My uncle 1/2 mile down the road has chickens, we seldom go on vacation but he would take care of them if my dad wouldn't/couldn't (my dad usually stops by once a day while we're gone to take care of our parrot - who sends bits of fluff all over the house, DD sheds hair all over). His son also has 17 (give or take) hens and any time I've been to their house I haven't really noticed the smell, except if he's just cleaned and has cans of litter for me to take to compost. I think you just have to keep up with it. We're looking at older chicks and hens, not really into raising chicks (I did that with the parrot and I don't want to have to do multiples at the same time). Predators - we'll have to do the best we can. Just a fact of life around here, dogs aren't a concern, but bears, coyotes, bobcats, skunks, and racoons (haven't seen any coons but I know they're around) are. That's why we're not getting goats ;-)

newbie here with three chicks and a duckling. two Comets, a Delaware and a runner duck. I am petrified of predators and am researching everything. :( I am so sorry for all of your losses. I cannot stand the thought and before they go out I am going to focus on the most secure barriers I can come up with. We live on 32 acres in Western NY and have it all out here. we have 5 dogs, horses, cats and a 5 year old son. I am a SAHM so will be around a lot. We have approximately 1/4 of an acre with a falling down 6 ft. stockade fence around it that we are going to gradually replace. There is a large area within that fence next to the house where we will put the coop ( the rambler from www.chickensaloon.com and then secure a pen area. Part will be the house, two sides the re-enforced fence and a new part will have to be put up to make the rectangle. We want to put the black plastic shrubbery barrier down ( 6") and then pour cement around the fence. I will get the night time predator lights to move around and do whatever else I can do. If anyone is still reading this thread I am open to suggestions. we also will put bird netting along the top of the run. The problem is that there are no trees in the back. I need to get some put in and also find some things for them to hide under for when they spend time free ranging. In the winter I plan on letting them have a stall with a dutch door and making an enclosure for them but that is a ways away.

I have some minimal experience with chicken manure. Most of my experience is with rabbit manure which is quite different from chicken manure. It is said to have even more nitrogen than chicken manure. Rabbit manure is called a cold manure because it drops from the bunny's butt ready to be put in the garden, and I had an abundant supply until recently when the lady I got it from wanted to sell it. Now I have to find another source of manure for my watermelons. I did, and I put a lot of it around my watermelons, but now they are in the vining stage, and I wanted to side dress them with a high nitrogen substance. I found a chicken house where I could get some and laid it out on top of the bunny poop several inches from the melons, and they are growing nicely. I feel certain that chicken manure tea washed out to the young roots and contributed to the lush growth after the rain. I am not worried about pathogens because normal people do not eat watermelon roots. Normal people eat watermelons. On the other hand I put some fresh chicken manure in another place and thought I could put some clay in the hole near the place where the transplant roots would come out, but it was not enough. Those are not doing so good, and I will probably have to replace them with more transplant watermelons and some bunny poop that I forgot that I saved. I have one other chicken manure experience that I would like to share. Years ago when I did not know where I could get some manure, I grew tomatoes which were obviously needing some. My children were riding with me when I saw what I thought was manure in front of a chicken farm driveway on a rural paved road near my house. A truck had accidentally dropped a small load, and I looked around to see what I had on hand. Fortunately I found a whisk broom in my car with a Walmart bag, and I stopped the car to get out and sweep up the Godsend on that quiet country road. My young children thought I was crazy, but I went home and side dressed my tomatoes with a thin coat over what they were growing in, and it perked them up nicely. The moral of my stories is that from my few limited experiences I have found that very small amounts of fresh chicken manure can be used on vegetables if the roots do not grow directly into the stuff too quickly. A weakened highly diluted manure tea will probably not bother heavy feeders like tomatoes, watermelons or possibly cabbage (I have no chicken manure experience with cabbage, but I know they are heavy feeders).To be effective however the roots have to grow into something else like plain dirt, potting soil, compost, or other aged manure that is abundant.

Anna, Yes that is why. Does are fine with their own young and the young are fine with each other until they hit about 4 months old. Since they head to "freezer camp" at about 12 weeks they never hit that point. Now the last batch I kept 30 and grew them to 5 months as they were destined to be ground, I had to segregate by sex and even then there were some fights. GCmastiffs, I have never found rabbits to be jumpy with noise. My rabbits are on the outside of my shop and the nest boxes are actually inside the shop and I run power tools, planers, jointers you name it almost every day. The rabbits don't seem to care at all. Once you have the first generation born on site they are use to that environment and it is normal. As long as you have shade and the temps are not over 100 I bet they would do fine. Rabbit meat at our Publix is $8 a pound. Yes the standard watering systems are a bit pricey. I designed my own using off the shelf irrigation products from Lowes and the entire setup for 20 or so pens was less than $40 dollars. Far as I am concerned rabbits produce the best manure and can make an average gardener look like a pro.