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AnneInTheBurbs said:
They're gorgeous! I think the two lighter brown ones would be from a Barred Rock. My Barred Rock (RIP Hennifer Lopez!) laid a lighter brown egg that had more of a torpedo shape sometimes. Here is a picture of her first egg. Yes, she laid it in a basket by the back door.
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That is too cute! I love the little jelly bean egg in the basket, and love her name, too!

It's great to finally be getting some eggs again. It was a long, lean winter in the egg department, but I'm now up to about 5 eggs/day from 12 hens, and I expect it will keep going up from there. I tried to get a Brahma last spring because they are supposed to be good winter layers, but of course she turned out to be a boy. I may have to try again this year. I'm curious if others have experience with breeds that are decent winter layers without adding artificial light.
 
fangedknight said:
That's what I was thinking, the more videos I see of these show birds the more I'm just like "Ohhhhh my god yeah let's wait a while before we do that!" I'll see what I get out of my order and once I need more I'll be breeding and hatching my own so maybe I'll get a few good birds, who knows? 

I'm a huge fan of the SLW so I might wind up going just with them but idk. Ugh I hate not having my mind made up! :cd
At least I'm only having issues with color patterns and not two different breeds lol. My mom and I are gonna be heading out to our feed mill to take a look and see what they have for chick equipment this afternoon. (We still need a brooder box and heat lamps, etc. I think we might have the right lamps but I know we'll need the bulbs). Well, and some help with the order form. They have a store special for getting started but I'm not entirely sure if you can do multiple specials since I wanted more than 10 chicks. 
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My daughter is interested in showing but I'm still trying to figure out how to even get started lol. Good luck!
 
AnneInTheBurbs said:
Has anyone ever installed a fan in their coop?  With this warm weather, I am concerned about ventilation and hot temperatures.  I was going to mount it so that it pulls air out of the coop.  I was also considering removing panels of the siding, to be saved and replaced come next winter.  Hardware cloth would be used to keep out predators. 
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Anne, we use fans in the coops, and have them blowing out... a few things I suggest...don't worry about getting 'heavy duty' fans or anything fancy, no matter how many times you clean them (we vacuum them out regularly) the coop dust trashes them pretty quick, 6 months is expected at our place, more is a bonus. Hang them with stout wire by partially screwing in long screws above the door or window into solid wood and loop the wire over the screws and through the handle of the fan. It is easy to add small eye bolts into the corners of the fan housing also if you prefer. Just make sure any screws, bolts or wire you use is strong and well secured. Then just hang the fan in the window or door of your choosing.

We used hardware cloth over the eave openings but for the windows in our coop we opted for stouter 'expanded metal' which we had cut to be just bigger than the windows and anchored with 3"screws and big washers. Any local metal shop can get it in various 'gauges' or size. A lightweight piece will do the job, we opted for it due to bears in our area.

We also fabricated a 'coon gate' for the door in our one coop, it is a frame of 1" piping with 1"×2" goat fencing on the upper part and 1"×1" rabbit fencing on the lower (for chick sizing). It has a hasp lock on top and bottom to secure it and is hung on hinges in the same door frame as the regular door. This allows us to keep the wooden door open for ventilation but still be secure from night visitors. That particular wood door we also cut in half to make it a 'dutch door' so the lower half could be left closed for added security or to prevent drafts if a hen was on a floor nest with new chicks.

Hopefully the pictures help make the descriptions easier to understand.
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YES! I hang a small fan under the eave against a high venting opening outside the coop (north side) which blows right through and out the other venting opening on the south side. It really moves the air.


AnneInTheBurbs said:
Has anyone ever installed a fan in their coop?  With this warm weather, I am concerned about ventilation and hot temperatures.  I was going to mount it so that it pulls air out of the coop.  I was also considering removing panels of the siding, to be saved and replaced come next winter.  Hardware cloth would be used to keep out predators. 
Click to expand...
 

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