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

[Mellisa]

Chickens are tough little animals and they can thrive with little care as long as they have some of the bare minimums.

Walt

I get the chicks I'm brooding outside ASAP. They are in a safe container / cage near my bedroom window so I can hear if anything comes around @ night. Covered @ night, shade during the day, plenty of air and fresh, cold water, & food.
On hot days I'm tempted to bring them inside the laundry room but I have to remember; chicks who die when it gets hot are probably inferior birds to begin with.
If I coddle them as youngsters, they tend to be poor layers, don't thrive and grow like the others, and die young anyway. It's better not to waste feed and time on a bird who is not meant to survive.
In the past I've taken chicks the hens abandon. Most of my Silkies have been such good brooders, I have learned that anything they reject is not a good specimen.

 

[wgidir]

A lot of people recommed a lot of different things. Most of them work or at least do no harm.
Do you have something specific to make you think you need curtains or is it just something that somebody said was a neat thing to do? We all keep them in different circumstances. I'm sure for some people curtains are the way to go, but I don't use them and don't see a need for them with my set-up.

I saw several postings about it helping them to get that "closed in" feeling for their laying. I am just trying to prepare them for the best environment and keep the number of mistakes I make down to a minimum.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I saw several postings about it helping them to get that "closed in" feeling for their laying. I am just trying to prepare them for the best environment and keep the number of mistakes I make down to a minimum.

Just use old burlap and call them "flaps" instead of curtains and no one will tease you.

My grandma, from whom I learned about chickens over 50 years ago, had "flaps" and she was a big believer in them. I do not use them, but I absolutely recognize that the hens love the darkest nests and fight of using them, so there's a lot of truth in darkening their laying spot.

 

[stonykill]

Stonykill, this is why I am a newbie - you really want to tease me? I have spent literally hours and hours on this site and many people do recommend curtains for privacy - I am only trying to do the best for our chickens

I'm not picking, I just don't understand why other than to have a cute coop. Privacy, yes, cute, no thanks

 

[stonykill]

Just use old burlap and call them "flaps" instead of curtains and no one will tease you.

My grandma, from whom I learned about chickens over 50 years ago, had "flaps" and she was a big believer in them. I do not use them, but I absolutely recognize that the hens love the darkest nests and fight of using them, so there's a lot of truth in darkening their laying spot.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Wgidgr-chickens do like some seclusion to lay, usually not much since it's a community thing and most hens will lay in the same nest....the only time I've used a curtain(old towel really) was to block the sight line of two roosters so they would stop trying to kill each other.

 

[HappyHenMama]

curtains? Seriously?

My sentiments exactly! I've never heard of putting up curtains for my hens...Mine have never required privacy.

Not making fun, but I got a giggle out of this.

 

[fowlman01]

I saw several postings about it helping them to get that "closed in" feeling for their laying. I am just trying to prepare them for the best environment and keep the number of mistakes I make down to a minimum.

Many people had coverings over the nest boxes when I was growing up. It was usually burlap, but I knew what you were talking about when you said curtains. Maybe some of these folks have never seen that before, but it was very common here in the west during the 40's-50's.

Walt

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

All in good fun, you can tease me next if you want.

 

[MoonAngel12]

Moonangel, failure to thrive could be any number of things....go ahead and revamp the old coop first, sweep it out, plug up predator holes, etc. Get some more chickens and get them out there. Have any pic of the coop?

Oh boy, the old old one is going to take a lot more than sweeping out - it's probably been 20 years since it was last used and I know DH's family (who tend to be pack rats) have been using it for storage ever since. I want to say one whole back wall was removed for cattle at one point, but I don't remember for sure. I did get a pic from our side yard, I'll get it loaded and post it. My current coop is a revamped storage building. It, too, needs some TLC. DH put it together for $40 for my Valentine's gift 3 years ago and it could use a bit more attention to detail. A surprise snake clued me in that the doors are now warped so bad things can fit underneath them so that's going to be the first thing to take care of. I would also love to make the nesting boxes external with a hinged lid, but not sure that will ever happen. It sure would free up some space inside though.