Some chickens like to mess with xylophones and then others like getting on swings or even treat balls that they push around to make treats come out like seeds or corn.
Hang dried sunflower heads tied to a string, similar to your corn cob. It's an edible piñata! I hang them just high enough so that they have to jump. They get entertained for hours!
I had a couple of sunflower heads I set aside on my porch. I found Red, the neighbors chicken enjoying them. I feel bad that I didn't plant any this year, but she ate the seeds! 😂
You could definitely plant some of their favourite edibles around the edges of the coop for extra enrichment. They’ll be able to pick at what comes through, but without destroying the entire plant! Things like mint, nasturtium, lavender, rosemary, etc etc. so many plants that’ll easily and happily grow in the soil there!
I had a Buff Orpington once. We called her psycho broody. Hubby went out to get the eggs, opened the lid on the nest boxes and her head pops up and she screams like Hei Hei from Moana in the middle of the ocean. Best. Thing. Ever.
Ha, you gave me some ideas! My Carolina Coop was installed shortly after yours. I have a rather icky amount of spidery things that need to be washed off. I found a big compressed cube of chicken scratch at Tractor Supply… about 12” square and heavy. The girls work on this a little each day. I let my hens free range and am greatly amused by such games as “corn cob keepaway” and our evening “chicken stroll” when they get to hunt for food in the front yard. My hens come up on the back deck twice a day and knock on the door to get treats. Yeah. Apparently Ive been quite trainable. Oddly enough, my dog also loves those dried meal worms & soldier fly larva. 🐓🐓🐓
We just started raising chickens this year, and we've been using a deep litter system. It's working great so far. And yes, "Madder than a wet hen" is a real thing LOL. They definitely prefer to stay dry. :)
The eyebolt and carabiner idea is fantastic! It would have worked perfect for a little pumpkin I got my chicks the other day! You could do cabbage that way too!! Thanks, I will be putting one of those together tomorrow!
@@epichomesteading yes, almost everything folks typically grow anyway is also a treat for the birds. With a small flock you never really have any "waste" from the garden. About 90% of it is dealt with by the chickens, and they do the work of turning the compost for you.
Yes, chickens and rabbits love seasonal treats just as much as people do! Come spring/early summer when the clover is growing fast, that becomes a staple of our rabbits' diet. Right now our chickens are eating a lot of pumpkin and squash, and some apples now and then. (we do take the seeds out of the apples)
My Gram taught me to keep a hen from setting, 'broody', you put her in a box like the old milk delivery boxes which are dark but they can breathe. Put the hen in a dark box for at least 24 hours and it resets their clocks. It works , try it.
I have a RIR who gets broody from time to time and whenever I would go check on her, all I ever try to do is connect with her and practically say the same thing, so I love hearing you say that to Butter!!
You guys are adorable!! Kevin, how into the garden and chickens is your girlfriend? scale of 1-10? That's so sweet that she built them a little playground. Nice to see that you care so much about their quality of life
One of these days Jacque should pull a solid snake and sneak around in a box during the intro. Extra props if you can get away with sneaky watering without breaking.
It would be a smart move to take advantage of stubborn hens who want to sit on eggs by giving them a few fertilized eggs. Pretty sure you can handle a baby chick or two. Maybe a duckling...?
😁🤣😂... Momma B wins! My coop is cleaned daily. Okay, I have an automatic system in place, but I also have over 300 laying hens. (No we don't sell eggs.) They have a fenced and covered, 20 acre outside play ground too. 😁👍
We get fresh woodchips from a local tree-trimming crew. Not plain chipped wood like pine shavings, but rather the small branches and leaves. It's free for us and the crew is happy because they don't have to take it all to the dump. The chickens love it. There are certain types of trees that aren't great for the birds, so you can look that up.
Yeah, but you have no rooster, so nothing happening there! Take the eggs out from underneath her and she'll eventually come to her senses. There's no dust reducing bedding in the outdoor portion, so the entire coop becomes a dust bath area for them. Recommend wood shavings or chopped straw for the outdoor coop section, and add a 3'x3' tub with sand for the dust bath. That would help keep the dust down.
@@annakramar5088 My comments were directed as to recommending a solution to minimize dust, but still allowing them to dust bathe. The soil in his coop is much too fine causing a tremendous amount of dust, including dust with manure in it, not a healthy situation for both chickens and humans in close quarters....his house is right next to the coop. 😁
@@tannenbaumgirl3100 I totally agree with you. I was reminiscing. I had a chicken just like Butter called Elizabeth (no rooster) she would sit on her eggs & brood. When you tried to remove the eggs she would fluff up, growl, peck & flap her wings hitting you, even if you so much as looked at her.😁
Pro tip… wear long pants, boots and eye protection anytime you use a pressure washer. You run that thing across your bare leg or foot and it injects water into your skin, can cause serious infection. You run it across your or someone else’s face by accident it will severely damage the eyes. No joke.
Don't be alarmed, just do some reading. You can keep it pretty simple and not spend a ton of money. Remember, chickens have been living merrily with humans for many centuries. And the vast majority of those people didn't have chicken wire or store-bought feed or all that modern stuff... in many cases all over the world that's still true today. If you give them a basic shelter, fresh food and water, and hopefully some room to run around, chickens more or less take care of themselves. They know what to do 🙂
Aww, don’t be intimidated! Watch a bunch of videos and do some reading. They need a safe place to roost, thick roosting bars, room to move around and scratch, sand for dust baths, water and some chicken feed. They are a pleasure to own and fun to watch.
Butter would have laid and hatched anyone's eggs! She'd be a surrogate mother! Will you ever let her or the others have chicks? Kicking her out of her nest really ticked her off! 🤣
Yeah, it can get a little... extravagant with some people. I've seen some channels and post where people are spending WAY too much just on bedding. And that's unfortunate because then they often start counting eggs, compared to how much they're spending on all sorts of stuff, and they give up :/
I also use the hemp. The beauty of the hemp is the absorption and lack of odor. I’ve got 7 months without without coop odor - that works for me. Options for bedding are many and yes, cardboard is a great material for composting. 👍🏻
What other toys or devices should we test out for them? Looking for ways to keep them happy in the indoor run!
Do the pumpkin thing where they carve it out for you. You just put the faces on it
Some chickens like to mess with xylophones and then others like getting on swings or even treat balls that they push around to make treats come out like seeds or corn.
Hang dried sunflower heads tied to a string, similar to your corn cob. It's an edible piñata! I hang them just high enough so that they have to jump. They get entertained for hours!
That's a great call!
I did that for my wild birds. Hung quite a bit higher of course. My juniper titmice love it.
I had a couple of sunflower heads I set aside on my porch. I found Red, the neighbors chicken enjoying them. I feel bad that I didn't plant any this year, but she ate the seeds! 😂
The opening with finding Jacques squatting in your pen got me good 🤣🤣🤣 thank you for the updates! Love you guys and the vids!
Our pleasure!
You could definitely plant some of their favourite edibles around the edges of the coop for extra enrichment. They’ll be able to pick at what comes through, but without destroying the entire plant! Things like mint, nasturtium, lavender, rosemary, etc etc. so many plants that’ll easily and happily grow in the soil there!
So cute, the girls dust bathing! ❤
Since their home is clean, they got into the "cleaning" spirit, too. 🌼
I had a Buff Orpington once. We called her psycho broody. Hubby went out to get the eggs, opened the lid on the nest boxes and her head pops up and she screams like Hei Hei from Moana in the middle of the ocean. Best. Thing. Ever.
I don’t have chickens but this was a fun video to watch. Love seeing how the girls are doing.
Same here. Love watching the chickens😁
one of my other favorite channels posts "chicken TV" vids now and then. Just watching the birds hang out and do their thing. People love it.
@@dogslobbergardens6606 Thanks. I will view them. Very relaxing watching them.
I love the chicken updates! My chickens have given more to me and my garden then I thought they would! Thanks for the top tier content
I couldn't agree more...I love mine!
It's fun to see that the chickens are cared to a higher standard of living than what's typical, the eye hook into the corn cob is smart.
Let's Have some more harvest and shed Updates as well as homestead cleaning please!
You guys wanna see homestead cleaning?!
@@epichomesteading Yes Please, I'm 12 years old and you have guided me throughout my gardening journey!
Heck yes! Great idea!
Ha, you gave me some ideas! My Carolina Coop was installed shortly after yours. I have a rather icky amount of spidery things that need to be washed off. I found a big compressed cube of chicken scratch at Tractor Supply… about 12” square and heavy. The girls work on this a little each day. I let my hens free range and am greatly amused by such games as “corn cob keepaway” and our evening “chicken stroll” when they get to hunt for food in the front yard. My hens come up on the back deck twice a day and knock on the door to get treats. Yeah. Apparently Ive been quite trainable. Oddly enough, my dog also loves those dried meal worms & soldier fly larva. 🐓🐓🐓
We just started raising chickens this year, and we've been using a deep litter system. It's working great so far.
And yes, "Madder than a wet hen" is a real thing LOL. They definitely prefer to stay dry. :)
The eyebolt and carabiner idea is fantastic! It would have worked perfect for a little pumpkin I got my chicks the other day! You could do cabbage that way too!! Thanks, I will be putting one of those together tomorrow!
I'll try cabbage!!
@@epichomesteading yes, almost everything folks typically grow anyway is also a treat for the birds. With a small flock you never really have any "waste" from the garden. About 90% of it is dealt with by the chickens, and they do the work of turning the compost for you.
The ad at the end of this video for me was a cooked chicken on a table, so it went Budda and then cooked chicken... My wife and I lost it 😂
The hanging corn is sort of the chicken version of bobbing for apples...very seasonal!🍁🍂🍁
Yes, chickens and rabbits love seasonal treats just as much as people do! Come spring/early summer when the clover is growing fast, that becomes a staple of our rabbits' diet. Right now our chickens are eating a lot of pumpkin and squash, and some apples now and then. (we do take the seeds out of the apples)
Chickens are literal tiny dinosaurs and I love them so much. 😆
My Gram taught me to keep a hen from setting, 'broody', you put her in a box like the old milk delivery boxes which are dark but they can breathe. Put the hen in a dark box for at least 24 hours and it resets their clocks. It works , try it.
"Straight from the streets of Bulgaria" Haha. Omg. I'm dying😂
3:34
You could say that the scrubbing cob had a kernel of truth to it? 😂
I'll see myself out now, thank you.
EPIC chicken content thank you Kevin, Jacques and EG team!
I have a RIR who gets broody from time to time and whenever I would go check on her, all I ever try to do is connect with her and practically say the same thing, so I love hearing you say that to Butter!!
“Detritus” 😂😂 I wondered if Kevin would mention Jacques’ word choice 😂
You did a great job removing the detritus. 😁
Please give those girls a bigger run. They deserve it. ❤
You guys are adorable!! Kevin, how into the garden and chickens is your girlfriend? scale of 1-10? That's so sweet that she built them a little playground. Nice to see that you care so much about their quality of life
She loves the chickens, the garden she likes but spends a bit less time doing that!
I really love seeing more chicken updates keep up the good work ❤️
Did your back neighbour put up another fence behind that concrete fence? Lol he must just looooove what you're doing... (no worries: we do!)
To lessen the dust flying everywhere, you can add rice husk in their grazing area and add additional pole or sticks they can climb on or perch to.
In winter you can deep liter and compost to help keep the flor and coop warmer.
Yep. Our chickens like to nestle right down in the deep mulch when it's either really hot or real cold.
My buff orpington is the one who goes broody too. I have seen the other girls literally just squat on top of her and lay their eggs on her 😂
you two are so dorky! this video was so much fun
Add diatomaceous earth to dusting bath box to help control mites
I love the medal gear solid "gotcha" noise
Y'all inspired me to give my coop a little spray down before the fall rains set in tomorrow. The girls are currently not happy with me...or you. ;)
"She's all buttered up"
*breathing intensely*
Butter may also move eggs from other boxes. Our buff had done that. Our boxes are vertical too, but somehow he manages moving eggs.
One of these days Jacque should pull a solid snake and sneak around in a box during the intro. Extra props if you can get away with sneaky watering without breaking.
It would be a smart move to take advantage of stubborn hens who want to sit on eggs by giving them a few fertilized eggs. Pretty sure you can handle a baby chick or two. Maybe a duckling...?
My buff orp has actually never gone broody BUT I have a little silkie who literally goes broody like clockwork every couple months!
You two guys are hilarious. I love watching your channel.
We tried a swing too because we saw a post somewhere how much their chickens "loved" it. Ours avoided it like it was fox in their yard!
would love to see a video on mango tips and care on growing there at the homestead
Yesss! Jacque, you are speaking my language. I have said detritus for years! 🤣😜
Hahaha yess. I'm obsessed with chicken content!
Try a frozen water bottle w/ butta. It helps break brooding.
Hit it with the corn cob❤❤
A girlfriend!?! Aww!! So happy for you! 🥰
Was having a bad day until I saw you uploaded. Turned my frown upside down 😊
😂😂 Is that a new Breed in There? Way to start a video!
Love the chickens! It’s hard to concentrate with that bag of hemp sitting there while you power wash. Lol.
No room in my yard for🐔🐔🐔but thanks for sharing!
Nice 😎!
Have you tried screwing a whole cabbage onto the eye hook with the screw? So fun!! Coop looks amazing btw!
😁🤣😂... Momma B wins! My coop is cleaned daily. Okay, I have an automatic system in place, but I also have over 300 laying hens. (No we don't sell eggs.) They have a fenced and covered, 20 acre outside play ground too. 😁👍
Detritus is really an underrated word 😌
Detritus is a wonderful word! haha
Love the chicken updates! What is the nesting material u guys r using?? I’m having a hard time finding usable hay/straw at my location! Thanks!!
Check the diescription!
We get fresh woodchips from a local tree-trimming crew. Not plain chipped wood like pine shavings, but rather the small branches and leaves.
It's free for us and the crew is happy because they don't have to take it all to the dump. The chickens love it.
There are certain types of trees that aren't great for the birds, so you can look that up.
Telling them to go to the other side had me chuckling hard enough to shack the cat on my lap.
Nice job!!! A dookie trailer is no place for a chickie
We need more chicken videos 😁✌️
Have to take broody chickens off nest every time you find her on nest
Yeah, but you have no rooster, so nothing happening there! Take the eggs out from underneath her and she'll eventually come to her senses. There's no dust reducing bedding in the outdoor portion, so the entire coop becomes a dust bath area for them. Recommend wood shavings or chopped straw for the outdoor coop section, and add a 3'x3' tub with sand for the dust bath. That would help keep the dust down.
Tryin'!
Had chickens when I was very young & lived near the beach with a sandy backyard. The chickens loved to dig and bath daily in the warm sand.😁
@@annakramar5088 My comments were directed as to recommending a solution to minimize dust, but still allowing them to dust bathe. The soil in his coop is much too fine causing a tremendous amount of dust, including dust with manure in it, not a healthy situation for both chickens and humans in close quarters....his house is right next to the coop. 😁
@@tannenbaumgirl3100 I totally agree with you. I was reminiscing. I had a chicken just like Butter called Elizabeth (no rooster) she would sit on her eggs & brood. When you tried to remove the eggs she would fluff up, growl, peck & flap her wings hitting you, even if you so much as looked at her.😁
2:00 man that powerwasher sounds weak, whats the PSI on it?
Ok, who else had to look up “Detritus”?! 🎃
Pro tip… wear long pants, boots and eye protection anytime you use a pressure washer. You run that thing across your bare leg or foot and it injects water into your skin, can cause serious infection. You run it across your or someone else’s face by accident it will severely damage the eyes. No joke.
More chicken videos please!
Jacques, I bet you're a big Brandon Sanderson fan. He uses detritus a lot.
Why don't you remove chickens first?
Either give Butter some fertilized eggs to hatch out, or break her broodiness. Else she will never stop and her health will deteriorate.
💜💜
The chicken coop poop scoop.
I really want chickens but I’m intimidated by their needs and my lack of knowledge 🐥🐥🐥
Don't be alarmed, just do some reading. You can keep it pretty simple and not spend a ton of money.
Remember, chickens have been living merrily with humans for many centuries. And the vast majority of those people didn't have chicken wire or store-bought feed or all that modern stuff... in many cases all over the world that's still true today.
If you give them a basic shelter, fresh food and water, and hopefully some room to run around, chickens more or less take care of themselves. They know what to do 🙂
Aww, don’t be intimidated! Watch a bunch of videos and do some reading. They need a safe place to roost, thick roosting bars, room to move around and scratch, sand for dust baths, water and some chicken feed. They are a pleasure to own and fun to watch.
Are you using their poop as compost in your garden?
Eventually! Still collecting
Have you had to deal with any mites yet?
When do we get to meet The Epic Girlfriend?? 😀
Butter would have laid and hatched anyone's eggs! She'd be a surrogate mother! Will you ever let her or the others have chicks?
Kicking her out of her nest really ticked her off! 🤣
Why don't you ever grow Mushrooms? Would be really interested to see you have a crack !
Jaques has grown mushrooms! He has a video or two about it on his channel
Nice job on cleaning. 😂😂😂😂
i just cleaned my yesterday, and i felt like i was gonna suffocate from the smell. toxic chemicals.
Super silly to buy coop bedding IMO. You have to recycle cardboard anyway so I shred it and use that. Shredded cardboard also composts easily.
Yeah, it can get a little... extravagant with some people. I've seen some channels and post where people are spending WAY too much just on bedding. And that's unfortunate because then they often start counting eggs, compared to how much they're spending on all sorts of stuff, and they give up :/
I also use the hemp. The beauty of the hemp is the absorption and lack of odor. I’ve got 7 months without without coop odor - that works for me. Options for bedding are many and yes, cardboard is a great material for composting. 👍🏻
🌽 😂
Thanks as always for the content, but um gloves???? Eesh - chickens are gross (we have a bunch so….).
Shouldn't you wear a face mask to protect yourself from the dust?
Probably!