2018 Newbie Chat!

[CannedMonster]

I need your opinions...

In the next couple days there will be some rain...should I just leave the babies in the coop or should I let them out and hope they know to go in when it rains?

I do not want them wet for night time--it's still in the 40s at night, to cold IMO for wet baby chickens.

Have they experienced rain yet?
We had a bit last night as everyone was going to bed.
Mine went in the coop with some guidance from me but the older birds hadn’t finished going in yet and they make the juveniles wait by chasing them off until they get on the roost and settle.
So my little ones ended up going over between the prefab coop and shed and settled underneath the nest box overhang on the ground for a while.
I’m not sure if they would’ve stayed there but I didn’t want them there so I had to shoo them out and back to the big coop.
They seem to be able to find any dry spots there may be on their own eventually.
This batch of babies seem to be afraid of the pop door in the big coop.
I’ve been opening the big door for them the last several nights but they need to learn to go in through the pop door.
DH made a small roost for them right in front of the nest boxes.

 

[llombardo]

Have they experienced rain yet?
We had a bit last night as everyone was going to bed.
Mine went in the coop with some guidance from me but the older birds hadn’t finished going in yet and they make the juveniles wait by chasing them off until they get on the roost and settle.
So my little ones ended up going over between the prefab coop and shed and settled underneath the nest box overhang on the ground for a while.
I’m not sure if they would’ve stayed there but I didn’t want them there so I had to shoo them out and back to the big coop.
They seem to be able to find any dry spots there may be on their own eventually.
This batch of babies seem to be afraid of the pop door in the big coop.
I’ve been opening the big door for them the last several nights but they need to learn to go in through the pop door.
DH made a small roost for them right in front of the nest boxes.
View attachment 1750252
View attachment 1750254

The other night I got home just in time to get them in before the rain came. They were a little on the frantic side because I think they felt the wind change and heard the thunder. Not sure if they would go where they can be dry on their own.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

I need your opinions...

In the next couple days there will be some rain...should I just leave the babies in the coop or should I let them out and hope they know to go in when it rains?

I do not want them wet for night time--it's still in the 40s at night, to cold IMO for wet baby chickens.

Personally, I'd leave them in until they are a bit older. When my girls were young they used to play out in the rain and either didn't care or didn't notice how wet they got, now they are older they run for cover.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Have they experienced rain yet?
We had a bit last night as everyone was going to bed.
Mine went in the coop with some guidance from me but the older birds hadn’t finished going in yet and they make the juveniles wait by chasing them off until they get on the roost and settle.
So my little ones ended up going over between the prefab coop and shed and settled underneath the nest box overhang on the ground for a while.
I’m not sure if they would’ve stayed there but I didn’t want them there so I had to shoo them out and back to the big coop.
They seem to be able to find any dry spots there may be on their own eventually.
This batch of babies seem to be afraid of the pop door in the big coop.
I’ve been opening the big door for them the last several nights but they need to learn to go in through the pop door.
DH made a small roost for them right in front of the nest boxes.
View attachment 1750252
View attachment 1750254

So cute all sitting there together - brilliant idea to put the roost bar in front of the nest boxes.

 

[llombardo]

Personally, I'd leave them in until they are a bit older. When my girls were young they used to play out in the rain and either didn't care or didn't notice how wet they got, now they are older they run for cover.

The older set got caught in the rain a couple times. Most of the time they would huddle underneath the play thing they have. Now those same birds wouldn't go in the coop at night, I had to bribe them or physically picked them up. These younger ones go into the coop about 15 minutes before it gets dark. This group seems different then the older group. They actually like the coop, I think the older group were to busy with the pecking order, so some of them didn't want to go in and deal with it and then the rest followed. This group get along well. I really do not want to add or take away from them. I almost think they would go into the coop if it's raining.

Ugh I just keep going back and forth how to seperate them(all). All three groups have been very different to raise.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

I had the chickens out in the back yard yesterday and noticed an egg on the ground. It was a soft shelled one! I don't know who laid it, but it had the color of Diamond's. I opened it up and it had 2 yolks and no white. They have plenty of available calcium and are not stressed or looking sick, so I'm chalking it up to a new layer glitch in the system. whoever laid it apparently didn't realize she was laying an egg, no egg song or anything. If it was Diamond, she's been laying daily for 3 weeks. I'll see if she lays today. I'm guessing maybe that whoever laid it won't lay today.

Looks just like a regular egg.

Here it is opened up, the whitish looking stuff is the soft shell

I thought it was really interesting, these being my first chickens so thought I'd share.

 

[llombardo]

It's almost May, it's Spring and we are getting 4-6 inches of snow tomorrow. I picked an awful year to get chickens. So tomorrow I will be outside diligently knocking snow off the run for about 6-8 hours. The little ones are not coming out, I will let the ducks experience it as long as it's safe to do so.

I went to visit my neighbors that took in my stray rooster. Sadly their last girl was killed by an oppossum in November. Bonnie was a beautiful girl. They got 5 babies because they feel bad for Willie(the rooster) they have had some predator issues. They have killed two opposdums(the one that killed Bonnie) and another one that came back. Willie did his best to protect Bonnue, they know he fought because he had some damage to his comb and them got a small infection. They just killed a raccoon last week, it was on their porch and attacked the guy, this was after it boldly tried getting in the coop and then was on top of the run.

All of this scares me because I know these are the same raccoons and oppossums that are by me. He knows I can't kill anything and he is willing to help if I ever need it.

I have to draw out and make sure the run and coop I'm building is solid and Fort Knox. There will be electric fence all around and I do believe I will be running it around the coop for the night time. I got to keep them safe, there is nothing more important then getting this right. Looks like I'm buying more stock in hard ware cloth.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

It's almost May, it's Spring and we are getting 4-6 inches of snow tomorrow. I picked an awful year to get chickens. So tomorrow I will be outside diligently knocking snow off the run for about 6-8 hours. The little ones are not coming out, I will let the ducks experience it as long as it's safe to do so.

I went to visit my neighbors that took in my stray rooster. Sadly their last girl was killed by an oppossum in November. Bonnie was a beautiful girl. They got 5 babies because they feel bad for Willie(the rooster) they have had some predator issues. They have killed two opposdums(the one that killed Bonnie) and another one that came back. Willie did his best to protect Bonnue, they know he fought because he had some damage to his comb and them got a small infection. They just killed a raccoon last week, it was on their porch and attacked the guy, this was after it boldly tried getting in the coop and then was on top of the run.

All of this scares me because I know these are the same raccoons and oppossums that are by me. He knows I can't kill anything and he is willing to help if I ever need it.

I have to draw out and make sure the run and coop I'm building is solid and Fort Knox. There will be electric fence all around and I do believe I will be running it around the coop for the night time. I got to keep them safe, there is nothing more important then getting this right. Looks like I'm buying more stock in hard ware cloth.

Feel for you guys having such predators, from what I've read those animals are quite determine and don't give up easily, so can understand your want and need for a fort Knox type coup. Hoping all goes smoothly for you hun, goodness knows you need a break!

 

[Anna Ranieri]

I had the chickens out in the back yard yesterday and noticed an egg on the ground. It was a soft shelled one! I don't know who laid it, but it had the color of Diamond's. I opened it up and it had 2 yolks and no white. They have plenty of available calcium and are not stressed or looking sick, so I'm chalking it up to a new layer glitch in the system. whoever laid it apparently didn't realize she was laying an egg, no egg song or anything. If it was Diamond, she's been laying daily for 3 weeks. I'll see if she lays today. I'm guessing maybe that whoever laid it won't lay today.

Looks just like a regular egg.

View attachment 1753227

Here it is opened up, the whitish looking stuff is the soft shell

View attachment 1753233

I thought it was really interesting, these being my first chickens so thought I'd share.

Jellybean laid a soft shell a few weeks ago, it wasn't intact though, at first I thought it was a popped balloon then I saw yellow in the bedding, then it dawned on me it was an smooshed up egg. I phoned my breeder friend in a panic, he told me if it's just one or two here and there then nothing to worry about, but if laid in concession then needs looking into as those are laid as a result of chicken not eating properly (not just calcium, can be anything lacking in their diet)I knew it was Jellybean who'd laid the one I found as I had everyone else's eggs (all four girls lay different colour eggs). I had noticed she hadn't been eaing much for a couple of days and the day before the soft egg she had thrown up a little after drinking water, I was all set to take her to the vets but straight after she laid the soft egg she was fine and still is!

 

[llombardo]

So far so good with the snow. It's coming down, about another 3 hours. I go out, shake the net, get soaking wet and repeat every half hour. I don't even dry off in between..lol. The electric fence went down so I was out there with scissors cutting any grass and melting built up snow--got it up and running again.

I went and bought umbrellas for the run. It looks absolutely ridicioulous but will give nice coverage with the rain that is coming. I'll take a picture later.

The little ones are doing fine in the coop and the ducks are doing ok in the run. They are pretty wet.