blood, you probably won't ever be able to break it from killing chickens.

Take a look at my profile picture. My dog protects my flock. He's a Bouviers des Fladres and is a very gentle guy.

I've used this very method three times and I now have ten pullets that are penned adjacent to my mature hens' run. Every day about 11am, I turn the older hens out to roam around my 5 acre place. When I'm ready to integrate new pullets, I put them in the older hens' run while the old hens are...

I live in SW Montana. I sell eggs for $2/dozen. That's enough to keep the girls in laying mash and scratch. I sell to neighbors and I also sell at the local farmers' market. I have many customers who tell me I should ask at least $3/dozen. But I'm content at the $2 level. I have 35 golden...

Thanks Mountain Peeps. Zeke, my Bouviers des Flandres gets along just great with my girls. But Zeke gets along well with anything and everyone.

I live in SW Montana. I used to work for an insulation company years ago. So insulating my coop was a no-brainer for me. When I built my coop, I put R-30 in the lid and R-19 in the walls. I have 35 hens and I keep them cooped up at night because I have a large problem with foxes, racoons...

I bought14 day old Golden Sex Link chicks at Murdoch's in Butte, Montana on the 7th of March, 2014. The first egg I got from my pullets was laid on July 14, 2014. Now(8/11) all the pullets are laying. They're eggs are still small. But the chicks I bought last year, same breed, are laying...

I was surprised as well. I bought day old chicks last year at the same time and they didn't start laying until late July.

Three month old pullets choking on worms? Baloney. I've got robins in my yard that consume huge earthworms. I've got 14 pullets that were hatched on March 5th, 2014. Got my first egg two days ago(6/16). Only one so far. But I've been feeding them chick starter until now. Had a half bag(25...

I have 24 Golden Sex Link hens and today(4/7/14) I got 20 eggs. Weather is warming up here in SW Montana and the girls are responding quite well.

I do exactly the same. My hens go in their coop at night. In the morning, I feed them in their chicken run but keep the gate closed to the run until about noon. Reason for that is that they tend to lay their eggs in the morning. If I let them out onto the yard(I have 5.3 acres) before noon...

Thanks. I'll rethink how I want to proceed with my project.

Thanks for the reply. Makes sense.

I'm Jim and I live near Sheridan, Montana. I built a nice 8x8 well insulated chicken coop. But I've only got some temporary roosts for now. I want to build some permanent roosts for the girls. They'll hinge at the top so I can raise them while cleaning under them. What I'd like to know is...

I live in SW Montana and we were -20 for several days this past week. I had some cracked(frozen) eggs as well. If they're not totally blown open, they're still usable. I get them into the house and let them thaw overnight in a large bowl so if they leak a little bit, it won't get messy. Then...

Sadly, it has been my experience that once a dog kills a chicken, it's almost impossible to break them from it. It's very much like dogs that chase cars. The only thing I can think of is to keep the dogs and the chickens separated....and that's not always convenient if your birds have the run...

I bought 15 day old golden sex link chicks on the 7th of March, 2013. I got my first egg on 16th of July, 2013. So the pullets were about 17 weeks old when they started laying. Some of the eggs are starting to size up as these birds are supposed to lay relatively large brown eggs. But some of...