Chicken Coops for Sale in South Portland, Maine
Chicken Coops for Sale in South Portland, Maine
Chicken Coops and Sheep Hooves
The weather was beautiful this weekend! We’re still a little damp, but not . So we got busy with outside chores all weekend. Boy, my arms and legs are aching today!
Saturday we loaded up –went smooth as silk.
Then Mr. Fix-It and I moved the chicken house, cleaned it out good, and set it up on some fresh ground in the orchard. (Ok, we only have one peach tree at the moment, but we call it the orchard because one day…)
Moving the house involved a combination of lifting and sliding with the tractor. You can see the ground where it was is ready for a break.
Our hens got to peck around a bit for the afternoon and walked right on back in by themselves come evening. They’re usually pretty good about that now anyway, but I wasn’t sure if they would figure it out since we moved it. We didn’t move it far, but they are just chickens.
But I did them an injustice. They found the coop just fine.
This one had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the idea of "free-range."
I kept the kids inside most of the day on Saturday. The boys are coughing and sniffling and it was a bit nippy out and I just didn’t want the cooler air to set them back.
But by Sunday it was even nicer (and they were going stir crazy!) so we all headed outside after Church.
There's a pin sticking up from one of the forks inside the coop to help catch it to pull it along. I let Mr. Fix-It handled the climbing in and out of the window to hook it part of the job!
The Ladybug and I worked sheep for the afternoon, and Mr. Fix-It and the boys tilled up the garden, untangled the fencing and put it up, and planted our first lettuce, broccoli, and cabbage plants of the year.
I wish I had pictures of us working sheep, but honestly, it was hard work and I was busy. We ran everyone , dewormed them, trimmed hooves, and checked over all the little guys.
And when I say little guys, I mean it. We have 13 ram lambs and only 1 ewe lamb so far. I’ve got 6 left that haven’t lambed yet.
The older ladies of the flock new EXACTLY what to do when that chicken coop door opened!
To do hooves, you turn the sheep up on its rump as if it’s sitting in a chair, and then hold them down using your legs while you trim hooves (or whatever you have to do) with your hands and a clipper tool that looks like garden cutters. In that position, they’re pretty much prone, but some of them are still pretty feisty. It’s the same positioning you see when someone is .
Here it is in its new spot. But I owe you a better picture. Mr. Fix-It repainted it after we cleaned it and it dried out. Now it's fresh and clean and trimmed out!
There’s a specific technique to “throwing” them into that position (it’s not really “throwing”) that involves controlling the head and turning it into the shoulder…but I’m not very good at it yet. Most of my efforts involve grabbing a’hold and hauling backwards until one of us tips over…and hoping its the sheep. By the way, you don’t ever want to pull on a sheep by their wool. It’s not good for the wool, or the sheep.}
And you have to be very careful about grabbing horns. They can be helpful if you know what you’re doing, but if you don’t…just don’t. They’ll come off. (I don’t know this from experience, but I’ve read about it several times and it’s not pretty.)
These old girls know what's what when it comes to worms and bugs!
Anyway, the Ladybug and I worked our way through the whole flock. I’m tired and a little scratched and scrapped and bruised up, but I actually enjoy most of the animal parts of the farm, so don’t get the impression that I’m complaining too much!
Comfy-cozy, and ready for farm fresh eggs!
And we ended the day with more good news! The folks that called and said that they were very happy with her and it was working out great and that they’re riding or working her every day and they were ready to pick up her registration papers if that was ok. Which it was, of course. We just kept them because they were taking her as a trial and we agreed to take her back if it didn’t work out. They even said that she’s already slimming down noticeably!
What an answer to prayers!!
How was your weekend?
More Daily Farm Adventures...
Baby Chicks in South Portland, Maine
A good place to start any search is the internet. Simply plugging in the phrase "chicken coops for sale in South Portland Maine" into any one of the numerous search engines and a wealth of information will pop up. This information will provide links to other websites that will be informative and will provide the right direction for finding South Portland Maine chicken coops. What to look for when buying a chicken coop in South Portland, Maine With the big increase in poultry maintaining there has actually been a similarly big surge in the array of poultry stuff on sale. Chicken housing is a case in point. It's additionally a classic example of the great old bandwagon being jumped on as numerous would-be poultry real estate specialists market a variety of cottage declaring to be the optimal remedy to your chicken housing needs. Often the price looks attractive, your house looks desirable, hell even the clean-cut family standing there feeding the chickens look eye-catching. Certainly they understand a quality chicken house when they see one? There are numerous economical and also horrible coops flooding the market. I recognize this as I've checked a variety of them in the field, and seen a ewe run straight with one when the feed pail appeared. The outcome was just a costly pile of fire wood as well as a little flock of bemused as well as now homeless bantams.
Chicken Coop Pictures in South Portland, Maine
Typically these mass produced designs are created of quick grown up lumber - come the very first drop of rainfall they swell, leaving you either blockading a door that will not close, or ripping the doorway furniture off in a vain effort to launch the squawking inhabitants. The very first warm day indicates the wood dries out and fractures, the really felt roof covering bubbles as well as boils, and also come nightfall the hens choose not to go in. This is not as a result of their dissatisfaction at the decrease of their once desirable apartment but considering that the hovel is currently a haven for, as well as possibly crawling with, the poultry caretaker's bane, red mite. Add that it claimed on the blurb that it would suit four large hens when that stocking density was based upon the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and also just what are you left with? A number of hinges and also some kindling. A decent coop for thee to four birds need to cost you in the region of ₤ 300 though this could depend upon whether you choose for a totally free standing house or one with a run affixed. Presuming you are varying your birds in a large area as well as the pop hole doorway allows enough for the breed you maintain, then the primary demands of housing come down to three factors which will define the number of birds your home will certainly hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation. Most breeds of chicken will certainly perch when they visit roost in the evening, this perch should preferably be 5-8cm large with smoothed off sides so the foot rests pleasantly on it. The perch needs to be above the nest box entrance as chickens will certainly also naturally search for the acme to perch. A perch below that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they create the most poo) leading to dirtied eggs the list below day. They shouldn't nonetheless be so high off the floor of your house that leg injuries can occur when the bird comes down in the morning. Chickens need concerning 20cm of perch each (in tiny types this is certainly much less), plus if more than one perch is installed in your home they should be greater than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their next-door neighbors but are not that crazy about roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front. Preferably the house ought to have a the very least one nest box for every 3 birds as well as these must be off the ground and also in the darkest location of your house. Your house needs to have sufficient ventilation: without it then condensation will certainly accumulate every night, also in the coldest of climate. Realize, air flow works with the concept of cozy air leaving through a high gap attracting cooler air in from a reduced void - it's not a collection of openings on opposite wall surfaces of your home and also at the very same level, this is exactly what's referred to as a draft. If you have a house with a run attached after that the points above are still true, yet you need to also think about the run dimension. The EU maximum lawful equipping thickness for a free range bird is (and let's face it, one of the inspirations for maintaining some chickens in the house is perhaps boosted or far better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's optimal one bird each 4m settled. Take a close consider some of the deal houses - it could well be the house has the appropriate perches, proper ventilation as well as enough nest boxes for an affordable variety of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything greater than an A4 sized item of ground to spend the day on? And so as the stating goes, "you obtain exactly what you pay for". You may assume you've grabbed a deal, but you and your flock could possibly rue the day you did. Purchase the best house as well as it will certainly last for a couple of years, if not longer offered the proper treatment. In the long run your chicken and your poultry keeping encounter will certainly be considerably the better for it.chick coop
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