Maine - Page 2

warren maine here.  hello mainers lets get a chicken swap going for us mainers.  must be some maine chicken lovers out there wanting to buy sell swap.

We are having one May 30 at the Oxford,Me Tractor Supply Co from 9-2. Seems like there will be a pretty good turnout, had a few calls, lots of comments so its looking like its going to be fun.
If you go into Chickenstocks and into the New England section of that, you will find bunches of them! Good luck!

Hey mmajw are you coming to Oxford???

There is also another Chickenstock in Parsonsfeild in June. We are working as fast as we can!!! Name a place, check with Chickn on the New England sites, and chickenstock site.
Keeping these things in a group keeps people less confused!

i am up in shin pond in northern maine.  i am currently building my coop and will insulate it for sure. not sure if i will use 4" or 6" walls.  the coop will be 6x6 with a 10x6 attached run...... overall dimensions 6x16.

i am liking this site alot !!

I'm in central maine and my coop is insulated with haybales stacked outside and inside around the edges. I also use a heat lamp on a timer and mine go out into a covered pen that I shovel the snow out and of course have a heated dog water bowl. I have a 2ndary door that they don't use in the winter and that is covered with cardboard and stuffed with hay inside the "walls".
can't wait to see everyone at chicken shows this summer.

I'm in Auburn Maine.

We built a 'green house' coop (identical to the 'garden shed' set up in home depot parking lot) only with a bigger window and a 'doggie door'.

half the roof is clear plastic so the snow slips off and they get plenty of sun and light. The coop temp was WAY warmer than outdoors. It was often 35 degrees when the outside world was zero. Of course once the weather warms to the 40's its time to make sure the doors and windows are open or you will cook your birds! We cover the clear roof in the summer so it no longer acts like a 'green house'.

We actually kept them in an actual greenhouse one winter- their water rarely froze!!!!

e

Wanted to bump this up to introduce myself.

I am in Poland. My 25 chicks should be arriving the week of Sept 21. I ordered them from McMurray.

We insulated our 10x10 coop. I plan on keeping the brooder in the coop from day 1. We got the heat lamp but will that be enough since it is starting to get into the 40's at night?

Hey guys, good to see new folks dropping by, I was crushed yesterday when my "Rosebud" CROWED!      holy hannah, why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Klevesque, if the brooder is smaller then the 10x10 a single heat lamp should work, but if you are using a single lamp in that large of a space I would get another. Could you section off part of it?  They probably wont be ready for all that space with a single bulb until they are 3 months and  then its pretty cold here in this great state. I run a single light in the winter each night if its going to below 25. Im in Orono.

I will be making the brooder about 4x4 or so inside the coop. So then a single heat lamp should work.

Yes, a single source should work fine in a 4x4 space.  Do you have a thermometer that will record high and low temperatures?  I think I picked mine up at WalMart for about $12 and it includes a remote sensor.  You could set up the thermometer on one side of the brooder and the remote sensor under the heat source and see how much the temperature fluctuates overnight.  Doing this before the chicks arrive will give a bit of peace of mind.

It has been my experience that the temperature guidelines 95 for the first week and 5 degrees lower every week after that are on the conservative side.  For sure they need to be in 90s the first week or two, but after that they can tolerate lower temperatures than the books will tell you.  I've had 4 week old chicks outside with no heat source in the spring when it was dropping into the high 40s at night.

I'm not suggesting that you throw them out into the cold, just that the published recommendations are on the conservative side.

I know many people (myself included) who don't provide any heat source during the winter (except to keep water from freezing) not even during record cold spells.  As long as your coop is draft free and your chickens are typical New England breeds, there's really no need for a heat source even on the coldest nights.

Tim