We moved our six week old chicks to the freshly installed "apartment" in the coop. The big girls are used to the apartment wall since we installed it several weeks ago. However, tonight will be the first night that the apartment will have residents in it. I'm very happy with how it turned out...
Are nibblers the same as poultry nipples? If so, I've used them from the first day with my chicks. My hens have a five gallon bucket with three nipples, so I wanted the new girls to get it from the start. All you have to do to "train them" is tap the nipple a few times to get their attention...
I purchased them as "pullets", breed unknown, 2 days old. They were yellow with varying degrees of two brownish strips on their backs. I posted on here and a couple people said they looked like Red Stars, so I'm not positive on that.
She (?) is 5 1/2 weeks old and I'm confused by the feathers sticking up near the tail/lower back. I have another chick who sometimes has feathers sticking up like this but sometimes they are laid down. This particular chick, those feathers are always fluffed up like this.
I believe this is a first egg from our barred rock, the only other near ready to lay is an Ameraucana. I've read that first eggs can, and often are, irregular and can be misshapen along with a variety of other abnormalities including discoloration. These spots are textured, meaning they are...
My chickens free range in a tractor that regularly gets moved so they have fresh "pasture". I can't possibly send off what they eat to a lab to be tested. The feed I mix is more of a supplement to the rest of what they eat than the other way around.
...vs pellets/crumble. For my girls, there is an undeniable difference though. They go through the pellets/crumble MUCH faster than the same weight in whole grain feed. That coupled with the fact that I know *exactly* what goes into their feed, makes it worth my time and effort for me and my girls.
@MeepBeep - I have done a day or two, and end up caving out of guilty feelings that I'm "starving" my girls! The way they attack the feeder when I pour feed in, you'd think they were starving! Even though they have plenty of grass, worms, etc in their mobile tractor run space... on top of the...
I make my own feed (oat groat, wheat berries, split peas, lentils, flax seed, sesame seed, etc) and whole corn is one of the ingredients. My girls are 5 months old and they consistently leave the corn in the feeder, picking out everything else. I realize during the summer it's just an...
bigmrg74 - Regarding your question about the direction of pull for the wheels, that all depends on the direction you plan to move your tractor once the wheels are engaged. We have ours the same as it looks like in notiones pictures, our handle rests towards the run end of the tractor when the...
We added the 2x2 support for the wheel handle when it is in the lifted position. Due to the weight, the wheels would bow out and the handle would lean into the wire. Depending on where we were trying to move, the wheels could bow out far enough that it was difficult to move at all, such as...
It works, FINALLY!!! Thank you so much, Notiones, for posting the pictures and information about your wheels.
Years after the original posting, this thread helped me complete the mobile piece of our tractor. After three different types of wood paddles (designs found various places on the...
Thanks for the response! I looked online and it appears that Home Depot carries the square metal tubing and will cut to length for you. They should also have the cobalt drill bit I'll need to drill the holes. I probably have more trial and error cost in these wheels than I would have spent just...
Notiones - <edited> Nevermind, I see it sold as a kit on the site you already linked.
I've tried this same type assembly using a wooden paddle type arm and it's just not strong enough. I'm not sure where to get metal arms with holes in them for the bolts, without having to buy an entire kit (I...
Hrmm... I've seen many posts on here saying that chickens can't see in the dark.
Today it's 74 degrees in their coop, and the same thing happened at dark. They all went inside the coop, and were laying at the door looking out. I closed the door and they huddle together in the corner. Not piled...
I have six chicks that are 7 weeks old, living outside in a tractor for 2 weeks now. The first couple of days they were kept confined in the coop, and around the third night they started sleeping on the roost, right under the heat lamp (lows were in the 20's and 30's their first week). Once we...
If I'd read the paperwork that came with them (before I posted the first time), I'd have known that they were all 5 weeks old with the exception of the Silver Laced Wyandotte who was 6 weeks old, on Monday when they were shipped. I still intend on providing the heat lamp on nights that get cold...