Coop Project: Maken the Plunge & Getting Chickens

[Rock Home Isle]

This weekend is Johnstown BBQ Days. We went to the community play last night; "The Floating Princess". Great performance.

Came home after dark and the chickens were all in the coop and the ducks were under the coop. Looks like the ducks have moved some dried grass clippings under the coop and made a little nesting area for themselves.

Things have been going very smoothly (knock on wood).

 

[GeneralJinjur]

Hey Denise,

Great to hear from you....thank you for posting. I hope that you are finding some nuggets of useful information...or at least you are finding it entertaining.

Both!

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Today was a great sunny warm day. Afternoon came and the skies got dark, then shortly the rain started coming down nice and heavy. Once the skies got dark the ducks and pullets went into the run so I went out and closed the gate to the run. The flock is sitting down there in the run right now softly quacking and clucking as the rain is coming down. Very nice.

Once the storm blows through I'll open the run and let them out for the rest of the evening.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I have always enjoyed Turkeys. To me they possess such interesting personalities. If you are looking for a text on domestic turkeys, here is a copy of a post that I made in another thread. It is solid information and I have included the contents in this thread for my own reference.

Sight Sexing turkeys is a method that involves a comparison between two poults as you hold them and compare them. While Sight Sexing the poults make sure that their eyes remain open. Look at the two directly head on; the tom will will have a slightly longer looking forehead making the top of the head appear longer and possessing a distinct oval shape. Once you've done Sight Sexing a few times with birds of known sex...then it is pretty easy to pick up a bird and accurately sex them by sight; over time your skill just gets better and more accurate to the point that when you pick up two of the same sex you will be able to tell the sex without having to sort through the poults to find the features that you need for the initial sexing.

If you want a great book on Turkeys....(Sight Sexing is covered on page 20 of the book) I strongly reccomend a wonderful book written by Cynthia Haynes, "Raising Turkeys Ducks Geese Pigeons and Guineas". It was published in 1987. This is an old publication, but the content is timeless. In my library on poultry, this text is one of the most complete resources on raising domestic Turkeys that I have ever read.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

So I've been working on getting the ducks to go up a ramp....and ducks have a distinct psychological weakness for water. I went to JAX and found a nice 15 gallon tub, put a ramp against it and started working with the ducks.



I placed the ducks at the bottom of the ramp and held my hands out to guide them up the ramp. Usually it would end with me grabbing them as they jumped off the ramp and tried to make a run for it. But eventually I was able to get at least one duck to go up the ramp and into the water...where they stayed and played and splashed. Watching ducks play in water is great, I never get enough of that.

The ducks are tending to stay further away from me since the "ramp work". I probably have some damage controll to do to regain a little loss of trust.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Its been about 50% successful. Other Duck goes up and down the ramp with ease...Gerty is content to sit next to the tub and dip his bill in the water. I know he wants into the tub, I see him next to the tub with his little leg stretched out trying to get it over the edge. But he will not go up the ramp.

I haven't given up...I need a good book on Duck Psychology.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

We had a few ant swarms this spring....ducks love ants...that was new to me.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

The chickens have been roosting on the steps at the bottom of the stairs. That is not good news and I have been trying to discourage this behavior. I don't want to come home and find all the pullets roosting on our deck and pooping on our furniture.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I was working in the run the other day so I moved the feeder out into the yard, so that it wasn't in my way. You would have thought that they had NEVER SEEN a FEEDER before...

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Each morning after I open the run the pullets come up onto the back patio and preen their feathers and fluff everything up to get ready for the day.