Colorado

[gregrich]

pueblo

 

[suncatcher]

I'm having a heck of a time with my intergration! My rooster is still brutal towards the younger batch. They've been in the coop with a divider for about 10 days now and still cant get along.

I built a platform, the smaller ones can get under it, but the bigger ones can't. Not sure if it will work for you, but it might.

Hello to all the newbies, this thread is hopping!!

 

[suncatcher]

Did I mention I have 21 chicks, not the 14 I was expecting? I may go get that stock tank, if it's still available. My bathroom is starting to smell (despite daily cleaning)....

Been there, and done that!!! LOL

The smell does go away fairly quickly, once they are moved out.

 

[jgurshtein]

We worked on the run (sounds like a typical activity this weekend!) all weekend. I didn't have a hammer mishap (ouch, so sorry to hear that) but even with sun screen, I am feeling the burn. We used hardware cloth on the bottom portion with an apron and it turned out really nice. We used chicken wire on the top portion and we decided we hate it! It just looks so messy next to the hardware cloth. We are going to replace it with hardware cloth (need to pick some more up at Stockyards next weekend). The top of our run is a shade cloth which does an amazing job of cooling the area down. The coop is 6x6 and the covered run is 18x15. We also added pine park to the run.

Here is a picture of the girls checking out the run area for the first time. (Ignore that we have not completed all the trim work on the coop). We have been working on this project for 7 weeks and it feels like it will never be done!

We also spent the entire day working on the chicken run. I had planned for us to put up all the roofing rafters, roof hardware cloth (in some areas), and suntuf panels (in other areas) today. We only got the rafters done! But we started early and finished late and worked hard... apparently I just had greater faith in what we could do than what we could actually do. I, too, feel that this project will never be done! And I'm ok with that, as long as the birds are no longer in my house!! I set up a temporary pen and let the girls just be outside for a few hours today. They seemed happy up until it got WAY TOO HOT! I knew it wasn't that hot, but they were panting and fluffing their feathers out to cool off and I'd had my fill of making sure no one had figured out how to get out of the pen.... so I put them back in their fully enclosed box in the nice cool house. I like to think they enjoyed their foray and they also enjoyed being back 'home' and in a cooler spot. Given that it's still only April and it was pretty darn hot... I'm thinking of investing in some of that shade cloth for the run, as well!

 

[kmatt87]

does anyone know the right dosage of tetracycline for 1 bird? My california white developed a severe case of bumble foot so she had surgery tonight...there was an infection between 2 of her 4 toes and the stuff was the size of an almond in each! Then the pad of her foot had infection the size of at least 2 1/2 almonds! yuck. It took me 2 hrs to get thru. She's got a heavy dose of neosporin, is wrapped and currently in a rubber maid tub in the bathroom. I just gave her some water tonight and I'll give some scrambled eggs with spinach tomorrow. Up until tonight she was eating, drinking and laying just fine. Hopefully that continues during her week long stay in the house. lol

 

[Pozees]

does anyone know the right dosage of tetracycline for 1 bird? My california white developed a severe case of bumble foot so she had surgery tonight...there was an infection between 2 of her 4 toes and the stuff was the size of an almond in each! Then the pad of her foot had infection the size of at least 2 1/2 almonds! yuck. It took me 2 hrs to get thru. She's got a heavy dose of neosporin, is wrapped and currently in a rubber maid tub in the bathroom. I just gave her some water tonight and I'll give some scrambled eggs with spinach tomorrow. Up until tonight she was eating, drinking and laying just fine. Hopefully that continues during her week long stay in the house. lol

The stuff I have is a 6.4 oz packet of powder that you mix into 25 gallons to reach a 400 mg dose per bird, then they get it 7-14 days. Since there is no way I would use up 25 gallons of water in 2 weeks, and it really should be mixed fresh daily to keep the drug working properly, I divided it up into 25 pretty equal baggies and then mix one per day into a fresh gallon of water. It is kind of tedious especially when you're only treating one, but it should be close enough to the correct dosage.

 

[Pozees]

Been there, and done that!!! LOL

The smell does go away fairly quickly, once they are moved out.

Yes, and adding fresh shavings every day will help as well.

 

[Pozees]

I built a platform, the smaller ones can get under it, but the bigger ones can't. Not sure if it will work for you, but it might.

Hello to all the newbies, this thread is hopping!!

Great suggestion! I have seen on another thread someone using that no-dig fence as a barrier which the younger ones can get through and the older ones can't, which I thought was a good solution too. Haven't tried it yet but the concept is the same, give the little ones a place they can get into that the older ones can't, start them out in that space so they know where it is and they should be okay.

 

[wsmith]

Beautiful day, spent most of it working on the coop. Make a note do not pry a nail out of a pallet to close to you face. The nail finally released and the hammer slammed me in the cheek. You know, you really can see stars during the day? Went in for ice and amazingly so far my teeth are still there. War wounds of the chicken coop

OUCH! Glad there wasn't any major damage. I had a run-in with a shovel to the face last summer......

 

[wsmith]

We worked on the run (sounds like a typical activity this weekend!) all weekend. I didn't have a hammer mishap (ouch, so sorry to hear that) but even with sun screen, I am feeling the burn. We used hardware cloth on the bottom portion with an apron and it turned out really nice. We used chicken wire on the top portion and we decided we hate it! It just looks so messy next to the hardware cloth. We are going to replace it with hardware cloth (need to pick some more up at Stockyards next weekend). The top of our run is a shade cloth which does an amazing job of cooling the area down. The coop is 6x6 and the covered run is 18x15. We also added pine park to the run.

Here is a picture of the girls checking out the run area for the first time. (Ignore that we have not completed all the trim work on the coop). We have been working on this project for 7 weeks and it feels like it will never be done!

VERY nice!