Hubby built a coop, took 2 years. Never built anything before. 10x10. Fenced in a run. Just cleaned the coop today….easy with linoleum on floor. Best hubby ever, still working full time also.
Our compost pile is inside our large, fenced, garden. All garden areas are fenced. I only free range if I’m home, because we don’t have a LGD. I don’t use mulch in my flower beds anymore, I use 1”gravel, the chickens won’t scratch through that. All the containers that have food/flowers in them, have chicken wire over the top, so the chickens and the cats can’t dig in the soil. We have a large chicken coop with an attached run. The duck runs are attached to the chicken run.
I am really surprised no Americans I know of ever use my LEGAL immigrant grandfather who cane here in 1909, method of farming his small livestock. He had a very large chicken yard with a large barn where both chickens and meat rabbits lived in side in that barn with the rabbits having the smaller side. Chickens had roosts and nesting boxes so that made a division that they natually observed. Anyway, he had his fruit trees IN THE CHICKEN YARD. Peach, apple and a pear tree. How smart was that? Fallen fruit was eaten,insect infected fruit, the fruit AND THE INSECTS DEVOURED and it was all naturally fertilized. Barn straw was completely removed in the early spring and replaced with fresh, the old was put on the garden areas and both the rabbits and chickens were set free for a couple if weeks they could come and go as the pleased and even the rabbits returned at feeding time. In my opinion it was a great system, fed the 15 in the family and some distant relatives thru the Depression and many more years. All this done and my grandfather worked full time weather permitting as a stone and brick mason. My grandmother had a huge flower garden from which she sold flowers, fresh in the warm months and dried types to the local florist. That was before they started being imported via plane from far away places... Oh, and they saved their own seeds both flower and food crops and divided their bulbs, corms too from the flowers. They had to dig them up in the fall and store them in the cellar because the frozen soil would destroy them. Lots if WORK... but they lived to theur 80's, my grandfather, no drs no hospital.
We live in a rural area and confine the flock in a coop at night and they free-range during the day. We have a good rooster that protects his girls and our neighbors are not close enough for the flock to wander over and scratch up their flower beds.
That's exactly what we do. Also our dog protects and patrols out chickens with our rooster 🐓🐕 I only let my chickens out when in home. I do need to take extra care of my veggie garden. I like how my chickens eat so many ticks and bugs.
I can’t free range my laying hens. We are in a residential neighborhood, and we have two huge pine trees in the backyard that house hawks and owls! So my coop and run area are like Fort Knox! The run is covered in hardware cloth. The hawks actually sit on the fence by the run trying to figure out how to get in! Our Hawks have no fear of humans.
I’m glad you’re telling the new people different options on raising chickens. Give them ideas of what to do and how to do it. My husband and I have plenty of land with nice chicken. Have a little man built four years ago, but we only have three hens. For me, they provide eggs for us to eat and cook with. I’m older so I train my chickens to come. I like them up at night or if we’re going to be gone for the whole day I don’t let them out of the chicken house. A small chicken run right outside of their house so they’re still able to get out in the sun and I always throw scratch out there so they can hunt. (Dried mealy worms is their treat of choice.) Actually they will follow us around outside like the pets they are. 😂❤
We have a small property (under 2 acres) and our tiny flock of hens (currently just 4) is in a mobile run and coop system. We bought a ready-made coop suitable for up to 8 chickens and put it on runners so we could drag it. And we bought a 9 ft by 9 ft covered pen with aluminum frame, covered with our own wire, and placed it so the fence surrounds the coop. We move the coop and pen every day so our girls get the benefits of a mobile system, but they also get to spread out a bit and jump up on the coop when they want to get up higher. The covering on the pen is great for keeping them safer from hawks or other flying predators, though we have had the occasional scare from a hawk actually landing on the top of the covering - had we not been alert, it is possible the hawk could have torn through the covering to get at our chickens. Our next pen covering will be wire rather than a canvas tarp, and we are going to make the pen about a foot larger in length and width (as well as taller so we are not having to stoop while inside the pen) but this was a great starter system for us in 2022.
I've been homesteading for 34 years and we are doing the same, minus the chicken tractors. We've got 60 to 70 birds around the place, 3 green house-slash-winter yards and a small orchard summer yard for the ducks (and a big hole for a small pond . . still)
We have 4 coops on our little homestead. Plenty of room for them. We have chickens and ducks. We let ours freerange as weather permits and Sept. - May we take down our garden fence and allow them the whole back yard. 😊
I have found the buff orpington to be the best roosters. They do not attack or even stalk you. I will not have any other breed. I used to carry a snow shovel year round until i got the orpingtons.😊
My 170 hens free range every day. No poop on vehicles, eggs in the hen house every day. I put fence around the garden. 60 years of raising free-range chickens tells me your chickens are bored. They don't have enough to scratch in like grass. 😅 mean roosters at my house get introduced to the stick pot with noodles. We live on 180 acres and we don't have a heavy predator load. A hawk now and then, but the hens have plenty of cover to hide in. Good luck with your hens.
I free range my egg chickens for the most part. They help with keeping the tick/bug population in check. I use an electric fence around my garden to keep them out. Every evening they go back into their chicken coop/run. It’s a walk in coop with a sand floor. The run is fully enclosed so I don’t have to let the chickens out early morning. We do have a meat bird hoop house area in the goat field with a hot fence around it. It gets moved around when it needs it. It gives them some room to move and stretch their legs. The fence keeps the goats out of the chicken area. The hoop house gives them a lot more protection from the elements. It’s covered with tarps and clear plastic. We got the idea for the hoop house from living traditions homestead.
We have two metal poultry cages with tarps protecting them from the cold. During the summer, we only have a roof on it. We have them enclosed in electric fencing for protection, but we do allow them out of that to free range in the sheep pastures and woods around them. The meat birds are in a same set up, but are not given free range status, they do have a large pen, though. Our turkeys like being with our laying hens. They used to be in a pen neighboring the laying hens, but I found they would sleep on the ground next to the fence rather than in their cage. I let them out and they decided the next pen with chickens was the place for them, even roosting with them at night.
I have about 45 hens, 16 roos, and 25 meat bird chicks... plus other farm animals. We live on 7.5 acres in the country in the Midlands of SC. Right now we have breeding pens up so 2 breeds are in static coops with runs. We rotate through the breeds. Most of my roos are in static coops all year. Most of my hens along with 3 roos free range on my property. I go egg hunting 2 x a day for eggs. I carry a pen with me and mark 1 egg and keep that in the nesting area so hopefully the hens will continue to lay in that area. However, this does not work all the time and I have to go hunting for new nesting areas. Since allowing my chickens to free range I have far fewer pest problems and thistles and brambles because they eat so much of the seeds. And they scratch up a lot of the undesirable grasses and weeds. I am going to put a high fence around my garden though cause some of my smaller chickens can walk right through my Polly wire fencing.
We have a hoop coop that is put in with fence posts covered with plastic like a greenhouse at the moment. Soon we will cover it with tarp for summer shade. 😎 with premier one electric fence around it for the run. During the hottest part of the year we allow them to free range more to help them stay cooler. Usually means I find eggs under my porch 😮
Did he write the Marvellous Pigness of Pigs? Something you said about the chickens reminded me... and then you mentioned this one! It looks as though it is time to build another chicken tractor... those chickens grow fast!
We only have 16 chickens, so we do combo of free ranging for 7 to 8 hours a day and locked up in their coop safely the rest of the time. Here in Oregon, we have a lot of bald eagles and hawks, but we are lucky to have lots really large (50-70ft) fir trees that prevent those birds from being able to swoop down very well. I’ve never actually lost a chicken to a flying predator.
I figured out how to keep my free range hens to lay in the same place, when I found their "free range nests". I have the fake eggs and placed a black dot on them, and place them in the nest after taking the real eggs out. This year though they're going to stay within a netted area to free range. So I don't have to find the "free range nests"!
Yes, that works for us too. Our chickens free range in summer, but are in a coop in winter. They lay their eggs in the coop even in summer. A few plastic eggs help. Great video 😊
Only clip ONE side of the chickens wings. This will keep them off balance when trying to fly, much harder to get off the ground into flight, than if you trim both wings. They can still fly sometimes if both wings are similarly trimmed. It's all about aerodynamics !!!
@@jimmyyounger618 I had mine clipped one side only... the buggers went up and over a 6 ft fence and ate almost 100 strawberry plants. The next day was almost butchering day.
@lyn9308 We only have the 48" hot poultry netting. Their initial jump probably got them halfway to the top and just a few fluttering wing beats with one long wing was enough to get them over the top. It was super exasperating that this wasn't enough since I'd waited to take them off their perches at night and worked in the dark with a headlamp thinking clipping one wing was the end of the issue. Instead, I had to repeat the process and clip the opposite wing as well. The next morning I watched and held my breath as they came out of the coop. They're lucky that worked because butchering was certainly at the top of my thoughts if it didn't! 😆 Fast forward a year and we ultimately went back to free ranging. We're well back from the road on 45 acres and they utilize about 10 acres of it, returning to the coop to use the nesting boxes to lay eggs during the day and again at night. I put an automatic door on the coop and love that we don't have to let them out or close them in ourselves. They've also taught themselves the advantage of mixing in with our 5 horse herd who stir up bugs and knock seed heads down as they graze. They also clean up after the horses who come up for grain but drop a lot of feed that would otherwise be wasted. It makes me laugh that the horses won't tolerate another horse around them at feeding time, but are fine with chickens underfoot waiting for anything they drop and have never stepped on one. And predators don't want to test the horses, two of which are aggressive toward dogs and a genuine hazard to foxes, coyotes and coons. I suspect a coon looks enough like a dog to them that they'd do one in if it didn't run. The benefit to the horses is that I've seen the chickens pick leg flies and ticks off their lower legs before the ticks have a chance to climb, but the tick load is also way down in general. People talk about having guineas for tick control but as far as I can tell our chickens are doing a good job of that. The downside is the chickens do come up on the deck to beg at the sliding glass door for scratch and we have to hose it off every couple of days, but that trade-off is worth it to us for the other benefits of letting them free range. In spring and summer their feeders go almost untouched. Our Bielefelders certainly live up to their reputation as good foragers with friendly, if not comical characters. Cheers from the Land of Super Bowl wins and Taylor Swift visits - Missouri!
I free range and confine mine, just depends on what's going on that day. If I'm gonna be in town all morning, they stay locked up until I get home. If I'm gonna be gone all day, or if it's supposed to be rainy/stormy they stay locked up as well. I also keep them locked up if I'm having company, don't want them pooping on visitor's cars! How many birds do you have in your chicken tractor, as a general rule?
Well I'm in the living in a neighborhood category, I started out with 3 isa/warren layers and they kept clearing upto 8ft fence but they somehow only landed in the middle of my vegetable patch 🙄 until I blocked how they were propelling themselves over with lol, now I have Silkie, polish and gold top bantam hens inside a 6m x2m x 1.6m walk in covered run which we regularly top up with mulch,cos they are so little and some can be flighty we let them out when under supervision purposely into my vegetable patches to help clear and scratch soil around,we did have Indian runner ducks to help with slug and bug population (and cos they were lovely sweet birds ❤) but we were forced to re-home them 💔, now im planning on breeding courtnix quail's for meat and eggs 🤞♥️👋🇬🇧
My chickens did the same with my mulch! Ate my plants, kept getting out. Went to sons house to live. 😊 I bet Lacey could make some great chicken dinner with that rooster lol
Lol! Mike, you and your boys were a joy to watch! Even though this was a day of work it looks as though there was a lot of fun going on. I don't have chickens...yet, but I sure learned a lot with this video. One thing I never knew about chickens was how big there poop was! Yikes! Waiting on part 2...
We used to have chickens,and I wish that we had known about bait nets.They are weighted,and you toss them over a pond.They catch lots of fish. Chickens just hunker down when something is on top of them.I wonder if something like that.
When i was about your oldest boys age my mom and dad had a rooster like that. It was my job to feed and water them and i had a long walk to get the food and water. Well, we had a rooster like that that would pick and spur me and when i reported it my parents did not believe as i was the only one he did it to. One day as i was going to the coop to take care of them he attacked me again but my dad saw it happen. We had roasted rooster for dinner that next sunday. Tasted great. It was a leghorn so you get them in most breeds. Naughty roosters i mean.
We get small groups of rogue chickens that find away out of thier enclosure ..they always causing some kind of trouble😂. Our last group unfortunately was slaughtered by a fox and an owl
I have my chickens in hoop coops. I have an aggressive rooster in one. He is huge or he probably would have been down the road lol. If I have to go in the run I take a stick to keep him away from me. He usually takes his hens to the coop or under it. The rest of my roosters are good boys lol.
Put the eggs to bucket of water to find out if they are good... Good stays on the bottom, older will "stand up" in water, bad will be on water level...!!!("floating on top")
Mike i know the destructions chickens can do to a garden and yard. But is there any kind of way you can put something humane on them. Some type of system on their legs to move around in all areas of the yard. Ropes, clips ,etc . Say like a 10 to 20 ft area per day or so. That fit us still in the cities, not all on the farm. Because as you say they do a lot of good, eggs, meat , manure, bug, weed control,etc .
Chickens did a great job scratching thru the mulch, spreading it and ratinv all the good stuff that makes them lay super nutritious eggs for you to eat. Free range chickens can be restricted quite simply by the amount of netting/fencing used. Free range chickens need overnight housing with roosting bars and nesting boxes of some description to collect eggs from daily. FREE-RANGE CHICKENS does NOT mean UNCONTROLLED CHICKENS , it means the chickens have access to roaming freely in a controlled space of land where they can find food on their own. They still need roosting bars out of the weather and safe from night time predators, and established laying boxes , so eggs will always be laid in that nominated area and are collected daily. It doesn't mean their food supply isn't also supplemented by the farmer and water must be made available always. I've added this info to help those who know nothing about farming in area and least of all, FOWL.
We can't have chickens in our neighborhood, or I would! Seems like they can surely be a lot of work! My neighbors would call on me, for sure, if I ever had more than a dog...or cat...outside. I love animals of all sorts...except for snakes. But, even they have a place in our lives. Don't want to hurt them! Wish y'all were my neighbors!
Awesome video but I have a question and I am trying how to figure out how to handle it....neighbor has chickens they do have a non electric fence area but are left to free range all over....there is no fence between us yet and we have 3 grown German Shepherds and the chickens believe that our yard is theirs...not sure if you have any comments on this or maybe you can put me into the right direction....I plan to get chickens but they will be in a contained moveable area etc. etc. thanks in advance for any suggestions....but luv the way you and the kids wrangle chickens
Dont you have a video telling which exact premier fence yall use? Ive got to save up the money but am interested in getting one. Do you have any discount codes for them that i can use to help yall out too God Bless
All medications are a bit of a crap shoot for me. I do better with the real pain med which is next to impossible to get in this day and age. Tylenol does nothing until in war ringing volumes; not advised. I have had 1 vicodine and will not knowingly take another; it plays with brain chemistry (which I could feel), interferes with your own pain blocking mechanisms, cant be flushed put with water, and now I know why people take enough to put them in a stupor or to sleep. I seem to remember that as an undersized, hospitalized, 8 year old the adult doze of Demerol did less than a single slipped 325 aspirin. -Hot black tea for tissue hydration and to calm that intestinal nervous system, ice, and a safe space to put your brain in that place.
I'm sorry but I have to speak up and say something .. I've been watching for years now Looks like your a chicken and duck hoarder. Way over your head OVER populated unsanitary living conditions ...I realize you're raising food for your family but it doesn't look like a healthy environment for the birds or other animals on your property The yard looks like a junk yard always has doesn't look like a farm at all. Just random overpopulated animals scattered all over over your property... I watch other RUclips homesteading farm videos and their environment for the animals are a lot more organized and clean sanitary And it actually looks like a homesteading farm a place that I would go and and feel comfortable visiting and get more hands on educated classes. I can understand why the government going after farmers.... There should be a law how many animals you can have on your property. Or yearly visits from animal control law enforcement in your area make sure that animals of properly care for not in a hoarding situation. The authorities would have a field day at your place confiscating all your animals. Just something to think about. For myself I have a limited very small homesteading mostly into gardening I have 5 hens for eggs and one duck is my limit. I keep things clean organized it's not overwhelming my homestead feels welcoming. I share eggs and vegetables from my garden to my neighbors . Last Summer my neighbor was extremely happy getting some fresh tomatoes and butternut squash from my garden. They see how hard I work in my yard keep things clean organized cluttered free.
It's like you watched the video but missed his point. Wasn't this about him and his family moving to a containment system because they weren't happy with the chickens free ranging anywhere they pleased? Did you consider a juxtaposition of this homestead vs. high density cage systems, sanitation and environmental issues associated with commercial operations when calling this "hoarding" and suggesting confiscation? Just something to think about.
@@jimmyyounger618 people with hundreds of animals that are in unsanitary conditions pooping everywhere and they don't clean it...ect is a hoarding situation the family has as mental health issues . If they had a reasonable amount of animals like 12 or 13 animal for the family homestead organized ,cleaned I wouldn't have said anything. Like I said I've been watching for many years As they do try to clean up and get rid of their trash that has accumulated through the years Their property still looks like a junk yard. And adding hundreds of animals just makes it look worse confined in small chicken runs. If they had 5 or 10 in a run that would be more acceptable it looks like they've got 20 or 30 in one and another 20 or 30 or more in another That is ridiculous it's animal cruelty.
While they keep their animals in tighter quarters than I would have for myself, that is just personal choices. They provide more space for their animals than is required of commercial enterprises. That poo that is scattered goes into the soil enriching it for the spring planting. The fact that they experiment with different systems for a season is good also. If you are locked in to only one way of raising a particular animal could mean you are missing out on an easier, less time or cost efficient way of doing things. Would I ever have all those ducks? No way! I grew up with hundreds of a few different birds and I hate, hate, hate ducks even if they are tasty. More power to them for having the disposition to tolerate them. Not every homestead is going to raise the same things as the next one whether it be animals or gardens. I would think the neighbors would be happy to see any of their animals wandering into their yard because it means the Fit Farmer is going to be coming over with his son to clean up our yard more than his animals messed up! Junk piles? They had some there before they even moved there. Every homestead has their junk piles which is where many of us get most if not all of our supplies for new projects or making repairs to sheds, fences, etc. if we didn't have those piles it would cost us a heck of a lot more money to keep us going. A couple times per year they put out videos of them sorting through their piles and disposing of things that either have little value to keep or if it is something that they may have held onto planning to use but now realize they probably won't ever have the time to implement. Seeing some of the things they took to the dump last time had me wishing they would just drive the couple hundred miles to my place to drop off so I could make use of them. Some people do better at organizing their piles than others. I wish I was one of those people, but I guess I was just born good looking to compensate for my lack of organization. If you are watching this family regularly, you must be gleaning something of value from their lifestyle. Just sayin'. So while it may seem like everyone should maintain their homestead just like you, their lives aren't like yours and the things they have to balance are different. They are not only raising 4 kids but they are doing all the education themselves. They need to not only grow most of their food, but also need to make money to support themselves whether it be from their produce, RUclips, or speaking engagements and merchandising. And in their spare time they need to expand their yurt.
@@bettypearson5570 "Every homestead has their junk piles" Amen! Love mine, but it is below the line of sight about 150+ yards away. When I didn't want a deep trench to protect a hot wire feeder line across a gate opening, some scrap galvanized pipe in the pile was perfect to protect it just a few inches below the surface. Rather than blow a couple of hours and a quarter tank of fuel to get a needed nut for a 3 point lift, I had one laying on a scrapped brush hog in my pile. Rather than spend over 200 each for 4 standing horse feeders, (with poly liners that eventually break), I fetched the old water heater and scrap steel plate from the pile and went to work with a cutoff wheel, cutting torch and welder. Of course me sweetheart likes to tease me that while I can easily afford to simply go buy anything I need, I don't think you can completely get over growing up dirt poor and acquiring the skills to up-cycle junk into nice things. I still enjoy that work, too!
@@jimmyyounger618 kudos to you. I love people's junk piles. I grew up on a subsistence style homestead where we always could usually find what we needed if something broke or needed to be built from our junk pile. Most things can have a second or third life.
Hubby built a coop, took 2 years. Never built anything before. 10x10. Fenced in a run. Just cleaned the coop today….easy with linoleum on floor. Best hubby ever, still working full time also.
Our compost pile is inside our large, fenced, garden. All garden areas are fenced. I only free range if I’m home, because we don’t have a LGD. I don’t use mulch in my flower beds anymore, I use 1”gravel, the chickens won’t scratch through that. All the containers that have food/flowers in them, have chicken wire over the top, so the chickens and the cats can’t dig in the soil. We have a large chicken coop with an attached run. The duck runs are attached to the chicken run.
I am really surprised no Americans I know of ever use my LEGAL immigrant grandfather who cane here in 1909, method of farming his small livestock. He had a very large chicken yard with a large barn where both chickens and meat rabbits lived in side in that barn with the rabbits having the smaller side. Chickens had roosts and nesting boxes so that made a division that they natually observed. Anyway, he had his fruit trees IN THE CHICKEN YARD. Peach, apple and a pear tree. How smart was that? Fallen fruit was eaten,insect infected fruit, the fruit AND THE INSECTS DEVOURED and it was all naturally fertilized. Barn straw was completely removed in the early spring and replaced with fresh, the old was put on the garden areas and both the rabbits and chickens were set free for a couple if weeks they could come and go as the pleased and even the rabbits returned at feeding time. In my opinion it was a great system, fed the 15 in the family and some distant relatives thru the Depression and many more years. All this done and my grandfather worked full time weather permitting as a stone and brick mason. My grandmother had a huge flower garden from which she sold flowers, fresh in the warm months and dried types to the local florist. That was before they started being imported via plane from far away places... Oh, and they saved their own seeds both flower and food crops and divided their bulbs, corms too from the flowers. They had to dig them up in the fall and store them in the cellar because the frozen soil would destroy them. Lots if WORK... but they lived to theur 80's, my grandfather, no drs no hospital.
We live in a rural area and confine the flock in a coop at night and they free-range during the day. We have a good rooster that protects his girls and our neighbors are not close enough for the flock to wander over and scratch up their flower beds.
That's exactly what we do. Also our dog protects and patrols out chickens with our rooster 🐓🐕 I only let my chickens out when in home. I do need to take extra care of my veggie garden. I like how my chickens eat so many ticks and bugs.
Do the water test on the eggs. If they float it's a no if they sink to the bottom you can eat.
Mike I wished I'd be blessed enough to have you, Lacey & kids as my neighbors!
I can’t free range my laying hens. We are in a residential neighborhood, and we have two huge pine trees in the backyard that house hawks and owls! So my coop and run area are like Fort Knox! The run is covered in hardware cloth. The hawks actually sit on the fence by the run trying to figure out how to get in! Our Hawks have no fear of humans.
I’m glad you’re telling the new people different options on raising chickens. Give them ideas of what to do and how to do it. My husband and I have plenty of land with nice chicken. Have a little man built four years ago, but we only have three hens. For me, they provide eggs for us to eat and cook with. I’m older so I train my chickens to come. I like them up at night or if we’re going to be gone for the whole day I don’t let them out of the chicken house. A small chicken run right outside of their house so they’re still able to get out in the sun and I always throw scratch out there so they can hunt. (Dried mealy worms is their treat of choice.) Actually they will follow us around outside like the pets they are. 😂❤
Hi ..... MIKE Dickson and Lacey thanks you for showing your video homestead bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋👍👍👍
We have a small property (under 2 acres) and our tiny flock of hens (currently just 4) is in a mobile run and coop system. We bought a ready-made coop suitable for up to 8 chickens and put it on runners so we could drag it. And we bought a 9 ft by 9 ft covered pen with aluminum frame, covered with our own wire, and placed it so the fence surrounds the coop. We move the coop and pen every day so our girls get the benefits of a mobile system, but they also get to spread out a bit and jump up on the coop when they want to get up higher. The covering on the pen is great for keeping them safer from hawks or other flying predators, though we have had the occasional scare from a hawk actually landing on the top of the covering - had we not been alert, it is possible the hawk could have torn through the covering to get at our chickens. Our next pen covering will be wire rather than a canvas tarp, and we are going to make the pen about a foot larger in length and width (as well as taller so we are not having to stoop while inside the pen) but this was a great starter system for us in 2022.
I've been homesteading for 34 years and we are doing the same, minus the chicken tractors. We've got 60 to 70 birds around the place, 3 green house-slash-winter yards and a
small orchard summer yard for the ducks (and a big hole for a small pond . . still)
Last two chickens that you caught, you said how fast they were, their feathers look more like game birds. They were really pretty.😊
We have 4 coops on our little homestead. Plenty of room for them. We have chickens and ducks.
We let ours freerange as weather permits and Sept. - May we take down our garden fence and allow them the whole back yard. 😊
We free range our chickens but they are about to go in the fencing! The poop is real! Lol! Thankfully we have pleny of room for them to roam around!
Hope you guys get the chickens figured out. God bless you guys.
I have found the buff orpington to be the best roosters. They do not attack or even stalk you. I will not have any other breed. I used to carry a snow shovel year round until i got the orpingtons.😊
You go Josiah! He's the chicken catching champ!
My 170 hens free range every day. No poop on vehicles, eggs in the hen house every day. I put fence around the garden. 60 years of raising free-range chickens tells me your chickens are bored. They don't have enough to scratch in like grass. 😅 mean roosters at my house get introduced to the stick pot with noodles. We live on 180 acres and we don't have a heavy predator load. A hawk now and then, but the hens have plenty of cover to hide in. Good luck with your hens.
Yeah, that last rooster would have made for a nice pot of Southern Chicken and Dumplins. After cleaning out the bird shot.😊
Mike, we move our egg mobile with portable fencing throughout the pasture all year long. This works really well for us in eastern NC.
I free range my egg chickens for the most part. They help with keeping the tick/bug population in check. I use an electric fence around my garden to keep them out. Every evening they go back into their chicken coop/run. It’s a walk in coop with a sand floor. The run is fully enclosed so I don’t have to let the chickens out early morning. We do have a meat bird hoop house area in the goat field with a hot fence around it. It gets moved around when it needs it. It gives them some room to move and stretch their legs. The fence keeps the goats out of the chicken area. The hoop house gives them a lot more protection from the elements. It’s covered with tarps and clear plastic. We got the idea for the hoop house from living traditions homestead.
We have two metal poultry cages with tarps protecting them from the cold. During the summer, we only have a roof on it. We have them enclosed in electric fencing for protection, but we do allow them out of that to free range in the sheep pastures and woods around them. The meat birds are in a same set up, but are not given free range status, they do have a large pen, though. Our turkeys like being with our laying hens. They used to be in a pen neighboring the laying hens, but I found they would sleep on the ground next to the fence rather than in their cage. I let them out and they decided the next pen with chickens was the place for them, even roosting with them at night.
Naughty chickens n roosters😂😅
Good neighbour ❤
Poor Mike n kids❤👍👌you guys did great job❤
I don't have any chickens currently, but enjoyed watching the chicken shenanigans. 🐓
I have about 45 hens, 16 roos, and 25 meat bird chicks... plus other farm animals. We live on 7.5 acres in the country in the Midlands of SC. Right now we have breeding pens up so 2 breeds are in static coops with runs. We rotate through the breeds. Most of my roos are in static coops all year. Most of my hens along with 3 roos free range on my property. I go egg hunting 2 x a day for eggs. I carry a pen with me and mark 1 egg and keep that in the nesting area so hopefully the hens will continue to lay in that area. However, this does not work all the time and I have to go hunting for new nesting areas. Since allowing my chickens to free range I have far fewer pest problems and thistles and brambles because they eat so much of the seeds. And they scratch up a lot of the undesirable grasses and weeds.
I am going to put a high fence around my garden though cause some of my smaller chickens can walk right through my Polly wire fencing.
We have a hoop coop that is put in with fence posts covered with plastic like a greenhouse at the moment. Soon we will cover it with tarp for summer shade. 😎 with premier one electric fence around it for the run. During the hottest part of the year we allow them to free range more to help them stay cooler. Usually means I find eggs under my porch 😮
Did he write the Marvellous Pigness of Pigs? Something you said about the chickens reminded me... and then you mentioned this one!
It looks as though it is time to build another chicken tractor... those chickens grow fast!
We only have 16 chickens, so we do combo of free ranging for 7 to 8 hours a day and locked up in their coop safely the rest of the time. Here in Oregon, we have a lot of bald eagles and hawks, but we are lucky to have lots really large (50-70ft) fir trees that prevent those birds from being able to swoop down very well. I’ve never actually lost a chicken to a flying predator.
I figured out how to keep my free range hens to lay in the same place, when I found their "free range nests". I have the fake eggs and placed a black dot on them, and place them in the nest after taking the real eggs out. This year though they're going to stay within a netted area to free range. So I don't have to find the "free range nests"!
Yes, that works for us too. Our chickens free range in summer, but are in a coop in winter. They lay their eggs in the coop even in summer. A few plastic eggs help. Great video 😊
Only clip ONE side of the chickens wings. This will keep them off balance when trying to fly, much harder to get off the ground into flight, than if you trim both wings. They can still fly sometimes if both wings are similarly trimmed. It's all about aerodynamics !!!
Didn't work with our chickens. Apparently ours are good at flying off balance. 😄 We also moved to clipping both wings and that did the trick!
@@jimmyyounger618 I had mine clipped one side only... the buggers went up and over a 6 ft fence and ate almost 100 strawberry plants. The next day was almost butchering day.
@lyn9308 We only have the 48" hot poultry netting. Their initial jump probably got them halfway to the top and just a few fluttering wing beats with one long wing was enough to get them over the top. It was super exasperating that this wasn't enough since I'd waited to take them off their perches at night and worked in the dark with a headlamp thinking clipping one wing was the end of the issue. Instead, I had to repeat the process and clip the opposite wing as well. The next morning I watched and held my breath as they came out of the coop. They're lucky that worked because butchering was certainly at the top of my thoughts if it didn't! 😆
Fast forward a year and we ultimately went back to free ranging. We're well back from the road on 45 acres and they utilize about 10 acres of it, returning to the coop to use the nesting boxes to lay eggs during the day and again at night. I put an automatic door on the coop and love that we don't have to let them out or close them in ourselves. They've also taught themselves the advantage of mixing in with our 5 horse herd who stir up bugs and knock seed heads down as they graze. They also clean up after the horses who come up for grain but drop a lot of feed that would otherwise be wasted. It makes me laugh that the horses won't tolerate another horse around them at feeding time, but are fine with chickens underfoot waiting for anything they drop and have never stepped on one. And predators don't want to test the horses, two of which are aggressive toward dogs and a genuine hazard to foxes, coyotes and coons. I suspect a coon looks enough like a dog to them that they'd do one in if it didn't run. The benefit to the horses is that I've seen the chickens pick leg flies and ticks off their lower legs before the ticks have a chance to climb, but the tick load is also way down in general. People talk about having guineas for tick control but as far as I can tell our chickens are doing a good job of that. The downside is the chickens do come up on the deck to beg at the sliding glass door for scratch and we have to hose it off every couple of days, but that trade-off is worth it to us for the other benefits of letting them free range. In spring and summer their feeders go almost untouched. Our Bielefelders certainly live up to their reputation as good foragers with friendly, if not comical characters.
Cheers from the Land of Super Bowl wins and Taylor Swift visits - Missouri!
@@jimmyyounger618 It's been two years and I'm still almost crying over my strawberries. I'm never going to forgive them.
@@gwendolyn9308 They probably guessed you could become allergic to strawberries, so they meant well. 😉
I free range and confine mine, just depends on what's going on that day. If I'm gonna be in town all morning, they stay locked up until I get home. If I'm gonna be gone all day, or if it's supposed to be rainy/stormy they stay locked up as well. I also keep them locked up if I'm having company, don't want them pooping on visitor's cars! How many birds do you have in your chicken tractor, as a general rule?
One of your best videos! I love how you include the kids and you are just wonderful. Keep it up, please!!
This was sooooo funny! 😂😂Josiah chasing them made my day!
Well I'm in the living in a neighborhood category, I started out with 3 isa/warren layers and they kept clearing upto 8ft fence but they somehow only landed in the middle of my vegetable patch 🙄 until I blocked how they were propelling themselves over with lol, now I have Silkie, polish and gold top bantam hens inside a 6m x2m x 1.6m walk in covered run which we regularly top up with mulch,cos they are so little and some can be flighty we let them out when under supervision purposely into my vegetable patches to help clear and scratch soil around,we did have Indian runner ducks to help with slug and bug population (and cos they were lovely sweet birds ❤) but we were forced to re-home them 💔, now im planning on breeding courtnix quail's for meat and eggs 🤞♥️👋🇬🇧
My chickens did the same with my mulch! Ate my plants, kept getting out. Went to sons house to live. 😊 I bet Lacey could make some great chicken dinner with that rooster lol
❤❤❤❤❤❤kids are a lot of help , they are learning so much from you......
Lol! Mike, you and your boys were a joy to watch! Even though this was a day of work it looks as though there was a lot of fun going on. I don't have chickens...yet, but I sure learned a lot with this video. One thing I never knew about chickens was how big there poop was! Yikes! Waiting on part 2...
The editing was so exciting!! Congratulations!!!🤗
Thank you!
Bobblehead Homestead catches chickens all the time and he says you catch after dark. Then they are docile.
We used to have chickens,and I wish that we had known about bait nets.They are weighted,and you toss them over a pond.They catch lots of fish. Chickens just hunker down when something is on top of them.I wonder if something like that.
When i was about your oldest boys age my mom and dad had a rooster like that. It was my job to feed and water them and i had a long walk to get the food and water. Well, we had a rooster like that that would pick and spur me and when i reported it my parents did not believe as i was the only one he did it to. One day as i was going to the coop to take care of them he attacked me again but my dad saw it happen. We had roasted rooster for dinner that next sunday. Tasted great. It was a leghorn so you get them in most breeds. Naughty roosters i mean.
We get small groups of rogue chickens that find away out of thier enclosure ..they always causing some kind of trouble😂. Our last group unfortunately was slaughtered by a fox and an owl
I have my chickens in hoop coops. I have an aggressive rooster in one. He is huge or he probably would have been down the road lol. If I have to go in the run I take a stick to keep him away from me. He usually takes his hens to the coop or under it. The rest of my roosters are good boys lol.
I found a pile of 42 eggs in our barn once! 🤦♀️
May the lord bless and protect you and your family and the animals and the foul
Night sitting on the roost is the way
My chicks have an 8x12 coop with an run that is 40x50
Operation chicken. Remind me of the movie Chicken Run.
Put the eggs to bucket of water to find out if they are good... Good stays on the bottom, older will "stand up" in water, bad will be on water level...!!!("floating on top")
Not always true.
Also. Once eggs are immersed in water they lose their protective sheen and will need to be refrigerated !!!!@@MikeTheFitFarmer
Can you make the runner longer so they are not so cramped,enjoyed watching😮😊🇱🇷❤️
Feed the m to your new dog @@heatherclayton-callaghan4270
@@MikeTheFitFarmer Eggs that will lay horizontally on the bottom of bucket are 100% good...👍
Mike i know the destructions chickens can do to a garden and yard. But is there any kind of way you can put something humane on them. Some type of system on their legs to move around in all areas of the yard. Ropes, clips ,etc . Say like a 10 to 20 ft area per day or so. That fit us still in the cities, not all on the farm. Because as you say they do a lot of good, eggs, meat , manure, bug, weed control,etc .
My free range chickens are in a coop...lol Loved this video.. subscribed.
Blessings to y'all
Chickens did a great job scratching thru the mulch, spreading it and ratinv all the good stuff that makes them lay super nutritious eggs for you to eat. Free range chickens can be restricted quite simply by the amount of netting/fencing used. Free range chickens need overnight housing with roosting bars and nesting boxes of some description to collect eggs from daily.
FREE-RANGE CHICKENS does NOT mean UNCONTROLLED CHICKENS , it means the chickens have access to roaming freely in a controlled space of land where they can find food on their own. They still need roosting bars out of the weather and safe from night time predators, and established laying boxes , so eggs will always be laid in that nominated area and are collected daily. It doesn't mean their food supply isn't also supplemented by the farmer and water must be made available always.
I've added this info to help those who know nothing about farming in area and least of all, FOWL.
Awesome video God Bless you and your family
Hello. Why are you making us have to wait to find out about the mean rooster? Good luck with them all.
Chickens are a challenge. They do give a lot with eggs and meat. 😀😀👋👋💖💖
When our roosters did that they became dinner lol.
😊Mike how many chickens do you have on your farm now?
freezer camp for the crazy one lol
😂😂 indeed
Fishing net on pole helps
Oh No! yep, that's what they do🙃 such a bummer, "free range everywhere" sounds good, just not reality!
You guys crack me up😂 Great job though!
We can't have chickens in our neighborhood, or I would! Seems like they can surely be a lot of work! My neighbors would call on me, for sure, if I ever had more than a dog...or cat...outside. I love animals of all sorts...except for snakes. But, even they have a place in our lives. Don't want to hurt them! Wish y'all were my neighbors!
Wow! A lot of work 😊
Awesome video but I have a question and I am trying how to figure out how to handle it....neighbor has chickens they do have a non electric fence area but are left to free range all over....there is no fence between us yet and we have 3 grown German Shepherds and the chickens believe that our yard is theirs...not sure if you have any comments on this or maybe you can put me into the right direction....I plan to get chickens but they will be in a contained moveable area etc. etc. thanks in advance for any suggestions....but luv the way you and the kids wrangle chickens
Not that it should be all your problem to solve but one of those invisible fences between your properties should help. There are several varieties.
The mystery batch, been there!
I hope the poop on the car did not damage the paint job. Rooster soup or stew
I let my flock witch is small run the yard but they have a chicken house to sleep in
Dont you have a video telling which exact premier fence yall use? Ive got to save up the money but am interested in getting one. Do you have any discount codes for them that i can use to help yall out too God Bless
Give neighbors some eggs 😂
those darn birds stay home..
Oh no. Rogue roosters become stewed roosters.
Had him for supper.chicken and dumplings.
Winner winner chicken dinner? 😂❤🥰🙏🏻🇨🇦🍁
😂😂Catch that Chicken Rock.😂😎🥚 🐥
Stay tuned my butt!
Chickens can be a pain in your behind makes you want to make dumplings out of them
Did he make good dumplings
Oh no....was the rooster eaten😊
All medications are a bit of a crap shoot for me. I do better with the real pain med which is next to impossible to get in this day and age. Tylenol does nothing until in war ringing volumes; not advised. I have had 1 vicodine and will not knowingly take another; it plays with brain chemistry (which I could feel), interferes with your own pain blocking mechanisms, cant be flushed put with water, and now I know why people take enough to put them in a stupor or to sleep. I seem to remember that as an undersized, hospitalized, 8 year old the adult doze of Demerol did less than a single slipped 325 aspirin. -Hot black tea for tissue hydration and to calm that intestinal nervous system, ice, and a safe space to put your brain in that place.
Very entertaining!❤🎉😊😂😅
Not cool! What if I die tonight, I will go out not knowing what you did with that bird!!! 😉
Did ya eat him
Good job!🌾🥖🍇🐑🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺♥️
I am lol this is a great video😊
❤👍🏼👍🏼🙂✌🏼
The best way to eat plants is after the critters have turned it into protein.Ditch the garden,go carnivore
Wow not very nice
You are going into reverse gear, look at the hollar homestead, he is 100/ percent better than you😢
Uh, I really like your channel but the "click bait" is tiresome...
@meganmckissick2281
CLICKBAIT ??????
WHAT clickbait ???
Seems to me a comment like that means you're definitely commenting on the wrong channel!!!!
They've got to put something on as a title...must be quite hard to think of a new one each time. I don't think theirs are particularly clickbaity
I'm sorry but I have to speak up and say something .. I've been watching for years now Looks like your a chicken and duck hoarder. Way over your head OVER populated unsanitary living conditions ...I realize you're raising food for your family but it doesn't look like a healthy environment for the birds or other animals on your property
The yard looks like a junk yard always has doesn't look like a farm at all. Just random overpopulated animals scattered all over over your property...
I watch other RUclips homesteading farm videos and their environment for the animals are a lot more organized and clean sanitary
And it actually looks like a homesteading farm a place that I would go and and feel comfortable visiting and get more hands on educated classes.
I can understand why the government going after farmers.... There should be a law how many animals you can have on your property.
Or yearly visits from animal control law enforcement in your area make sure that animals of properly care for not in a hoarding situation.
The authorities would have a field day at your place confiscating all your animals.
Just something to think about.
For myself I have a limited very small homesteading mostly into gardening I have 5 hens for eggs and one duck is my limit.
I keep things clean organized it's not overwhelming my homestead feels welcoming. I share eggs and vegetables from my garden to my neighbors .
Last Summer my neighbor was extremely happy getting some fresh tomatoes and butternut squash from my garden.
They see how hard I work in my yard keep things clean organized cluttered free.
It's like you watched the video but missed his point. Wasn't this about him and his family moving to a containment system because they weren't happy with the chickens free ranging anywhere they pleased? Did you consider a juxtaposition of this homestead vs. high density cage systems, sanitation and environmental issues associated with commercial operations when calling this "hoarding" and suggesting confiscation? Just something to think about.
@@jimmyyounger618 people with hundreds of animals that are in unsanitary conditions pooping everywhere and they don't clean it...ect is a hoarding situation the family has as mental health issues .
If they had a reasonable amount of animals like 12 or 13 animal for the family homestead organized ,cleaned I wouldn't have said anything.
Like I said I've been watching for many years
As they do try to clean up and get rid of their trash that has accumulated through the years
Their property still looks like a junk yard.
And adding hundreds of animals just makes it look worse confined in small chicken runs.
If they had 5 or 10 in a run that would be more acceptable it looks like they've got 20 or 30 in one and another 20 or 30 or more in another
That is ridiculous it's animal cruelty.
While they keep their animals in tighter quarters than I would have for myself, that is just personal choices. They provide more space for their animals than is required of commercial enterprises. That poo that is scattered goes into the soil enriching it for the spring planting.
The fact that they experiment with different systems for a season is good also. If you are locked in to only one way of raising a particular animal could mean you are missing out on an easier, less time or cost efficient way of doing things.
Would I ever have all those ducks? No way! I grew up with hundreds of a few different birds and I hate, hate, hate ducks even if they are tasty. More power to them for having the disposition to tolerate them. Not every homestead is going to raise the same things as the next one whether it be animals or gardens.
I would think the neighbors would be happy to see any of their animals wandering into their yard because it means the Fit Farmer is going to be coming over with his son to clean up our yard more than his animals messed up!
Junk piles? They had some there before they even moved there. Every homestead has their junk piles which is where many of us get most if not all of our supplies for new projects or making repairs to sheds, fences, etc. if we didn't have those piles it would cost us a heck of a lot more money to keep us going. A couple times per year they put out videos of them sorting through their piles and disposing of things that either have little value to keep or if it is something that they may have held onto planning to use but now realize they probably won't ever have the time to implement.
Seeing some of the things they took to the dump last time had me wishing they would just drive the couple hundred miles to my place to drop off so I could make use of them.
Some people do better at organizing their piles than others. I wish I was one of those people, but I guess I was just born good looking to compensate for my lack of organization.
If you are watching this family regularly, you must be gleaning something of value from their lifestyle. Just sayin'.
So while it may seem like everyone should maintain their homestead just like you, their lives aren't like yours and the things they have to balance are different.
They are not only raising 4 kids but they are doing all the education themselves. They need to not only grow most of their food, but also need to make money to support themselves whether it be from their produce, RUclips, or speaking engagements and merchandising. And in their spare time they need to expand their yurt.
@@bettypearson5570 "Every homestead has their junk piles" Amen! Love mine, but it is below the line of sight about 150+ yards away. When I didn't want a deep trench to protect a hot wire feeder line across a gate opening, some scrap galvanized pipe in the pile was perfect to protect it just a few inches below the surface. Rather than blow a couple of hours and a quarter tank of fuel to get a needed nut for a 3 point lift, I had one laying on a scrapped brush hog in my pile. Rather than spend over 200 each for 4 standing horse feeders, (with poly liners that eventually break), I fetched the old water heater and scrap steel plate from the pile and went to work with a cutoff wheel, cutting torch and welder. Of course me sweetheart likes to tease me that while I can easily afford to simply go buy anything I need, I don't think you can completely get over growing up dirt poor and acquiring the skills to up-cycle junk into nice things. I still enjoy that work, too!
@@jimmyyounger618 kudos to you. I love people's junk piles. I grew up on a subsistence style homestead where we always could usually find what we needed if something broke or needed to be built from our junk pile. Most things can have a second or third life.