Colorado

[Chesterchook]

@jgurshtein, we've got ten week old chicks out in the coop without heat right now and they're fine. We do have a good sized amount though so they're able to huddle up together

 

[kmatt87]

welcome to all the newbies! And all this talk about ordering chickens/turkeys is making me jealous!! I don't know if i have enough room for more

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

welcome to all the newbies!   And all this talk about ordering chickens/turkeys is making me jealous!!  I don't know if i have enough room for more 

Don't feel bad! I am not getting any either.

 

[jgurshtein]

I was thinking of getting 5 or 6 and the run/coop area will have 2 sides of wooden privacy fence, one side is the house and part of the top will be covered with clear plexiglass. That should keep them fairly well sheltered from the wind/precipitation. I'm kinda thinking about just going for it...

 

[dennarahl]

So, due to a canceled weekend trip I now have a 4 day weekend January 11-14th.  The hatchery where I was planning to get my chicks isn't open on Sundays which is my only weekend day off during a normal work week.  Would it be too early to get my chicks January 12th?  I was originally planning to get them in mid to late February, keep them inside for 8 weeks, and put them in their coop in late April.  I've already confused/irritated my boss with the planning of this January 'vacation' and don't want to make it worse by canceling that one but planning a different one in February but I also don't want to have to keep HUGE birds in my house for an extra month because I jumped the gun. :/ What do you guys think?  This season has been so dry and warm, if it continues to be much warmer than normal we'll be fine putting the birds out early, but if it turns cold and/or wet for the early Spring well... that will make it harder!

I started on January 25th last year, and my birds stayed in the house until they were mostly feathered. Then they went to the garage because the coop wasn't ready when I wanted them out of the house. I was not a fan of the dust. I still start my babies inside until they're less dependent on the heat lamp and start scratching apart the puppypads I use instead of wood shavings. Usually about 2 weeks, then they go out to the garage with the heat lamp spot until i think they're ready to mix with the flock. By a month old they are definitely old enough to deal with cold as long as they have a warm place to retreat to.

 

[wickedlees]

HI To the new folks (even newer than me!) Highlands Ranch?! Chickens are allowed?! Even with the Nazi covenants? Oh, Man! I am thrilled to hear that! Parker! Waves... I'm not that far from Parker, we go to Merdocks all the time and same with Parker Feed. How is everyone's Friday?
We're all trying to catch a cold it seems over here. Drat. I'm still awaiting an egg to show up and not very patiently I might add... I fed my girls 2 bags of "day old" fruit from the middle eastern market by my house (ish). Persimmons, Apples, Pears, Squash, and Melons. They are in hog heaven. They've got Braggs in the water, Oyster shells, pellet food, and a light. Girls, put up or shut up! LOL getting to the point where everyone is like, those birds are duds... Course I don't care, because I love all four of them so much. Heck, they follow me all around and come to me to eat out of my hand. I was out back fiddlin' with the bees yesterday and I heard my neighbor making chicken noises through the fence. I think she really likes the girls too. I have a jar of honey I need to take over to her for a little Xmas gift. Well, hope everyone is having a super Friday! I'm off to go write up my daily wine blog. Trying to come up with a wicked recipe for dinner. That doesn't include chicken

 

[wsmith]

I'm getting off work early today to go do a Revolutionary War program for James Irwin charter Academy's Kindergarten and 4th grade classes! Too much fun. Any older than that and they tend to get obnoxious...

Only got 6 eggs yesterday.

Maybe we'll get more today. Average daily lay rate is still hgiher than November's total though. I had a guy contact me yesterday about buying eggs on a regular basis we'll see how that works out...

 

[AlivianAcres]

Yup.  LF.


Mine use a kiddee pool now.  In the summer, it works great because I can fill up the pool at night and they swim.  During the winter, it is much harder as everything freezes.  Emptying the pool gets harder.  I've been using the large size black rubber ones.  The thing that is hardest is their poo is very wet so when they nest with the chickens, it just makes for a very messy area.  I also don't have any grass out here.  It's all mulch and little pebbles.   What type of setup do you have?  Are you planning on just ducks?    I guess I'm just not a duck person. 

have you tried a submergible heater in the winter? We live on 20 acres (mostly pasture) we currently have 9 chickens (more due to hatch the 21st) as well as rabbits for meat and a golden retriever.... plans for goats or cows maybe both in the spring. We are revamping an outdoor arena into housing for our fowl and a section for rabbits....we are looking at housing ducks separate and using a different bedding to make clean up easier

 

[Chesterchook]

I was thinking of getting 5 or 6 and the run/coop area will have 2 sides of wooden privacy fence, one side is the house and part of the top will be covered with clear plexiglass. That should keep them fairly well sheltered from the wind/precipitation. I'm kinda thinking about just going for it...

There's a thread on here somewhere about making a heater using a low wattage light bulb and a clay flower pot, gives them something warm to huddle up around, might be something to consider if you're worried about them and want to add some heat. What kind of chickies are you getting?

 

[megshenhut]

I got my first eggs from 2 of my black ameraucana pullets yesterday!!!

I've been waiting for a while; these were an early May hatch.