Colorado

[rf12345]

I've got buttercup chicks. They look cool, never had them so. Did anyone have these?
I need to make room for these, Have 2 7 week old black australorps pullets (2 month they will be on 23-th) , they live outside. I'll have more orloffs when I decide who goes who stays. These 2 australorps were spoken for, but my friend decided to have 4 hens instead of 6. PM me. Fair trades are considered (aka chicken feed, milo,sunflower seed, otherwise good old $ so I can buy feed for my feathered very good eaters, boy they eat...)

 

[rf12345]

Also I wonder if anyone have set up a place for a broody or maybe has a link where I can look for ideas. I've got wyandotte, they supposed to be good mamas next year. I figured if I build this summer something it will be much easier next spring to bring chicks up... Also I do not plan to breed wyandotte's I wonder will these mix good with maran? My new roo is black copper maran, nice blood line. Marans and Americana do not go broody much, so I figured I need to get me a mama breed. Never have seen neighbors legorns to sit on eggs either..., have couple of browns (better because of predators, I did not go with white birds)
Brooder question. It does get dusty. What bedding do you use to control that? Not dusty for about 3 weeks, then the chicks just go bunkers dust bathing in whatever... I gave them sand and kid of sorry about it now. That's why I got me brood hen breed in the first place for next year

 

[Hayduke27]

@rf12345 I raised two clutches with broodies last year and learned a lot. What I have now is a medium sized dog cage that fits in the coop. I put mamma and chicks in there, that way the chicks can hop out and wander around but still be protected from the rest of the flock. At the same time, the flock can see them and get exposure to the new chickens to get everyone socialized. I let mamma and the babies out of the cage once or twice a day for yard time, but when they head back into the coop I'd make sure they all ended up back in the cage. The cage of course has food, water, and a nest in it. This set up, other than being in the way for a little while, has worked pretty well!

 

[Hayduke27]

@rf12345 As for the dust problem, I keep my brooder in a place where the dust doesn't matter. I'm not sure it can be avoided, as I think it's mostly made up of chicken dander. Frequent changes of the bedding is probably your best option.

 

[megshenhut]

Still light flurries, but I think probably pretty much done here. Final tally ~4-5" of heavy wet packed down snow + maybe an inch of rain before that. Real light drifting, nowhere near the wind they forecast. Nice moisture gain from it with little to no bad effects. Hope y'all fared as well.

How about you high(er) mnt and foothill folks? You were supposed to get hit much harder than where I'm at, or further south down by the springs?

Well, we got about 2 feet. It melted a bunch yesterday, but it is snowing hard again this afternoon.

 

[Latestarter]

From my view point it's been/was pretty dark over the foothills/mnts most of the day. Hope all you high altitude folks are doing OK.

 

[Hayduke27]

We got another few inches up here, but it seems to have quit for now. Come on spring sun!!!

 

[Rock Home Isle]

@Rock Home Isle
I love the picture of your chicks looking out the window. What breed are they?

I'm starting a small group of Welsummers. They are a very active breed...

 

[Mtn Margie]

I see some blue sky off to the west this AM. Cold, 17 out there. Come on sunshine!

 

[COChix]

Ok so yesterday,I made the decision to move the Three Amigos out of the mud fest we called a run. So the snow was sagging the wc in the run and this am I scooped the snow off the roof. However, the run is a muddy mess already, their brooder was damp and I thought scooping the snow was just a temp solution. What if we had a ton of rain? So I decided to scrap the kennel in the uncovered run and made a brooder in the coop, under the roosts and poop boards on one side. I then rounded up the Three Amigos and put them into the coop. They seemed pretty happy with their new digs.

Moved them to the east side of coop, this side has a second door that I will be using to allow them access to the run, but not allowing the adults to fit into their area, will make a type of portal. Also have their food and water behind the door so I can easily water and feed them, while they are in the coop. Will keep them locked in their new space for a few days before opening their world to the run.