Tiny House Homestead Podcast #36

Podcast Title: Trials and Triumphs on the Farm

Podcast Episode 36 Show Notes

This episode covers….

Lots of happenings here on the farm lately. Learn about Cytauxzoonosis and the devastating affect it can have on your favorite feline. I battle it out with raccoons, and the latest critter that has come to live on the farm. Welcome to Tiny House Homestead.

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Links from this episode:

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/circulatory-system/blood-parasites/cytauxzoonosis

http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/what-you-should-know-about-cytauxzoonosis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytauxzoonosis

Frankie

Check out this episode!

A Surprise in My Chicken Coop

This Egg Should Hatch Within the Next Week

Mid summer is upon us here and it is hot, hot, hot! Yesterday was 104.4 Fahrenheit and today was 102.3 Fahrenheit. I have thought on more than one occasion this summer maybe I should have chosen a state further north, but alas, summer heat is only a couple of months and the rest of the year is rather pleasant. I will just suck it up and do my best to stay comfortable until October arrives with its promise of more pleasant daytime highs and cool nights. Heat is rough on livestock, so I have been checking the water in the coop twice a day to make sure my chickens can cool off and stay hydrated.

I had always considered chicks a springtime thing, so I have been collecting and enjoying all the eggs my small flock has produced. All the hens are laying daily, so I have a bunch of eggs and never seem to run out. While collecting eggs a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a hen of mine had become broody and was sitting on a few eggs. I decided to let her play momma, after all, I have a ton of eggs right now and I had no idea if my rooster was fertile. For one full week I didn't retrieve any eggs. I have three hens, so that makes for a lot of eggs in the coop.

Broody Betty with her Clutch

This evening when I went to check the water I noticed Broody Betty, as I have taken to calling her, has so many eggs in her clutch she has to keep her wings spread. I figured I should probably try to candle the eggs, cull the ones that are not developing, and mark those that show signs of a potential chick. Broody Betty was not pleased, but I found most of the eggs are in different stages of development!

The ideal temperature for hatching chicken eggs is 99 to 102 degrees Fahrenheit and 50 to 55% humidity. Oklahoma is, I have discovered, ideal for this. Days here are warm and humid. Brooding Betty can get up and move about if she chooses and at night it is not too much work to keep the clutch warm and snug.

Early development

So now I wait. I will continue to check the coop twice a day and as the chicks hatch I will remove them for protection from the rest of the flock until they are big enough to fend for themselves. I will need to enlarge my coop a little by next summer to accommodate the new additions, but my egg selling will ramp up next summer and I can expand to pickling and drying the eggs as well.

Farm life never ceases to amaze me!

Beware of this Chicken Water System Malfunction

The coop (minus the hay before scraping where the chickens roost),
 notice how the hanging bucket has a growth of algae along the side.
Despite the high maintenance the traditional gravity water font rquires,
we have chosen to go back to using it in tandem with the hanging bucket.

We lost 4 chickens from our flock this past week. We found the bodies when we went out to do coop maintenance (chickens poop, a lot!). My son and I stood outside the coop trying to figure out what caused them to suddenly die. They had food. They had water. I had even given them pie pumpkins and squash as a special treat. The coop is protected from high winds. There is plenty of space for the number of chickens. It was truly puzzling. 

I had been in the hospital a couple of days and my son had cared for the chickens while I was unable. I asked if the chickens had acted oddly. He stated he hadn't heard Rukus crowing much, but Fergus was still crowing as usual. One of the deceased chickens, unfortunately, was Rukus. 

Rest in peace Rukus

While my son moved the bodies to the compost bin, I walked around inside the coop. Examining the water bucket hanging in the center I could see it was almost full. However, I noticed a fine growth of algae along the sides. Lifting the lid off the bucket, the chickens went crazy. Calling to my son, I asked when was the last time he had to refill the water. He came back over to the coop and said it had been about 5 days. The chickens hadn't been drinking much water, Not knowing, he had attributed that to the temperate weather. We were dead wrong. 

The nipples on the water bucket were not allowing water to exit the bucket when the chickens pecked them. Reaching inside the bucket, I pushed on the nipples and water began flowing again. Meanwhile, my son went and fetched water to refill the old gravity fed water font and the entire flock spent the next 15 minutes drinking. 

Compost pile will be the final resting
 place of our four lost chickens.

It is sad that we had to lose 4 chickens to learn this lesson, but don't trust any water system! ALWAYS monitor how much water is being consumed by your flock. Chickens require a surprising amount of water and even in cold weather healthy chickens will drink a pint or more of water per day per chicken. 

How do you make sure your chickens have plenty of fresh, cool water? 

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Chicks and Coops!

I have been threatening to do it for some time. Last weekend I finally sucked it up and bought a new coop and some chicks. I planned to build a coop because the materials costs really aren't that high, however I just could not seem to find the time to make it happen. I stopped by my local farm store and took a gander at what they had to offer coop wise. I found this coop made by Precision and fell in love. It matches the buildings on my homestead and is just the right size for a small flock of chickens. I purchased the coop, 6 chicks, mash, grit, meal worms, a heat lamp, bedding, and a heat lamp. Out the door cost was $390.

The coop comes in two flat-packed boxes for ease in getting them home. You can pay someone to assemble them, but the fact is you can do it yourself in just about an hour. Easy-peasy. You can get it done even faster with a couple of neighbor kids to assist, like I did.

Here are some photos I took as I assembled this backyard beauty just so you can see how quick and easy you too can have a small flock where you live:

Empty the boxes and make sure you have all the parts. In this case we opened up both boxes and looked over everything carefully.

An electric screwdriver made short work of the assembly process. 

 Don't be afraid to undo something you did wrong. Take things apart before you assemble the entire thing and discover a problem. It took two tries for me to get the nesting box floor correct.

Built in perches are over a removable tray so cleaning the coop is really easy. 

I chose this particular coop because of its features:

·        Rain-resistant asphalt roof

·        3 nesting boxes

·        3 roosting bars

·        Adjustable coop ventilation

·        Removable floor pan

·        Internal nesting box with rear door access

·        Houses up to 5-7 adult chickens 

  

I am very pleased with the finished product. This coop has many great features including plenty of space for 5 - 7 birds. Now I just have to wait for my chicks to be old enough and hearty enough to be outside. 

  

What does your chicken coop look like? Share with us below!

Thank You, Mr. Postman

Like it? I bought it on Ebay from GlobalFaucets.

Today the postman brought us two items I ordered off of Ebay. The first is the cook top which will run off propane I showed in a prior post and this one shown below. I got a great deal on it on Ebay, super savings over our local RV supplier, which is a whole other story.