Its been quite some time since I looked at this thread, and I feel compelled to update it.
The Chicken McMansion lives! We adopted out the last three hens from our first flock earlier this spring, to make way for five new Rhode Island Red hens. The older girls were down to producing 3 eggs a...
The Chicken McMansion
My wife and I have talked for years about raising chickens but never really thought about it seriously until late last year. I did some research online and arrived at BYC pretty quickly and found the single best informational resource I have ever used on the internet. I...
Quote:
I hate to sound rude about it, but it has been a day or so, I answered your questions, so do you have anything else to contribute to this thread besides your two questions? Or were you just building your post/word count?? If I have a pet peeve or an axe to grind with this website it...
Quote:
My only cold weather experience with this coop was last February on, when I closed the coop up tight, put a brooder lamp with a 60 watt lighbulb inside the coop, and booded our soon to be pullets out there until they were big enough to hit the covered run during the day. The weather...
Quote:
I'm in Southwest Washington, just across the Columbia river from Portland, OR.
There are two 4" diameter soffit vents on each end of the highest part of the end coop walls, and two more on the back coop wall just above the level of the litter. Each one provides about 12 square inches...
Quote:
Thanks! One of the things that I found frustrating when I was designing my coop was the lack of practical design information in one spot, and that's why I put a thread like this one up in the design and construction forum. I think it helps to design a project like this if you have...
Updating egg production numbers
2010 numbers to date...
June 2 Eggs AE 42 Grams 84 Grams Total 2.963 Oz. .185 lbs
July 86 Eggs AE-51.3 Grams 4,415 Grams Total 155.735 Oz. 9.733 lbs.
Aug 154 Eggs AE 52.7 Grams 8117 Grams Total 286.310 Oz...
Here's a link to my coop construction thread(s) where I discuss building the Chicken McMansion.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=283812
In the past month there have been 2 serious chicken coop fires in my area because of people using inappropriate heating in their...
My original construction thread, Building the Chicken McMansion Part 2, can be found at the following link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=283812
I started construction of the Chicken McMansion just over a year ago, and my "micro-flock" of 6 has been laying since June...
Thanks Kenny;
I've made 2 modifications to the boxes this year. First, I installed a 1/4" plywood divider in the center of each box, and made 2 nests in each box. The hens are a bit territorial and would keep others completely out while one was laying.
Second, I used some old upholstery...
"NOTE: The following wont work for those who insist on over complicating everything they come in touch with."
Thanks Dave, for turning what started out to be an innocent conversation into yet another opportunity for you to inflate your post and word count with a tirade/data dump, like so often...
No rush at all Dave; just looking to time the switch to adult food, that's all. As I said, I had not heard that they would lay sooner, and was looking to verify that, that's all.
The main appeal to me for the GSL's is that we know they are hens. In our urban coop we are permitted hens only...
When I go out to offer some scratch at night, the girls always favor the hand that my wedding ring is on. They all peck at it and try to snatch it off of my hand, and it gets kinda painful sometimes....they just like the shiny things and either think they are tasty, or need immediate...
Please go up on Amazon and look for a copy of "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens" by Gail Damerow. It is probably the best primer on raising chickens I have found, and my copy is well worn already. It's about $12 in paperback, and I understand it is even available in Kindle format now as...
I agree with the "Super Glue" option, but plain Super Glue is NOT the stuff to use.
Look around on the 'Net for veterinary surgical CA (Cyanoacrylic Adhesive). While Super Glue has a long reputation for bonding skin instantly, the reaction when it sets is so hot it causes secondary and deep...
Quote:
I had not heard that about sex-links. Is that generally true of them all. or just specific breeds??
I have 2 Golden sex links (Rhode Island Red Hen crossed with a Rhode Island White Cockerel) and I have read that they may well exceed both mother breeds in laying capacity and egg size...
I know what you mean! My two 4 week old Black Jersey Giants look like a cross between an unmade bed and an cheap extra in a "C" Grade Horror flick! They have long skinny necks with very few feathers yet, and when they stretch that head up to snatch a mealworm out of my hand with that gnarly...
Every time I go out in the run, I offer some kind of threat from my hand. Usually a pinch of cornmeal is enough to get everyone over pecking it out of my hand, and my RIRs get pretty mean if I skip a day, and pinch my hand when I show up the next time. They will never be my "friends" per se...