For what it's worth, we only have our 3 girls for 3 years now, and have never needed the kit. Knocking on wood, and rereading what everything is for since I've forgotten it all by now. That's why we write things down!
I didn't know I could get a "bad" fresh egg, so I googled and found this, which others might also learn something from:
http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-if-an-Egg-is-Bad
Tip: The floating test works because the air pocket inside the egg gets bigger with time as the egg contents lose both moisture...
Well, it is getting a little cold, dropping into the 20s at night and my hubby decided to winterize. As you can see,
our coop has some spacing between the boards where the wind could come whistling through:
So, he applied insulation board on the inside of the coop.
Shiny, shiny insulation...
Throwin' Elbows
We got 3 chickens at the same time. Two were just a week old, and the third was a Buff Orphington (BO) about 7-8 weeks old. The BO is so very sweet, but set the pecking order as expected since she is much older.
Turns out, one little one was a roo, so he got taken back to the...
I've read about chickens taking dirt baths and I've read on BYC to put sand in their runs for this. We currently have "river sand" in the run, which I think will drain rain away nicely, but with the bigger gravel than "play sand" is not condusive to chicken baths.
When we let them out to free...
I know only what I've read about here on BYC and some online searching. I'm not a vet, but I wanted to have some things on hand in case my birds have a problem. Here is the kit I currently have including what problem each item is good for (with pertinant links). Hope other newbie bird owners...
I had to get the effort started, but everyone loves it. Hubby even commented that he'd rather string lights on coop gables than the house.:p
Coop: 1 House: 0
Here's hoping Santa will leave us our first egg.:lol:
This may be our Christmas Card this year:
Now, to hang a wreath and...
We put a cupola on top of our coop, and when I say "we," I mean "my husband."
It's functional, as you can see from the inside looking up. We () were sure to put hardware cloth on all holes.
I was on the lookout for a weathervane. I thought it would be the perfect finishing touch. But...
Build Yer Own Chicken Igloo
Based on some advice we got here on the BYC forums, we had a catlitter pan that we put a bottle of frozen
water in, and found that the chickens would get in there to cool down. But my husband wanted to do MORE.
So, he made an igloo. And you can, too!
Yesterday...
The BuiltMore Coop
(we built way more than we needed to...)
Step One: Get chickens. We can only ever have 3 chickens, so each of us got to pick one of the breeds we researched that thrives in our geographic location / climate. This also means a small coop.
Buff Orpington:
Dominque and...
You've got the perfect setup to extend the roofline of your permanent structure and create a "carport" kind of effect. You'd have to tear down most of what you have now as far as the posts and chicken wire across the top. But, may I say that doing this would not only look great and protect the...
Hey Hawkeye,
Yep, I'm looking forward to your posting your photos when your coop is done (well, it might be hard to say it is ever DONE. Mine's not.)
The birdhouse is adorable. People are very creative, and when you price cupolas and/or weathervanes it is shocking how much they sell for. So...
I'm in Texas, and it just makes good sense here in this hot climate to have a "functioning" cupola. Not only looks good, but acts like a chimney to naturally draw hot air up and out of the coop. They are relatively easy to make...it's just a four-sided box to cover a hole in the roof (full...
I've heard chickens like a bit of privacy, so if you put a 3-in. board along the bottom edge, when they squat down, they'll have mostly just their head up above the board. This might get them in, and would also prevent tehm from kicking eggs out (fake or not!)
I read about that "privacy" trick...
I had to get the effort started , but everyone loves it. Hubby even commented that he'd rather string lights on coop gables than the house.
Coop: 1 House: 0
Here's hoping Santa will leave us our first egg.
And this might just be our Christmas Card this year:
Hubby briefly considered board and batton (he's a former carpenter) but just felt that would be a lot more nailing than just one board per side to install. Plus, I would have had to paint that...all those little boards, no thanks! It *is* a nice look, though. but I have at The moment way too...
Thanks,guys...
Johnd: yep, the white one is a Delaware, and we have a Buff Orphington (the red one) and a Dominiquer (black and white). The are all 3 very sweet, but none have laid us any eggs yet...I know they slow down (or stop?) in winter, so I'm not sure if we will get any before...
Quote:
They were very interested in all the changes. They were trying to get to where hubby was working,
but stood at the pop door waiting to get in (when they could have just walked under)
Finished the new winterizing effort today!
We didn't put on insulation board, just covered the cracks with what hubby calls "backer board" used for cabinets. Didn't paint it, yet, but we might do that later.
Kept the silver foil insulation board up high where they can't reach.
While we...