I have 11 hens which include barred rocks, SL wyandottes, and partridge rocks. They are from Meyers, 1 year old this month, and laying well. I need to get rid of them because I am moving and will give them away, along with a good-size metal feeder, large waterer, and a heated waterer. I live in...
My coop is two rooms, each about 4' x 8' for 14 chix. There is an interior wall between them with an adequate opening. The roosts are in the further room and so are the nest boxes. They lay eggs in this room, but refuse to go in there for any other purpose and sleep on the floor in the first...
How many of you living in harsh winter conditions have insulated coops? I have seen some coops here in northern Wisconsin that are not insulated, but we can have long periods of -20 to -30F and shorter periods of even colder. I am just building my coop and think it is necessary to insulate it...
What about redworms, nightcrawlers, and other types that you purchase for fishing? Can these be fed to the chickens if you come home with extras? Or...do they contain chemicals from the worm farms that may not be good the the chickens?
I follow the directions in changing my avatar but the old one stubbornly remains. It seems the old one must be stored somewhere and supersedes any new one I upload. What do you think I am doing wrong? I go to Profiles, Personality, Change Avatar, upload the new avatar, check use avatar, and the...
My chicks from Meyer are seven weeks old. I have SLWs, BRs, and Partridge Rocks. The partridge rocks are about 2/3 the size of the SLWs and BRs. Do the partridges tend to grow slower? They do not seem to have any health problems.
Not knowing any better until I came to BYC, I had my chicks from Meyer's vaccinated. Now I see they become carriers, so I have two questions. The first is can my brooder be used for non-vaccinated chicks I will get in the future? Also, can I even get non-vaccinated chicks as long as I have these...
I am building the Garden Coop which is designed for eight chickens. I have fourteen. Would it work out if I followed the plans, but built two coops, one on each end? If I kept seven in each for a week, would they acclimate to their coops or all pack into one when turned loose? Also, I would have...
Two clerks at TSC had no idea what I was talking about when I asked about food grade diatomaceous earth. About two weeks later, I was in a Farm and Fleet and saw food grade diatomaceous earth powder. It looked like very finely ground brown dirt. Not being sure about the "powder" part, I left it...
The chick brooder temp this week is supposed to be 85F. Maintaining proper heat was no problem the first weeks because the day temp highs were in the high 40's and low 50's. Today the high temp actually reached 61F!! My brooder is in the garage and it has been a terrible day to maintain the 85F...
Wednesday I received 15 fuzzy butts from Meyer. The second day one of the partirdge rocks came down with pasty butt. I worked with her, following the directions you helpful people have given on BYC. Today the little girl died in spite of my efforts. Don't get me wrong, this is not a snark...
We have well water, but it all goes through a softener because of the large amount of iron it contains. So far I haven't seen any negative effects on the chicks, but am wondering if anyone else has to use soft water. I realize there is a certain amount of salt in it and am not sure if it's...
This AM I had a SL Wyandotte fuzzy with pasty butt. First attempts with warm water and toweling did not work so well, so I soaked her butt in the water. She was not happy and let me know with loud chirping. Then I used the warm/water towel thing again and it worked OK. I used a hair dryer on her...
My four day old chicks peck, tear, and rip through the paper toweling on the bottom of their brooder so they can eat the wood flakes underneath. Only toweling was used the first two days, then I added the flakes under the paper toweling the last two days. I have two feeders for them (15 chicks)...
My order of 15 chickens came from Meyer this AM. There are 5 Barred Rock, 5 Partridge Rock, and 5 SL Wyandottes. Since the sexing is apparently 90% accurate, at least one or possibly two are roos. Correct? What if I decide to a roo? Is it ok to keep it in with different breeds?
The postmaster called me about 7:45 to say my chicks arrived! He knew they were coming because I told him beforehand. When I picked them up I asked him if they had driven him crazy. He grinned and said they were cheeping like crazy, but he put them in the back part, turned off the light, and...
Wisconsin has re-activated its hot line to report finding a dead bird(s) because of the mosquito season starting. Anyone have experience with West Nile Virus and chicken exposure? It is apparently fatal to birds and can be passed to humans.
I am really new to this! My fuzzies are supposed to have been shipped today from Meyer. My confirmation email from them said, "Once your order ships we will send a separate email confirming your order is on it's way." Since I had no such email today, I guess I will have to wait. Does this often...
The fuzzies are supposed to be here tomorrow from Meyer. Can you believe it is snowing right now and temp is 32 F. ??? I hope the brooder keeps up all right. I had the light on all morning (brooder is in the garage) and the temp only reached 72 F. I lowered the light (250 watt heat lamp) and...
Anyone have problems with chicken dust and asthma (or other such allergy)? If so, how do you deal with it? Am getting my first chicks from Meyer shipped this Monday. After I ordered them, I started running across statements about chickens producing lots of chicken dust. This could be a problem...