Recent content by afviolettes

I let them out for about 15 minutes earlier and they seemed to like it, we'll do it again here in a bit ... I usually just tear up the greens in pieces but I'll go get a head of cabbage and let them get after it. Thanks all for the tips and info.

The video doesn't do them justice, they all have pretty bright red combs. The youngest bird(s) in the flock are almost 24 weeks.

I didn't notice that before, was staring in the corner at the red! I'll take a look and see how's she doing. As far as toxin's in the feed, I give them the Purina Layena and I offer some Oyster Shell on the side. I mix in some grit in the food since we on occasion give them greens etc. As...

Thanks for the information - i'll check into the labs. The coop floor space is ~50sq/ft and the run area is ~350sq/ft.

We are in West Texas (Abilene). Yea, 2 huge 2'x2' windows. The first one that died, died overnight, and was fine until the went to roost ... the flock prevented her from getting on the roost, and she died overnight on the coop floor. This one was fine all morning - well up to the point she...

So we've had 2 chickens "just die" in the last 2 months (roughly a month apart). I say "just die" because they showed no outward systems of being ill and were running around with the flock, eating and drinking right before death. Both chickens were from the original 6 we bought (we have/had 15)...

@aart Yea ... i figured that ... hanging the lamp at least made the misses happy ...

@aart Looks like I maybe freaked out for nothing ... Currently 93% humidity and 42F outside ... The sensor is showing 43.5F and 91.4% humidity (and falling). This is with one of the windows open only, no heat on. Average temp last night was 38.7F, with as low as 33F and humidity average...

@aart So I picked up a nifty little sensor to track my temp and humidity - I hung it about 18 inches from the ceiling, midway, (so just shy of probably 5.5 feet there ceiling to floor). And inside temps held pretty much 2-3 degrees a higher than "outside" temps, but the humidity was high! It...

Mrs. K, My windows on are on the south side and my vents are on the north side. My nesting boxes are on the east side of the coop. I may have done a bad job of explaining that with the pictures. I haven't had any humidity issues thus far - the only "humidity" issue I have is a leaky water...

Blooie, Cool! I'll have to take a look - I assume your placement keeps it from getting wet etc ? That's my only fear. Is this something like what you have? http://mobilehomepartsstore.com/parts/250251.html Thanks. - Jason

Aart, What do you think about just barring open the windows a certain extend vice having them full blown open ? Essentially making the window create a wind break, where the wind would have to "bend" around the window itself (unlikely). Still probably need to add some upper airvents - just a...

Good idea! thanks! My kids call it the Chicken Mansion aart, thanks for those links - however - I was unable to open the video, gave me a warning about the video being private. I think I need to get in the coop the next time we have a southerly wind and see what it feels like it inside the...

Blooie, What kind of exhaust fan do you have ? I have two exhaust "windows" that could use some extra help i'm sure ... Thanks!

So ... I built my coop in the dead of Texas Summer, and the design we chose made sense with two 2' x 2' windows on the south side and two 18" x 12" vents on the north side. Quick coop run-down. It's ~400 sqft ground area with a ~50 sqft inside floor space (excluding nesting box spaces)...