Recent content by joconnor

I have 10 chickens (6 araucanas or americanas and 4 gold-laced wyandottes) which are all the same age, new back in May. I've been getting a green egg or two and a brown egg, averaging two eggs a day for the last week. I feed sprouted grains (oats, barley, sunflower, millet), layer pellets, and...

You have quite the set up. This is my first winter with chickens here in roughly the same area, so we'll see how we do.

I'm interested as well. While I have electricity for my coop, any strategies to make my coop resilient against a power outage or lower electrical usage is a good thing.

Use the 2x6's to get the floor level. The 4x4 tops won't be level on their own, though the closer they are to being level the better. Use strings and stakes to lay out your grid for positioning and height. Continuous 2x6's is better, and having a 2x6 on both sides of the 4x4 is better as well...

I have a 1.5 week old silkie chick who seems to be in a lot of distress -- near constant crying. She/he has a dirty vent, which keeps getting dirty after cleaning. The feces ooze out, not squirt, so I don't think this is diarrhea. This has been going on for a couple days and hasn't passed. Food...