California - Northern

[zooweemama]

I too spent way to much on the coop supplies! The problem with people like us Amy is that we put the chickens before the coop! haha If we did it in reverse order, we'd be able to gather more supplies for free or really cheap. I don't know about you, but I couldn't wait a day longer to get my chicks! I love how 16 sounds like a small number now! We wanted 4 at the most and now have 7. We also have 4 dozen eggs in the incubator... Chicken math?!
Aww they're so cute! Congrats!!


The introductions are going well today. The new pullet still feels most comfortable in the corner alone but will sometimes let the other pullets close to her without freaking out. A couple of times I've checked on them she was out drinking or eating but when another chicken gets close she runs to the corner. She's afraid of them but once in her corner will clean herself, lay down and sleep so I think she's fine! Here's my new pullet out foraging with her new family (although she stayed off by herself):

She's so friendly! She let me pick her up and hold her with no issue

One of my Barnevelders has an infected eye so I went to the local feed store for eye drops and other supplies I wanted to have on hand. $70 later I ended up with a bottle of Vetericyn (for the eye and other injuries), 5 lbs of chicken scratch, a bottle of Blue-Kot and Quick Stop for bleeding. Thought it would be good to have those last two on hand... but $70?! I've read amazing things about Vetericyn so decided to get it. Had to convince myself it was worth it (and then went home and had to convince Johnny it was worth it.) Hope it works!!

Thank you all for the tips on introducing a new pullet! I love the support this thread gives!!

- Megan

If I would not have gotten the chickens first- I would not have gotten chickens. I wasn't sure if I wanted to REALLY do chickens. Try a few and see and I did not want to invest a lot of money in a coop if I was going to decide chickens weren't for me. (already were doing ducks) After I got my first batch- the more I learned about them, hung out with them...I bought some more. So then I decided it was ok to invest some money into the coop. But materials are WAY more expensive than I anticipated and the state of disrepair of the old coop that was here- wasn't totally realized until we started dismantling it to update some of it. I think that's how 'remodels' of any kind go right? :| We had talked about the coop thing and we were not about to plunk down hundreds on building materials if we just weren't sure about chickens. So I 'feel' like we had reasons to put the chickens before the coop. I was prepared to not like them honestly. Scratch that!

Your Marraduna is so darn pretty. I am glad she is warming up!

 

[ronott1]

Hi All,

It was pretty hot his afternoon. The thermometer in the Escape said the outside temperature was 99 degrees and it did not change when I drove to the store.

I got to play find the Rooster tonight! I found him in the plum tree:



I would let him stay there but then he would crow in the morning. It's too hot to do Coop Lockdown and get him to go into the coop at night. The mean old hens might not like that either...

Good night!

 

[zooweemama]

My 5 week olds.


Samson and Harriet


My hot pullet.

And just for fun...

 

[lawatt]

they're so handsome! now that i've got a pair of five-week olds (as of yesterday), here's a question -- should i wait a few days (or longer) so that they can get to know/recognize me before taking them out on brief free-ranging excursions? i don't have a fenced yard, & they seem too afraid of me now to let them loose... but not sure how much time to give them to adjust?

thanks!
laura


edit: just counted off on the calendar, and realized my new ones are 6 weeks old today (hatched 5/27).

 

[debs_flock]

When I even move my own birds from an inside brooder, to an outside pen, I leave tham locked up for 2-3 days to make sure they know where home is, (food/water/etc). Then they will usually return on their own.

Good luck.

Deb

 

[chickee]

they're so handsome! now that i've got a pair of five-week olds (as of yesterday), here's a question -- should i wait a few days (or longer) so that they can get to know/recognize me before taking them out on brief free-ranging excursions? i don't have a fenced yard, & they seem too afraid of me now to let them loose... but not sure how much time to give them to adjust?

thanks!
laura


edit: just counted off on the calendar, and realized my new ones are 6 weeks old today (hatched 5/27).

What I do is feed my chickens a treat of old fashioned Quaker oats thrown out onto the ground each morning. They go crazy for them and they are rich in the B vitamins which is really good for them. Then when I let them out to free range and want them to come back into the pen, I throw a handful of oats into the pen and they all come running back in to eat them and I lock the door behind them

 

[chickee]

Your chicks look so happy, healthy and cute! LOVE the ducks!! I really want ducks but don't have room for them. Great pictures!

My 5 week olds.


Samson and Harriet


My hot pullet.

And just for fun...

 

[chickee]

Yep, the cost of chickens can go up quickly! Fortunately the chickens don't care what their coop looks like as long as it is cool and clean

Not only does the cost of chicken owning go up but so does their numbers, especially if you have roosters and incubators!!

This is just one of my 5 chicken house rooms! Happily Lynda is taking a couple of these girls come Thursday

Ohhh pretty chickens! Love the roost idea! Our coop is open all 3 sides so it's tricky finding a spot to suspend roost spots. Right now it's up in the corner. Our coop is SO ugly but it serves a purpose I guess. It's coming along. We ran into a few issues, change our 'plan' a few times and then ran out of materials because of some of the issues. Also because of the 3 open sides we are going to have put hard cloth up top too. Cha-ching.

 

[zooweemama]

Yep, the cost of chickens can go up quickly! Fortunately the chickens don't care what their coop looks like as long as it is cool and clean

Not only does the cost of chicken owning go up but so does their numbers, especially if you have roosters and incubators!!

This is just one of my 5 chicken house rooms! Happily Lynda is taking a couple of these girls come Thursday

What is the coloring of the middle ones...is it a blue? I am trying to learn to identify the colors and patterns. LOVE that color!

 

[zooweemama]

So talk to me about substrate. What kind of bedding do YOU use in your coop. Some people use sand, pine chips, straight up dirt etc in their coop. My concern with pine chips is 1) cost 2) clean up 3) a giant compost pile full of almost nothing but pine chips. Sand seems good. But I am concerned about how easy it is to clean...straight dirt seems like the worst option as the poop builds up and I would step in major bad. And the run currently is dirt- I do not want to line that with sand but nor a bunch of chips. Leave the dirt? I have read all over BYC on this. There is no clear choice. You guys share my climate so I thought I would ask what you all do. TY