Chickens

I was lucky enough to stop by a Tractor Supply store that wasn't completely sold out of chick so I picked some up along with minimal supplies to get going.

The dogs are excited about hunting these birds. It will take a while before they learn the difference between livestock and prey.

https://gab.com/livingspace/posts/104665647305517538

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Original date: 2020-04-02

At a week and a half old, the chicks are sturdy enough to leave their brooder and explore the great outdoors for the first time.

It's only been two weeks, so our resident weimaraner still believes she's supposed to hunt these birds.

Original date: 2020-04-14

The geese free range during the day but sleep in the chicken coop at night to provide them with better protection from predators.

In fact we've already lost one goose. One of them escaped from their pen at night and made noise that attracted the attention of our weimariner. She's been doing a lot better during the day but the stimulation at night was too much and her instincts took over.

On the other hand the chicken flock has been expanded by four leghorn hens to bring the total number of chickens up to ten so it's not all bad news.

Original date: 2020-05-18

At night the geese sleep in the chicken run while the chickens sleep in their coop. When morning comes the geese are released to free range and the chickens are released into their run.

The geese are always awake and waiting for me to let them out.

Original date: 2020-07-18

At night the geese sleep in the chicken run while the chickens sleep in their coop. When morning comes the geese are released to free range and the chickens are released into their run.

Original date: 2020-07-18

These ten chicks will double our flock size. The difference between this batch and the first two is that it's August now so even the nighttime temperature is high enough that no brooder is necessary.

Original date: 2020-08-01

The newest batch of chicks spent their first night outside. They'll separated from the larger birds for another week for safety reasons.

Even though both in the this video and the one shot this morning there is plenty of shade in their pen, it looks like half the chicks died from heat exhaustion.

Mostly likely the shade that was present around noon was not sufficient for all the chicks to be out of the sun so only half of them made it.

In their never-ending quest to eat the chicken food (which is poisonous to goats btw), the goats are destroying everything.

I started looking up goat recipes after shooting this video.

Original date: 2020-08-11

Due to the goats destroying the old fence, I've upgraded to a PermaNet Plus 12/48/3 which is a bit harder to install but should be more difficult for the goats tear up. Also the old fence would not energize due to damage, and as you can hear in the video this one works just fine. Should only take a couple shocks before the goats learn their lesson.

I irrigated this new chicken run area the week before rotating them here and it seemed to pay off. Unlike the rest of the pasture this area actually has green grass for the birds to eat.