btw, I have 2 RIR, 2 buff orpingtons, 2 easter eggers. It was one of my easter eggers that was the late bloomer. I have 3 new babies coming in April, a RIR, an australorp, and a brown speckled sussix. I don't have electricity in my coop. I let mother nature take its course and lug water down...
No, I do not use any artificial light. My first year layers are doing wonderfully. Yesterday I got 6 eggs from 6 chickens! I average 3 to 4 eggs (that was when I had five layers) a day.
i have six chickens all born in early May. Five of them have been laying for months. I was convinced that my sixth would never lay! She laid her very first egg yesterday at 9 months old! Be patient, your late bloomer will eventually lay too!
I did not try it last season. I am, however, going to try it this year. We have a large area near the coop that is situated under pine trees and I would like to set up stakes and netting to make an area for them to use when I am in the yard. I am very protective of my girls and we do have...
Hello, I have a small beginner flock of 6 hens. All had started laying quite a while ago except for one Easter Egger. They were all born on the same day and have been together since the beginning. She is not even squatting yet. She is definitely not a rooster. They are confined to a run so...
They need to be locked in the coop to establish it as "home" for at least a week and then they will come home to roost every night. I am a new chicken mom and locked them in for a good two weeks while I finished their run and the very first day I let them out I was amazed at what smart chickens...
Thank you! I completely agree that I need to stop meddling and everyone will figure out where they fit in on their own. She just looks so pathetic standing on the poop board below the perch trying to squeeze herself third in line in the row rather than taking the end spot. I do have plenty of...
I have six chickens, 18 weeks old. They have been roosting for quite a long time now. I end up going out to the coop after they have all settled in to be sure everyone is up on the roost. There is usually one particular chicken that is not on the roost, but standing on the poop board instead...
My pet chicken has a bunch of tin signs for $10 that are really cute. I got the fresh eggs sign for outside and the round rooster sign for inside with curtains on the windows and nesting boxes.
Okay. When he is at work tomorrow I will unfold the four inches :) He is planning on getting some dirt to fill in some low spots here and there so maybe we can try to even some things up a little back there (far from level) and a row of pavers would help. Thank you.
My hardware cloth was held on with staples that had to be nailed in with a hammer. It didn't seem enough so my father came over and knelt in a dirty chicken coop so he could fasten washers and screws to hold the cloth over the windows. So now we have nailed in staples and washers and screws...
I will give it a try in a few weeks. Right now we are finishing up the chicken run and we leave for vacation in a week. But after vacation it's play time! If I can figure out how to post a pic on here, I will!
We have dug a foot wide, probably 3 foot deep trench around our unfinished chicken run and have begun to install the hardware cloth to the bottom outside of the run and formed an apron around the perimeter. Two sides of the run will be easy, it is flat and no roots or stumps, the other two...
just to reply in case anyone is having the same problem, my little buff is finally catching up. She will be 7 weeks old on Monday and she is still smaller, but she is almost fully feathered like her sister now. She is doing great. She caught up like it was suggested.
I have had my 7 week old babies in their coop for a week. The nighttime temps have been quite cool so each night I go out and close their windows and lock them in all snug for the night. Well, tonight I think it would more comfortable if I kept the windows open, because it is warmer, but I am...
I feel like I just came up with a genious idea, but I want to get everyone's okay before I do it! I will not be doing any free ranging that isn't protected because we have preditors. I am not too worried about attacks from the ground since I will be right next to them gardening or sitting in...
I had one I was worried about too. She looked nothing like her sisters. Small, very few feathers. She still looked like a fluffy chick when the others were covered in fethers. But she caught up! She still isnt quite as feathered as they are and she is my smallest, but she is almost there.
Oops, I forgot to add that their last week inside I had pulled their brooder away from the heat lamp. I left it on for light but it was several feet away from the brooder. I would put up a towel to cover part of the brooder at night so it was a little darker. I also would turn the light out...
I put my six girls out on Sunday. They turned five weeks on Monday. They are in an enclosed coop. Night temps have been in the 50 to 55 degree range. They went out with no heat lamp and they are fine. I crack their windows during the day to let in fresh air but have been closing them at...