Wow Peggy, I'm very impressed. I brought my chicks home and asked for forgiveness after the fact.
I am anxiously awaiting the answer as I have access to some rabbit poo and I have been told that it doesn't burn plants. I can't wait for the answers you get.

I no longer drive due to vision problems so not able to pick up anything on my own. :( The really crazy thing is my DH is now ga-ga over the lil boogers...thinks they are the cutest thing he has every seen...loves to sit and watch Chickie TV. They are a hoot. The 5 day old Buff Orpington chicks are so quiet...tomorrow their lil world may get shook up some if the Silver Lace Wyandottes and Easter Eggers arrive at the feedstore. :)

You are right...rabbit poo does not burn plants. I use it on my flowers, bulbs, shrubs, trees, etc. during the veggie season, then put it in my veggie beds after they finish for the year. I had our mini lop on the enclosed porch this Winter and when we cleaned her cage, I would either put on the front garden or compost pile. Last Fall after I cleared veggie beds I began to put rabbit poo and leaves on all the beds. My soil is looking so good...so loose in some beds that I no longer need a shovel to plant things.

Peggy

Wow, when you get chicks, you really get chicks! When their droppings hit your compost pile, you'll see heat, all right. Be sure to compost it completely, and it will do wonders for your garden.
We have six Australorp hens, good layers, and they are a hoot even when full grown. If your husband enjoys watching the chicks, wait until he sees a full-bodied hen go after a grasshopper!
He sounds like a good man, bringing home a lonely bunny and agreeing to more chicks. Better keep him . . . .

marlingardener

I told my DH about how they play keep away so he went out and collected some sow bugs...that was his first intro to Chick TV! He laughed and laughed at them.

I made them a sandbox for dust baths but they thought it was a neat sleeping spot...all 6 tried to get in it the first night...some pouted when they had to roost on the sides. After a few days they started scratching around in the sand and then discovered they could take a dust bath (they had already tried to do that with the pine shavings).

We have them in a TSC Chick-n-Hutch which has a roost; most of them are now sleeping on the roost at night. They turned 3 weeks old the 12th. Amazing how fast they grow. Now when I go in and out on the porch, they look to see if I brought them anything...our mini lop rabbit always looked to see if I was bringing her beet leaves or Swiss Chard.

They have not called from the feedstore so looks like our chicks did not arrived today. :( maybe tomorrow.

Peggy

Only in the Soil/Compost Forum would a wife be happy with a guy bringing home Chicks and checking out Bunnies!

(Now must get my mind out of the gutter and into the compost bin!)

beemer

LOL!!

I had not thought of it that way...I just remind my DH I don't ask for diamonds or minks...just chicks and bunnies. Probably not many wives who ask for something that provides poo for the compost pile :)

DH brought the bunny home, too. She is adorable and loves to snuggle. I'm an old lady reliving my chick/bunny deprived childhood! LOL

Peggy

Confession time, I bought 4 more today, they finally got some more in at the local Rural King. Just couldn't resist. This time, called hubby, he said it was okay. I have already started using the poo for the compost, today, I got a mother load! WhooHoo!

My township has outlawed back yard chickens. Someone had a rooster that woke up neighbors. Mercy. Other small animals are on the agenda to be discussed next. Seems to me they would be better off figuring out a way to fix the swimming pool. I guess we are getting a dose of government fixing that rarely goes the way it was planned. I went to the meeting and found the time a total waste. The decision was made before the meeting ever opened. We have a city country line running through our township. If I move my house six hundred feet I can be a farmer with ten acres.

docgipe

That is sad. There is a rooster in our area...been hearing it crow the last week or so. I would not appreciate free-range chickens scratching up my garden but a rooster crowing a few times is no problem. We told our next door neighbors and one fellow said he hoped we got a rooster...that he loved to hear them crow.

In my neighborhood dogs are the problem. Woman behind me has 3 large dogs plus a small one...once they start barking they don't stop for hours...been many a night they have kept me awake. Two of our neighbors across the street each have 4 or more dogs and on the street behind them I can hear a lot of dogs fighting many times during the day.

I told my husband we needed to check with the city about the chickens. It was a joke...no one knew! Even the police chief...they sent the animal control officer to our house and she said where we were putting them was no problem...just could not have 100 or so which is not possible since we do not have the space for them. What was funny is the animal control officer laughed and said she could not believe we actually asked about a law...she said no one else does. Go figure!

I hate to complain about the neighborhood dogs but the barking gets old. Plus the feral cats that a neighbor feeds is turning my garden into a toilet...they come up the alley then take a shortcut through our property to her house. She has a big heart but it brings in new cats weekly. Worries me that one of them might have rabies or something else that might make my indoor cats sick.

Peggy

sheaviance1

What kind of chicks did you get??

I have a neighbor who has a guard Llama on his ranch...I would love to get my hands on some of that poo! One of my husband's friends has sheep and in the past he loaded us up with poo! Just have not had a chance to go back to his ranch.

I just realized I recognized your handle from BYC.

Peggy

Peg, I had a pet New Hampshire hen I have seen catch and EAT mice and frogs. It was an amazing thing to watch and made me glad I am my size and she was her size!

We keep our chickens in a "tractor" in the summer and the grass is lush and green. In winter, we keep them in a hoop house (greenhouse without supplemental heat or ventilation). Before they go to winter quarters, I fill the 12' x 24' space with as much fresh and dried vegetation as I can find--shredded leaves, hay the goats didn't eat, grass clippings--and all winter they add their poop, then churn and turn it. By spring, I usually end up with an 8" layer of beautiful compost over the entire 288 sq. ft. And all that time, they are producing eggs with gorgeous orange yolks. We also raise 20-25 meat type birds for the freezer in the fall in that space. I don't get attached to them but the egg birds? You betcha.

mogardener

Sounds like what I hope to do. Our Winters are not as cold so at this time I plan to us chainlink fence on 2 sides and a privacy fence on the North side and coop (a shed we are converting to a coop) on 4th side and a roof to keep the run dry since they will not free range in my garden or the neighborhood. I plan to have a roost in the coop and in the run because I think they will sleep in the run during our Summers which can be very hot at night.

I'm hoping they can process weeds for me so I don't have weeds sprouting the next year.

I plan to have a smaller tractor...we do not have a lawn...if we can't eat it or it doesn't produce flowers fir butterflies/hummingbirds..it is out of here! LOL I plan to use the chicken tractor on veggie beds after they finish for the year...put amendments on the bed and let them work it in for me while they fertilize, too.

Feedstore called this morning early so DH drove the 40+ miles to pick up the rest of our chicks. At this time we have six 3 1/2 week old Red/Gold Sex Links (lg brown eggs/high production), five 1 week old Buff Orpington (lg light brown eggs/medium production,good brood hens in case I want to expand), and eleven DH brought in today...five 1 day old Silver Lace Wyandottes (lg brown eggs/high production and good brood hens), three 1 day old Barred Rocks (lg light brown eggs/high production) and for fun...green eggs n ham ;) three 1 day old Easter Eggers (one chipmunk and two yellow) (med. size colored eggs/med. production). I think I will have a colorful flock and hopefully eggs to sell to cover feed costs. Saw on Food Network a chef talking about eggs he served...said they came from the farm next door...that they fed them beet greens so the eggs were high in Omega 3...figure I might be able to do that...had beets growing all this past Winter and fed them to my Mini Lop.

Peggy

mogardener

I told DH about your chickens eating mice and a frog...he said he hoped our girls didn't have a taste for them! He's never had the stomach for livestock...when our daughter was a baby and began to feed herself I put her in her high chair in the morning with her bowl of oatmeal...of course it would all run down her belly into the top of her diaper...she would reach for Daddy who would nearly lose his breakfast. LOL LOL!! Needless to say he is not much into poo!

Peggy

Hi Peggy,
Yep, I'm on BYC too. This forum and that forum are really the only ones I ever go to. I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you, but I've been planting my garden until dark all week. Hubby wants to go camping this weekend, so my weekend dreams of getting my compost turned, my garden planted and my chicks coop built are shot.

The first chicks I came home with were buff orpingtons. We went back because my hubby wanted barred rock, and they were sold out so he bought black australorps. Then, I went again and got silver laced wyandottes and the barred rocks because they finally got them in. I went back today for supplies, and it took every ounce of willpower I possessed not to come home with a dozed straight run mixed bantams. I seen some feather-footed ones in there, and they were so darn healthy and pretty! Argh!!!! We are brand new to chickens, and to be completely honest, I originally got them for their poo for my compost pile, but I have fallen head over heels for the little buggers. I had one in particular that I didn't think was going to make it, named her skunk-butt because she kept getting pasty on me, she was touch and go for a while, now, she is the biggest of the group. They sure do grow on you fast! When they are old enough to go out to the yet to be built coop, I am going to miss their peeping. And, I have a very regular, dependable supply of compost material!!! I think I am in love, now, where are the bunnies???

OK, it's time to ask...

Lady up the road has bunnies to give away. DH would dearly love to have some, but I hesitate since it appears that every time a pet is brought home by our DD or DH, the promise is made that they will take care of the pet yet I end up doing it.

In terms of bunnies, there obviously is an advantage for me. :O) So, where do you keep your little friends in the winter? We don't have a shed or anything, and I am icky about keeping such a 'pet' inside. We do have a basement which is about 5C in the winter - would this be warm enough for them?
How big a cage would you need for two bunnies?

I can see myself getting in trouble here...

I'm what you would call a 'senior citizen'...our children are grown and my husband is nearing retirement age. He works away from home for 4 days then is home 4 days. So most of the time it is just me taking care of all the 'pets' which at the moment includes 4 cats and 7 kittens (need a cat?? lol), 1 dog, 22 chicks, and 2 rabbits.

Rabbits do not take a lot of care. If they have been handled much, they make a sweet cuddly pet. I feed alfalfa pellets and from my garden...beet leaves, swiss chard, carrots, etc. Our Summers get very hot and you can lose your rabbits to heat so I put ice jugs in the hutch with them...I freeze water in one gallon milk jugs...have several so I'm always ready for when one springs a leak or they chew on it--rabbits need to chew to keep their teeth from growing too long...I keep some wood in the hutch for that.

Your basement temp would be fine. It depends on the breed of rabbit as to what size the cage needs to be...I had a mini lop in a 24"x18" cage on my enclosed porch this Winter. Now that it is warmer, she has been moved outside to her hutch that is larger. DH brought home a 9 week old mini rex bunny a week ago and she is currently in the cage on our enclosed porch until I can get her a hutch of her own. They like their own space...there is a lot of good info online if you Google 'raising rabbits'.

Rabbit poo is good stuff...currently I'm putting Equine wood pellets in the tray under the cage. When they need refreshing, I spread them under my fruit trees to mulch the soil (Spring/Summer it is hot/dry in my area). I have pine shavings in the tray under my 4 week old chicks and will do the same with them...I never have enough mulch!

sheaviance1

Here in West Texas we are having rain!! Some areas have had 5 inches since Wed. night. We have not had as much...just 2 1/2 inches...we were needing it as usual.

One of my compost piles had gone down a lot when I went out today...am thrilled.

Today we finally got rid of the shed where our chicken run will be. Now we have to empty the other shed, raise the floor, cut a hole so the chicks can get into the run, build the roost and of course, build the run...it will have a roof since we have hawks all Summer...they come back every year and roost in one of the neighbors tallest pecan trees. Last year we had a family that was feeding a baby in our Persimmon tree.

My 4 week old chicks are Sex-links (6), then we added 5 Buff Orpington pullets, and this week we added 5 Silver Laced Wyandottes, 3 Barred Rocks, and 3 Easter Eggers.

DH is amazed at how much he is enjoying the chicks...loves to sit and watch them. He said it is hard to believe that he is 65 yo and had never held a chicken before. LOL Told him I don't recall holding one...might have and just don't remember since we had them when I was about 8 and my grandmother had them for years.

Bunnies...they are fun, too. Mini lops are darlings and you will not believe how soft the Mini Rex bunnies are! Mini Lop was on FreeCycle...DH bought Mini Rex when he picked up the last 11 chicks.

Lots of poo for the compost pile!

Happy composting!

Peggy/Boo Boo's Mama-BYC

Hi Peggy, will definitely look for you on BYC! We will be going into full-fledged (no pun intended) chicken coop mode next weekend. We have foxes, owls, hawks, coyotes, and a very vicious, running wild pit bull to worry about, so predator proofing my coop and run will be where the majority of our money is spent. I am planning to turn the bottom of the run fencing to the outside and tent stake it to the ground. Hubby wants to extend it out at least 4 feet to keep anyone from digging into the pen. We were going to give it a chicken wire floor, but I don't want broken toes.

I cannot get over how much the chicken poo helps my compost tumbler heat up. Wow! They are so inexpensive to keep too, I can't believe everyone doesn't have at least a few in their backyard.

sheaviance1

DH went back to work this afternoon...be back home Thursday morning early. He is checking on Craig's List items for me this week...someone is selling Oak Kitchen cabinets for $500 and he is making plans to pickup a frig he looked at yesterday...great price...ours shows signs it is on its way out. SO he may be very busy this week but hopefully he can get a secure area done for the Chick-n-Hutch so we can put the first 6 chicks out...they are nearly feathered out. Besides the hawks we have owls, lots of feral cats and many large dogs that run loose in the neighborhood. Have had to call the police before when my neighbors 3 large dogs got into my back garden even though our whole yard is fenced...the police are even afraid of her dogs.

Put more pine shavings laced with chickie poo & wood pellets laced with rabbit poo/urine under fruit trees today.

Good luck with your coop!

Peggy