Washingtonians - Page 7628  

Glad you found some eggs.  Good luck with your hatch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonB 

Thanks to  cflaming,  judges4 & Rainwolf   I do appreciate your offer of eggs to put under my Broody Java  I picked up some eggs from WA4-Hpoultrymom (Tamara) for TWO reasons !  (1) she lives the closes to me  (2) she had a lot of wyandotte eggs    I really would like to replace my poor little Ricky Retardo. who now is in chicken heaven ! even though that little bugger has cost me almost $10,000 in medical bills and lost wages I  LOVED the little guy !!!  so I'm hoping for another wyandotte roo

Im out of freezer space too.  Thinking about getting another!
 

OUCH!!! Poor Jack, it hurts just to look at him.

Just heard about this, Dr. Singbeil is a board certified poultry vet and has years of experience keeping birds. Free!

Please join us on July 14^th2012 at the Crossroads Mall 15600 NE 8^thStreet in Bellevue for a presentation by Dr. Bruce Singbeil on Urban Poultry Health at 11 AM. The presentation will be either in the Community Room or on the stage located inside near the food court.

This presentation will benefit those that are considering or are already raising chickens or other poultry in an urban environment. Discussion topics will cover the entire experience, including where to get chicks and how to raise them, poultry health concerns, feeds and nutrition, egg production, and how to avoid common mistakes. Your questions and participation are greatly appreciated as they will allow us to share our experiences.

Dr. Singbeil (most commonly known as Dr. Bruce), has over 25 years of experience raising poultry of all types. He has worked in twenty six countries as a board certified poultry veterinarian consulting on a wide range of concerns in the commercial poultry industry. Currently, Dr. Bruce raises poultry on his farm near Woodinville. He is the owner of Crossroads Vet, where he treats health issues for chickens and other poultry as well as a wide variety of other animals. Crossroads Vet is conveniently located at Crossroads Shopping Center next to PETCO.

Please email us at info@bellevuecrossoradsvet.com to RSVP as space is limited!

I put this on the chick and flock forums, but I figured I'd ask the WA experts, too.

We're starting a new flock of 100% English Orpingtons -- chocolate and blue/black/splash. We'll have chicks and hatching eggs, so there will be about a month or two differences in ages.

I have two enclosed coops with attached runs and an outdoor 4x8 brooder with a divider to make 2 4x4 compartments. For new hatchlings, I can use a plastic rubbermaid with lights in the garage. Free ranging isn't an option in our area with predators about. Obviously with this being a more expensive endeavor, we'll be selective about what roos we keep, so we'll need to keep the roos long enough to determine which we'd like to breed with.

What is the ideal way to do this?

How soon can I keep the babies in the brooder outside with a light (60/70's during the day and 45-55 at night)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cloverleaf Farm 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chicken Rustler 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chickielady 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Chicken Rustler 

Who said I am going to show.    

Me!    (though since I only told you that, I suppose it doesn't count....LOL)

OK OK OK Yes ya caught me but but do ya gotta be such a party pooooooper ?  ? ?

"How soon can I keep the babies in the brooder outside with a light (60/70's during the day and 45-55 at night)?" 

I usually wait till 5 or 6 weeks before mine get moved either to the coop or the barn.   If I try before that, they look huddled and cold.  But, my neighbor is allergic to chickens and puts hers in the barn in a dog cage under a heat lamp right from the feed store.  Use a thermometer to make sure they are warm enough and watch their behavior.  A tub with sides will help hold the heat also, I've seen the feed store keep their chicks in a shed with that setup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsren 

 

Yes, that does make sense.  We'll have to mess around out there and see what we can come up with.  Fortunately, we're building on the grass, and we plan to move everything into place, so we can continue working on the run while we try to figure out what to do with the ground.  My kids will have to walk their bikes through a thin area between the run and the house, we don't want any scratched up legs or popped tires.

 

 

My husband doesn't think we have mink here, but who knows.  We do have a raccoon and opossum problem.  We frequently see dead opossums in our neighborhood streets.   Do opossums dig, anyone know?

 

Chickielady, I think that's similar to what my husband was talking about doing.  My SIL gave us a huge roll of 1" chicken wire that had been left at her home by previous owners, which we are not using on the run or coop.  We have 1/2" hardware cloth for the run and 1/4" hardware cloth for the coop.  He was planning on cutting it to size, then putting a thin coat (1/2") of concrete mix over the top.  The wire would be the predator proofing and the concrete would keep the chickens from hurting their feet as they scratched and dug.  He planned to fill the floor back in with screened dirt and whatever ground cover we end up choosing.

 

Fortunately, digging out the area won't be too difficult.  It's more a matter of smoothing it out.  Whatever we choose, ground work has to be done.  There's a significant hole in the area already (which is what gave my husband the idea).  With our children's blessing, we reclaimed our children's digging area for the coop/run.  They actually had the area pretty well dug down because they were trying to dig to the other side of the world. 

ha ha ! One their way to China were they ?

So far, we have 3 coops, each is a duplex but one, which is a Triplex.

Each has a run & all 3 are different.

The last one we built is up off the ground, kinda on stilts, with area underneath for chooks to hang out & has a dust bath under there.

That is the best way to build  a coop !

The other two are inches off the ground on piers, which allows all sorts of critter to live underneath.

The surrounding pens aregreat to keep out possums & coons and yodel dogs and BobCats...but the rats can live UNDER those 2 coops, so that is why we buried deep wire.

But the Mink went down under it !   

And tried dragging a pullet with them.

Imagine seeing a hole under the deep wire with chooky feets sticking ot !

WTH ????????????  As if someone shot a chicken out of a cannon, straight down into the dirt along side the fence. 

Thus the concrete.

We simply dollied bags in, open the bags, and sifted a 2-3" "curb" ON/next to, the wire.

I will send ya pics if you want.

They (woozels) cannot dig through cement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cflaming 

"How soon can I keep the babies in the brooder outside with a light (60/70's during the day and 45-55 at night)?" 

 

I usually wait till 5 or 6 weeks before mine get moved either to the coop or the barn.   If I try before that, they look huddled and cold.  But, my neighbor is allergic to chickens and puts hers in the barn in a dog cage under a heat lamp right from the feed store.  Use a thermometer to make sure they are warm enough and watch their behavior.  A tub with sides will help hold the heat also, I've seen the feed store keep their chicks in a shed with that setup.

Mine, at 2 weeks old have a door that opens to the outside and can go in & out as they please, as they do with a broody hen.

Inside there is a heat lamp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Totalcolour 

If you look at the birds from the supermarket, or your own, you can see the little pointy bits on each wing. (Julia Childs call them nubbins)I just cut them off when I cook them.

X2