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  1. achake01

    cleaning the run

    hello friends in chickendom i have a new coop and run, and the ladies are loving it. any thoughts on how to clean poop in the run, whose floor is small pea gravel, and how often? advice/experience appreciated as always Anne Marie
  2. achake01

    strange behavior 5 week old

    Hi, I have a group of 10 chicks, all about 5 weeks old. They're out in the coop/run and I gave them people food for the first time yesterday. Chopped celery and chopped strawberries. They've been getting grit as well. All of them seem fine, active and usual selves, except for one. This morning...
  3. achake01

    outdoor playtime

    Hi all--Another question re my four-week olds. They are currently installed in the outdoor brooder (inside the coop) as of last night. Doing great. My question deals with outdoor playtime: Their adjoining run is ALMOST finished, the only thing I have left to do is the apron (skirting the...
  4. achake01

    grit!

    Hi, I have my four-week olds out in their new outdoor brooder (located inside the coop). Should I start giving them commercial grit? I have only been feeding them starter crumbles, and my sense is when I send them out to play out in the garden, they probably get grit naturally...but let me know...
  5. achake01

    outdoor brooder-ing

    Hi guys. Phew, they made it to college. My four-week old rascals are settling into their outdoor brooder which is inside the coop (it will actually be their future 'droppings pit'). A few questions about this awkward teenage phase: 1) How long are they in there, before they graduate on to living...
  6. achake01

    sewing hardware cloth seams

    Hi All. I've spent all day in the heat 'sewing' the seams of the hardware cloth on my run with 24-gauge (thin) metal wire, kinda like a whip stitch. It looks very tight. I was just stepping back and admiring my work when I started wondering if a critter couldnt maybe chew through this wire? Mind...
  7. achake01

    on this hardware-cloth skirt issue...

    ...around the permiter of the coop...it needs to be attached securely all the way around, right? The thing is, I have the cloth up around the chicken run. Can i attach the 'skirt' by sewing it (the new mesh) with some wire to the existing mesh on the coop? or can it be loosely attached on the...
  8. achake01

    hardware cloth skirt

    Hi again... Here are some pictures. My boo-boo from last weekend was skirting the mesh from out-to-in (it's underneath the stone walls and gravel). This coming weekend, i'm going to reverse the skirt from out-to-in. I don't have to remove the under-the-stones/gravel skirt, do i (which would mean...
  9. achake01

    pop hole

    Am I cool if the base of the door is 15 inches from the floor of the coop? Thanks, Anne Marie.
  10. achake01

    skirting the hardware cloth

    Hi all. Coop under construction, and I have a question: I plan on burying the hardware cloth around the perimeter of the coop, skirted at an angle outward. How deep should it be buried?
  11. achake01

    Outsmarting the Predator

    Hi, guys. In response to my recent loss, I am building my chicken run into Fort Knox. Still under construction, but take a look. Here's my question (which deals with predator-proofing underneath the door to the run): In general, I skirted the hardware cloth around the run from outside-to-in, and...
  12. achake01

    Protecting the Run

    Hi All--- My coop/run are under construction, and my question deals with predator-proofing underneath the door to the run. In general, I skirted the hardware cloth around the run from outside-to-in, and then stacked a dry stone wall on top (for both safety and aesthetics). But underneath the...
  13. achake01

    Sad night UPDATE

    Hi, guys I posted two nights ago after a predator raided the outdoor brooder and killed all 13 of my (four week old) chicks. I was completely devastated. This was the first time I'd ever experienced anything like this, and this forum was the only place I could think to come to for...
  14. achake01

    Sad night

    Hi, all. I'm new at this. The 13 four-week old chicks made it through their first week in the outdoor brooder, but something got in there and killed all of them tonight. The brooder seemed so secure, enclosed by a heavy door that was difficult for even me to pull open. My husband made the...
  15. achake01

    deep litter method

    Hi, guys. My chicks are acclimating nicely to their brooder in the outdoor coop (which will become the droppings pit eventually). I've been using shredded newspaper--it's so easy to get from the office, and free--as their litter. Can I continue to use this shredded paper as the substrate if I...
  16. achake01

    found duckling

    Not sure this counts as an emergency, but someone came to my doorstep with a lost baby duckling. I have four week old chicks. Can I introduce it to the brood? Can chicks and ducklings co-exist? Any help appreciated. Anne Marie
  17. achake01

    transitioning chicks to coop

    Hi all---My 13 critters are starting Week 3, and the weather has been consistently above 80 degrees. Am I safe moving them from inside the house to the brooder in the coop? It's warm in there, and I'd keep a thermometer in there to make sure they stay above 80 degrees. Or do you think it's too...
  18. achake01

    Newspaper writer//Rooster story

    Hi, all. I write for a national publication and am working on a story about chickendom, and the dilemma many of us face once we determine the gender of our fuzzy little friends: What to do with the boys. It's certainly something I'm facing in my first foray into this world. (I've been coddling...
  19. achake01

    sexing delawares and black (and blue) copper marans

    Hi there--It's only week two, but I'm noticing what I think are gender differences in the wings among these breeds (Delawares and Marans). Do the males start to show longer wing feathers, females shorter? Thanks Anne Marie.
  20. achake01

    hot summer days and the heating lamp

    hey all-it's hot and sticky as heck here in the Washington D.C. suburbs and wondering if I need that heating lamp in their brooder. My chicks are in their second week, and the temperature in the brooder is in the mid-80s, so I turned off the heat lamp since it seems unnecessary. Is there some...
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