Nestera "The House" chicken coop, size large. Well suited for five large breed chickens, or eight small breed chickens. Only used for roughly two months before chicken math got us and we had to upgrade to a larger coop. I loved being able to hose this coop out and not having to worry about rot...
Sorry, I wasn't sure what section to put this in...
I am now getting 5 eggs a day, and have 7 more still to come online. I am soon going to run out of room on my counter for all of these eggs. Turns out my friends and family don't eat eggs very quickly either. 5 eggs a day probably isn't enough...
Before I made this thread I had picked up a bag of Kalmbach 18% Chick Feed, now I am debating just keeping them on that until they are all laying. It is higher protein than the Kalmbach Flock Maintainer. I haven't been able to find Flock Maker locally yet.
Also, as an aside, I started putting...
No plans to get babies again for a while. This round has been exhausting! I do have some very specific breeds I would like to get eventually, but I plan to get started pullets, and that won't be for a couple of years.
Well, last night I had to mess things up all over again. Big thunderstorm was rolling up, so I had to get everybody in early. Thankfully the littles all seemed to know something was up and went right in in one pack. The adults I had to take in one by one. Of course, they then had the menace the...
Last night I left everyone to their own devices. The pullets and one hen put themselves to bed in the coop. I still had to call four of the hens to the run and they did their usual nightly last minute eating and drinking routine. There was still the squabble for the hens getting the top roosting...
I had a rooster (well, 9 weeks old) that I rehomed because he was already mounting the girls, which was causing all kinds of confusion and issues. :barnie
My run door isn't automated, but my coop door is. My run has lights, but my coop doesn't. My biggest concerns are coyotes prowling near dusk which is why I have always brought them in around 8 pm before true dusk.
Ah okay, so I need to put the hens into the coop, and then the babies in the run and then the coop? Hopefully the hens won’t go after the babies as they come into the coop… I also think I will have to push back how late I put everybody away which makes me nervous too.
So the routine is:
Call the hens, they all come running and put themselves into the run. They start happily drinking and eating their food and wandering around the run (10’ x 20’).
Track down the pullets. Start returning them to the coop 1 by 1. I don’t dare put them in the run because I have...
Last night I had a pretty scary experience. I have two very separate flocks of chickens. My five month old hens that are starting to lay or are laying, and my 10 week old pullets. Everybody free ranges from about 8 am to 8pm. The older hens come when they are called, and if one gets a mind of...
I am feeling absolutely overwhelmed right now trying to pick an “all flock” feed for my mixed age flock of birds. I talked to a Kalmbach rep and walked away feeling even more confused than I was before! I have 5 birds that are into their first month of laying, and 7 pullets that are many weeks...
Was pretty horrified yesterday to find one of my nesting boxes full of water after an all day down pour. Looking at the wood, this has been happening regularly, and I just haven't been noticing. :he
I added another layer of calk all around the edges, but how does everyone keep water out of...
One of my Australorps laid her first egg today, and it is the size of a pretty standard store bought egg. I feel bad that this was her first egg! My other Australorp that just started laying has been having eggs barely bigger than a Robin's egg, and my EEs that have been laying for two-ish weeks...
Mine are either Diamond Dutchess or Sapphire Sky. They were supposed to be Barred Rocks, but there was clearly some kind of mix up wirh either the delivery or the labeling at the store.
ANYWAY! Here are the eggs:
Ignore the tan one, it was the first egg by one of my Australorps. They are...