Chantecler Thread!

[RogerChicken]

They've adapted just fine; collected 3 eggs today, which is almost back to their usual rate.

A bit stinky but tolerable for a few more days.

Still, I think everyone will be happier when it warms up and they can go back out!

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

It is winter in Alberta...exactly what the Chantecler was bred for. Winter in Canada where we, the common folk, may keep chickens. :-D

Open up the hatches to the outside runs again when it is a more tolerable temp... -37C this morn, so not terrible. Lowest was -41C.

The Duece Coop runs to the outside, we keep those hatches open all year; the floor is raised and topped with straw so there is no risk of frozen feets. Some of our Chants are in the middle run.

The Jacob lambs sum up the mornings; tad frosty!!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
--
____(\ Tara Lee Higgins /)____
(_____~> Rat Ranch - An ACD is for LIFE <~_____)
( `` `` ranchrat at telusplanet.net `` `` )
\ Alberta Canada /
) http://www.telusplanet.net/public/ranchrat/index.html (

 

[Folly's place]

NIce! Are those runs walk in height? They are terrific, but look low.
And the lambs are very cute!
Mary

 

[CanuckBock]

NIce! Are those runs walk in height? They are terrific, but look low.
And the lambs are very cute!
Mary

Heel low:

Here's a better angle on the Duece Coop building & five outside raised runs. Floor is painted grey with porch enamel...if my memory serves me well, the building was built in 2001, so it's been in use for the past 23 years.

I have no want or regular need to go inside the outdoor runs. Each of the five entrance doors, these can be removed & then one steps up into the run. I duck my head and stand up (I am just under six foot), but I don't have a regular want to go in there...the birds lay eggs inside and I feed/water inside the building.

This is Em giving her boo birds a sniff. I lift the doors off and set them down which leaves the run end fully open for things like cleaning or adding straw, etc. We've talked about opening a run in the summer and letting the birds pop out on the ground but the area is well shaded by our forest, so recovery for the ground may be slow. Not done it yet, may never.

Very tall at the back of the outdoor runs. I don't think I can reach up and touch the underside of the run roof where it attachs to the building. We wanted the breeder birds to be safe, contained nicely but have regular access to outside air, and the view is part of the entertainment for them. I have watched predatory owls & hawks hit the hardware cloth and bounce off.

Still only ever lost one creature to predation here in Pear-A-Dice. On Earth Day, 2007 a bantam Dark Brahma hen from the Coop fur Sure stayed outside instead of heading in the coop and a lovely mouse eating owl harvested her. I am back to head counting the birds each evening when they are let out on the grass. I got lazy after years of them all being inside. My bad & my issue to fix.

Inside the Duece Coop are five compartments, regular room size, maybe even a bit taller inside?

I love the versatility of the Duece Coop. In the inside walkway, I can put my stainless brooder I named Stanley at the far end, in there for growing out my birds.

I have a nice shelf in the middle area side of the walkway and I use to take a setty hen or two and have them raise chicks in November or December inside the Duece Coop.

Dec 2013 (ten+ years ago), F1 Higgins White Dove Project hen hatching & raising Brahma chicks.

The Duece Coop was the second of 30 outbuildings that Rick has built for us and there isn't a thing I'd have changed in it. For our uses, it is perfection. :-D

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
--
____(\ Tara Lee Higgins /)____
(_____~> Rat Ranch - An ACD is for LIFE <~_____)
( `` `` ranchrat at telusplanet.net `` `` )
\ Alberta Canada /
) http://www.telusplanet.net/public/ranchrat/index.html (

 

[RogerChicken]

Whew -- the cold snap finally broke and the girls are back outside! So they were inside about 6 days, more or less.

Everyone seems happy with the situation. I have some serious cleaning to do.

 

[RogerChicken]

After a few nicer days, now we've got an overnight low forecast of somewhere between -23C and -28C, depending on which model one considers.

Last night I tried putting in a couple of milk jugs full of very hot water. Not sure if helped much.

So today I put a pet-heating-mat (which originally saw use as a cozy-mama brooder for these very same chickens; it's about 60W I think) under the poop-trays, which are full of D.E. and about 6 inches under the chickens.

The plan is that it'll warm up the gravel and radiate the heat up. Should work, I think.

Anyway, keeping a close eye on things tonight.

 

[RogerChicken]

The birds are 16 months old and, right on schedule, one of them has started molting. Got that classic naked-neck look going. Good time for it -- it's hot, up to 35C later this week.

 

[Folly's place]

i have ten white Chanties from Cackle, hatched May22, and am starting to pick out the cockerels. Too soon to be sure about the group though. I'd like to keep maybe one cockerel, and three or four pullets.
Mary

 

[CanuckBock]

i have ten white Chanties from Cackle, hatched May22, and am starting to pick out the cockerels. Too soon to be sure about the group though. I'd like to keep maybe one cockerel, and three or four pullets.
Mary

Heel low:

Uh, best you keep the heir, spare and buddy. I keep at minimum three males (prefer even number of males to females--male is important to the flock/female is important to the chick). Your three males are best one for breeding, spare in case something happens to the best one, and a backup buddy for the spare to have company with. Murphy's law states that the male is the one that dies on you...right at the beginning of breeding season, too. LOL

Males are the protectors of the harem and throw themselves into that job...I'll have 11 year old females that still lay but the males seem to always burn up at around 5 years old. Not quite sure but I think the big cap of responsiblity wears them out twice as fast??

July 5, 2024 - Buster the 'bator belched out these Chants for us here in Pear-A-Dice. Love me some colours...so there's Partridge & Red (part + buff), blue dilutions (blue laced red project) along with Bro W's preference for them Whites.

July 7, 2024 - Chants and standard Brahmas in Buff and Blue Buff (Lemon project aka Splash Buff).

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

The birds are 16 months old and, right on schedule, one of them has started molting. Got that classic naked-neck look going. Good time for it -- it's hot, up to 35C later this week.

Heel low:

Yup...same up here in Central AB...heat (summer??). We've had so much welcomed rains this year...top up the aquifers and lessen the wild fire threats we keep seeming to be held hostage by.

What I like is to do the regular de-parasite treatments now. Egg production is down. The eggs for consumption gals started up Feb 1st and now in the past week, down to 25% production...time to moult, time to delouse, time to recover pigments, and take a breather from production.

Dog days of summer so some R&R before the Chants and Brahmas go back to earnin' their keep as feed ain't cheap and we're headed to the mill this week to top the ten feed bins up.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada