Big Island Chickens

Progress on the Big Pen! The Ideal: As mentioned in the last post, we are building a large (for us) pen to house both the chickens and the turkeys. We will be separating the flock by type, and by variety in the case of the turkeys. We are going to be selling the turkeys as purebreds and that means no mingling for the Bourbon Reds with the Royal Palms. We are also separating the turkeys from the chickens in order to monitor feed consumption better.  The size of the pen is going to be a total of 20' x 50' with a common run of 10' x 50' for an 'exercise yard.'  We have decided that while the chickens will have access all day every day, but to allow for the turkeys to also enjoy this area, and continue to be separated, the Reds and the Royals will have access on alternate days. Because we anticipate that the turkeys will return to their own space for the night we will be training them by not allowing exercise yard time for the first three weeks for any bir...

Back at it! Almost a year off, but time to get back into things happening here on our little farmlet. The changes: Chickens: We have lost a few chickens, but added a few turkeys,  40 or so chickens and 22 turkeys. We stopped fermenting feed and turned the sprouting station into a seed station using dirt, but that will be changing soon into a starting station for our soon to be built hydroponic / aquaponic  system. We have purchased a new to us, or used greenhouse that will be housing the birds. The cutesy coop will be replaced by a more industrial set up for the comfort of the birds. The new size coop will be 30' x 50'. Goats in the horizon! Originally we were having second thoughts regarding the 'old' coop and maybe selling it on Craig's list, but we have decided that it will be repurposed for use as a goat house. At 64 square feet, this is plenty for two or three kids as a shelter from the rain. We also will be supplying ample run room for them and their...