California-Inland Empire

[JShubin]

I like to keep the broodstock and thier offspring for future broodstock... its never ending. lol

 

[chelsiemom]

I can actually answer that question, yep me the worlds worst enabler

Build ONLY what you want to house. Make that housing strong like Ft. Knox and cushy like a penthouse suite.
U have now spent mucho $$$

Do NOT purchase an incubator! Anytime you see a hen sitting on eggs PULL THEM and give her a golf ball and mealworms.
The biggest part is: call me and I will come over and straighten ya out

I have 17 roos and an assortment of littles that live in a commune type setting.
P.S. If you are addicted to hatching, hatch for OTHER peoples. I do that

Everytime I "discover" a new breed (the ones I find really cool), I have to find them. And then I find and buy them. And love them. Then I find out what I have is a very poor specimen, and they're "supposed" to look like this. But I can't part with what I have. I love them. But, they "could" be so much better! I did this first with blue laced red wyandotte. They're both really brassy splash.

Now I've done it with silver laced orpingtons. They look really pretty, but they're poor specimens and sickly. One had an eye infection I've gotten him over and they other I'm battling wry neck. And these came from an expensive breeder....

I gotta just stop now and enjoy what I have. But I know I'm gonna find something else really cool.....

 

[JShubin]

Everytime I "discover" a new breed (the ones I find really cool), I have to find them. And then I find and buy them. And love them. Then I find out what I have is a very poor specimen, and they're "supposed" to look like this. But I can't part with what I have. I love them. But, they "could" be so much better! I did this first with blue laced red wyandotte. They're both really brassy splash.

Now I've done it with silver laced orpingtons. They look really pretty, but they're poor specimens and sickly. One had an eye infection I've gotten him over and they other I'm battling wry neck. And these came from an expensive breeder....

I gotta just stop now and enjoy what I have. But I know I'm gonna find something else really cool.....

I suffer from the exact opposite, but same feelings...

I dont like "pure" chickens that are supposed to look like something. I like breeding new crosses and cross breeding those with other crosses I've created. Like experiments. To find the best performance and athletic, while looking good at the same time. Usually results in very healthy chickens, but I just want to keep them all..

Big breeders tend to linebreed and other semi-inbreeding methods.. and they typically sell whatever they got... whether sickly or not.. and they sell the offspring before they know if they are good or not.

 

[adcockfarm]

Subscribing!

 

[jeffreybas]

Hi all I'm from Beaumont,CA
So I don't have any chickens yet since I want to really research it a bit more first and need to make some room in my backyard. I currently am raising meat rabbits and wanted to start raising a couple chickens as well. My goal for right now is to get 2-3 chickens to test the water out and get some experience in before we move in a year or two and have a lot more room to raise many more animals for our own personal use.
I've looked at some prefab coops and even read a little bit here about how cheaply made they really are in the long run. For 2-3 chickens what should I aim for in size? I'd like to have something similar to this

But I do have some pretty decent wire pen I made for my rabbits I plan to attach to a side door and letting the chickens have more room during the day to wander outside this.

My rabbits are in cages about 30" or so off the ground if I let the chickens run under these cages will they mess with the rabbits?

Due to the way my backyard is set up I plan to have the main coop on concrete and the pen will lead to the grass/dirt next to it. I can't keep the coop on the dirt due to the sprinklers and don't want to deal with our Gardner so I plan to close the side door and move the wire pen on those days.

So I guess any advice, tips and suggestions would greatly help me out before I jump in on this. I don't have a set start date yet as I still need to downsize my rabbits a bit and see what the start up costs are gonna be

 

[JShubin]

Hi all I'm from Beaumont,CA
So I don't have any chickens yet since I want to really research it a bit more first and need to make some room in my backyard. I currently am raising meat rabbits and wanted to start raising a couple chickens as well. My goal for right now is to get 2-3 chickens to test the water out and get some experience in before we move in a year or two and have a lot more room to raise many more animals for our own personal use.
I've looked at some prefab coops and even read a little bit here about how cheaply made they really are in the long run. For 2-3 chickens what should I aim for in size? I'd like to have something similar to this

But I do have some pretty decent wire pen I made for my rabbits I plan to attach to a side door and letting the chickens have more room during the day to wander outside this.

My rabbits are in cages about 30" or so off the ground if I let the chickens run under these cages will they mess with the rabbits?

Due to the way my backyard is set up I plan to have the main coop on concrete and the pen will lead to the grass/dirt next to it. I can't keep the coop on the dirt due to the sprinklers and don't want to deal with our Gardner so I plan to close the side door and move the wire pen on those days.

So I guess any advice, tips and suggestions would greatly help me out before I jump in on this. I don't have a set start date yet as I still need to downsize my rabbits a bit and see what the start up costs are gonna be

Chickens wont mess with the rabbits...

Having the chickens on the ground/dirt seems to work best in my opinion. With plenty of perches to roost on.

Concrete gets messy and can hurt their feet.... their toes might bend while their toe nails get long.
Raised wire coop is good for cleaning mess, but they can't take dust baths in the dirt... and might get feet issues also.

Buying one is expensive, but they look good usually. IE Craiglist has guys building and selling them...
If you have building experience I would suggest building one yourself, so you get exactly what you want and learn some things too.

 

[JShubin]

Something I build for my chickens... Transformer coop...

Can be several sizes/shapes via interlocking panels...

Can big a big octagon for more room.


Or two 4x4 coops


or several other rectangular/square sizes. like 4x12, 8x8.

 

[jeffreybas]

Chickens wont mess with the rabbits... Having the chickens on the ground/dirt seems to work best in my opinion. With plenty of perches to roost on. Concrete gets messy and can hurt their feet.... their toes might bend while their toe nails get long. Raised wire coop is good for cleaning mess, but they can't take dust baths in the dirt... and might get feet issues also. Buying one is expensive, but they look good usually. IE Craiglist has guys building and selling them... If you have building experience I would suggest building one yourself, so you get exactly what you want and learn some things too.

I had planned on putting down a thick layer of hay or something else on the concrete so there is some type of cushion for them. Wish I could use more of the non concrete area but I'd have to worry about the sprinklers and Gardner which can be doable with tarps and possibly moving the coop on Gardner days but not sure how long I'll want to do that lol

 

[JShubin]

oh ok.

I use straw a lot (on the dirt tho)... and it gets everywhere. Always raking it up (I dont mind because I use it in compost).

You can probably adust your sprinklers to avoid a coop patch if they are the impact type of sprinkler head.
Im sure the gardener can mow around the chicken coop haha Any/All grass or plants will die inside a chicken coop... because chickens are plant/grass killers.

But there are some people that keep them on concrete... If they are able to free range from time to time you should be fine with toes, dust/dirt baths...

 

[jeffreybas]

oh ok. 

I use straw a lot (on the dirt tho)... and it gets everywhere. Always raking it up (I dont mind because I use it in compost). 

You can probably adust your sprinklers to avoid a coop patch if they are the impact type of sprinkler head.
Im sure the gardener can mow around the chicken coop haha  Any/All grass or plants will die inside a chicken coop... because chickens are plant/grass killers. 

But there are some people that keep them on concrete... If they are able to free range from time to time you should be fine with toes, dust/dirt baths... 

Ya my plan is to have the main coop on the concrete but then have a door that goes over to the dirt area next to it where I'll put up a metal wire pen I have used for my rabbits so they can wander around a lot more but not totally all over my backyard. Then when I need to I can just move the pen off the dirt let Gardner do his thing and put it back afterwards. Cause on gardener day the chickens will be locked up anyways. Still lots of planning lol which is why we don't have any yet and I want to make sure I save myself as much headaches as I can. Once we move hopefully in a year or two I'll be able to truly make a coop and run how I want but for now this is a test run and getting my feet wet type of deal.