Texas

[Pineywoods Peepers]

My girls won't be laying for another 1-2 months, so I'm anxious to see how they'll lay this winter.

 

[Miss Red]

New news on Blue!

This morning at four a.m. Blue started screaming and howling, I thought his medication wore off so I checked the time a re dosed him. Nope, kept yowling. Got the towel under his hind end, hefted him up and took him out. No wonder he was yowling he finally had to pee, and pee he did! I stood there for ten minutes with him, before I was SURE he was done and brought him back in. Nope... Had to clean my floors, I put him down and he let more out... I swear I didn't think he had that much in him.

On the bright side he already is trying to support his own weight, faster than I or the vet figured he would, and Tuesday he is going to get his tail popped back in place and have a follow up X-Ray. My vet said he wouldn't be surprised if Blue was back to normal in four weeks, but he will have to stay rested until completely healed. Right now he's laying in the sun outside, because he wanted to (kept howling until we finally let him stay in the yard with us). Poor pup. He was lonely, but now were worried about figuring out how to get him to poop.

On a side note, a more secriptive detail on what happened will be posted later today. I'm sure the man was on his phone, as he usually is and always going 90 to nothing down this ol' dirt road.

 

[deano5x]

Hello from Houston!

 

[Pigeon442001]

Quote:
Hello from Livingston

 

[Vickir73]

Hey ya'll!!! I'm in Leggett. This past weekend I finished phase 1 (or most of it anyway

enough to move the chicks in. This coming weekend I'll start on the 16 ft expansion. I know our winters are pretty mild so can I get away with hardware cloth on the east and south wall? The plan is to use plywood for the north wall and I will put my next boxes on the south wall with (hopefully) an access to them from the outside? Any thoughts? please feel free to throw any ideas at me. I've always been the "helper" or "holder" when it's come to building, but I'm tackling this project on my own. I'm also a bit concerned with what I'm going to do with the roof angel. Here's what I finished this past weekend. The inside of all the holes is completely covered with hardware cloth, but I still have to finish up the outside. (my arm just gave out . . . )

 

[txmel]

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looks good! i too have been starting to build another coop this weekend. you have made it much farther than i did. i just got the frame for the floor done.

 

[nursemeh]

Vickir73, I love your coop!

I've always thought that chickens need functional and secure; they don't care a flip for fancy!! It looks great!

And to those talking summer heat, I was amazed that I didn't lose much in egg production over the summer. I know that during the heat waves those around us had a HUGE drop in production. Right now one of mine is going through her molt and she is not laying as much, so that has effected things. Since I only have 4 laying hens, we notice a lot when ONE lays less!!

I've always let my girls free roam at least half a day or a few hours every evening and they have access to a lot of cool shady areas and dirt, perhaps the heat didnt bother them so much?

Seriously, I got 3-4 eggs per day over the summer, from 4 hens!

maybe I am just lucky.....oh wait, I am the one that just hatched out 6 eggs, lost one to an unfortunate incident, and the 5 remaining are ALL ROOSTERS.....so I can't be lucky!!!


Mary

 

[Pigeon442001]

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Looks good,
are any of you going to Collage Station on the 8th of Jan, if so maybe we can meet at Walmart and have a carvan

 

[Pineywoods Peepers]

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That's awesome, Mary. We've got a small window unit on standby in case it gets too hot next summer.

Rachel

 

[Vickir73]

I'm thinking in the expansion I'm going to leave a big enough enough that would enclose a box fax, just in case I need to hook one up next summer too. I have several different fenced in areas around the coop that the chickens will be allowed to graze in. I'm pretty sure I'll clip their wings, just because I don't want the flying all over the property (15 acres) and into the neighbors yards. I'd like to be able to herd them back into the coop at night, but we'll see. They're gonna stay in the coop at least 6 six to train the guineas.

Does most everyone have a completely closed in design or do a lot of ya'll have at least one or more wall that is all chicken wire or hardware cloth?? I'm trying to figure out how much I need to leave open. I'd rather leave more open and put temporary covers on the walls for winter than too hole it up too much and then have to make major adjustments for summer. Do you think I'll be ok with 2 of the new walls being covered in hardware cloth and chicken wire?