2 chickens in a shed. the saga of beep beep and sarah

[ANG2010]

Greetings to all;

I'm ANG. Live in colorado and have 2 chickens. brown legged longhorn something or another. Our room mates have them. They are currently in a shed that has one side sectioned off for them. No coop or a run. They are about 13 weeks old. We have them on pellets. Is that ok?

we got them chicken sin an attempt to get eggs, do they have to eat a certain feed to lay?

Just wanted to say hello. WIll be getting alot of wood tomorrow to try to build a crappy coop for them. Hope i can build it nice. the shed isnt gonna work for much longer.

Anyone in colorado have any advice or materials they can donate? lol


Will post pics eventually.


thanks

~ANG

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! A good place to start reading is the Learning Center, there are a lot of nice articles in there covering all aspects of chicken keeping. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center And the Coops section has a lot of examples of coops that may give you some ideas of what to build. You probably have a breed called Brown Leghorns, they are a popular white egg layer. You need to check what kind of pellets they are on, they should Not be on something called Layer Feed at this age (which are often pellets), it has too much calcium in it for growing birds. Your chicks should be on a food called Chick Starter /Grower or an All Ages / Flock Raiser type food... When they are old enough to lay eggs, or about 18 weeks you can start them on a Layer food, that is what most people feed their laying hens. Good luck with the coop build, you might want to post on / check the Colorado state thread for a better chance of reaching people in your area https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/68894/colorado

 

[ANG2010]

Hello

and Welcome To BYC! A good place to start reading is the Learning Center, there are a lot of nice articles in there covering all aspects of chicken keeping. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center And the Coops section has a lot of examples of coops that may give you some ideas of what to build. You probably have a breed called Brown Leghorns, they are a popular white egg layer. You need to check what kind of pellets they are on, they should Not be on something called Layer Feed at this age (which are often pellets), it has too much calcium in it for growing birds. Your chicks should be on a food called Chick Starter /Grower or an All Ages / Flock Raiser type food... When they are old enough to lay eggs, or about 18 weeks you can start them on a Layer food, that is what most people feed their laying hens. Good luck with the coop build, you might want to post on / check the Colorado state thread for a better chance of reaching people in your area https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/68894/colorado

Thanks for the info. I've been reading in the learning center for a while.

So they should NOT be on layer feed right now?

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

No, no layer feed until they are ready to lay. Layer feed has too much calcium for them right now and can hurt their kidneys. You will know they are about to lay when they start to squat for you. (they will squat down when you lean over them) When you see them do this, the eggs will be a week or so away. Then you can start with layer feed. Until then, they need to stay on starter feed.

Definitely do some reading in the learning center on how to take care of your flock and Kelsie also has left you with the link to your states thread if you want to chat with other members in your area.

Great to have you aboard and enjoy your flock!

 

[drumstick diva]

you can scourge around and find lots of free or nearly free materials to make a coop. Wooden shipping pallets can be taken apart to use the wood, large appliance crates that may be dumped behind stores. Stuff put out on "garbage" days in the neighborhood. If you have a RE HAB store you may find materials , old windows, shelves, counters that may be useful to you. Also check out your Craig's list - often people change their mind about having chickens and offer the coop sometimes with chickens.

 

[gander007]

 

[sourland]

Hi, Ang, welcome to BYC. Build a sturdy coop - everything likes to eat chicken.

 

[chickie farmer]

Welcome to BYC. Be sure it's draft free and you have a good roof over their heads that won't leak. you don't want wet floors for your chickens to walk in.

 

[ANG2010]

were gonna have to rebuild the coop i fell. nothing but ceader plywood, chicken wire and a couple of pallets.

ill post pics tomorrow sometime.

all materials were found free on cl in the past 2 days.

 

[ANG2010]

it is drafty probably, not very comfortable but is warm with 2 heat lamps, has a 4 foot drawer full of ceder for them and is going to be realitivly dry....we hope. have rain moving in so we will see.