Two issues here, but they're related. For reference, we have 3 hens.
The "run": (8ft x 5ft) is attached to the henhouse and fully secure. They ONLY spend time locked in the run during the time it takes for us to wake up and let them into the yard for the whole day. We filled it with...
Scenario: 3 hens, ranging 17-20 weeks old. They live in a run attached to a henhouse, but we let them out in the morning the roam the back yard while we eat breakfast out there. Yard is fenced with a normal-height wooden fence, but there's also a hip-height chainlink fence *inside* that...
So, our chicks turned 6 weeks old this weekend (well, two are 6 weeks old, one is 10 weeks old). We ran out of chick feed and the local feed store recommended the next step up (pullet developer I think it was) rather than buy more chick food. My wife got the 20# bag of organic, FWIW. Anyway...
Does anyone know if sand in the run (no roof except the hardware cloth) gets too hot in the summer in Texas? For all the reasons I've read on this forum, I'm thinking of lining the run with sand but if it'll mean my chickens can't walk on it for half the day I'll have to reconsider.
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We have 3 chickens (still pullets) and the run is 32 square feet. The intent is for them to get out any time we're in the backyard hanging out or working in the garden, but until they're bigger and heavier (unable to fly, bigger against cats) they're stuck in the henhouse and this run...
The henhouse and run we just built has a couple areas attracting too much poop - or rather, poop I don't know how to clean up! The first area is at the top of the henhouse where the ladder leads up to from the run. We put a platform up there and the chickens (two 5-week-olds and one...
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The floor is two feet down. However, I don't think they'd be able to hop up OR down once they are bigger. The thing really is pretty narrow front-to-back esp. between the dowel and either the front or back of the house. That's why I'm thinking of turning the roost(s) sideways in the...
So, I thought this 2" diameter dowel going across the henhouse like this would work OK, but now that I see what actually happens when the birds are on it, I see a major logistical issue. See photo below. This is the coop mid-construction, BTW, before I finished it. The nest box hangs off the...
See my related thread at https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=507155
I think mine (HOPE) is a pullet though. Darker legs, for one. I did finally include pictures on that thread, BTW.
OK, here are some pictures finally. The first pic is of the barred rock when he was a week old or less (the other one in that pic is our buff orpington). The next couple are at 4.5-5 weeks. Notice the dark legs, which I think points to pullet. And the feathering is pretty dark compared to...
Well, we're new chicken owners - we just built our coop over the last 3 weekends. We got two chicks that were one week old (a Buff Orpington and a Plymouth Rock Barred) and then an 8-week old Ameracauna yesterday. All were sold as females. It's the Plymouth barred rock that I'm wondering...