Colorado

[trsturself]

Thought I'd let everyone here know of the chickens we'll be listing for sale soon:

1 SLW roo - $5
1 Welsummer pullet - lays a terracotta colored egg - $20
1 black frizzle bantam cochin - lays a large bantam size creamy egg - $15

 

[21hens-incharge]

We've been without eggs for quite awhile too! Have you tried worming your chickens? I just did mine yesterday. I used Ivermectin pour on so hopefully it will get rid of any worms and also finally get rid of the stupid lice that we can't seem to shake. I'll keep you posted if it helps with the egg production or not.

Great job on the nest boxes. They should love them.

I wormed this year in the late spring. I am sure the issues I am having are due to the new coop, merging 5 flocks, new run, and molting as well as the fact my hens are all getting older. They are still trying to figure out the pecking order in the new coop so I figure they are still a bit stressed.
Patience is not one of my strong points.

I sure hope they love them. It was not hard to make them since I seem to always be building something or other. Power tools are one of my obsessions lol. (yup I am a lady but I do like to be self reliant and power tools level the playing field)

 

[uzisuzuki]

Well can't help much with that question, as the coop was already existing with my boyfriend before I moved in. Ours is on the ground, this works well for me as I am short. We do have a wooden floor as it use to be an old shed. This is the only experience I know as far as coops go.

Where did you order your chicks from, how many, and what breeds?

Thanks so much for the coop info! I have definitely been thinking about just buying a shed & fixing that up because it'll be easier on me with my physical limitationa at the moment. But I have a design down & it's been hard to convincd myself to scrap it. Not sure how I'll afford the coop supplies since I still have a lot of medical bills to pay for at least the next couple of months. Hopefully, I'll figure something out before next May!

I ended up ordering from My Pet Chicken & going with the minimum for my zip code (8 chicks). I tried to stick with breeds that would be pretty friendly but what they look like definitely played into my decision. Kinda hard to turn off the need for an aesthetically pleasing group of anything when you're an artist. I went with a few Easter Eggers, an Austrlorp, a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, a Blue Orpington & a White Crested Blue Polish because I find myself kinda partial to the Polishes now. 13 seems like a good number for me right now.

 

[ryan820]

Thanks, guys....

Checked on Seaweed and her peeps just a few moments ago...last time for the night...both chicks seem in good spirits. Even with it being in the fifties and sixties the past few days could it just be the exposure of the cold that has this peep in question just trying to stay warm? Now that is crazy cold again, they stray not from momma...she's been a good heater for them for sure. They have a heat lamp and will continue to have one.

Just saying that I just now remembered, I forgot to plug in the water heater...sigh...back to the coop!


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[ryan820]

A quick look at the PeepShow cam this morning....salty (the lighter one I have concern for) was up and scratching and pecking and doing just fine. The rest of the flock didn't seem to care much about the peeps the other day when everyone was out and about. So glad for this. I will still need to send the kiddo out to supervise everyone when they are mixed together, which I would like to do sooner than later.

How much longer should I keep the peeps and momma separate from the flock?

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[Double Kindness]

We built our coops from scratch, but I have my ultimate coops still in my head wanting to be built lol.

I have treated with tylan injections the last 3 days. Wobbles my favorite chicken, a super sweet slw is the sickest. So I'm crying an drinking vodka while babying her on the sofa watching about homesteading in Alaska. I'm about to give her lunch of 18% protein all flock pellets soaked in greek yogurt.

My bunny Grace absorbed her pregnancy, so she was re-breed on Sunday morning. Countdown 30 some days for baby bunnies. Again. I hope.

Most all that needed to, were sent off to freezer camp. Just the 10 layers, 3 muscovy ducks, 3 ac pullets, 2 crow reduction surgery ac roos, 2 slw, 1 br pullet, 2 haffie pullets, 6 am white bresse (I only counted 5 this am, so gotta check again), 1 haffie roo, 2-3 more ac roos, 1 white star roo (Brazen), 1 br roo, 1 production red roo and a production red capon are left.

I'm still so sick. We plan on finishing freezer camp in 3 weeks until 10 weeks after that (bunny processing time). I might switch to bunnies for easy meat to raise.

Meet Babs, the newest ayam cemani pullet to my flock.

 

[trsturself]

A quick look at the PeepShow cam this morning....salty (the lighter one I have concern for) was up and scratching and pecking and doing just fine. The rest of the flock didn't seem to care much about the peeps the other day when everyone was out and about. So glad for this. I will still need to send the kiddo out to supervise everyone when they are mixed together, which I would like to do sooner than later.

How much longer should I keep the peeps and momma separate from the flock?

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Glad to hear she's doing fine. I have always heard they can be introduced into the flock immediately because momma will take care of them.

 

[suncatcher]

Woke up to frost on everything this morning! Was beautiful around 8:30am, sun was up and it was all silvery out!!!! Wish I would have taken some pictures!!!!

I have used Duramycin 10 (sp) on chickens with the sniffles, also have the Tylosin on hand, and have used it on bread, but you have ot be careful as it can burn their throats..........

I will be thinning out my Bantam Cochin pens in a couple months, should have some split for MF cockerals and several blacks. If they don't sell we will process them, not much meat on them, but hate to see them end up in situation that would not be good for them. It is part of breeding, you can't keep all the roosters!!!!!

I usually keep Momma and babies together from day one, so I have no idea how to integrate them once they are a little older. Momma will look out for them as long as you have a big area they all roam in.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Glad the little baby is doing well.

Spurs a question in me though... Concerning mama's with babies in with others... I am needing to replace my aging hens with better producers this spring.
The plan...
Freezer camp for the ones needing to go.
New babies under a broody (most likely will be a bantam cochin since they are always broody)

Question...
Would the bitty broody/mama be perhaps too small to protect the babies from any hens I would keep out of the existing flock?

My avatar is Ducky she is more of a pet than a layer. She is a splash hamburg age 4 never was good at laying but is pretty, shy and was brought back from real bad shape when we got her as a started pullet. She had been plucked naked and had bloody spots all over her when we got her home. (DH has stated she is a pet not a producer) Which tells me I best keep her.
There are perhaps 3 or 4 others that would be staying along with all 4 bantam cochins.
Keepers are...
2 BA age 4+
1 Splash Hamburg age 4
1 BO age 3 ( She gets to stay since she is THE best friend of Itty Bitty my tiny bantam cochin. She thinks she hatched Itty.
And perhaps the 2 Silver spangled hamburgs age 3

Does anyone think it would work keeping a bantam cochin with chicks in with big birds and twitchy birds (hamburgs

)?

 

[suncatcher]

I would think if they all get along now, they will after momma banty takes on a few chicks........ unless the bantam is on the bottom of the pecking order, and even then she should protect them. Also, your breeds are very laid back birds, I would bet they will be fine. Mine have always been in together, and always get along, but my broody momma's are at the top of the pecking order too! Big bossy girls! lol

Sad that your Hamburg is not a good layer, as you could have your broody banty hatch out a few of her eggs.