Utah!

[the-bird-man]

Thanks! Life just happens, and you get out of the habit of chatting chickens. You keep buying food, cleaning coops, rotating compost, building up garden bed, selling old lady chickens, buying new baby chicks. It's the circle of urban farm life.

It's amazing the prices of things anymore. And I fear it's going to get worse. I only use 1/3 of my feed from IFA now. A 50 lb bag used to be $12 or $13, it's almost $18 now! I have a source in Idaho where I get 1/3 of my feed from, and then I find someone on KSL who is willing to trade old storage wheat for a few dozen eggs. It works out pretty well.

well you have been missed. when i saw those prices i was in shock, i thought to my self, are we in california or something. also people get mixed up when they read cage free and often think that means free range when it can mean they are not in a small cage but may be locked in a coop 24/7.

Lisa, did you say you entered the hatch along? They are wanting people to get the form signed..didn't see you there! Plus, they need a picture of the eggs you have set for it. Go to post 599, if I remember right, that's one of the places that he makes it easy to go to the form and sign in.

Sounds like Pacs has come good advice there on how to stop a hen from laying where you don't want it to. Putting something in their fav spot.
Welcome back Pacs, hope you find some eggs. It's hard turning a flock over and missing those eggs, even when it's a small flock. I'm in that process right now.

Brad, I'm excited. Can't wait to meet up with you on Sat. Those Pencils are looking amazing. Wait till you see yours in person. They are sweet birds too. They really are beginning to look like birds. Just beautiful. The little buff girl is quite a bit smaller. I'm thinking the pencil will remember being with her though while in the the teen coop/run, if not, she won't be mean, at least she wasn't here when I put them in together a while back. The Pencils are getting along with the older girls too. I still need to put them in the coop at night. But like I said, once up on the roost..they stay. And, still no lights or heat, and even though tonight is going to be one of the coldest nights we've had in a while, I'm not doing heat. They do well in the coop without the wind chill hitting them.

Shinx, is the BLRW that you think is a roo, the darker blue one in one of your pictures? The one I was liking? lol.. Little stink. I wonder when they will start crowing. I was thinking that the other day while looking at that tail on black..ahem, girl's, tail. That tail looks like a roosters tail at this young age! But, no wattles, no red in the comb..the comb looks to have one tiny bit of comb coming in..and she's several months old. This one really has me wondering more than any other bird at that age..well, the lavender took me a while, but I am thinking girl. Now watch, she will be the firs to crow!!

I've had little cockerals start tying to crow as early as two weeks old before! Funniest thing I ever heard, and happened to be there to see. Stretched that little neck out and started making a noise I've never heard come from a small chick before. Too funny. Then, I've had a leghorn start around 3 months old. A Nankin start around 5 months old. So, I guess you never know. I want that black to be a girl so bad. Lisa knows I want a black EE layer. And to think of all the blacks I've had, and I keep this one.
Oh Lisa, you had asked about tiny tot. It died at, I think was only 4 days old. It was so active and it just up and died. That chick was not normal.

Well, one more cold day..then we are headed for some really nice weather! I'm excited. My chickens are excited and don't even know it yet. They can come out..even the ones in the teen coop.

Hey, I am selling Baily. Thought she would be one I would keep forever, but not after how she was, and is. After hearing Lisa's story of how her broody was mostly broody, I just can't keep a girl that is going to be like that. Maybe it's mostly my fault right now. She is confused because I took her baby away. I didn't telly you, but she was picking on their toes when they came out from under her, had a look in those eyes I didn't trust. She just didn't get the hang of being a mom. She sure has the hang of being on a nest box. This guy is coming from Herriman..is that right? Spelling. He doesn't care for the eggs so much, they just have several bantams, and baby their chickens. He's rescued one, he's got one that is waay old. I am so happy that she is going to be spoiled and loved. He just got a buff cochin, and saw my ad and wanted her to go along with this one. )

I have two bators in lock down.

Ok, there ya go, my book for the day. Have a great day all! Of to play with chickens.

i am so excited! i do have a safe place the buff can hang out in and i do have a ee that takes the new girls under her wing and babys them. the pencil will be a stunning addition to the coop for sure! how old are they now?

 

[Myjessejane]

Hello, everyone! I have written a few times and had some great advice, so here I am again. This is our first year with chickens. I have 7 babies. 2 black sexlinks, 2 buffs, 1 rhode island red, and 2 EE's that look so different one is a light purple lavender color and one is more of a speckled black, anyway my question is when is it ok to move them to the garage or outside with or without the light? I have had them in my office for the last 4 weeks and the smell is getting pretty overwhelming in there. About half are 5 weeks and the rest are 4 weeks. Everything I have read says 5-8 weeks but this Utah weather is so unpredictable!

 

[Cynthia12]

Edited for less pics!

 

[Cynthia12]

Hello, everyone! I have written a few times and had some great advice, so here I am again. This is our first year with chickens. I have 7 babies. 2 black sexlinks, 2 buffs, 1 rhode island red, and 2 EE's that look so different one is a light purple lavender color and one is more of a speckled black, anyway my question is when is it ok to move them to the garage or outside with or without the light? I have had them in my office for the last 4 weeks and the smell is getting pretty overwhelming in there. About half are 5 weeks and the rest are 4 weeks. Everything I have read says 5-8 weeks but this Utah weather is so unpredictable!

Have a light ready..right now, they could go out there today with a 60 watt..should be fine. With a little heat today since they are used to it..then by Thursday, they should be fine with a small light bulb in case someone is going to be a big baby..say a 40 watt. If they aren't going under the light, turn it off, but keep it around in case the weather goes back to the 20's, like it will tonight. Get those big babies outta there! They will be fine.

 

[RedIII]

Hello, everyone! I have written a few times and had some great advice, so here I am again. This is our first year with chickens. I have 7 babies. 2 black sexlinks, 2 buffs, 1 rhode island red, and 2 EE's that look so different one is a light purple lavender color and one is more of a speckled black, anyway my question is when is it ok to move them to the garage or outside with or without the light? I have had them in my office for the last 4 weeks and the smell is getting pretty overwhelming in there. About half are 5 weeks and the rest are 4 weeks. Everything I have read says 5-8 weeks but this Utah weather is so unpredictable!

I've taken some of my chicks off the light and moved them outside when they were about 6 or 7 weeks old, and they were fine. There was snow all over the ground and they still did alright. Just make sure they go into the coop at night, and I think they'd be alright.

Ok, on an entirely different note, I think I'm going to be sick. That raccoon is back, and not only did it get another one of my hens, but my EE rooster is missing. My boyfriend woke up at 2 am and heard the chickens screaming, so he opened the window and yelled and then went running out there with a flashlight. He says he saw the raccoon, and it is a BIG one. Found two of the hens scared to death, no sign of the rooster, and the third hen had just been killed. I want to get this thing so bad. It's frustrating not only that it keeps coming back for my birds and wasting them, but where I'm not in a position that I can be out there 24/7, I can't protect my animals like I want to. So until we get the stupid thing, the remaining birds are going into lock down, as much as I hate to do that. Bird-man, was it you that said you had some different traps used by hunters?

 

[Cynthia12]

Brad, when you asked how the Pencils were, I had to go back and check the date I took pictures of them when they were small. My first photos were taken on Jan. 19th. Pretty sure I took them the next day when they were settled. So, guessing with the time of shipment, and that they were already a few days old, I would say they were hatched around the 15th of Jan. That makes them, only 2 months? Wow, I was thinking 3. They are big girls. My Partridge was, and my Barred Rock is, guess the Rocks are. So is my Orpington though.

 

[Cynthia12]

I've taken some of my chicks off the light and moved them outside when they were about 6 or 7 weeks old, and they were fine. There was snow all over the ground and they still did alright. Just make sure they go into the coop at night, and I think they'd be alright.

Ok, on an entirely different note, I think I'm going to be sick. That raccoon is back, and not only did it get another one of my hens, but my EE rooster is missing. My boyfriend woke up at 2 am and heard the chickens screaming, so he opened the window and yelled and then went running out there with a flashlight. He says he saw the raccoon, and it is a BIG one. Found two of the hens scared to death, no sign of the rooster, and the third hen had just been killed. I want to get this thing so bad. It's frustrating not only that it keeps coming back for my birds and wasting them, but where I'm not in a position that I can be out there 24/7, I can't protect my animals like I want to. So until we get the stupid thing, the remaining birds are going into lock down, as much as I hate to do that. Bird-man, was it you that said you had some different traps used by hunters?

I would be one for setting traps!

 

[PacsMan]

...anyway my question is when is it ok to move them to the garage or outside with or without the light? I have had them in my office for the last 4 weeks and the smell is getting pretty overwhelming in there. About half are 5 weeks and the rest are 4 weeks. Everything I have read says 5-8 weeks but this Utah weather is so unpredictable!

And the dust! Oy Vey! You're getting good advice here for putting chicks out at about 5 weeks. One thing to look for, make SURE that your chicks have "feathered out". Meaning, look at their backs. Make sure that all of the baby fuzz is gone, and they have good feathers there. If you don't they could get pneumonia. Good luck!

 

[the-bird-man]

Brad, when you asked how the Pencils were, I had to go back and check the date I took pictures of them when they were small. My first photos were taken on Jan. 19th. Pretty sure I took them the next day when they were settled. So, guessing with the time of shipment, and that they were already a few days old, I would say they were hatched around the 15th of Jan. That makes them, only 2 months? Wow, I was thinking 3. They are big girls. My Partridge was, and my Barred Rock is, guess the Rocks are. So is my Orpington though.

oh very nice, they sure are big girls then. do you remember about how old the buff is? beautiful pictures

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Red---If you hang up a string of christmas lights around your coop that might scare the varmint away---they do not like lights, just an idea.....Nasty coon I hope you catch him!

Cynthia---I did not fill out the form! I thought you just had to post that you were "in". So bummer! But I think my eggs are no good....the heat is all over the place, I am going tonight to get a better thermometer, the one that came with it seems to be off a couple degrees, which would make it impossible to be alive in there....looking tomorrow just to be sure. Have a few more eggs I saved from last Fri and Sat, do not know if they are still fertile but I might try. Will let you know what happens! Hey that second picture does look suspicious, I see what you are talking about, the tail goes up then lops over a bit at the top. I sure hope it works out to be a girl with a purdy tail.

Jessejane, ditto with Cynthia....those chicks should be fine outside with a small light if they are uncomfortable....I moved my black EE's out at 6 weeks at Christmas and they were fine, did not even go by the light. I went to the garage, cold with a 60 watt---at 4 weeks, then to the coop at 6 weeks after hey had time to adjust.