Recent content by Sammimom

This year our hens have been VERY hard on the grass this winter, in places it's down to mud and we're going to have to replant some fairly large areas come spring. They presently have the run of a fully fenced, moderately treed acre, and do a good job putting themselves to bed at night and...

I so enjoyed reading about your chickens! What a fun read!

I'm so glad the design was useful to you! Let me know when you post it so I can see! My project this spring is to make a little chicken tractor so I can focus the chickens' scratching efforts on certain parts of the lawn during the day...I was looking over our scrap wood yesterday for this...

Thank you all for your kind comments! We don't have any formal plans since we constructed it based on on available space and incorporating left over materials, so it would make a carpenter shudder. However, it's been a few years now and the coop is holding up well, even in our high winds and...

We live by Safeway, my friend in Tree Farm saw 2 last week, and my other friend saw one by the small water tower in the neighborhood near where the library used to be. I saw two a couple weeks ago over by the Pine Lake Community Center. I think it's safe to say we have a substantial population...

Thanks guys. Our fence is quite solid so I knew it wasn't a coyote or fox, but we were thinking hawk until we saw the video. We have a full out system of security cameras, but our friends have some brand of wildlife camera which they find very effective. I'll try and find out what it is...

We let our three pet hens free range during the day on our fenced acre, for the past three years. Yesterday I found a bunch of feathers, and no Buffy, under their favorite tree. We have security cameras so after the kiddos went to bed we watched it...a bobcat, quick as can be, caught her and...

Growing up, if you were going to eat it, you didn't name it. We did have some hens who became pets and they were never eaten, and we knew they would never be eaten. I think it is not good to let children develop an actual relationship with an animal beyond caring for it, and then eating it. I...

Ours free range, and they are definitely beloved pets. As has been mentioned by others, I just can't cage them because they are so happy being out, even though I know they might be eaten by a hawk someday. We have a four foot fenced acre, lots of cover, three hens and no roosters. They never...

My 1 1/2 year old BO hen is holding her left eye closed. I noticed this this morning, but after I pulled the lid down to peek at the eye she kept it open, so at the time I assumed she'd gotten some dust, etc. in her eye. We've returned home this evening and she is keeping it closed. No runny...

From "The Tangled Nest" blog, about an Ethiopian woman and her chickens. Enjoy. http://thetanglednest.com/2009/06/backyard-chickens-ethiopian-style/#more-778

LOVE THE RED DOOR! I will have to do something like that for my next coop! (Funny how we are always thinking about the "next coop...")

We have three pet hens, and what started out as letting them out a few times a week for a few hours has turned into them having to be let out all day, every day, or they "scream" in their coop and run. Since I live in a small city, the noise was too much. They are happy and healthy, and it is...

Cool! Maggiemoo, how did you build them? I see the "pizza box" variety, but have long wanted to build a more permanent one. My problem is we just don't get much sun in the pacific NW...