California - Northern

[Miss Molly]

Wow. First time chick mom. Moved chicks from brooder to newly constructed coop/ attached run yesterday mid afternoon. Last night I scooped them up from the run shortly after 8 and locked them in their coop. Same time tonight I noticed chicks on roosts peeking out though wire inside their coop. Went outside to find all 5 put themselves to bed in the coop. They had not gone in it since i let them out at 6 AM. I am so proud! And relieved that they got the drill first time outside .

Smart chicken... They have smart Parents...

 

[Hangtown Farms]

so if anyone is wanting a more heat tolerating olive egger let me know.
I am going to be offering a few of my extra Black Penedesenca roosters I got from Sand Hill.
I am keeping 3 total ( 2 from Sand Hill and 1 from Ron ) But still have 3 or 4 more.
Put these over ameraucana or easter eggers , legbars , isbars or U of A 's


Black penedesenca lay a dark brown egg and are very alert and heat hardy
Just pm me if you want one

 

[tommysgirl]

Hi I love the story of your Grandma's Egg Basket! I have one of those too but mine is metal. It's nice to have chickens after wanting them for a long time. MY DH made that dream come true for me too

Mar Vista is just like home...except with more chickens and a garden and all kinds of coolness. The proprietor, Tom just walked into the run and was mobbed by girls running at him from all directions. It says something about your SIL that he proposed here.

Anyway welcome to BYC and the Northern CA thread!

 

[ronott1]

The misters will be delivered today! That will give me time to get them up before the heat.

The hen that is not doing well seemed a bit better today. She has always been a special needs hen--seemed like she has narcolepsy and randomly falls asleep. She has been doing this since she was a chick.

 

[lawatt]

The misters will be delivered today! That will give me time to get them up before the heat.

The hen that is not doing well seemed a bit better today. She has always been a special needs hen--seemed like she has narcolepsy and randomly falls asleep. She has been doing this since she was a chick.

hooray for misters! none here, but i DO have two new silver campine pullets from Shannon, who are hanging out on their own in my garage while the construction guys work on the new coop expansion pens -- hoping they can get them done today or tomorrow, so the campines can be the first residents! they are SO pretty...

(and Deb, by the looks of these two campines, I may need to get more at some point, i have the feeling i'm going to fall in love with them -- in which case i'll be in touch! yours are gorgeous...)

 

[gryeyes]

Before I try to scrounge up a hose to run between the faucet and the pergola where I will be installing a misting system for the flock, I had to lug my window A/C unit to its working position. Ahhhhh! Yesterday, I picked up some feeder goldfish for the waterfowl pond. These were to supplement those I bought last week; not as many made it home as I had planned. (Took too long to get home...). The day before, the contractor who built the pond (and all the other constructed improvements here) cleanly sawed a large Terra cotta planter exactly in half, as I requested. With each half placed in the pond in separate spots, the smart goldfish have hiding places. Mama duck has noticed the goldfish. I can't tell if the ducklings' dives are hunting dives or just their normal exuberance with submarine swimming. Off to scrounge up a suitable hose to get water TO the misting system, then find the instructions I read so thoroughly last Summer.

 

[BCollie]

So I just need to paint the wooden coop floor and put the doors on the coop, then my girls can go live outside.
So is the deep litter method, using Pine shavings, the best way to go? How much do I need?

 

[lawatt]

So I just need to paint the wooden coop floor and put the doors on the coop, then my girls can go live outside.
So is the deep litter method, using Pine shavings, the best way to go? How much do I need?

everyone's got their own preferences with litter/bedding, so i don't think there's any one "best" -- that said, i use deep litter and love it, since it requires almost no work on my part. i started last year with maybe 2 or 3 inches of pine shavings over bare dirt, and then every time i clean the shavings out of the henhouse (maybe once a month?) i just sweep them into the coop -- it's accumulated up to about a foot thick in places, less so in others (the coop is on a slight slope, so the shavings are deeper at one end than the other). I also sometimes add dead leaves or raked-up straw from my weed-whacked meadow, which the chicklets LOVE to dig through (even when they can otherwise free-range!). i also gave them an old dresser-drawer with ashes from my woodstove in the wintertime, which they loved dust-bathing in, & it just mixed into the litter eventually as well. no smell, no real maintenance, and fantastic mulch for my fruit trees this winter!

 

[Ali707]

everyone's got their own preferences with litter/bedding, so i don't think there's any one "best" -- that said, i use deep litter and love it, since it requires almost no work on my part. i started last year with maybe 2 or 3 inches of pine shavings over bare dirt, and then every time i clean the shavings out of the henhouse (maybe once a month?) i just sweep them into the coop -- it's accumulated up to about a foot thick in places, less so in others (the coop is on a slight slope, so the shavings are deeper at one end than the other). I also sometimes add dead leaves or raked-up straw from my weed-whacked meadow, which the chicklets LOVE to dig through (even when they can otherwise free-range!). i also gave them an old dresser-drawer with ashes from my woodstove in the wintertime, which they loved dust-bathing in, & it just mixed into the litter eventually as well. no smell, no real maintenance, and fantastic mulch for my fruit trees this winter!

Sooooo I have been going back and forth between the shavings and sand. I just can't decide and I have to make a choice this weekend.

I did shavings in my old coop and I did actually clean out the shavings on the floor once every 6 months or so. Of course I didn't really understand the deep litter method either, but I did have flies, and it did kind of stink.

I have been reading up a little on the sand and it seems like there are some converts from the shavings to the sand and they love it.

I am going to use sand in the coop with a poop board, but the run is where I haven't been able to decide. I am thinking maybe sand because the run may get pretty wet this next winter.......?

 

[Chickengirl1304]

Before I try to scrounge up a hose to run between the faucet and the pergola where I will be installing a misting system for the flock, I had to lug my window A/C unit to its working position. Ahhhhh! Yesterday, I picked up some feeder goldfish for the waterfowl pond. These were to supplement those I bought last week; not as many made it home as I had planned. (Took too long to get home...). The day before, the contractor who built the pond (and all the other constructed improvements here) cleanly sawed a large Terra cotta planter exactly in half, as I requested. With each half placed in the pond in separate spots, the smart goldfish have hiding places. Mama duck has noticed the goldfish. I can't tell if the ducklings' dives are hunting dives or just their normal exuberance with submarine swimming. Off to scrounge up a suitable hose to get water TO the misting system, then find the instructions I read so thoroughly last Summer.

Is that what you feed your ducks? Little goldfish? What else do they eat?