Colorado

[trsturself]

Hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving tomorrow! Enjoy the nice weather!

 

[uzisuzuki]

What a beautiful day today. I got the second door installed, though both doors didn't work tonight. :/ Put the new feeder out for the chickens, the heated bowl for goats, and the chicken cam! Here they are getting ready for bed. The cool thing is I can access this camera from anywhere and move it too so I don't always have to look at the nest boxes or roosts. I can even sort of see the run a little. My PR is the nearest to the camera. Her pattern looks a lot prettier in the IR light of the camera than in person. Same with the Welsummer next to the SLP.

That is so fun! I might have to rework my coop plans to accommodate a webcam now...

 

[Latestarter]

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Have fun and if traveling, be safe!

 

[suncatcher]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Going to be a beautiful day.....

 

[GuessWhat]

Can anyone recommend some good local Colorado businesses or breeders that sell baby ducklings year round? Preferably close to the springs but farther places such as Denver ok. I would really prefer to buy local rather than online. Thanks!

 

[COChix]

Happy Turkey Day, two families two meals = too full!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Has anyone heard of or got chicks from Summer Rose Farms and Hatchery?
I am needing to replace my aging hens this spring and am thinking I would rather be able to pick up babies directly from the hatchery.
Sadly we are limited on choices in Colorado.
For me it would be a 3 hour each way trip to Strasburg but still much better than a 3 day trip in the mail.

I am hoping to sneak them in under bantam cochins ( Constantly broody it seems ) hens in the early spring.

 

[uzisuzuki]

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving! It was oddly super nice weather out east that all the animals loved.

Thanks to all the feedback I got here & my paycheck showing up early, I ordered my first chicks yesterday! I'm super excited about it & that may have led to my coop plans growing from something simple to something I probably wouldn't have had any trouble constructing pre car accident. Fingers crossed that my physical therapy can get me back to walking again because I'm pretty sure I won't be able to talk my dad into building the entire thing by himself.

This does bring up a question for me: Is it better (as in, better for the chickens themselves) to have the coop on the ground or raised? I've seen a number that utilize the actual ground as the floor for the coop while others raise them and make a floor for their coops. Was just wondering if anyone had any Pros/Cons thoughts on that that they wouldn't mind sharing. Thanks again so much for all the wonderful help y'all have given me!

 

[trsturself]

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving! It was oddly super nice weather out east that all the animals loved.

Thanks to all the feedback I got here & my paycheck showing up early, I ordered my first chicks yesterday! I'm super excited about it & that may have led to my coop plans growing from something simple to something I probably wouldn't have had any trouble constructing pre car accident. Fingers crossed that my physical therapy can get me back to walking again because I'm pretty sure I won't be able to talk my dad into building the entire thing by himself.

This does bring up a question for me: Is it better (as in, better for the chickens themselves) to have the coop on the ground or raised? I've seen a number that utilize the actual ground as the floor for the coop while others raise them and make a floor for their coops. Was just wondering if anyone had any Pros/Cons thoughts on that that they wouldn't mind sharing. Thanks again so much for all the wonderful help y'all have given me!

I have had both and they both have their pros and cons. IMHO:
above ground:
-pros: not as much bending over to clean, I just raked it out the door into a wheelbarrow and dumped it in the compost. If space is an issue you create more run space under the coop
-cons: Hard to do a deep clean since you have to be able to reach everything from the door. Harder to do the deep litter method

on ground:
-pros: I like being able to walk in and take care of what I need. Easier to do deep litter (except that I need to build a barrier to keep the litter away from the door so it will open/close properly)
-cons: At least the way my coop is setup, it's harder to get the litter out when it's cleaning time. luckily I don't have to do that often with an earthen floor, but I do take everything out now and then and it's a pain.

 

[suncatcher]

Has anyone heard of or got chicks from Summer Rose Farms and Hatchery?
I am needing to replace my aging hens this spring and am thinking I would rather be able to pick up babies directly from the hatchery.
Sadly we are limited on choices in Colorado.
For me it would be a 3 hour each way trip to Strasburg but still much better than a 3 day trip in the mail.

I am hoping to sneak them in under bantam cochins ( Constantly broody it seems ) hens in the early spring.

Hmmm, never heard of them, but looking them up now..... Sounds like they order from Hatcheries, as you have to order minimum of 25 chicks, you can order as little as seven from My Pet Chicken. There are a few that order from hatchery, and then you can pick them up at their farm. All Things Homestead comes to mind.

Privett Hatchery is near Albq NM (I think), would be an 7-8 hour drive, but might be worth it if they allow local pick up.

Wind is picking up here, but otherwise a beautiful day!!! Going to be a great weekend, hope to get out and get a chicken tractor built for the Bantams.