Recent content by QChickieMama

If I put small gravel and then sand in my covered coop (in central NC), how long could I expect them to live mud-free? Right now, the coop has hardware cloth sides and a metal roof. Sitting on a bit of a slope next to another coop, so all the rain that runs off one coop roof runs into the...

I fought mice for years, mostly due to the spilled grain the chickens left around. Just this year----why did no one tell me before???----a friend told me to mix baking soda and peanut butter 1:1 ratio and leave where the mice have been seen. It's supposed to expand in their digestive tract and...

You put two roosters in a pen of hens? Yeah, I don't think that works at all. They'll fight for the rights to all the girls. You may need to adios one of them if you want one to be in with the girls.

I saw the older one had chased the younger one all over the yard, trapped him by a bush, pinned him down, and was pecking repeatedly at his head. I ran out there to rescue the younger one. Older one strutted off with a beak full of feathers.

I have two flocks of chickens, one behind the barn on L side of yard, and 3 chicken tractors on the R side of the yard. For years, I've had one rooster in each flock. They can talk back and forth, but they've understood the imaginary boundary. Now one rooster has decided to try to kill the...

The compost area is not fenced here, so that would be inadvisable. My dogs would be in there immediately!

I'm having the hardest time making this decision. I have 4 older hens in a large pen, and I have a group of six 6-month-olds in a too-small pen (5 pullets & young rooster). Option A: cull the 4 older hens (hatch dates 6/21 & 5/20) and give the youngsters the whole pen Option B: put the 10 in...

I wonder how deep would be deep enough for scavengers not to want it. My garden is fenced but it's only plastic netting fencing.

I heard about this somewhere, but now I'm wondering if it'll be a problem to have a decomposing creature inside a fenced garden. Will plants growing on the upper layer of soil have a problem? I usually rake the surface smooth and then stick seeds in a tiny trench to plant my garden--I don't...

About how much did you pay for a hot wire situation for your tractor? I have 3 mobile tractors and 2 stationary pens. The stationary pens have a hot wire along one side that they share with the cattle pasture. And when we have cattle in the pasture, they seem to help scare off other creatures...

I had 5 6-mo-old BR pullets living in a mobile tractor. They were fine when I closed the pen at night. In the morning, one was on the ground by the edge of the coop with part of her headless neck poking out from under the pen. The other 4 were fine. It was chilly for here in NC-about 24* in...

Interesting. Could you post a photo?

This would be amazing if I could set it up where our dogs can't reach it. Have you put one of these inside a chicken coop with success? Would the chickens go for the peanut butter? I'm going to try this tonight in our garage--and keep the dogs out of there. Here's hoping!

OK. This might be a game changer! I've been using peanut butter.

We have a mouse issue. I know our coops are full of mice and I half-heartedly try to reduce that population there sometimes. However today's problem is in our garage where I store my cured garden produce. We've removed all the grass seed, the original attractant. Tried live trap boxes with...