California-Southern

[Jessimom]

Idyllwild Ca here, building my coop now for spring chicks

Gary

Welcome! The wonderful thing about Southern CA - you really don't have to wait for spring chicks - we hatch year round!! I just hatched 11 and I"m about to set another batch.

 

[irfxr]

So true, hatched out 9 the day before yesterday. I was pretty cold last night 42

But everyone made it just fine !!!!

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Welcome! The wonderful thing about Southern CA - you really don't have to wait for spring chicks - we hatch year round!! I just hatched 11 and I"m about to set another batch.

I am in the mountains, 5300 feet above sea level we have already had snow. That being said I am building basically a 3 walled coop, it will have a sliding barn door open to the run I intend to keep it mostly open all year round. Will be brooding in the coop MHP style.

 

[Jessimom]

I am in the mountains, 5300 feet above sea level we have already had snow. That being said I am building basically a 3 walled coop, it will have a sliding barn door open to the run I intend to keep it mostly open all year round. Will be brooding in the coop MHP style.

I had 2 groups with a mama heat pad - they LOVED it!! This group is my silkies and they are in my bathroom with a regular heat plate. They still wouldn't come out from under the heat plate until I put a towel over the top of the box. Now they run all over.

Blooie is a member that lives in one of the really snowy states. She hatches outside in the snow with MHPs.

Good luck with your build - it really sound like a great set up!

 

[sol2go]

I live in Lakewood, CA. Last Saturday I found a chicken. I put up notices around my neighborhood, but no one is claiming her. I can't keep her & am having trouble finding somewhere for her. Does anyone want her?

If you don't hear from anyone, try posting here again.

If you post on the meet-up group LAUCE (Los Angeles Urban Chicken Enthusiasts) it's likely someone will take her.

Thanks for the chicken rescue, good luck rehoming her (as far as I can tell it's not a boy).

 

[chick-habit]

Losing birds really sucks.  I'm sorry about your losses.  I lost a couple larger hen breeds this summer exacerbated from our brutal SoCal heatwaves.  I can usually receive shipped birds up to July and sometimes up to first week August -- but THIS year our heatwaves started first week June and my breeder and I mutually agreed not to ship my new bird until late Sept because we didn't want to lose the juvenile to possible USPS mishandling in the heat.  Your little smooth Silkie is a Cochin mix -- gotta be a real doll with those 2 breed mixes in her!  I was offered Silkie/Cochin mixes before but I love the fluffy "fur" of pure Silkies w/ their fuzzy crests and beards -- because of the wispy "fur" the pure Silkies seem to do better in our heatwaves than the smooth-feathered breeds.  D'uccles and Seramas are so cute.  I was looking into the Olandsk Dwarf because of their calmer nature as a bantam but then I was gifted my first two Partridge Silkies 6 yrs ago and have been "hooked" on them ever since .

Thanks for the kind words! Sorry for your losses as well. I'm beginning to accept the "secret" that loss might be par for the course with chickens. I certainly do whatever I can to prevent that though.

My girls are pretty sweet. Although our silkie is a bit nippy to me, I think it's because she's at the bottom of the hierarchy. (Even though she's the biggest!)

 

[sol2go]

Thanks for the kind words! Sorry for your losses as well. I'm beginning to accept the "secret" that loss might be par for the course with chickens. I certainly do whatever I can to prevent that though.

My girls are pretty sweet. Although our silkie is a bit nippy to me, I think it's because she's at the bottom of the hierarchy. (Even though she's the biggest!)

Hi, and sorry for those experiences, always sad.

I also had extra losses this year. My vet has finally helped me to concede that chickens have short life spans for a variety of reasons. When they live a long life, it seems to be about the equivalent of a large dog (6-10 years) vs a parrot which can live 15 years on the short end, or 75 at the other end, depending on the variety.

This article/quote doesn't specifically reference chickens, but it does seem to relate:

"Species with lots of predators can’t expect to escape being eaten for more than a few years. So they evolve to reproduce as quickly as possible, and in large numbers. This takes a lot of metabolic resources out of the adults, and they are more likely to die shortly after breeding."
"Even more importantly, genetic mutations that might cause disability or disease later in life don’t have any effect on natural selection because those individuals have already reproduced. This means mutations of this sort tend to accumulate in the species, and so its maximum natural lifespan will tend to shorten."
It was a short article, here's the link if anyone is interested:
http://www.sciencefocus.com/qa/why-are-parrots-so-long-lived

 

[sol2go]

Idyllwild Ca here, building my coop now for spring chicks

Gary

Welcome, and good planning!

When preparing the coop, remember - anything that requires you to bend over or reach inside a small space ... you will be doing over and over and over again.
Anything you can design to reduce wear and tear on your back will be worth the extra time/space/expense.

 

[Dekthai818]

Anybody here have Pekin pullets for sale?

 

[cmschaadt]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/161/california-southern/5740#