Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[flagirl]

when i lived in arizona, the woman i purchased my eggs from put up a mister system in her coop during the and she said it helped greatly. unfortunately here in south central florida, i am on well water and leaving a hose running all day is not feasible. think i will go with the ice.

 

[ontimeborzoi]

Misting systems work very well in dry climates, and not worth a darn in humid ones. Just guessing here, but probably Florida is too humid for this method anyway. Go with the ice....
But really, shouldn't we be trying to find chickens that can thrive in whatever climate we each live in? In an emergency, or an illness, or a long vacation etc etc, no one is going to be setting out ice or running fans. What then? Just something to be thinking about. I know I am.

 

[tdgill]

My shed/coop gets afternoon sun and I had insulated the ceiling/loft and coop side of the shed. Normally, with the front door of the shed open there is a good bit of airflow (which you would think would help to cool the coop) but I've found that if I keep that front door (with west sun beating on it) CLOSED and just open the pop door on the south side and east side window open that the insulated walls and ceiling keep things cooler. I am convinced that insulation does work wonders even in a well ventilated coop it makes a difference

 

[JenellYB]

Well, I guess that would work,with a few small chicks or such. But if I was going to do that, I'd fill, freeze, and rotate a set of the containers themselves, that you screw the tops onto, instead of the tops. Another possilbity if your freezer space is limited...just rotate stacks of regular ice trays, dumping the cubes into those containers and finish filling with cool water before screwing the tops on. Bear in mind, the smaller the water/ice volume, the faster it will all melt.

And as others here note, neither misters nor evaporate coolers, swamp coolers, as of much use in humid climates. That is what did in a little flurry of fledgling small commercial rabbit industry down here a few decades ago...standard for that kind of operation in most the country are long narrow barns, with one end covered with a big evaporative cooling pad and pumping system, and huge exhaust fans at the other end, to draw cooled air in through the wet pads and across the cages of rabbits the entiire length of the building. It just didn'twork in this humid climate. In a consistently dry climate, they are fantastic, and much cheaper than air conditioning. I visit relatives that live out west of here in Texas, in the Texas hill country, Kerreville, Bandera, CampWood....and they use them in their homes, they cool as well as any AC we use here. Another difference, try to use them here, in humid climate, you usualy get mold problems, big time, but out there, it is so dry, the added moisture in the air is actually good for you, helps with excessive drying of skin and even mucous membranes as you breathe.

I hadn't thought of that! I've been wondering how I'm going to keep my chickens cool this summer. I'm in south Louisiana and have weather like yours. Summer should be starting in just a few weeks around here, up into the high 80's probably in a month. Judging by the extremely mild winter we've had, I'm counting on a miserable summer.

So, you keep containers of ice rotating in your freezer to put out for drinking, wading, sitting on, etc...? What do you think about keeping a couple of waterer tops (the plastic ones that screw onto the resevoir kind) rotating in the freezer? The ones I have are not quite half a gallon each, but I have 4 total and could rotate that twice a day. As in set one out to drink as it melts and have the other two ready to go for mid-day or afternoon while refreezing the first two. I don't have a lot of freezer space either so I don't know that I could keep a lot on hand but I surely want to keep them as comfortable as possible.

 

[JenellYB]

Beekissed, thank you for a tip I should have thought of myself, but guess I just never did..that of not getting your chickens used to being picked up outside. While you mention hawks especially, it seems to me that being 'trained' to freeze and crouch when you single one out and home in on it would be disadvantagous in ANY kind of predator threat, even dogs. And I'm very guilty of that, have always liked being able to target a chicken in my flock, home in on her, and have her freeze and crouch for me to pick her up to examine her for whatever, or even just to catch one that has gotten loose from its yard or coop. If I am in a situation of having chickens in any kind of fairly open pen situation again, I'll csertainly try to remember that one!

 

[tdgill]

for the one gallon waterers you can recycle 2 liter soda bottles. Fill halfway or so and screw on the top and freeze. Then cut the bottle with a sharp knife then scissors, dump the ice into the waterer and fill up the rest with fresh water

 

[Beekissed]

Question for OTs: Show us~ or describe~ your chick brooding systems? Why do you use this system?

It's getting that season when folks are getting chicks and all the debates about brooder temps, pasty butt, etc. and I thought this question would be appropriately timed.

Fred has a great brooder setup that I was hoping he'd share on this thread...very cool idea that keeps the chicks at working height and repurposes a piece of equipment that would otherwise be sitting and doing nothing. And the clean up! Can't think of a better way....

 

[Fred's Hens]

 

[Fred's Hens]

Brooding


I would never brood indoors. My wife would never approve of the dust, filth and smells. In the old days, we brooded right on the floor of the chicken coop under a hood. Wish I knew whatever happened to that hood. We'd brood 250 chicks at a time. Coop was 12x20 give or take.

Now, I brood in the garage (unheated) or in the barn. Sometimes the ambient temps fall to 30F or even a bit lower. No problem. I just pull partial sheets of plywood OBS over the top of the trailer to hold the heat in.

I use straw or wood shavings. No real preference, but straw is much cheaper. No, I've never had a chick hurt themselves by eating straw. I've not lost a chick in decades.

I build a little watering platform to raise the waterer up out of the straw or chips and it stay clean. I run a 2x4 or small timber over the top and use 3 bulb rig. A primary 250watt, a 150 watt and a 90 watt flood light. This allows me to use any combination heat I need to provide them a warm spot, even down to 25-30F. No problem. When the ambient air is warmer, I use less. When they get older, I use less wattage. I use a simple thermometer once, during setup, to re-check my ability to achieve a 88F hot spot. That's it. Never worry about a thermometer again. The chicks are the best gauge of what is what.

The ambient air beyond the "hot spot" is often 40F on average. Within days, the chicks are spending a lot of time out there in the far reaches of the brooding trailer. They completely self adjust the temp to their needs. They are not "trapped" in a small area with temps that I have to control. That is much too fussy. I've only had one mild case of poop butt in the last hundred chicks I've brooded. I use only pure, clean, fresh water. No gimmicks, no additives, no sugar, no nonsense. Chicks under a broody hen aren't introduced to a bunch of sugar water by mother hen. Just my take on doing things as naturally as possible.

When the chicks are 4 weeks old, I pull a chunk of poly deer netting over the top to keep them from flying out. I place a small "practice roost", which is only 2" high, in the brooder. I find chicks that roost in the brooder take right to a roost in the grow out pen of 12" high and take right to the "grown up" roost in the hen's pen later in life. No more sleeping in piles on the floor.

At six weeks, they go directly to the grown out pen in the barn. Clean up of the brooder is dead easy and I only clean it once, at the end. I hook the trailer up to the Kubota and take it out to a field and sweep it out. Done.

 

[JenellYB]

?system ?

Debates? Lol!
Not trying to be smart-A here, really...I'd ever only raise at most one or two batches of chicks a year at most, years ago that was usually 50, did 100 a time or two, that was too many at once. The last chicks I brooded, though, was several years ago, 3 pullets and 1 roo, egglayers breed, for the little flock my sister, terminally ill, wanted, for her having never been in a place to have chickens, and always wanting some. Brooded them in a bird cage...the same cockateil cage my present "Chicken Little" calls home, actually, with a towel draped over it a first.

I guess my only "system" has been whatever size container needed for how big a clump of chicks I had...have used everything from plastic pet carrierss/dog crates to wood boxes to an old bathtub. Something cleanable, not cardboard boxes, they get soggy and nasty on bottom. I don't like them on wire, either, hard on feet, legs can slip through, get hurt, if spaces too big, poop csakes on it too, espeically if too small.
Depending on temps and conditions in area being used, cover with plywood or just towels of sheeting to prevent draughts. Several layers thickness newspapers, so for at least first few days, no need to pull all out and put new often, just pull of the top few sheets every few hours. Some wood shavings. Never hay, it gets soggy and nasty, mats down and sours.
With most broods, actually wound up using several containers, moving them up into larger as they grew and filled up the space.

Depending on size of container, size clump of chicks, 1 or 2 of those cheap clip on heat lamps with aluminum heat shield, light bulbs. Ordinary light bulbs if winter, yellow or blue or red at other times of year, whatever was handy usually, limited white lights mainly because while light bulbs can draw swarms of flying insects if not inside a screen area. Hung at a height chicks couldn't hop up and peck it. Chicks had room to choose to stand close under it or not right under it, farther way. moderating themselves. Temp? What felt right to my hand and to the chicks? They'll tell you by their behavior and sounds.
Smallest size screw-on top chick waterer, resevoir filled with marbles at first to prevent drowning and soaking. Small feeder, chick starter. Never used anything in water, just water, or any supplements.

I know that all sounds very haphazard, but honestly, I always have excellent survival rates with chicks. They just stayed healthy, thrived. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that when I kept running into this term "pasty butt", I had to go look it up, see what it meant. I can't remember ever having anything like that.

So I guess even as an old timer, I'm not coming up with much to pass along in this one.

Question for OTs: Show us~ or describe~ your chick brooding systems? Why do you use this system?

It's getting that season when folks are getting chicks and all the debates about brooder temps, pasty butt, etc. and I thought this question would be appropriately timed.