5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[Wisher1000]

We have a coop with an automatic door. I love it. I have it set to open a touch late and close a touch early. Then there is the option to leave it open or closed. I have used the closed all day once. It worked great. But it was a lot more money than a standard chicken door.

I love mine, too! I set mine to open a tad late and to close a tad late. I can override it at any time without having to reset the regularly set open/close times.

Oh, automatic doors, that would be heavenly LOL - then again, I would miss saying goodnight to them all. So silly, I know.

I still go out and do a head count, collect eggs, check the food and water almost every night, but I don't HAVE to. I can send the boys out to get eggs if I get busy and know they will be locked in safe anyway.

Sometimes it's just impossible to be home by dusk.
It would also help get them out early but not too early.
The doors I'm working on is the breeder setup with 10 popdoors. 2 for each unit.

I'm thinking of opening my individual breeder pens into a center hall with an auto door from there to the large outside run. That way, I can open the people door of any pen and the birds will be able to come and go to the big pen. Then I can close that people door and open another and that group of birds can do the same. I want them to access the large area, but not all at the same time. I have to have the people doors but can avoid having all those pop doors that are harder to secure, and just have the one auto door from the hallway to the outside.

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I have that same issue..

I think that auto doors would be nice, but then I think that I wouldn't get in my nightly head count and health check. So I figure even if I had an auto door I'd be out there every night anyway. Not to mention constantly worrying that someone would get locked out.

My door has a feature where it closes at the desired time, but it opens again for a few seconds about ten minutes later so any that are late and missed the deadline will be able to slip in. I have seen a hen pacing at the door only to dart in when it opened a bit later. I try to set the close time just before it gets dark to avoid the stragglers getting locked out.


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I have one PulletShut Automatic Chicken Door. It is one of the best purchases I have ever made. I love that I don't have to think about or worry if I can't get out there right at dark. I love that I don't have to get up on Saturday morning and let them out at daylight. I still keep my regular schedule of care, but if I am running behind or get tied up at work or have a game or play to attend, I know they are secured. I sometimes wake up a night with a sinus headache, on those mornings, if I get enough relief to go back to bed just before daylight, I don't have to get back up to let the chickens out. It was expensive, I'll admit, but it is well made and streamlined. It runs on a battery that holds a charge for a long time, and it is dependable. I did have trouble with it after about a month and a half, but I called them and they sent me a replacement circuit board and motor and it has been working perfectly ever since. They were very courteous and professional and I will definately buy another in the future. As a matter of fact, I wish (there I go again) I had at least two more right now!

 

[chickengirl1193]

You can feed grower crumbles to any age bird. If your pullets aren't laying yet they shouldn't be on layer feed.
Having the timer set accurately is critical.
You can always do a headcount when they're safe.

is there a reason non laying pullets shouldn't be on layer feed? I got my pellets from mcmurray as 22 week old pullets but they haven't laid an egg yet. I hope i didnt hurt them... they mostly free range. I thought they just weren't laying because of the lack of light

 

[chicken farmer]

My silkies 5 eggs are due tomorrow I'm soooooo excited!!!!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

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typically they don't need as much calcium if they are not using calcium to produce egg shells. Too much calcium can cause health issues including heart and kidney problems. Also if the calcium is increased then something is decreased, most likely the protein. While a pullet i still growing more protein is needed. During a molt more protein is needed. During the winter lots of people feed extra corn for energy but that energy is lower in protein. The trick is knowing why your hens are not laying and feeding accordingly. Personally I don't use layer feed. I feed all flock or even grower and offer calcium on the side as the roosters really really don't need the extra calcium.

 

[KristyAnn]

typically they don't need as much calcium if they are not using calcium to produce egg shells. Too much calcium can cause health issues including heart and kidney problems. Also if the calcium is increased then something is decreased, most likely the protein. While a pullet i still growing more protein is needed. During a molt more protein is needed. During the winter lots of people feed extra corn for energy but that energy is lower in protein. The trick is knowing why your hens are not laying and feeding accordingly. Personally I don't use layer feed. I feed all flock or even grower and offer calcium on the side as the roosters really really don't need the extra calcium.

good info didn't know that. Makes more sense than not.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

good info didn't know that. Makes more sense than not.

I learned the hard way. I ended up losing a rooster to heart problems most likely from feeding layer feed. He got a touch bit better once he was off the layer feed but the damage had been done.
Now others feed their entire flock the cheapest layer feed they can find and have no issues.
For me the price of the feed without the extra calcium costs more per pound than the layer feed. But the calcium is cheaper than the layer feed per pound so it works out to about the same total price in the end.

 

[ronott1]

I learned the hard way. I ended up losing a rooster to heart problems most likely from feeding layer feed. He got a touch bit better once he was off the layer feed but the damage had been done.
Now others feed their entire flock the cheapest layer feed they can find and have no issues.
For me the price of the feed without the extra calcium costs more per pound than the layer feed. But the calcium is cheaper than the layer feed per pound so it works out to about the same total price in the end.

Roosters should have Grower. Many early Rooster deaths are caused by calcium poisoning.

 

[KristyAnn]

I learned the hard way. I ended up losing a rooster to heart problems most likely from feeding layer feed. He got a touch bit better once he was off the layer feed but the damage had been done.
Now others feed their entire flock the cheapest layer feed they can find and have no issues.
For me the price of the feed without the extra calcium costs more per pound than the layer feed. But the calcium is cheaper than the layer feed per pound so it works out to about the same total price in the end.

So my husband bought grains which looks like scratch and I was told to keep my hens and Rooster all on layer feed and that them grains looking like scratch are more like a candy. What's your input on this. I currently have both the grainy scratch and layer feed mixed together. Could this be a future issue for either my hens or my Rooster?

 

[mstricer]

Woohoo

36 of 36. All eggs have veins. I'm excited that I currently have 100% hatch rate but if all do hatch I will be shocked. This is only my 3rd hatch and it seems I always run into problems when it comes to day 21. If this hatch goes all well I will definitely have enough laying hens to supply our egg buying customers again.

 

[chickengirl1193]

typically they don't need as much calcium if they are not using calcium to produce egg shells.  Too much calcium can cause health issues including heart and kidney problems.  Also if the calcium is increased then something is decreased, most likely the protein.  While a pullet i still growing more protein is needed.  During a molt more protein is needed.   During the winter lots of people feed extra corn for energy but that energy is lower in protein.  The trick is knowing why your hens are not laying and feeding accordingly.  Personally I don't use layer feed.  I feed all flock or even grower and offer calcium on the side as the roosters really really don't need the extra calcium.

okay thanks! well my grower feed is coming in on Friday so I'll pick that up and switch my girls over I wish i knew that before. everything i read said that at 22 weeks you can switch to layer pellets and I didn't realize the extra calcium could hurt them. I guess from now on I'll feed grower feed since I'll have a mixed flock after this hatch. hopefully I didn't hurt them! Thanks again! I learn so much from this site! Will they eat the extra calcium if they need it?