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  • From: Harvey Ussery <huboxwood@earthlink.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Live-away poultry care (was: Harvey's Boxwood page)
  • Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 15:02:05 -0500

is it your opinion that someone needs to be present
every day to care for the poultry? the way our
project will proceed, it won't be a homestead at
first, so there won't be constant caretaking for any
poultry there, although i would be sure to have
housing for them before trying to start any flock...
anyone else have any suggestions on this question?

bobby g

Bobby, I've never had to put this to the test, but I gave it a lot of thought when a friend with a weekend place in the country considered it. I think it's do-able--maybe. Whether you are there or not, the birds have to be protected from predators (and the neighbor's dog may be the worst predator of all). Some people allow free-ranging in the day, shut up at night, and do okay with escaping predation. That's not an option for you. So to make it work, you'd have to have either a predator-proof conventional fence for the outdoor run (remember that a number of your potential predators are diggers)--BTW, I don't like conventional static fencing and urge you to avoid it if you can--or use electronet fencing, which would be my choice.

If you have electricity on the place, you can run the electric fence from household current. Otherwise, solar-powered units with backup battery are available and should do the job for you.

So if you've covered protection with electronet, and have decent housing [could have just a little pop-hole for the birds if nights are cold], then your main concern is adequate water and food for the week or whatever you're going to be away. Automated watering is easy to set up if you have electricity/pressurized water. If you have natural water on the place, just divert some to be available to the flock 24/7.

That leaves feed. You can get big hoppers that are both protected from the weather if outside, and will hold a week's worth of feed for any size flock. I would opt for placement outside. I don't like free choice feeding inside--it's a way of saying to the rodents "Be fruitful and multiply!"

Could be a problem with eggs: If left in the nest a week, there will get to be a lot of them in each nest. That's when you get breakage, then egg eating, a habit which, once learned, is hard to break.

Is there a nearby neighbor who'd be willing to come over to do a little light daily maintenance--once you're set up, just *minutes* per day--in exchange for the best eggs she's ever eaten? Might be your best solution.

See my "Managing Poultry on Pasture with Electronet" (Backyard Poultry April/May 06) and "In the Shadow of the Hawk," re our experiences with predators over two decades (BYP, Oct/Nov 06). Both will be up on the revised edition of the website, coming soon to a computer near you.

~Harvey in northern VA
www.themodernhomestead.us



  • [Livingontheland] Live-away poultry care (was: Harvey's Boxwood page), Harvey Ussery, 01/27/2007

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