Arkansas folks speak up.........

[Hooligans7]

Well in response that is a little more then our feed runs us here in Rockford, Il. but we not terrible. I actually have my whole flock NPIP certified so no worries there just need to see about transferring that to Arkansas. We will be in Izard county just outside of Oxford. Yes we have a bunch of birds all Heritage no hatchery stock and actully will probably be selling off the majority of our adult flock. We do a lot of hatching and hoping to grow our chicken business a bit bigger. We currently have about 100 adult birds and have about 3 dozen eggs hatching this week needless to say we will stop setting about 3 weeks before we move our bators (each one has a 600 egg capacity). So that is a short run down on us. With 64 acres I think we may not out grow our property looking forward to a large garden and just enjoying the isolation. I will also be continuing my schooling when I get there so should be interesting.

Welcome to the county, neighbor! Oxford is just about 16 miles west of our place. A local source for heritage-breed chicks would be great. My neighbor up the road was our "chicken mentor," and his flock of 16 is getting quite elderly — some are going on 7 years old.
Anyway, best of luck with the move and I hope the weather cooperates so you can get settled in quickly and easily.

 

[Ljromine]

Good Morning Arkansas!
Just joined BYC.
I'm south of Conway outside Mayflower.
Just started raising 4 chickens for eggs.

 

[Hooligans7]

Good Morning Arkansas!
Just joined BYC.
I'm south of Conway outside Mayflower.
Just started raising 4 chickens for eggs.

Welcome to BYC, Ljromine! Are your girls laying yet? What kind(s) are they? What sort of coop do you have? Are you supplementing their light during our short winter days?

 

[Ljromine]

Thank you for the welcome.
Yes my girls are laying, I got them from an acquaintance who needed to give 4 away together that were not getting along with her other flock. So I now have 4 barred rock hens about 1 year old and all are laying. I'm in the process of building a coop. I have a small coop that I ordered and put together but it was just not very user friendly. I posted a pic on the new member site of my progress - since I'm in to using old things I find to put in to the build. The fun thing so far about my new coop going up is that I have used an old double pained glass as my inner hen house wall. Now I have a chicken aquarium. LOL. At night it's a lot of fun and I call it the Red Light Chick District - with the heat lamp on. I am not using any other light but the heat lamp at night. Should I put in regular lights as well for the winter?

 

[Hooligans7]

Thank you for the welcome.
Yes my girls are laying, I got them from an acquaintance who needed to give 4 away together that were not getting along with her other flock. So I now have 4 barred rock hens about 1 year old and all are laying. I'm in the process of building a coop. I have a small coop that I ordered and put together but it was just not very user friendly. I posted a pic on the new member site of my progress - since I'm in to using old things I find to put in to the build. The fun thing so far about my new coop going up is that I have used an old double pained glass as my inner hen house wall. Now I have a chicken aquarium. LOL. At night it's a lot of fun and I call it the Red Light Chick District - with the heat lamp on. I am not using any other light but the heat lamp at night. Should I put in regular lights as well for the winter?

Funny! Now when I forget to close my curtains at night I'll say, "I feel like a chicken in a fish bowl."
Laying hens need a minimum of 14 hours of light to keep laying consistently, so a programmable electric timer is very convenient and works well for that purpose. I divide the additional light between morning and evening — on at 5:30 a.m., off at 9 a.m.; then on again at 4 p.m. and off at 7:30 p.m. The routine works well for our little flock (three BR hens, two BSL hens, and one BR rooster). Do whatever works best for you and your hens, as long as it's consistent. Chickens love dull routines!

 

[Ljromine]

Thanks Hooligans7, so is this in addition to the red heat lamp - regular white lights with a timer right?

 

[Hooligans7]

Thanks Hooligans7, so is this in addition to the red heat lamp - regular white lights with a timer right?

Yes, that's right. Mount it up in the ceiling. A 60-watt incandescent bulb or 13-watt Compact Fluorescent Lamp will do the job. Your hens will think the day is longer that way and keep laying. Mount your timer in a convenient location for you — a place that's easy to access for adjustments.
Incidentally, hens that are one year old are full grown, so a heat lamp isn't necessary. You might take a look at them when the heat lamp is on to see if they're enjoying it or running for the cooler corners.

 

[Ljromine]

Awesome! Thanks. I did not know that about the heat lamp. I'll keep any eye on them and see how they are acting around it.

 

[nayeli]

Well in response that is a little more then our feed runs us here in Rockford, Il. but we not terrible. I actually have my whole flock NPIP certified so no worries there just need to see about transferring that to Arkansas. We will be in Izard county just outside of Oxford. Yes we have a bunch of birds all Heritage no hatchery stock and actully will probably be selling off the majority of our adult flock. We do a lot of hatching and hoping to grow our chicken business a bit bigger. We currently have about 100 adult birds and have about 3 dozen eggs hatching this week needless to say we will stop setting about 3 weeks before we move our bators (each one has a 600 egg capacity). So that is a short run down on us. With 64 acres I think we may not out grow our property looking forward to a large garden and just enjoying the isolation. I will also be continuing my schooling when I get there so should be interesting.

Nice! What made you decide to move here?

 

[sasimpson77]

Nice! What made you decide to move here?

We have out grown our current property and I am not comfortable with the town we live next too and tired of nosy neighbors also want to grow my chicken business and have a garden. We are going to be rebuilding all of our coops from scratch too far to move our existing coops anybody know a good source for wooden shipping crates or pallets? How about lumber where is the best place to get affordable lumbar we are going to be scrambling when we get there have found a place to keep the horses to buy us a few weeks while we build the horse corral and chicken coops who do you contact for NPIP in Arkansas. Looking for all the information I can get.