I was also afraid of the heat lamps - especially when everyone was at work/school and the babies were unattended. I found this idea on this board a few years back. It's a heating pad with chicken wire to mold into a kind of momma hut. It works really well and the chicks love having a place to...
Only if you want them to eat them! I have two herb gardens on the ground that I ended up having to put chicken wire around so the girls wouldn't destroy! But if you are planting for them to eat from, keep in mind they will peck and scratch at anything!
I have the horizontal nipples and 5 gallon bucket. It took a bit for them to catch on, but once one did - the rest followed. Just keep poking at it in front of them and remove all other water sources. No leaking and so much less hassle!!
I have never had any respiratory issues with them - this is the first. Oh, and no new girls. I will order some terramycin cream and try that. Thank you!!
Hey everyone - my girl has something going on with her eye. It doesn't hurt her, she is acting normally - eating, drinking, laying, etc. I was easily able to wipe it away. Some redness there through. She also has some white spots behind her ears. Is this a fungus maybe? Help?
Sand and PDZ are a must for warm hot climates. It’s awesome. Not sure why sand wouldn’t be advised? As long as it’s coarse sand and not play sand. It’s a natural grit, a great way to offer dust baths for the girls and great for clay ridden soil (for gardening). Win win!
Sand!! And more sand! We mix the sand with the dirt, pine shavings and grass clippings. A quasi deep litter I guess? At any rate, it never smells of ammonia. They have more sand in the coop so they can do their dust baths. Then scoop out the poop with a large slotted shovel or rake. We only have...
Thanks! Here are some inside pics! Hubby needs to fix the ramp steps... but we ran out of screws! Lol.
Walk in door
Ramp to nest boxes
Inside walk in door
Ramp up to roost
Roost area
1st floor nest boxes to the left
Nest boxes
I don't want to burst your bubble, because you've got a great set up! We did something similar and built a run on to our pre-fab house. It only lasted two seasons for our four girls. Literally fell apart. :( Hopefully you have better luck!
Here is what we ended up building just two weeks...
Here is ours... It attaches to a ramp which connects to the run. Was quite the project but we had fun! It's a two story enclosure. Up the ramp to the nesting boxes and then up the second ramp to the roosting bars. With a pull out tray poop catcher!
Here is ours... we bought a pre-fab one and then added on to it. It's pretty unique, I think! We are going to put a roof on the run soon... Next project. And we will probably build a moveable tractor so that we can put them in the raised garden beds. We only have three girls right now. Two...
Here's a better shot of the head. He's behind the Buff. I have two Brahmas and they both look significantly different, which leads me to believe he's a roo. I don't have pics of Laverne at work, but I can post later.