Doing 2-4 In Ossining.
So, the birds shit their last shit in my yard today. They've been extra friggen clingy the past two weeks and I've had it. I mean, it's great they want to hang around, but if I see a hen out actually hunting the yard and not under the wild bird feeders, it's a miracle. They're eating junk food instead of the protein they need to lay eggs, and not hunting the yard to fill their diet. The corn and grain is supposed to be a supplement only.
Yesterday, dad and I measured out the new pen, over 3600 square feet of chicken wishes and caviar ducks. This is going to be a big fucking pen. 120+x30 feet, that's bigger than most houses. I'm going to sink a few plants, put in a small pond (eventually), build a rooster paddock, add a row of nesting boxes, get some new feeders. This is going to be a fuckin' classy joint!
Hell, the current pen is big enough for them and more. It's over 700 square feet, which is twice the space they need to be healthy. More than that, because I don't have large birds.
What prompted locking them up before the new pen was even out of planning stages? I was trying to take care of my baby mascovies and every step I took was into hot piles of shit. Not the small drops they make through out the day, huge piles they sometimes build up. Every god damn where I stepped, huge piles of it! And it was warm!
I was trying to take care of chicks that had fireants taking over their temporary cage and there's huge fucking piles of hot shit being dropped all around me. They kept getting in the way when I was trying to get in the cage, kept trying to get at the food when I was feeding the mascovies, getting in the cage to get at the bedding I was changing for the chicks, they got in the way when I was tearing the cage out of the chicken wire to escape the fire ants attacking me, they got in the way when I was trying to move this 100 pound god damn cage with live birds, bedding, and fire ants at my god damn feet, stepping on their hot fucking shit every god damn step so I was slipping and slidding across dirt, I was done. I planned on locking them away for tomorrow as punishment, but after having to close up the house to keep from attracting them on my back steps (it's 80 fucking degrees out), I went out to drive them away again, and there was shit all over my steps, and I was through!
I told dad "tell me why it's a bad idea to lock them away in that small pen." He did no such thing. It's not a small pen. It's as large as some of the houses we've lived in over the years. It means $50 a month in food bills, but I'm not doing this bullshit anymore. No more chicken shit in the yard, on the porch, no more digging up my yard, no more worrying about them depending solely on me and wild bird seed.
We are switching to cracked corn, pellets, and cheap cat food, along with table scraps. I know what they are eating, and since they're not out running around, they don't need as much. For once, I'm going to have fat, healthy chickens and I'm going to get a light, and they are going to start laying 10 or more eggs a day again!
Yesterday, dad and I measured out the new pen, over 3600 square feet of chicken wishes and caviar ducks. This is going to be a big fucking pen. 120+x30 feet, that's bigger than most houses. I'm going to sink a few plants, put in a small pond (eventually), build a rooster paddock, add a row of nesting boxes, get some new feeders. This is going to be a fuckin' classy joint!
Hell, the current pen is big enough for them and more. It's over 700 square feet, which is twice the space they need to be healthy. More than that, because I don't have large birds.
What prompted locking them up before the new pen was even out of planning stages? I was trying to take care of my baby mascovies and every step I took was into hot piles of shit. Not the small drops they make through out the day, huge piles they sometimes build up. Every god damn where I stepped, huge piles of it! And it was warm!
I was trying to take care of chicks that had fireants taking over their temporary cage and there's huge fucking piles of hot shit being dropped all around me. They kept getting in the way when I was trying to get in the cage, kept trying to get at the food when I was feeding the mascovies, getting in the cage to get at the bedding I was changing for the chicks, they got in the way when I was tearing the cage out of the chicken wire to escape the fire ants attacking me, they got in the way when I was trying to move this 100 pound god damn cage with live birds, bedding, and fire ants at my god damn feet, stepping on their hot fucking shit every god damn step so I was slipping and slidding across dirt, I was done. I planned on locking them away for tomorrow as punishment, but after having to close up the house to keep from attracting them on my back steps (it's 80 fucking degrees out), I went out to drive them away again, and there was shit all over my steps, and I was through!
I told dad "tell me why it's a bad idea to lock them away in that small pen." He did no such thing. It's not a small pen. It's as large as some of the houses we've lived in over the years. It means $50 a month in food bills, but I'm not doing this bullshit anymore. No more chicken shit in the yard, on the porch, no more digging up my yard, no more worrying about them depending solely on me and wild bird seed.
We are switching to cracked corn, pellets, and cheap cat food, along with table scraps. I know what they are eating, and since they're not out running around, they don't need as much. For once, I'm going to have fat, healthy chickens and I'm going to get a light, and they are going to start laying 10 or more eggs a day again!