building paradise for the birds

[Trefoil]

it is not so much that guinea hens are bad mothers.. the babies just are not natural followers..

even a chicken hen has a terrible time keeping keets in line,,

the only bird I ever had that kept the keets in a bunch was an old Royal Palm turkey who hatched out 4 keets.. (long story why she had guinea eggs)

I have had flocks of near 100 guineas,, I never witnessed any babysitting or protecting of the young.

Mine don't babysit or protect either. Their mama keeps away from everybody until she loses them all or gets tired of it. I incubate & brood mine. And any guineas that don't go in at night are fair game here in Michigan. One winter I got tired of fighting with them to go in and went from over 40 down to 8 before I gave up and fought about going in. But they are great insect eaters and get muscovies as well for mosquitoes and life is good.

 

[perchie.girl]

it is not so much that guinea hens are bad mothers.. the babies just are not natural followers..

even a chicken hen has a terrible time keeping keets in line,,

the only bird I ever had that kept the keets in a bunch was an old Royal Palm turkey who hatched out 4 keets.. (long story why she had guinea eggs)

I have had flocks of near 100 guineas,, I never witnessed any babysitting or protecting of the young.

maybe enviornment? I dunno. So far I havent been able to get my flock that high.... I should preface that for A Lot of info I have on guineas in their natural envoronment comes from the internet.... For that I apologize.

 

[silly4buttons]

[/U [URL=https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/6651353/] [/URL]

What kind of birds are these? I love the white ones. Did you hatch them? Do they do well with chickens?

 

[birdman55]

Amazing job! You make it look too easy.

How do you get the first two wall frames up when you are working on your own?

well i took the large far wall and set it along the fence then i took the inside wall and put it on the small fence then the other large
wall and rested it on the greenhouse wall that still stands and then took the two farthest walls and put three screws in it that were already
drilled out to make sure the wood wouldnt split...then i took the other wall and secured it...then i moved to the next section and did the same
finishing all the outside and inside walls and then started to level it by placing blocks on the ground...if the ground wasnt frozen i would have
taken my laser level and dug out a perfect level place for it to sit on...from the right to the left it is about a foot off level...so like i said
it will get interesting to see how it pans out...but you sometimes have to use what you can use when you can use it until you can make it better..
just like the "hardware cloth"...it drives me up a wall that i cant get this here and the closest place that sells it is about atleast an hour away
so i decided to use the chicken wire and 2x4 inch on top of each other...so when the day breaks i will be ripping the 2x4s in half and making
doorways as well as putting on the wall netting wire...then when im done i will be putting on the net over the top and stapling it...then i will
transfer, band, deworm and log each bird that is going to each unit of these..and then i will move to the next section...im going to prolly tarp the
top until i can buy metal roofing and install a metal pitched roof on it...tonys pen gave me this idea...and he has been great at answering some
of the basic questions i have had since im new to this and he is experianced with breeding...thanks again tony..hope you guys are enjoying the thread
and dont be scared to put up your own pics of your birds as well as anything your working on...for example im building my own incubator...which i
will post pics of as well and how to build them as i build them...hope everyone enjoys this and can take something from this thread and apply it to
there own setup..after winter as well i will be putting in a self drip system for the birds to be more efficient...so just keep watching..thanks
again for the support..

 

[birdman55]

What kind of birds are these? I love the white ones. Did you hatch them? Do they do well with chickens?

the white peafowl or the white (ivory colored) pheasants...peach golden pheasant ...both birds you will have to keep a net over them...and i wouldnt
suggest putting these birds in with chickens..chickens are full of all sorts of stuff and peafowl are more prown to get sick...and i wouldnt
put my pheasants in with the chickens either..chickens will mate with the pheasants ive seen it myself when i added a couple of ringnecks and ten
chickens to a pen so they got seperated quick..didnt need any weird animals hatching out...right...you can free range the peafowl thru time and effort
kinda like a chicken will go into their own shack after a while...you wanna keep different breeds seperate to keep good stock...as well as keep
good records of the parents pics as well as were you got them from...this will help when you breed them...also make sure to put somesort of identifier
on them so you know what pen they came from...i will take pics of what i do for this...there are all sorts of different ways of keeping track..hope
this helps...
also i didnt hatch them i know alot of breeders and keep meeting more and more...this helps with not having to breed brother and sister like most people
do when they buy a pair of anything from someone...when i buy a male and female..i buy from two breeders and then split them and log where each one
goes so i know there not interbreeding and i can keep track of how the birds turn out and what to expect from each pen..
thanks again for the support keep the questions rolling in...i dont mind them

 

[silly4buttons]

the white peafowl or the white (ivory colored) pheasants...peach golden pheasant ...both birds you will have to keep a net over them...and i wouldnt

suggest putting these birds in with chickens..chickens are full of all sorts of stuff and peafowl are more prown to get sick...and i wouldnt

put my pheasants in with the chickens either..chickens will mate with the pheasants ive seen it myself when i added a couple of ringnecks and ten

chickens to a pen so they got seperated quick..didnt need any weird animals hatching out...right...you can free range the peafowl thru time and effort

kinda like a chicken will go into their own shack after a while...you wanna keep different breeds seperate to keep good stock...as well as keep

good records of the parents pics as well as were you got them from...this will help when you breed them...also make sure to put somesort of identifier

on them so you know what pen they came from...i will take pics of what i do for this...there are all sorts of different ways of keeping track..hope

this helps...

also i didnt hatch them i know alot of breeders and keep meeting more and more...this helps with not having to breed brother and sister like most people

do when they buy a pair of anything from someone...when i buy a male and female..i buy from two breeders and then split them and log where each one

goes so i know there not interbreeding and i can keep track of how the birds turn out and what to expect from each pen..

thanks again for the support keep the questions rolling in...i dont mind them

Thank you. They are so beautiful! Maybe someday.

 

[birdman55]

anytime....keep watching as we grow in the birds...we plan on having a couple hundred birds this season...and buildings will keep going up...so watch as the little farmer keeps you posted

 

[cwrite]

Thanks for the explanations. It's really helpful.

 

[birdman55]

so the speed of the pen has to go up quick and some have to get separated fast because they were being naughty...yesterday....
here some pics of how you know to separate or you will have problems...this is how the birds look like... they actually cape and hiss at each other kindof like how they do to the females...and then they go straight at each other..kind of like a chicken would

 

[Chrysolophus]

yeah so tired today..been busy doing work all day as you might know...well lets just say i got the outer shell of the first large coop done.. took along time to build them and i tried to get it as level as i can...it will be interesting to see what i come up with for the spots that are going to have spaces in them on the bottom u know (cause the ground is frozen but i have an idea...lets just see how far i got today... always a goal but always putting to much on the plate... here are the pics

Great job, Birdman. What i do this morning is plant some bamboo, reed and azalea. The reed is so sharp I got a cut in my hand