Recent content by mr_dave

  1. mr_dave

    My chickens are afraid of the dark!

    That's not the problem. I wanted them to go in for the night. But they refused to go in until I turned in the light. They were dead set on roosting on the porch
  2. mr_dave

    My chickens are afraid of the dark!

    I recently moved my young birds outside to their new coop. I've kept a heat lamp on so they can always come get warm. I turned it off for the first time today, since it was a pretty warm day. Came out at dusk to check on them, and this is what I found! I tried to nudge a few through the door...
  3. mr_dave

    Is this really a silkie?

    We bought all our chicks at a hardware store. This chick and one other were in a bin labeled "bantam silkie". The other chick didn't survive, but this one did, and now she's (going it's a she) all feathered out and doesn't look very silkie. Is this just a stage on the way to silkiness, or am I...
  4. mr_dave

    I'm in a bit of a pickle

    Everyone, thanks so much for your advice and replies! I think that at this point, I'm going to wait and watch. I'll cull the roosters and see what my head count is at that point, then see how they behave. If it gets problematic, I'll probably make a quick enclosure under the open roof area...
  5. mr_dave

    I'm in a bit of a pickle

    It's chicken wire. Hardware cloth is only used for vents and the bottom 3' of the run's fence.
  6. mr_dave

    I'm in a bit of a pickle

    That's a possibility. The duck area has a much lower ceiling, so there's not a ton of room for a roost, but I could probably stick a roosting bar a foot off the floor or so and throw in a nest box. I'm hoping to avoid that, but it's a good idea.
  7. mr_dave

    I'm in a bit of a pickle

    About when can you differentiate between cockerels and pullets? We're between 4-6 weeks old (some from the first batch, some when we went overboard and got more).
  8. mr_dave

    I'm in a bit of a pickle

    The big square hole under the best box is going to be storage for feed and such once I build some doors for it. Not a lot of room, but enough for a couple 50 lb bags
  9. mr_dave

    I'm in a bit of a pickle

    Sorry for the nighttime photos... But here it is. It's in Death Star II mode: still under construction, but fully operational. You'll see ducks and chickens are kept separate by a mostly hardware cloth fence (with a couple feet of chicken wire when I ran out). bottom 3' is hardware cloth buried...
  10. mr_dave

    I'm in a bit of a pickle

    Excellent points. Thanks!
  11. mr_dave

    I'm in a bit of a pickle

    I'm in SE Idaho. It's a desert. Summers get above 100F, winters occasionally down to -40F, but -20F is more common (most winter days sit between 0-15F). It snows, but usually there isn't more than 8-10" on the ground at any time. It rarely rains. Given the super-cold temperatures, I was trying...
  12. mr_dave

    I'm in a bit of a pickle

    Yes, I'll post some in the next couple days.
  13. mr_dave

    I'm in a bit of a pickle

    The ducks have a kiddie pool. They can't get into it by themselves yet, but I plan to build up a tiered walk so they can climb to it. I've bought stuff to put a shower drain in the bottom of the pool to make it easy to clean, as well. Aside from that, I was planning to do an auto-waterer with a...
  14. mr_dave

    I'm in a bit of a pickle

    They are in the same structure, but separate. The ducks have the bottom 3 feet of the coop, the chickens are above them. They come out opposite corners of the building and the run is divided by a 3' high fence. The chickens could fly into the duck area if they really wanted to, but the ducks...
  15. mr_dave

    Where do you get pvc for feeders

    The Lowe's and Home Depot in my town don't stock PVC drain pipe in wide diameters. PVC only goes up to 1-1/2". All the 3" and 4" drain pipes are ABS. Anyone have opinions about ABS for feeders? Anyone worried about chemical leach from ABS or the fire retardant coatings?
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