California - Northern

[ronott1]

Should I leave some of the coop walls open as just hardware cloth? It gets HOT here, triple digits in the summer. But doesn't usually get below freezing in winter.

A "California" Coop is closed on three side with the North side open and covered with hardware cloth and a roof that stick out to catch the rain. There should also be vents at the top.

Ventilation is very important and keeping them out of the wind in the winter is important as well. You do not need insulation. Chickens are their own little insulators...

Hangtown farms and Capayvalleychick have built some recently.

 

[juststruttin]

That's a silver laced, this is a Tolbunt.

This is a frizzled tolbunt.

A closeup of her loveliness

You really can't beat a teenage polish for fuggly.


Deanne, I've had pretty good hatch rates with my Marans (hatched 25 just recently), I just put them in with all the other eggs and they've done fine. No special treatment at all. That was 25 chicks out of about 30 eggs set.

I've got some blue Marans cooking right now that were shipped eggs

Awesome Deb! feeling a little more hopeful.

 

[tommysgirl]

We get colder because we are in the mountains. I think we probably average about 45 days with below freezing temps from fall through spring. Do you think it's neccessary to wall in the fourth side of this coop completely? not at all? I know I need a wind break for chicks but doesit need to be permanent?

 

[ronott1]

Quote: Hi Deanne!

I was thinking of you today when I opened a box of Fertile eggs! You could teach some sellers a thing or two.

Look at what I got today:

Shipped in a small box and the eggs placed in the box inside a cut up foam egg carton:




The eggs on the inside of the carton are wrapped in tissue:





Enough of that!

You should have an easier time hatching the Marans eggs. They are crossed with Little Pedler so the will not have the hatching problems from the US Marans. Those are too inbred to hatch well in most cases.

 

[tommysgirl]

Hi Deanne!

I was thinking of you today when I opened a box of Fertile eggs! You could teach some sellers a thing or two.

Look at what I got today:

Shipped in a small box and the eggs placed in the box inside a cut up foam egg carton:




The eggs on the inside of the carton are wrapped in tissue:





Enough of that!

You should have an easier time hatching the Marans eggs. They are crossed with Little Pedler so the will not have the hatching problems from the US Marans. Those are too inbred to hatch well in most cases.

Gak!!!! what a bummer! How many were still intact?

 

[ronott1]

Quote:

Enough of that!

You should have an easier time hatching the Marans eggs. They are crossed with Little Pedler so the will not have the hatching problems from the US Marans. Those are too inbred to hatch well in most cases.

Gak!!!! what a bummer! How many were still intact?

Ttwo of the blue eggs were completely smashed and goo was on all but 3 of the Wyandotte Bantam eggs. I had to wash them and that has not worked out well for me.

Now I have to decide if I try to help him learn how to pack eggs or not. A different seller from Arkansas sent eggs to me today for Jason--I picked up both boxes at the same time today--and they were packed more like Deanne packs them. Not a single broken egg!

 

[Ali707]

Mornin'!

I cannot keep up with you guys!!! 182 posts since last night?! Geesh!!!

I cannot believe I'm going to do this, but I've been bitten by the Coturnix quail bug & I will be getting a dozen shipped eggs tomorrow!!! I have read & read & read, but nothing is really telling me how long to let them SIT before I SET

. I'm collecting fertile eggs from my own Jumbo Pharaoh's to add to the bunch!! So excited!! Is a day ok? Also, they are being shipped from Kansas... just wondering how well people do with shipped quail eggs & the fertility when they get here.

I have a 7 week old chick that looks a little weak this morning...brought her in & giving her sav-a-chick & vitamins/electrolytes. I hope she perks up quick.
I hope everybody is having a good morning. Looks like the rain is coming.... bleh!

Well I just hatched my free Coturnix eggs that came with the Genesis 1588 and out of 37 they sent 12 didn't develop at all so they were probably not fertile. Of the remaining 25, 2 looked like early quitters, and the other 23 I had 15 hatch. The packing was fairly simple but nothing was broken. Most people say quail eggs do pretty well with shipping, but I don't know that from experience, just what others had said on the quail threads.

I have a pip!!!!!

And day 21 isn't until 10 PM tomorrow! My little icelandic surprise egg from chiqita is going to hatch early! The hole is big and I can see its little beak sticking out! Huzzah!!!!

I want my chicken eggs!!! lol I can't wait! You guys with all your babies are killing me!

I don't think I need to worry about insulation, do I? "Redding's coldest month is December when the average temperature overnight is 35.0°F. In July, the warmest month, the average day time temperature rises to 98.5°F."

I forgot to mention that I don't intend on "insulating" my coop at all. I may just end up repurposing the wood. The people that did the whole insulating thing had snowy winters.

I am worried about the hottest heat in Summer here in Roseville, but I have used misters hung up around the coop area. It is so HOT that the water pretty much evaporates before it hits the chickens but the surrounding air is about 8-10 degrees cooler than the area without the misters. I also turn a fan on in that area if there is no breeze for a bigger cooling effect. People say their birds don't like the water but mine never got wet with the misters and with the added ice in their water they did okay in the heat.

Hi Deanne!

I was thinking of you today when I opened a box of Fertile eggs! You could teach some sellers a thing or two.

Look at what I got today:

Shipped in a small box and the eggs placed in the box inside a cut up foam egg carton:




The eggs on the inside of the carton are wrapped in tissue:





Enough of that!

You should have an easier time hatching the Marans eggs. They are crossed with Little Pedler so the will not have the hatching problems from the US Marans. Those are too inbred to hatch well in most cases.

Are those Kleenex or tissues that they wrapped them in?

 

[ronott1]

Enough of that!

You should have an easier time hatching the Marans eggs. They are crossed with Little Pedler so the will not have the hatching problems from the US Marans. Those are too inbred to hatch well in most cases.

Are those Kleenex or tissues that they wrapped them in?

Yes they are! That is why I had to wash all but two of the eggs. These are very poorly packed eggs.

 

[tommysgirl]

So my giant double egg layer is prone to dropping her weird eggs on the poop tray. My husband thinks it is because she knows it's not normal so it doesn't belong in the nest. Any thoughts on that?

 

[ronott1]

So my giant double egg layer is prone to dropping her weird eggs on the poop tray. My husband thinks it is because she knows it's not normal so it doesn't belong in the nest. Any thoughts on that?

How old is she and does she ever lay eggs in the nest?

I put fake eggs into the nest boxes and they usually figure out to lay eggs there. They sometimes forget between laying cycles though and will lay eggs in odd places for a while.