My wife has been preoccupied recently with a job application, and left the coop door open after dark. Now that the days are shorter, its dark before I get home. When I got home I noticed the run door was open, so I closed it up, as well as the door to the coop. The next morning I went...
I've discovered a few things today. My first discovery was that I found my blue egg layer! She's an easter egger called GoldenHawk. She will not lay in the nest boxes, but builds a next in a corner of the coop. However she is the runt of the litter, she is nervous, and gets picked...
Thanks, I can try that.
I build the nest boxes so that they have a perch before they go in, but the floor is open so its easy to scratch hay out. I designed it this way so it would be easy to clean, but didn't think about chickens cleaning out the nest boxes themselves. I think I will...
I'm not sure which hen is responsible, but they all sure look proud. So far I have gotten 3, 1 in the nest box, and two in the roosting area. They made for an excellent breakfast. The eggs had a thick wall, and large yellow yolks. I'm hoping for more this morning.
The hens are...
My wife just told me the town of Carmel, NY just north of westchester in Putnam County, just gave her notice that we cannot have chickens. One of my chicks turned out to be a rooster, which is making a lot of racket now. So I'm sure one of my neighbors has called the city and complained...
you can get a heated dog bowl and put your waterer insdie the bowl? They sell a plug attachment that turns on when its freezing and off when its 45. Both can be found at the tractor supply store.
how do you tell the difference in a fertile egg and a non fertile egg?
I am new to chickens, and have 6. Mine should start to lay soon, and one of my "hens" turned out to be a "roo".
I just installed these, to heat my small coop when the temps go below freezing. I put in a clip on heat lamp and built my own shield out of some extra hardware cloth. Make sure you have a heat shield of some kind, as I kind of roasted my birds feathers the first night.
Thermo CUbe...
I ended up going to a doctor outside my county, actually it was a walk in urgent care clinic near work. They offered me a bandade and a call to the putnam county health department.. rabies division. After an interview with the nice person from the rabies division. They determined that it...
I used a 1/4 in mesh, but didn't have it secured as well as I had been. I had a leaky faucet behind a wall that had me preoccupied. So I quickly put chicks back in the brooder this evening. I'm not giving up, this is war!
I will have both my brooder and coop as secure as Ft Knox, before the...
My 3 year old son fell out of bed tonight around 3am. (He wiggles alot in his sleep) I got him settled back into his bed, and went to lay back down when I heard my hens peeping horribly outside on my porch. I went out to find the box I was raising my chicks in was broken into. It's a...
This guy is odd. I just bought some chicks from him. He told me he had certain breeds in stock... then after driving 2 hours to get there, I found out he had compelety different ones. The chicks he had were all in terrible shape. The barred rocks had 2 dead birds in the cage, and...
My neighbors dog killed 5/6 of my 5 week old chicks. The worst evening ever, as my 5 yr old saw the carnage. The survivor was pretty lonely, so I found someone who had chicks supposedly the same age. I drove 2 hours to see the chicks and they were all in bad shape and small.
This one...
I just lost all 6 of my 5 week old flock to the neighbors dog. It gutted one, and just killed the others with no marks. Almost like it was playing with their corpses. My kids are so upset, my 5 yr old cried herself to sleep. Whats frustrating is that I just build an outdoor pen...
I was laying in a hammock on my porch the other day when a skunk came and joined me. At first it freaked me out, but it was kind of cute and just waddled off, probably into my garden. I spotted him the other day in my tomatoes with my daughter. Should I be more afraid of the skunk eating...
thanks for the input..
At first the 4x8 will be home, untill I can build the run. It will be around 4 x 50 or so. I might just start with 4 but I'm afraid I might loose a couple just because I don't know what I'm doing
Here are some pics of my coop in progress. I was hoping for any input from people who have experience. I'm curious what you think about the design so far? Will it have enough ventillation and light? How many roost should I try to fit in, and what would be a good layout? I have no...