Is it just me or everytime you say "chicken tender" I chuckle 🤣

I let my girls out of their run from time to time. I'm always with them and I put up a couple of umbrellas to help them feel safe and to have a place to hide if need be from hawks. They have so much fun and the way I lead them back to the coop (which technically is the henhouse and run put together) is I keep treats inside a tin can and shake it while walking to the coop. Then I throw some in and back they go. Will train my two week old chicks this method when it's time for them to join the older flock.

@realsimplemama

3 ай бұрын

Yes that’s a great idea! And with the umbrellas too. I have trained mine so well to come when I call (I have a video where I made them see me as their rooster) that it’s usually pretty easy. But it usually involves treat bribery too! 😁✌🏻❤️🐓

Just happens that we also let our chickens out. We got 300 ft of deer fencing and installed it around the existing perimeter fence of their regular run to make sort of a 'moat'. On the part that's open to the sky, I installed bunting/string flags zigzagging above the moat so it (hopefully) deters hawks. The rest of the moat has trees and bushes. We do this for 2 reasons: celebrate spring and their birth/hatch day (24 of them were hatched on 3/23/23...easy date to remember) and we cannot mow the grass in that area, they can. LOL. Question: what's the name of the barred rock? And your flock shrunk to just 3 ladies! Where are the others (I knew some of them passed but I thought you had more to take their places.)

@realsimplemama

3 ай бұрын

That’s a great idea too! Gracie is my barred rock. Yes after I lost my last one I decided not to add to this flock anymore as we plan to move in a year or two. So I’ll keep these three girls happy so it’ll be easier for us to relocate when we’re ready! ✌🏻❤️🐓

Yeah! I do supervised "field trips" as my partner doesn't want the whole yard taken over by the chickens haha. They get a daily field trip and they LOVE the grubs they get. I've trained them with a vocal cue to head back to the coop. I love this video, thank you so much for sharing

@realsimplemama

3 ай бұрын

Sounds like you’re already doing a great job! I did the same thing, got tired of them destroying and pooping on everything and I can keep them safer in their own space. ✌🏻❤️🐓

Great video. Thanks!

I've only let my 7 hens out for short supervised visits a handful of times. Our neighbor has dogs that are escape artists, we have buzzards, hawks etc around and live next to a road. I can't just free range like so many do, because I don't want to lose them. I'm very protective, but I know they would rather be out grazing. 🤷🏼‍♀️

@realsimplemama

3 ай бұрын

Ugh yes I know it can be difficult when you have so many challenges! Don’t stress, there are so many ways to give your flock a quality life. ✌🏻❤️🐓

Great video 😊

I try to do this but not as often as I wish I could cuz I get so stressed trying to make sure there are no hawks around. Lol how do you stay so calm knowing there’s a hawk in that tree so nearby cuz that’s how it is in my yard but I freak out haha 😅

@realsimplemama

2 ай бұрын

Hi! I have places throughout the yard that the chickens can run and hide; I have dogs as well (though they aren’t out at the same time). And I watch the skies too when I’m out there. ✌🏻❤️🐓

Long time watcher, first time commenter...I've been thinking about giving my girls a winter home on the sunny other side of the house, since when I built their run and coop it was summer so I put them on the shady side...when I let them out for "field trips" I have the only one of my dogs I can trust out there with them as a "chaperone" with me, hoping a hawk doesn't think it's worth chancing an encoutner with a pit bull to get a snack lol...I'm pretty sure we're in the same general area, do you have any recommendations on where to get chickens besides tractor supply and the independant feed stores around here?

@realsimplemama

3 ай бұрын

Hi! I have an idea - if you’re on Facebook (which I’m not or I’d help more!) there’s lots of amazing chicken groups locally. The San Antonio are one is awesome and you can always ask there for local recommendations. You can also get onto another site which is called The Barnyard I THINK which is an approved local buy and sell site. ✌🏻❤️🐓 I personally have only gotten rescues and neglected hens and haven’t bought chicks in years and I’m sure there are better options than TSC! 😏

@maggiemaypie

3 ай бұрын

@realsimplemama I'm not on fb either lol...my first chickens my ex got me at TS, the only one I've ever acquired on my own was a rescue, and that's my preference too!

Can chickens eat green wondering jew?

@realsimplemama

3 ай бұрын

Hi! Yes! ✌🏻❤️🐓

One more thing: I went out today and gave my chickens some scratch and noticed my chicken Hazel was limping. I got some warm water and a wash rag and washed off both of her feet and sure enough she has bumblefoot. I would say it's a mild case because it's not large or red. It has a small pimple on it. I put some bumblefoot spray and Neosporin and bandaged it and wrapped it. I watched one of your older videos and I will soak her foot in Epsom salt and rewrap it daily. In the meantime, I will have my husband redo the roosts because I wonder if it was too far up and she got injured. I'm concerned about her trying to jump up and down on the roost, so do you suggest that I put her in a cage on the ground of the coop at night? I don't want her trying to jump up when she's already limping.😢

@realsimplemama

3 ай бұрын

Hey there - I’d try to make her a lower roost bar so she can hop up gradually. Or even a ramp.

@ReeceS6419

3 ай бұрын

@@realsimplemama okay thank you so much! Just subscribed to your channel!

@realsimplemama

3 ай бұрын

You know, thinking more about it… if she is limping, but the injury on her foot does not seem severe, I would actually assume that she has sprained something, maybe even just a toe, but it could also be the ankle or the hip. If she is a larger chicken, if you know what I mean, then it is quite possible that she hurt herself hopping down. I’ve had to make my roost bars more like runs of a ladder so the chickens can go up and down shorter distances.

@ReeceS6419

3 ай бұрын

@@realsimplemama thank you for thinking about this. I just thought it was odd for her to be limping with a smaller pimple. If I knew how to attach a picture to show you I would. She's out there now nibbling on grass inside their chunnel. She holds her foot up like a flamingo. I went inside the coop to see what I thought my husband might be able to do and I thought about doing 3 wrungs for the roost. Right now they have one that is about 32 in off of the ground. I feel like a bad chicken mama. I'm going to inspect all of their feet later. I guess it could be something other than her foot but I'm still going to treat it like it's bumblefoot. She is an Easter egger of average size.🤷🏼‍♀️

@realsimplemama

2 ай бұрын

Oh no I’m so sorry I thought I replied to this already. I’m happy to help more and you can attach photos to an email to theMama@realsimplemama.com

We started with supervised field trips when they were little and in parallel trained them to respond to what I call the chicken remote 🤣 I have a little container of grain that I shake and call out ‘girrrrrlssss’…shake..shake…and they pretty much come and follow me. I always reward them with a little grain. It’s been the best training! They use to free range our 1 acre home but they were destroying all the gardens. We nick named them terrorists 😂 How can three little feet cause so much havoc?! We have Austaralorps, big breeds. Our neighbour has bantams and doesn’t experience the garden/lawn destruction that we do 😊 We have now settled on a 4 paddock/ area rotation system. We opted for a mobile chicken coop and electric fence system up front, it has worked really well. Like all systems it has it’s drawbacks but we now rotate the girls and boy, through the 4 zones. Every 4-6 weeks it’s moving time. The remaining 3 zones get to rest between 3-4 months. Early days but it’s working. Any area that chooks remain on will get depleted of everything. Resting areas and then letting them back in is a wonderful thing if you can wrangle it. It’s a work in progress. Ideally a centralised coop that has access to 4 zones would be ideal and then eliminate the need to move.

@realsimplemama

3 ай бұрын

This is awesome! What a great idea and I’m proud of you. Yes if you can make it work to rotate zones that can be a great solution. ✌🏻❤️🐓