0 Raising Poultry - Using Egg Shells as a Feed Supplement

While there are feed supplements that can be readily purchased from your local feed store, they can increase the cost of raising your chickens. One of the items often lacking in a chicken’s diet is calcium and this can be easily fixed by feeding your chickens crushed egg shells. It is simple to do and can save you a few dollars. It will also solve the problem of eggs with weak shells that break or damage easily.

The first thing you will need to do is thoroughly rinse your egg shells after they've been cracked to remove any remnants of the egg. Once they've been rinsed, allow them to dry in a dish or bowl. Once dried, you can crush them by hand into small pieces and mix in with their grain. This will provide your chickens with the calcium they need to give your eggs strong shells.

Many times people worry about their chickens becoming egg eaters. If your chickens are getting the necessary calcium, this should not be a problem. In fact, a lack of calcium in their diet can actually create this problem with your chickens. Like any animal, they will seek out a source of the nutrients they require.

Chickens also have a natural defense mechanism when it comes to their eggs. They will instinctively protect their eggs from possible predators by eating cracked or damaged eggs in the nest. Cracked or damaged eggs are easily honed in on by predators and could result in the loss of all the eggs in the nest. To avoid this problem, it is a good practice to pick your eggs at least twice a day. This way you will be able to remove any weak or damaged eggs as quickly as possible.

Got egg shells?   

                                                                                                             

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker                           

Detail: Raising Poultry - Using Egg Shells as a Feed Supplement

0 The Advantages of Raising Poultry - Hunting Eggs

Empty Nest

One of the advantages of raising poultry is you don’t have to wait until Easter to hunt eggs. When your chickens are allowed to free range in the backyard, they don’t always return to the nest to lay their eggs. More often than not they will find an alternate place to lay their eggs and you will have to do a little hunting to find where they are laying their eggs.

Unfortunately, there isn’t an egg detector available to help you find them. Just keep checking the bushes and you’ll probably come across a stray egg or two.

Got eggs?

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker

Detail: The Advantages of Raising Poultry - Hunting Eggs

0 Mrs. RW’s Cooking Tips - The Hard-Boiled Solution

One of the advantages of having chickens is the availability of fresh yard eggs. Since they are a lot fresher, they have a better flavor but can cause you some difficulty if you happen to like hard-boiled eggs. Here’s a simple solution to that problem which should help you.

Fresh yards eggs that have been hard-boiled can be extremely difficult to peel. You can literally destroy your egg when trying to get their shell off. Quite often you find yourself digging the egg out with a spoon. Thankfully, there are two simple things you can do to simplify the egg peeling process.

First you need to add two or three tablespoons of salt to the water in which you will boil the eggs. This doesn’t make your eggs salty. It just makes them easier to peel. The next thing you need to do is peel the eggs while they are still warm. This should make it easier for you to peel your hard-boiled yard eggs with less difficulty.

Got hard-boiled yard eggs?

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker

Detail: Mrs. RW’s Cooking Tips - The Hard-Boiled Solution

0 Computers, Coops and Chicks

Things have been pretty busy this last week. Lots of computer issues that finally got resolved. There was a problem with my ISP for several days but that’s fixed now that the server of my ISP is working properly. Mrs. RW also has quite a few new additions to the flock and is going to need a bigger chicken coop. One more thing on my to do list.

This is also going to be a great project for me to show everyone some tips on building a lightweight but strong coop for your chickens. There was only enough time to build the coop gate today. We have a big family get-together planned for Easter Sunday and there are beans to cook and guns to clean. The plan is to do a little plinking with the twelve gauge. Now it's time to get back to the coop building.

The first tip for building a strong but lightweight chicken coop is to use what I call the sandwich technique. Simply put, you just sandwich your wire between your boards (1X2's). This makes it stronger and there’s less chance of a possum or coon getting in your coop...which it seems we have more than our share of both. The wire is almost impossible for them to pull apart when fastened to your framework in this manner. In this case, I’m using welded wire fabric with the small squares (1/2 inch) to attach to the framework.

I’ll include some later updates as the coop begins to take shape.

Have a Happy Easter!

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker

Detail: Computers, Coops and Chicks

0 Simple Survival Tips - Mrs. RW’s Chicken Repair Tip

It’s a fact of life that chickens don’t always stay in their cage. Unfortunately, when they get out of their cage they may suffer an unpleasant encounter that leads to an injury. Here is Mrs. RW’s chicken repair tip.

Repairing a chicken isn’t too hard if the injury is not too significant and the damage is fairly slight. One of the first things you need to do is separate the injured chicken from the main coop. A small dog cage works well for this purpose. This keeps the other chickens from pecking at the injury and causing further damage which will slow the healing process. They will also need to be brought into a more controlled environment to avoid them stressing out due to temperature changes or other weather-related events.

You also need to make sure they have sufficient food to eat and clean water to drink. You will also need to add vitamins and electrolytes to their diet to help speed the healing process. This usually comes in a water-soluble powder that can be mixed into their drinking water. A small bottle of this powder goes a long way and the electrolytes can be used to help speed up the healing process of your injured chicken.

Got chicken repair?

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker

Detail: Simple Survival Tips - Mrs. RW’s Chicken Repair Tip

0 DIY Homesteading Project - PVC Pipe Chicken Coop

If you are looking for an inexpensive alternative to house your chickens, a PVC pipe chicken coop may be the solution. The size of your coop can be easily expanded to accommodate new additions to your flock. It can also be kept to a minimum if there are urban restrictions on the size of your flock. The PVC pipe chicken coop gives you an alternative that is lightweight, easy to assemble or disassemble and provides an inexpensive alternative to using a wooden structure. 

PVC pipe works great for a support structure but experience has shown that you will need at least a 1 1/2 inch size pipe for the creation of a sturdier structure for you to attach your chicken wire. A 2 inch PVC pipe would make it even sturdier but will add some to the cost.

The larger size PVC pipe also makes it easier to attach hinges to your gate for easy access. The size of the opening can be varied quite easily and will mainly be determined according to your individual needs.

The PVC pipe can be glued for a more permanent type of structure or you can drill small holes and join the sections with screws. The latter method will allow easy disassembly and reassembly if it becomes necessary to move your structure. Even a large PVC coop can be moved quite easily if necessary.

Corrugated plastic panels can provide a sheltered area for your chickens or you can opt for a more natural approach and allow vines to grow over your PVC coop. A PVC coop allows you a very affordable alternative in any case. PVC pipe is also easy to work with and requires a minimum skill level in order to build a decent structure.

Got PVC coop?

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker

Detail: DIY Homesteading Project - PVC Pipe Chicken Coop