Chicken Math is real. 0 to 10 in 72 hrs.

[ATXInstantFlock]

(Thu Aug 8th - Day 112)
Lots going on today as we have house guests, camps, and my chicken farmer's little sister's birthday!
Fun fact, Mrs ATXInstantFlock actually went into labor on her birthday, but she didn't want to miss out on having her special day to herself, so waited until the 8th to finish delivery.

It's 100F today, so I'm mostly taking it easy and doing research on dried coffee grounds as a litter supplement. Some people seem to be really excited about it.

I did finish making their new outdoor waterers out of 5gal buckets.

I probably got carried away using 11 nipples across 2 buckets, but they were super cheap and don't appear to leak much.

I used to keep tropical fish aquariums and I would always age the tap water for a few days to let the chlorine dissipate before putting it into my tank. While the Internet seems to think airing it out won't remove chloramines from the water, I figure tropical fish are more sensitive to water conditions than chickens, and that's enough for them to survive.I t doesn't sound like most people even bother with any special handling of tap water, but it's easy enough to do.

I might employ a system of bucket swapping so that I can always have a clean bucket ready to go. Time will tell what works best while maintaining some redundancy in case of feeder failure.

That reminds me, I going to look into some type of cone to discourage them from standing on top of the new waterers. Large boring funnels are a lot more expensive than I thought they would be!

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Fun fact, Mrs ATXInstantFlock actually went into labor on her birthday, but she didn't want to miss out on having her special day to herself, so waited until the 8th to finish delivery

Kudos to the wifey! My sister did the same thing, so my nieces birthday is the day after hers.

That reminds me, I going to look into some type of cone to discourage them from standing on top of the new waterers. Large boring funnels are a lot more expensive than I thought they would be!

Measure the tops of the buckets, then go to the dollar store and look for some plastic bowls you can flip over and glue down on top.

 

[Debbie292d]

(Thu Aug 8th - Day 112)
Lots going on today as we have house guests, camps, and my chicken farmer's little sister's birthday!
Fun fact, Mrs ATXInstantFlock actually went into labor on her birthday, but she didn't want to miss out on having her special day to herself, so waited until the 8th to finish delivery.

It's 100F today, so I'm mostly taking it easy and doing research on dried coffee grounds as a litter supplement. Some people seem to be really excited about it.

I did finish making their new outdoor waterers out of 5gal buckets.
View attachment 3913575
I probably got carried away using 11 nipples across 2 buckets, but they were super cheap and don't appear to leak much.

I used to keep tropical fish aquariums and I would always age the tap water for a few days to let the chlorine dissipate before putting it into my tank. While the Internet seems to think airing it out won't remove chloramines from the water, I figure tropical fish are more sensitive to water conditions than chickens, and that's enough for them to survive.I t doesn't sound like most people even bother with any special handling of tap water, but it's easy enough to do.

I might employ a system of bucket swapping so that I can always have a clean bucket ready to go. Time will tell what works best while maintaining some redundancy in case of feeder failure.

That reminds me, I going to look into some type of cone to discourage them from standing on top of the new waterers. Large boring funnels are a lot more expensive than I thought they would be!

We use 1/2 teaspoon of RV water freshener in our 5-gallon bucket. Before that, we tried ACV and that didn't work. We were getting some teal-colored stringy things floating on the water after a week or two. We have well water and water tests fine. Beats me but that RV stuff works great!

 

[Themellowyellows]

Hi! I love your story and welcome! I just want to let you know to be carefull with hatchery breeds such as sex links, they are bred to make the most eggs and there for have egging problems down the road and it sucks, hope this helps!

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

We use 1/2 teaspoon of RV water freshener in our 5-gallon bucket.

Interesting. So I looked it up and the only active ingredient in that is chlorine bleach, which I already have. I'll have to do a little more research on dosage, but I had heard of people using bleach to sanitize water in the past. I'm supposed to use bleach to clean out my under sink water filter, but truth be told, I've never done it. Good reminder that I should.

Hi! I love your story and welcome!

Thanks!

I just want to let you know to be carefull with hatchery breeds such as sex links, they are bred to make the most eggs and there for have egging problems down the road and it sucks, hope this helps!

Oops, too late! We honestly didn't plan anything and we're just rolling with it, thinking whatever was sold at TSC would work out fine. We started off just going with whatever looked cute and were supposed to be laying hens.

Crossing our fingers that Dot, Spot, Jigglebutt, and He He will have long, happy, and healthy lives. I do think our 4 sex links have some of the most beautiful colors.

We definitely don't plan on raising meat birds and we definitely don't think we can have more chickens, so we're going to hope for the best for our backyard pets/egg factory.

 

[Themellowyellows]

Interesting. So I looked it up and the only active ingredient in that is chlorine bleach, which I already have. I'll have to do a little more research on dosage, but I had heard of people using bleach to sanitize water in the past. I'm supposed to use bleach to clean out my under sink water filter, but truth be told, I've never done it. Good reminder that I should.


Thanks!


Oops, too late! We honestly didn't plan anything and we're just rolling with it, thinking whatever was sold at TSC would work out fine. We started off just going with whatever looked cute and were supposed to be laying hens.

Crossing our fingers that Dot, Spot, Jigglebutt, and He He will have long, happy, and healthy lives. I do think our 4 sex links have some of the most beautiful colors.

We definitely don't plan on raising meat birds and we definitely don't think we can have more chickens, so we're going to hope for the best for our backyard pets/egg factory.

Yeah, just study how to treat problems and you will be fine! Do you have pictures of your hens?

 

[NatJ]

We definitely don't plan on raising meat birds and we definitely don't think we can have more chickens, so we're going to hope for the best for our backyard pets/egg factory.

Yeah, just study how to treat problems and you will be fine!

Remember that chickens may have short lives (often 2-10 years, with most running toward the short half of that range but a few dying earlier yet or living into their teens.)

You may want to add more chicks later, after some of the current ones are no longer with you, so several years down the road.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

Do you have pictures of your hens?

The oldest 2 classroom chickens just had their 4 month birthdays, so I plan to get some pictures of the whole flock later today after piano lessons.

You may want to add more chicks later, after some of the current ones are no longer with you, so several years down the road.

For sure. Just trying not to get too far ahead of myself.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

(Sun Aug 11th - Day 115)
Moving day!
Into the dog carrier they go for the short ride in my gorilla cart to the backyard.

Family photo time!

View attachment 3916135

Forgot to take a pic of the finishing touches on the one sided ladder used to reach my roosting platforms. Chopped up a felled crepe myrtle branch and attached sections w/ #8x2" screws to a reclaimed picket, spaced 6" apart before turning it on an angle, so actual horizontal distance is roughly 4" apart. Feels plenty stable to me, but the chickens will likely need a bit of adjusting before they take to it.

I probably put too much stock in all the discussion around having roosts be the same height. Probably should have let them just figure it all out.

Now that I actually put the Snap Lock in there, everything is a lot tighter than I really want it to be. Just the reality of trying to do the best I can with the dimensions we have. Mrs ATXInstantFlock hasn't tried accessing the nesting boxes, but I might have to lop a few inches off those legs if she can't reach the nesting boxes. Same goes for my little chicken farmer.

The dogs will probably have to be supervised for a bit. They were very curious about their new feathered siblings. They jumped on the hardware cloth a couple times and scared the girls into adopting a defensive pack formation. Aquilo did his duty to let out some big roos and stand tall in the face of perceived danger.

 

[TwoCrows]

(Sun Aug 11th - Day 115)
Moving day!
Into the dog carrier they go for the short ride in my gorilla cart to the backyard.
View attachment 3916125
Family photo time!


Forgot to take a pic of the finishing touches on the one sided ladder used to reach my roosting platforms. Chopped up a felled crepe myrtle branch and attached sections w/ #8x2" screws to a reclaimed picket, spaced 6" apart before turning it on an angle, so actual horizontal distance is roughly 4" apart. Feels plenty stable to me, but the chickens will likely need a bit of adjusting before they take to it.
View attachment 3916138
I probably put too much stock in all the discussion around having roosts be the same height. Probably should have let them just figure it all out.

Now that I actually put the Snap Lock in there, everything is a lot tighter than I really want it to be. Just the reality of trying to do the best I can with the dimensions we have. Mrs ATXInstantFlock hasn't tried accessing the nesting boxes, but I might have to lop a few inches off those legs if she can't reach the nesting boxes. Same goes for my little chicken farmer.

The dogs will probably have to be supervised for a bit. They were very curious about their new feathered siblings. They jumped on the hardware cloth a couple times and scared the girls into adopting a defensive pack formation. Aquilo did his duty to let out some big roos and stand tall in the face of perceived danger.
View attachment 3916137

Very nice! Thanks for sharing!