California-Southern

[Calichicken2015]

My recovering Salmon Faverolle, Chamois and her friend Mabel, a Speckled Sussex having an indoor adventure today. Mabel volunteered to stay with Chamois, very cute. Not so cute - they've each taken turns pooping on all the furniture, broke into the pantry and ate a bunch of Goldfish crackers and pulled the buttons off the tv remote. Yay, chickens!

Chamois gets so stressed that less handling is probably better for her, so I'm just going to soak her feet in Epsom salt baths and make sure she has plenty of good protein (minus the goldfish cracker incident), vitamins, clean water and is away from the ... Ambitious rooster. Fingers crossed!

Hope your chicken is on the mend!!!! Gotta LOVE those chicken antics...LOL! They do find a way to keep themselves busy while getting into mischief

Enjoy your house chickens while your girl is healing

 

[SuziQ18]

I am new to this site and live in Pacoima, CA. Starting my plans for a 4-chicken coop with egg-layers right now.

 

[irfxr]

Welcome aboard. I'm in Bakersfield...

 

[Calichicken2015]

I am new to this site and live in Pacoima, CA. Starting my plans for a 4-chicken coop with egg-layers right now.

Hi and welcome!

I am also in the process of planning a coop for 4-6 Bantam cochins. I am planning on hatching in the spring! So maybe we can compare notes as we go! Also, to any other SoCal chicken backyard chicken keepers..advice is MUCH appreciated! I am in the mountains so snow and cold temps are a consideration! We are also wondering if it is better to plan for a raised coop or one on the ground? We have dirt and no grass that will grow naturally

 

[SuziQ18]

you can always put it up on blocks to be off the ground. Good luck! This is the coop I am getting. Going to attach an additional run to it. Sooooo excited!!

 

[SuziQ18]

Thank you! I just ordered a coop from Ebay and will be here next week. Soooo excited!! You can always put your coop on blocks if you want it off the ground. Good luck!!

 

[Calichicken2015]

Thank you! I just ordered a coop from Ebay and will be here next week. Soooo excited!! You can always put your coop on blocks if you want it off the ground. Good luck!!

Good thought! Please post a pic when you get it up!

 

[Sylvester017]

I am new to this site and live in Pacoima, CA. Starting my plans for a 4-chicken coop with egg-layers right now.

You've probably already done the research. Keep in mind one-sq-foot open air ventilation at roofline (even in winter) per each chicken, four-square-feet per each chicken coop floor space, and 10-square-feet per each chicken pen/run area. These are minimum guidelines. My coop's manufacturer said 15 to 16 chickens would fit in my 4x4 Barn Coop. Really? Maybe they can be squeezed inside but it most certainly is not healthy for that many chickens to have poop/ammonia fumes to breathe all night long during roost. They poop a lot!




So glad to hear another chickeneer on board! How did you decide to keep chickens?

4 chickens is what we keep in our 4x4 Barn Coop. We built a patio roof over our coop so we don't have to stand in the rain when collecting eggs. W/ so few hens they have become more pets than utility.

 

[Sylvester017]

you can always put it up on blocks to be off the ground. Good luck! This is the coop I am getting. Going to attach an additional run to it. Sooooo excited!!

Cute coop! Our first little coop was on a paver stone foundation with a dirt floor in middle but it was messy because the chickens dust-bathed near the foundation. We had to keep the coop tarped from harsh sun or when it rained.



Our next coop was set up on a patio slab which we can hose down once a week. Chicken poop on cement dissolves well when hosed. My DH cheats sometimes and slips a cardboard on the floor to catch poops. But mostly we just wash down the cement.


Your attached run is such a good idea. Chickens don't spend much time in a coop except for laying eggs or roosting. They are outdoors the rest of the day scratching, foraging, and dust-bathing. We kept our first two Silkie chickens inside the first little coop for a month and quickly found out they needed a whole lot more room and we gradually let them out for supervised foraging until we could see they were quite predator-savvy to leave out all day as long as there were plenty of doghouses, lawn furniture, pop-up canopy, plants, and lean-to shelters for them to hide in. Our new Barn Coop is taller but still takes the same amount of floor space as the little coop. Instead of using tarps we decided to build a patio roof over the new coop and in this past week's pouring rain we're glad we did. Coops are so notorious for leaking and after 5 years of using tarps it was nice to have shelter over this coop.

Post your pics as you get your coop and chicks!

 

[SuziQ18]

Will do.