Whooohooo !! Very eggciting Our speckled sussex Loraine got off for about ten minutes.. I counted 19 eggs. Do you have any chicks that lay blue eggs??
Arizona Chickens
- Thread starter paynemom
- Start date
Shoot I wish my boys could be there to help you.. They would learn how to do ours.. It looks great.. Thanks for the photos..The new coop is coming along nicely this weekend. I went to pick up some more wood from Home Depot, since it's right next to my wife's chiropractor. She had a massage today and then her adjustment. I found a bunch of stuff in the "damaged" bin, including three 1"x8"x12' tongue-and-groove slats to use as the side paneling. I think I'm going to have to go get one more to finish the job, but the damaged bin is 70% off the regular price. I spent about $25.00 for a probably 75 linear feet of wood. It all has imperfections, but if you are creative and think through your design, it can work well. Here is the sub-foundation. It is just a basic framework that the rest of the coop will sit on. The front panel is two 1"x6" boards that have reinforcing posts behind it, to prevent coyotes or dogs from trying to dig underneath. The dirt will be backfilled up to the top of that board, creating a small slope up to the base of the coop. I also finished digging the dirt out from inside. The coop floor sits about a foot below the top of this foundation to allow for the deep litter method.Here is the framed front wall The middle section is for the door and the right section is for the nesting boxes. The actual wall is 52" tall and the back wall is 62" tall, giving me a slightly sloped roof. I'm debating on a couple of options. I am pricing out the galvanized tin roofing and thought about finding some of the translucent plastic roofing that is the same design as the tin. I know it's out there. My Grandpa used it to enclose their back porch years ago and it worked well. That would allow ambient light in to the coop during the day, too. You probably can't tell, but the back wall has about a 2" space that will be left open for air flow.
Here are the completed nesting boxes. The floor of each box is set in to a daddo or a groove to ensure they can't just fall out. The boxes are each 30" wide by 15" deep, but I'll probably divide each one in to two 15" wide boxes, for a total of four. They will be 15" tall at the inside wall and angle down to 12" on the outside. That'll give me a lift up roof for each one.
On the far left, you can see the tongue-and-groove board that makes the wall. I am continuing the design on the other side and will have it wrap around nesting boxes. My wife wants it painted red, with white trim boards. I'll have to stain a scrap piece and water-seal another piece to see if she likes the natural look better. Either way, I think it'll look great. I still have to custom-build the door. I am thinking about building a half-door so that we can leave the top half open. I can't think of any particular reason we'd do that rather than leaving the entire door open, but hey, not everything has to be functional, right?!? Oh, and the chicken door will be built into the larger door. Since I have to custom build it, I may make the smaller door slide up inside the door panels. The framed section in the top right corner is 6"x30" and will be either a pop-hatch window or a sliding window. If I can find a scrap piece the right size, I want to use some white garden trellis inside for decoration and a slight bit of security.
I'll be running fresh water through the small gap between the back fence and the house for the poultry nipples. Which reminds, the water line will come out front of the coop on that same side and I will run the water line under the lower nesting box. It'll have three or four nipples to, so that they have fresh water inside and out. Right now, they either have to go back into the small coop or are just drinking out of the little pottery fountain I have on the back porch. It's fresh, clean water and gets changed every few days since it gets low. The running water helps keep it from going stagnant, too. I haven't decided if I'm going to run electricity to it or not. I guess part of that depends on whether I get the translucent roof or a solid roof. I can also open the window blinds and let ambient light from the house in. Any other ideas or recommendations? I've still got tomorrow and next weekend worth of work, so I've got a bit of time for gathering more supplies and my pressure regulator to arrive from QC Supply. I had to get more nipples, too. Have a great night!
Yay! That's so cool! My first egg was also in the middle of the run but they've used the nesting boxes ever since.So today is my sons 5th birthday. Earlier this afternoon I told my girls while they were out around the yard they had better lay an egg for his birthday else one of Em was soup. Lo and behold, I go out to the coop just now and there's the most perfect little egg right in the middle of the run floor!
omg that reminds me. my daughter walked home with a boy from her class today and they were talking chicken. he had never seen a fresh egg before so she asked if she could give him one. long story short the egg is smashed in the road in front of my house now, and he better not be walking her home any time soon...
Poor Button!! I think someone mentioned free-ranging... I agree if possible, let them out as much as you can with some more space for a little while.
My little silkie was the first to lay an egg out of my entire flock. She was 20 1/2 weeks old. It can happen!
Had a busy, but good, day until tonight when my neighbor started giving me all sorts of crap about our roosters. We're allowed to have them where we are. We lock them up from 9p.m. to 8a.m. so that they don't crow and wake anyone up before 8a.m. in the neighborhood and he still is mad. Said he sat out in his hot tub and they crowed 100 times this evening in the one hour he was out there.
"Demosthine"
A thought. Bugs, mites, lice.... Diatomaceous earth and borax are great insecticides we know. When I had my budgies, I had a false bottom in the nesting box, base boards in the walkin flight. I put diatom. earth under the false bottom and behind the base boards. During the day pests would go there to hold up. In Florida I pried the base boards lose and poured Borax behind to help control the bugs and fleas.
Your coop looks wonderful. Walk in and easy to clean. You could design an intentional crack for bugs to hide out in... With a gift for them. Termites will be killed by the above as well. Borax is one of my favorites, but when it gets wet it dissolves, only the dry powder kills. If you are going to put litter on the floor my thought would be less effective. But a false bottom in the nesting boxes would mess up a bugs life.
I know I may come across as a little off the wall, oil lamps (if it can be done safely) for heat, bag balm, marking your territory, sawdust, sand, & vermiculite for growing plants, and now making places for bugs to hide out in - with a surprise for them. Ok, I am a little strange. Living in a tent, giving it up because it was to expensive (single woman alone, not a good idea to go into the back woods and live in a tent), living on a sailboat, working as a mate on fishing party boat, and collector of useless information & data . . . . But if I hadn't hadn't marched to my own drummer I would not have put myself in juxtaposition so many people that are so very interesting, many also had their own drummer.
A thought. Bugs, mites, lice.... Diatomaceous earth and borax are great insecticides we know. When I had my budgies, I had a false bottom in the nesting box, base boards in the walkin flight. I put diatom. earth under the false bottom and behind the base boards. During the day pests would go there to hold up. In Florida I pried the base boards lose and poured Borax behind to help control the bugs and fleas.
Your coop looks wonderful. Walk in and easy to clean. You could design an intentional crack for bugs to hide out in... With a gift for them. Termites will be killed by the above as well. Borax is one of my favorites, but when it gets wet it dissolves, only the dry powder kills. If you are going to put litter on the floor my thought would be less effective. But a false bottom in the nesting boxes would mess up a bugs life.
I know I may come across as a little off the wall, oil lamps (if it can be done safely) for heat, bag balm, marking your territory, sawdust, sand, & vermiculite for growing plants, and now making places for bugs to hide out in - with a surprise for them. Ok, I am a little strange. Living in a tent, giving it up because it was to expensive (single woman alone, not a good idea to go into the back woods and live in a tent), living on a sailboat, working as a mate on fishing party boat, and collector of useless information & data . . . . But if I hadn't hadn't marched to my own drummer I would not have put myself in juxtaposition so many people that are so very interesting, many also had their own drummer.
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Wanted: Someone to TAKE MY SULTAN ROO!
He hatched Nov. 13th and he has a shrill loud crow.
He will be taken to Pratt's on Friday, but I hope he can have a little flock of his own, he is a pretty little thing, (except for where he was picked on his back by some of the big hens) he still thinks he's cock of the walk but too loud for my neighborhood.
Oh and he's FREE! And if you take him today, I'll give you a Silver Laced Polish Hen for the bother!
He hatched Nov. 13th and he has a shrill loud crow.
He will be taken to Pratt's on Friday, but I hope he can have a little flock of his own, he is a pretty little thing, (except for where he was picked on his back by some of the big hens) he still thinks he's cock of the walk but too loud for my neighborhood.
Oh and he's FREE! And if you take him today, I'll give you a Silver Laced Polish Hen for the bother!
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Have you joined Arizona Backyard Farmer on Facebook? Found a home for my BBS Orp through them. Worth a try.
How do you get them back in the run when they've tasted freedom? They're not so easy to catch sometimes.
Train them. Go in with treats and say something like "here chick, chick!" or whatever. They will learn quickly that it means treats and they will come running. I also use "let's go home" when I'm putting them back in the coop. Also, they will return to roost on their own at dusk, so go out there then to reinforce them going back in to your call.
Had a busy, but good, day until tonight when my neighbor started giving me all sorts of crap about our roosters. We're allowed to have them where we are. We lock them up from 9p.m. to 8a.m. so that they don't crow and wake anyone up before 8a.m. in the neighborhood and he still is mad. Said he sat out in his hot tub and they crowed 100 times this evening in the one hour he was out there.
I can understand his annoyance but I was hoping he would be more patient - they're young roos establishing themselves and I feel like I've tried so hard already so that at least no one gets woken up early. We're so attached to them and they are all great, sweet roos. He questioned me as to why I even need roosters if I wasn't trying to make a bunch of babies. I told him that we use them for protection when free-ranging to which he replied - you have a fence. Duh... coyotes can clear our fence, skunks can crawl through the fence, and hawks don't care if there's a fence. The other reason we have them is because we love them! Two of them belong to my 12-year-old daughter who has raised them all this time and she is so upset and worried that we will have to get rid of them to keep the peace with this guy. He said he wouldn't have moved here if he had known we had chickens and it's not fair to him to get them after he was here. Um... hello? We live in a rural community where poultry is allowed - including roosters! Sorry, I just had to vent. I am so torn about what to do...
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That's tough, but ultimately, if you can have roosters, you're ok. I personally would downsize the number of roosters depending on how many hens you have. It would minimize fighting and what not. Roosters can and will be aggressive, even if you raise them by hand. It's their nature. I have always made it clear to my kids that our rooster is not our pet and if he attacks, he WILL hurt them. (My kids are young...oldest is 7). I really like my rooster, but I won't take a chance. At about a year old, he began being more protective of his hens. If I grab a hen and she squawks, he'll charge but that's about it. 'Course I laid down the law early on. The first time he charged I gave him a kick. He keeps his distance, but he is a rooster...a big rooster. Anyway...some people can't be appeased. If you get rid of all of your roosters, your neighbor will then probably complain about your hens. The fact is that he moved into a rural area, you're taking measures to minimize the crowing, and you are within your rights. Maybe try to bribe him with fresh eggs.
. Just be careful with those roos as they get older. Good luck!
I can understand his annoyance but I was hoping he would be more patient - they're young roos establishing themselves and I feel like I've tried so hard already so that at least no one gets woken up early. We're so attached to them and they are all great, sweet roos. He questioned me as to why I even need roosters if I wasn't trying to make a bunch of babies. I told him that we use them for protection when free-ranging to which he replied - you have a fence. Duh... coyotes can clear our fence, skunks can crawl through the fence, and hawks don't care if there's a fence. The other reason we have them is because we love them! Two of them belong to my 12-year-old daughter who has raised them all this time and she is so upset and worried that we will have to get rid of them to keep the peace with this guy. He said he wouldn't have moved here if he had known we had chickens and it's not fair to him to get them after he was here. Um... hello? We live in a rural community where poultry is allowed - including roosters! Sorry, I just had to vent. I am so torn about what to do...[/quote]
That's tough, but ultimately, if you can have roosters, you're ok. I personally would downsize the number of roosters depending on how many hens you have. It would minimize fighting and what not. Roosters can and will be aggressive, even if you raise them by hand. It's their nature. I have always made it clear to my kids that our rooster is not our pet and if he attacks, he WILL hurt them. (My kids are young...oldest is 7). I really like my rooster, but I won't take a chance. At about a year old, he began being more protective of his hens. If I grab a hen and she squawks, he'll charge but that's about it. 'Course I laid down the law early on. The first time he charged I gave him a kick. He keeps his distance, but he is a rooster...a big rooster. Anyway...some people can't be appeased. If you get rid of all of your roosters, your neighbor will then probably complain about your hens. The fact is that he moved into a rural area, you're taking measures to minimize the crowing, and you are within your rights. Maybe try to bribe him with fresh eggs.
. Just be careful with those roos as they get older. Good luck!
Two very quick stories about the same rooster I raised from a day old last year. I bought several (10) chicks at the end of March last year, plus a rooster. Every one got along well for about four months, and then the rooster started trying to attack me when I was in the yard. He would race all the way across our acreage to fly at me, wings beating, and making loud noises.
An elderly man from across the street told me he gets up in the morning and listens to the rooster crowing at the early morning sun. He sits on his porch drinking his morning coffee listening to the rooster. I mentioned this last year in a posting. He said he smiled every time he heard that rooster crow. It reminded him of a duty station in the Philippines, he is retired Navy.
The third time the rooster attacked me, I chased him all over the yard, cornered him and was putting him into the isolation cage I use for new birds, and a neighbor from the other side of the property asked what I was going to do with him. He had been watching for several days what I had been going through with this bird. I told him I was going to learn how to "harvest" a bird, TODAY!
He begged me to give him the bird, he had a large covered fenced area he would let the bird live in, so being the "nice" guy I am, I gave him the bird.
That was almost a year ago, and I can still hear that bird crowing every morning, the rooster is happy, the neighbors are BOTH happy, I am happy, and the neighbor I have the rooster too came back that day with a trailer full of pallets asking if I had a use for them, so now I was happy too.
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An elderly man from across the street told me he gets up in the morning and listens to the rooster crowing at the early morning sun. He sits on his porch drinking his morning coffee listening to the rooster. I mentioned this last year in a posting. He said he smiled every time he heard that rooster crow. It reminded him of a duty station in the Philippines, he is retired Navy.
The third time the rooster attacked me, I chased him all over the yard, cornered him and was putting him into the isolation cage I use for new birds, and a neighbor from the other side of the property asked what I was going to do with him. He had been watching for several days what I had been going through with this bird. I told him I was going to learn how to "harvest" a bird, TODAY!
He begged me to give him the bird, he had a large covered fenced area he would let the bird live in, so being the "nice" guy I am, I gave him the bird.
That was almost a year ago, and I can still hear that bird crowing every morning, the rooster is happy, the neighbors are BOTH happy, I am happy, and the neighbor I have the rooster too came back that day with a trailer full of pallets asking if I had a use for them, so now I was happy too.
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