Washingtonians - Page 7583  

After acquiring new birds, how long do you guys keep them in the coop/run area before letting them free-range with the rest of the flock? I haven't wanted to let Ricky or Princess out yet because I'm worried they don't know where their home is and could get lost. Thoughts?

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a wonderful day to be neighbors, would you be mine, would you be mine. Won't you be my neighbor!!!

Not sure if I remembered the words to that right but oh well. It is so nice out!

 To those with sick chickens I really hope they get better fast and even more so for those who have sick kids I hope they get better even faster.

 All the chicks you guys have are so darn cute, way to cute for words. Great job on the hatches guys.

 Alright, so yesterday I went and got my turkeys!!! But did not have time to build the coop for them yet so that is my number one thing to do today. Woke up in a great mood today and ready to get stuff done, then realized that that I had some pressure in my mouth and looked in the mirror, yeah the right side of my face is swollen. There is no pain, YET, but I don't have time to deal with it now anyways.

 So I have a question.... I am planning on building a 10x10 coop for the turkeys, but I am worried that this will not be big enough. Right now there are two Toms and two hens. What do you guys think? Bigger??? Also how do I introduce turkeys to each other???

Okay, thinking of getting a second incubator.....

But I'd need it and a turner within the next few days. I've had wonderful success with our Hovabator 1602N and turner, so I'd probably go with one of those or something equally successful. But I don't want to pay LOTS of money since I'll still need to pay for eggs 

Before I call stores or order online, does anyone have one??

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Originally Posted by FirewifeJess 

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Originally Posted by RonB 

 

Mine got a whole watermelon this afternoon 

All my girls shared half a head of cabbage and some shredded lettuce. Also some older chopped up tomatoes.

 

How do y'all give treats like that to your chickens? Throw it on the ground? Too messy to clean up after them. If I put it in a bowl, they still throw it all over the place. How to keep the mess contained when giving scraps so that rodents don't come for leftovers?

My girls got sliced canteloupe yesterday.  I get to pick up the rinds afterwards.  When I give my girls greens, veggies, salad mix of any kind I put it in a large suet cage (found in most garden departments by wild bird stuff).  My suet cage hangs from an S hook off the end of a chain suspended from the rafters of my coop with a molly screw.  It's a treat pinata.  They grab at the treats, the cage swings, someone inevitably gets conked in the head - it's great fun!

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Originally Posted by FirewifeJess 

Dave - thanks for all the thought provoking questions! Crop - when they wake up and I feeltheir necks, there's no bulge or anything to speak of. After they've eaten anything at all, I can feel a bulge, however large, and it's usually pretty hard feeling but the stuff inside moves around if I press or squeeze gently. 

 

As for neighbor kids and injury...I haven't let them come back to see the chickens. William hasn't attempted to kick another chicken since you left, either (the spankings 2 days in a row seemed to get through)!   Princess is actually one of my new birds that I got on Saturday after you guys left. That's why I think maybe she just stressed out big time and got sick with something. Cocci seems likely because of her poop. This morning she wasn't gaping her mouth, I don't think worms if they aren't likely in Western WA and since she's still only 10 weeks old. She truly seems exactly like the type of bird who will stress out and get sick though, she's a very sweet girl but I could visibly see that she missed her old home. She was so sad and sough out my attention right away!

Jessica, how's Princess doing this morning?  I hope she's on the upswing.

What is with kids and chickens anyway?  Good grief, the day we picked up our coop mine got so out of hand, it nearly sent me into shock.  Granted, they had never seen a rooster, and it crowed.  Next thing I knew, I had two boys chasing a rooster through a huge field.  I was so embarrassed!  I made my three kids draw and write cards of apology for the guy.  Then we had long, long discussions about never, ever doing that to an animal again and how scary and dangerous it is for the animal.  Thankfully the guy who made the coop was very good-natured about it.  He even chuckled when the rooster crowed after he escaped the two-legged predators.  Honestly, I think seeing a farm, with so many animals, overwhelmed the boys.  Plus, they thought the barn was the coolest building ever.  It made me realize my city kids need to see the country more.  The crazy thing is - they have never chased our chickens, so I'm not exactly sure why that rooster got them so riled up. 

I don't think they'll pull that stunt again.  At least I certainly hope not.  I didn't take a chance when I stopped by to pick up the incubators from Chubby Chicken.  I told them if they stepped one foot out of the van, they'd lose all electronic privileges for the entire summer.  Thankfully, they didn't test me on that - they stayed put.

So Jessica... I've been reminding my kids that you have more chickens than we do, and they better not get overly excited by them when we visit.  I'm hoping, by the time we come visit you, I will have it completely drilled it into their heads that they will not touch, or pick up or chase a single chicken of yours.    If they do anything you don't want them to, just tell them to stop.  I will back you on it.  They are pretty good at listening if someone asks them not to do something.  If I tell them not to do something, please don't say "oh, that's OK if they do that."   When people do that, it causes more problems than its worth.  I think that added to the problem at the farm.  They had walked into the barn, and I had told them to stay out and get back into the van.  The guy had said "Oh, that's OK."  Things went downhill pretty fast after that.  In their minds, the guy who owned the farm trumped mom's request.

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Originally Posted by FirewifeJess 

After acquiring new birds, how long do you guys keep them in the coop/run area before letting them free-range with the rest of the flock? I haven't wanted to let Ricky or Princess out yet because I'm worried they don't know where their home is and could get lost. Thoughts?

I read up on that because we'll soon be introducing a new coop.  I have read in more than one place to keep them in the coop for a week so they have time to associate it as their new home.  Our coop will will have a run attached, so I won't actually keep them in the "coop" part of it - they'll have access to the run.  But, I don't think I'll allow them to free-range that first week.

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Originally Posted by itsren 

 

Jessica, how's Princess doing this morning?  I hope she's on the upswing.

 

What is with kids and chickens anyway?  Good grief, the day we picked up our coop mine got so out of hand, it nearly sent me into shock.  Granted, they had never seen a rooster, and it crowed.  Next thing I knew, I had two boys chasing a rooster through a huge field.  I was so embarrassed!  I made my three kids draw and write cards of apology for the guy.  Then we had long, long discussions about never, ever doing that to an animal again and how scary and dangerous it is for the animal.  Thankfully the guy who made the coop was very good-natured about it.  He even chuckled when the rooster crowed after he escaped the two-legged predators.  Honestly, I think seeing a farm, with so many animals, overwhelmed the boys.  Plus, they thought the barn was the coolest building ever.  It made me realize my city kids need to see the country more.  The crazy thing is - they have never chased our chickens, so I'm not exactly sure why that rooster got them so riled up. 

 

I don't think they'll pull that stunt again.  At least I certainly hope not.  I didn't take a chance when I stopped by to pick up the incubators from Chubby Chicken.  I told them if they stepped one foot out of the van, they'd lose all electronic privileges for the entire summer.  Thankfully, they didn't test me on that - they stayed put.

 

So Jessica... I've been reminding my kids that you have more chickens than we do, and they better not get overly excited by them when we visit.  I'm hoping, by the time we come visit you, I will have it completely drilled it into their heads that they will not touch, or pick up or chase a single chicken of yours.    If they do anything you don't want them to, just tell them to stop.  I will back you on it.  They are pretty good at listening if someone asks them not to do something.  If I tell them not to do something, please don't say "oh, that's OK if they do that."   When people do that, it causes more problems than its worth.  I think that added to the problem at the farm.  They had walked into the barn, and I had told them to stay out and get back into the van.  The guy had said "Oh, that's OK."  Things went downhill pretty fast after that.  In their minds, the guy who owned the farm trumped mom's request.

Bleh. I hate when people do that!! I consider myself a pretty strict parent because I don't want my kids growing up the way I see most kids: NO boundaries and a HUGE sense of entitlement. That's not us. If my kids don't obey me or DH (regardless of what others say they can do), they are disciplined immediately no matter the circumstances. It's a huge inconvenience sometimes but they're worth it

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Originally Posted by FirewifeJess 

Bleh. I hate when people do that!! I consider myself a pretty strict parent because I don't want my kids growing up the way I see most kids: NO boundaries and a HUGE sense of entitlement. That's not us. If my kids don't obey me or DH (regardless of what others say they can do), they are disciplined immediately no matter the circumstances. It's a huge inconvenience sometimes but they're worth it

Speaking of that...I think I kinda shocked Debbie and Dave the first night they were at our house when I marched over to William and popped him on the behind for attempting to kick a chicken.   And then the little booger did it again the next day. I think he was just testing ME though, because there were other people around and he didn't think I would discipline him in front of them.

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Originally Posted by SadieSue 

My suet cage hangs from an S hook off the end of a chain suspended from the rafters of my coop with a molly screw.  It's a treat pinata.  They grab at the treats, the cage swings, someone inevitably gets conked in the head - it's great fun!

Mine do to, it's pretty funny.  The crazy thing my trio does though - one will pull out a piece of whatever is in it - but do you think each will grab their own?  No.  They have to chase each other around to see if they can steal it from each other.  After it finally gets eaten, one of the birds will go back to the suet feeder and grab something else.  The process goes on and on.  At the end of the day, they've spent a lot of energy chasing each other for the treat in the other chicken's mouth, and the suet feeder is almost always still half full!

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Originally Posted by FirewifeJess 

Speaking of that...I think I kinda shocked Debbie and Dave the first night they were at our house when I marched over to William and popped him on the behind for attempting to kick a chicken.   And then the little booger did it again the next day. I think he was just testing ME though, because there were other people around and he didn't think I would discipline him in front of them.

Mine will test us, too.  Ours are older (10 and 7-year-old twins).  We use a "sentence" notebook.  They get the lovely privilege of practicing their handwriting quite often.  We have no problem making them stop what they're doing and write sentences - even if they end up missing out on an activity.  We used to be Camp Fire USA leaders, and I know a couple of times, parents were a little shocked that our own kids missed out on the activities of the meeting because they were sent to write sentences.  We know that it is common for leader's kids to act up (in any kid's org), so we've had to be very proactive in making them realize that when mom and dad are leading something, they need to show us the exact same level of respect they'd show a teacher at school.