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

[Kassaundra]

Seriously!!!!! Do you ever listen to the words you (multiple you as in you'all) type???? If she makes "flaps" out of burlap for a dark nesting box for her layers it is "OT approved" but if she makes "curtains" out of a fabric that makes her happy for a dark nesting box for her layers she is being to "fu fu" to be "OT approved"??????



I do not have partitions of any kind, just a large nesting "tray" and in the open in the coop. I live in the south w/ brutal summers so the small dark confining boxes seemed way to hot to me.



Again my standard disclaimer ..................... I am not an OT

 

[Fred's Hens]

Tongue firmly planted in cheek for my comment. What does SpeckledHen say? "It's not religion, it's just chickens".

Nobody needs anyone's approval. LOL

 

[gardendufus]

Ok, as a longtime reader, NOT an OT, I have a question for ya that is driven strictly out of curiosity.

I have noticed that when my pullets are dust bathing in the evening, they lose a lot of the 'downy' fluffy short feathers. There seems to be a competition amongst them as to who gets to eat the most of these feathers. They gobble up every one they find and fight each other over them. They don't seem to care about any of the larger fully formed feathers laying around

Is there a reason for this (nutrition wise, health wise), or is it just cuz they will put any darn thing they find in their mouths, and the fact that these blow around freely is attractive.

 

[cherylcohen]

Maybe someone on this thread can help. I've got egg eating Tolbunt Polish! I've been told about nest boxes where the eggs roll back, so I plan to google that. I also have ceramic eggs thinking that would stop them but they are too smart and peck their white eggs and not the ceramic ones!!

Unfortunately my breeding facility is far away so I can only visit once a day to collect eggs, so I can't monitor it as closely as I'd like

Any brilliant ideas I haven't tried yet?

 

[ldutch123]

Last night I found one of my 6 month old ee's laying on the nest box with her head propped up on roost.

A little history is these 4 girls were slowly introduced over the last month to my laying girls and they are sharing the coop with them. I noticed that they never leave the coop so each evening I would bring them outside to the grass and range where they have access to but won't go. They are so scared of everything. Temps have been in the 90's all week.

I assumed they wouldn't let themselves stArve to death so I let myself not be so controlling and said ok they will find a time to eat and drink. But now I'm worried they just won't.

Last night I took her out of the coop and brought her inside in a dog carrier. She drank a ton of water and soon after that wanted to eat BUT SHE CAN'T walk. He feet grip my finger but she can't hold herself up.

Today she seems a little more alert and tries to pull herself up but still having trouble.

Is this dehydration and how long before she is better?

Treatments so far is sav a chick in the water. She has been eating a lot of wetted food and grit and oyster shell. She is making normal noises and seems very alert. She remains inside because the heat isn't budging. I also went ahead and moved the other 3 girls back to the bantam tophat coop they were raised as chicks in. There are less birds in there and no traffic at the food and water
?? Advice would be helpful.

 

[fowlman01]

Maybe someone on this thread can help. I've got egg eating Tolbunt Polish! I've been told about nest boxes where the eggs roll back, so I plan to google that. I also have ceramic eggs thinking that would stop them but they are too smart and peck their white eggs and not the ceramic ones!!

Unfortunately my breeding facility is far away so I can only visit once a day to collect eggs, so I can't monitor it as closely as I'd like

Any brilliant ideas I haven't tried yet?

Try curtains....

Walt

 

[cherylcohen]

Try curtains....

Walt

Serious? or is this an inside joke?

 

[wgidir]

FWIW I don't want to be a CBOF and I may not have the correct terminology down (flaps vs curtains), I came to the OT sincerely to learn. Thank you all for your most interesting comments.

 

[fowlman01]

Serious? or is this an inside joke?

I guess it could be both, but I am serious. That is one of the reasons they covered the nest boxes in the old days.

Walt

 

[MoonAngel12]

Quoting myself here...

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.

I can't say I have posted any photos on here so I'm going to attempt it the way I know for another forum.

Here it is in all it's over-grown glory. I know it's been used sometime in the last 20-25 years b/c DH remembers his granny walking down the path (to the left of the tree line, essentially an extension of our driveway... on maps it's considered a "road" though) with her cane carrying a basket to collect eggs (he's 29 so it's relatively recently. We started dating in 1999 and I don't recall it being in use then). The biggest hurdle is that it's technically not on our land. When they surveyed it for us a few years ago (we bought her house after we got married) the property line was just in front of the chicken house. I'm sure it would be OK though as long as we ran it past the key family members. The sides are/were wire with optional tarps to drop down if needed for weather protection. I am standing to the west of the coop. Currently it's sitting in the cow pasture, but it wouldn't take much to re route the fence (not sure if that's what the wooden posts to the right were for, or maybe a run of some sort? Maybe both actually. In true Granny fashion it's pretty pieced together - she was a make do kind of gal (one building on our property had an old windshield as part of the eve of the roof). A lot of the old chicken equipment is still stashed away - nesting boxes, feeders, etc. That's where I got most of my stuff I use in my smaller coop. I'm not sure it's worth the tick infestation to make it back to check things out or just wait until cool weather hits, but I'm curious now what it would take to get at least a section of it functioning again. I'm not overly sentimental, but DH and I have said many times we were born in the wrong generation so I think I just have that desire to keep the past alive a bit. I mean, how cool would it be for her great great grandchildren to collect eggs out of the same coop she once used??

I'm sure the roof would be functional - maybe a little patching here and there. I know the wire on the side(s) is totally rusted out so it would need to be replaced. I can't remember if it's a dirt or concrete floor. It would give me so much room for roosting, nesting, brooding, storage, etc. Just not sure if it's possible or worth it, you know? Eventually I want to turn our two acres (hopefully more, lots of family involved with the land around us though... been in the family since pre civil war, lots of history!) into at least a homestead for the family and possibly into a small working farm. We have little ones right now that I need to tend to though (come December we will have 4 children 5 and under) which makes things a bit harder. Anyway, that's enough rambling.




Oh, and it's probably twice the length back as it is wide, so it's pretty big! I'll need to ask around and see how many she kept in there at one time and what she did with them exactly. Obviously eggs, but I know they couldn't eat that many themselves... I assume she sold them?? Gave them away?