Arizona Chickens

[Bobby Basham]

I am building a new coop soon as i can ...lol... but i just dont want to do the work....HA and still waiting for the fairies & elves to come build it for me

I plan on loosely assembling the coop in my garage, then take it apart and haul out all the pieces to the run. All the pieces for the framework should already be out in the garage that I bought a couple of years ago (procrastination at work again), so the only thing left are a few sheets of plywood for the walls and roof.

Doing it yourself is more rewarding and cheaper than buying those Pre-Fab coops. I've read forums on how horrible some of them are.

I got hooked into the DIY stuff and power tools as a kid from watching my dad improvise and use what was on hand when you couldn't afford to buy the "proper" stuff for a project. It's neat to customize a project for your specific application.

 

[Bobby Basham]

well i just got to say good night all, see you all later i got to go hit the hey, its already tomorrow....lol..

Good night, and I'm outta here too. Haven't been to bed yet and I forgot to eat...again. Well, I guess a little fasting never hurt.

 

[BlueBaby]

I plan on loosely assembling the coop in my garage, then take it apart and haul out all the pieces to the run. All the pieces for the framework should already be out in the garage that I bought a couple of years ago (procrastination at work again), so the only thing left are a few sheets of plywood for the walls and roof.

Doing it yourself is more rewarding and cheaper than buying those Pre-Fab coops. I've read forums on how horrible some of them are.

I got hooked into the DIY stuff and power tools as a kid from watching my dad improvise and use what was on hand when you couldn't afford to buy the "proper" stuff for a project. It's neat to customize a project for your specific application.

When I got my first chicks, I had one of those barn looking pre-fab coops like they sell at the feed store, but before I even got the chicks out of the brooder out to it, we had a real windy day. It blew that little coop over and it broke into pieces. We build one after that and it stands up to heavy winds here good.

 

[Diannastarr]

I plan on loosely assembling the coop in my garage, then take it apart and haul out all the pieces to the run. All the pieces for the framework should already be out in the garage that I bought a couple of years ago (procrastination at work again), so the only thing left are a few sheets of plywood for the walls and roof.

Doing it yourself is more rewarding and cheaper than buying those Pre-Fab coops. I've read forums on how horrible some of them are.

I got hooked into the DIY stuff and power tools as a kid from watching my dad improvise and use what was on hand when you couldn't afford to buy the "proper" stuff for a project. It's neat to customize a project for your specific application.

yes thats it exactly , one thing i found out about procrastination its actually a good thing & a process that can often help to reveal the flaws in our design, your dad was just like mine, improvising & using what was on hand when you couldn't or just didnt want to buy stuff, when you can do it just as good using what you have around, its even fun to see what you can make with the stuff you got laying around..! i also belong to this other group on BYC its called
Homemade V.S. Store Bought & all about DIY & selfficienchy & lots of great ideas..!

 

[igorsMistress]

@igorsMistress how are those Australorps you got from me doing now? What is Kazoo up to?

Sadly, Kazoo made a tasty dinner. He beat up my Welsummer and she wouldn't join the flock even to eat. She was here first, I'm not hatching any chicks, and he was another mouth to feed. He also started crowing constantly and I was worried the neighbors would complain. Or the customers on the phone. It was a hard decision to make. He was a sweet boy otherwise.

The girls aren't laying yet but their combs and wattles are growing and starting to redden.

ETA I caught the light blue girl, Donut, in the coop this morning. Other girls were in the nest boxes so she's thinking about it.

 

[meetthebubus]

Baby Chick Update!!

ugh, i'm confused as to whether I have Amercaunas or their look a likes, easter eggers.

The store said amercaunas, but i also heard that usually they are easter eggers and they like to classify them as amercaunas. Well either way I guess i'll know when i can better see the color of their legs and better yet the color of their eggs, easter eggers will be different colors, green, pink, blue depending on the bird and amercaunas only blue so we'll see..


One thing I can tell you so far these babies are much calmer at this age than my buffs were which i think i hear is a typical characteristic of them so that's cool.

Also I did a one by one feather butt inspection for pasty butt since nineteen is a lot and one had been bypassed during the first PB cleaning, and she was clogged, but quickly unclogged after we had cleaned her, so that was a relief.


I have a bit of trepidation for integrating, but I have a plan prepared and have lots of time to study up on things before that ever happens.

I'm also fearful of getting another Roo, since buying 19 ups that chance for sure, but we'll see, I suspect one already.

 

[BlueBaby]

Sadly, Kazoo made a tasty dinner. He beat up my Welsummer and she wouldn't join the flock even to eat. She was here first, I'm not hatching any chicks, and he was another mouth to feed. He also started crowing constantly and I was worried the neighbors would complain. Or the customers on the phone. It was a hard decision to make. He was a sweet boy otherwise.

The girls aren't laying yet but their combs and wattles are growing and starting to redden.

ETA I caught the light blue girl, Donut, in the coop this morning. Other girls were in the nest boxes so she's thinking about it.

Well, that's too bad. I was really liking the way he was turning out as to body shape and coloring. I do understand though, if you have neighbors that live too close to you and they don't have chickens too that it's kind of hard to have a roo.

 

[Jadesun6]

THATS GREAT , i do a lot of drawing to & build stuff by figuring it all out & then figure how to build it & save money , i designed my home i build in CT, then i designed our motor coach we built out of a retired gray hound bus, now that's a challenge since you have to get it all into a limited space, and my coach has a dish washer & a washer dryer & a sunken tub & shower....lol.. and a fully loaded kitchen, a king size bed with double closets, 2 small dressers & desks HA and it was not easy i had have to deal in inches instead of feet to make it all fit , then building in such a tight space, but in the end its well worth it, so i know what you are saying , its fun to design and build what we invent....!!! my husband & i flipped homes in several different states , i really like doing that , since i just do the drawing & designed it all & he did all the work, but no heavy lifting any more for me HA, im retired from ever physically building homes ever again, HA and i love your project its fantastic....!!! & a excellent design...!

My husband and I flipped a house too. I did the design and he was the muscle. I am always saying we should do this or we can do that. He always looks at me and says "we"? I always say yes, I am the supervisor! He never seems to find that funny.

 

[MagicChicken]

Well, I can't figure out the pecking order in my gang of twelve...because they're all crazy. Everybody takes turns pecking and jumping on each other like they're having a cock fight then settle down chirping peacefully while they're scratching around.

The icing on the cake today was that I walked into the bathroom and everyone had escaped because my hardware cloth sagged and the box bowed out. They were just hanging out on top of the box, the counter and the floor just having a pooping convention.

I was out in the garage for at least seven hours, working like a snail, finishing up to give them this from three sheets of plywood that I mostly assembled a few weeks ago...
View attachment 1252192

Plenty of ventilation on the top and some in the front and has a white sweeter heater (not in use) hanging on the left and three roosts, which are not high, because of the bedding. It's funny seeing them trying to perch for the first time. The lighting on the right is 25-watt amber-colored bulb and not used for heat and my florescent garage light is directly above them. Lights out at bedtime.

View attachment 1252193
It's four times the size of that box in the bathroom 4-ft x 6-ft x 24" tall. There are two half lids on the top that only extend halfway toward the rear and two drop-downs in the front. The screening is quarter-inch hardware cloth. I will add some casters on the left side so it can be tilted up and rolled up against the wall when not in use.

This was the worst wood project I ever encountered; joints didn't line up, measurements were off, bent and/or twisted wood, splitting joints, just a hot mess.

Now comes the fun part...You all know I don't like flapping things with a BEAK, so I had to muster up the courage to go in there and round them up. Grabbed a milk crate and two old bath mats, one for cushion/protection in case they poop in transit, and the other for cover to keep them calm.

It sounded like a fox had raided the hen house with all the squawking, flapping and that horrible noise they make once you grabbed them. It was hard trying to hold one under the mat while trying to grab a couple more, so this endeavor took several trips and a few lost feathers and was glad when it was over.

Procrastination can be costly, and had to build this "intermediate" setup since my coop is not built yet, but it will come in handy down the road when small chicks no longer need supplemental heat after I keep an eye on them in-house for the first couple of weeks. No one to blame but myself for being complacent and letting them stay in here for 10 WEEKS! Never again, maybe 4-weeks max because right now some of them are getting huge, probably larger than their bantam counterparts.

Oh, Bobby, this post made me laugh so hard! "Pooping convention"

I keep a couple of old Amazon shipping boxes for transporting chicks between brooders. Line the bottom with paper towels and it's pretty easy to clean up. If the boxes get too messy you can throw them away. You can use pretty much anything as a lid to keep them from jumping out of the box. I use the lid from my tamale pot. Five gallon buckets with paper towels in the bottom work pretty well too. For chicks. Not necessarily for 10 week old birds. The longest I keep birds in a brooder is 5-6 weeks.

Chick-catching and/or transport is a whole lot easier in the dark. Those little buggers are fast when they can see where they are going.

Good luck!

 

[cactusrota]

33 so far!!!! And a couple still pipping!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10215506863689228