Colorado

[WendyGeisler]

Here's a little visitor that we had earlier this year...a small falcon was grabbing doves and sparrows off the bird feeder....drove my girls nuts.

Everytime this little guy showed up I'd have chickens running everywhere. It was pandemonium.





Wow, great photos!!

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Hello
My son and I are about to get a few chickens for our back yard in Co Springs.  We are in the process of framing our mobile chicken coop and are looking to buy a couple of Rhode Island Reds.  I live up on the North end of the Springs (Union/Dublin area) and would love to talk with someone locally that could give me a few tips, especially with winter approaching.  I am conducting a lot of on-line research, but I still have tons of questions ranging from heating the coop to placement of food and water.  If anyone has any successes they would like to share, I would love to hear them.  Looking forward to fresh eggs soon.

Aaron

Hi Aaron! I am in the Barnes/Powers area, so not too far from you. Def no need to heat the coop. If you feel like pampering them though you can get a heat pad to put in for the really cold days.

 

[mynamesjenelle]

I love this sweet little face! EE's are the nicest & most entertaining little things.

Hello
My son and I are about to get a few chickens for our back yard in Co Springs.  We are in the process of framing our mobile chicken coop and are looking to buy a couple of Rhode Island Reds.  I live up on the North end of the Springs (Union/Dublin area) and would love to talk with someone locally that could give me a few tips, especially with winter approaching.  I am conducting a lot of on-line research, but I still have tons of questions ranging from heating the coop to placement of food and water.  If anyone has any successes they would like to share, I would love to hear them.  Looking forward to fresh eggs soon.

Aaron

Wow, we live about 5 minutes away from you! If you want to come by and see our setup sometime send me a PM. We don't have any RIR's but we have five other breeds. I can definitely tell you all about what hasn't worked so far

 

[coloradogal]

Hello
My son and I are about to get a few chickens for our back yard in Co Springs. We are in the process of framing our mobile chicken coop and are looking to buy a couple of Rhode Island Reds. I live up on the North end of the Springs (Union/Dublin area) and would love to talk with someone locally that could give me a few tips, especially with winter approaching. I am conducting a lot of on-line research, but I still have tons of questions ranging from heating the coop to placement of food and water. If anyone has any successes they would like to share, I would love to hear them. Looking forward to fresh eggs soon.

Aaron

We have a couple people here who do have flocks of RIR. RIRs are sweet birds. Is there any reason you want RIRs? I'm out in Falcon if you ever want to come over to see my layout and my mutts. Just PM me and I'll let you know where I'm at.

Here's a little visitor that we had earlier this year...a small falcon was grabbing doves and sparrows off the bird feeder....drove my girls nuts.

Everytime this little guy showed up I'd have chickens running everywhere. It was pandemonium.

He's beautiful. Luckily, I haven't had any experience up close and personal with these guys.

Hi Aaron,
There is a wonderful thing for first timers. It's called the Take A Peek Chicken Coop Tour in Colorado Springs. It happens in the spring time, I think it was April. We were able to tour 11 of the 19 chicken coops on the tour and ask questions to each owner and see how they worked their set up. I learned quickly that there are lots of "right" ways to do things. Hope that helps! Wendy

I suspect that the people who do the tour are not NPIP certified? I am scheduled for testing next Monday. I'm so nervous even though I know that the testing is mostly just a formality as nobody fails. Still hate tests though.

 

[coloradogal]

Mice

I found a little mice scurrying in my garage as I was taking care of my flock today. i suspect that if there is 1, there is more than one. So what route do I go? I know that its very hard to keep them out. Do I try to do the non-poisonous traps or do I look into a good barn/garage cat? This weekend will be spent cleaning out the garage and trying to figure out where they are coming in and fixing that problem.

 

[mynamesjenelle]

Mice

I found a little mice scurrying in my garage as I was taking care of my flock today.   i suspect that if there is 1, there is more than one.  So what route do I go?  I know that its very hard to keep them out.  Do I try to do the non-poisonous traps or do I look into a good barn/garage cat?    This weekend will be spent cleaning out the garage and trying to figure out where they are coming in and fixing that problem. 

If you find a good solution let me know. We had mice in the compost bin this summer and a couple nights ago there was one in the chicken run itself. HOW we have no idea, since the run is completely enclosed by 1/4" hardware cloth buried and cemented into the ground. I want something non-poisonous too since there are lots of cats and hawks here that will probably end up eating the dead mice.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

If you find a good solution let me know. We had mice in the compost bin this summer and a couple nights ago there was one in the chicken run itself. HOW we have no idea, since the run is completely enclosed by 1/4" hardware cloth buried and cemented into the ground. I want something non-poisonous too since there are lots of cats and hawks here that will probably end up eating the dead mice.

I used sticky traps to try and control things. Snap traps were useless; the field mice were too light to set them off. :/. I managed to catch the 'big daddy' of them all with one snap trap and he ended up as chicken food. I caught seven mice in two days with the stickies. I don't think they will work much longer outside though. It's too cold out now.

 

[adtco]

All
I am framing my mobile chicken coop. As I mentioned, I am planning on 2 Rhode Island Reds. My coop (insulated btw) has about 9 sf/ft with an additional 7ft X 3 ft fenced run. I was planning on just moving it around in the grassy area of my back yard. Additionally, I am going to run wire along the floor of the run. With the wire floor cause any problems with the chickens scratching? I have heard of a few people doing this. I am also concerned with the coop size. I have heard many different thoughts about adequate square footage and am now worrying my coop may be on the small size. One final thought for this post...I am open for suggestions on shavings inside the coop. Should I line the floor with shavings and if so, how deep? How often do I sweep them all out? I see some clean the coops daily and it seems to me like that would be a large amount of shavings/poop over the course of a year. Will that be a manageable amount for composting? Do we have a problem with lice and mites in CO Springs for chickens? Sorry for the questions. I have read plenty of contradictory information and I figure if it works for you in Colorado, it will work for me.

Thanks
Aaron

 

[Mountain Momma]

All
I am framing my mobile chicken coop. As I mentioned, I am planning on 2 Rhode Island Reds. My coop (insulated btw) has about 9 sf/ft with an additional 7ft X 3 ft fenced run. I was planning on just moving it around in the grassy area of my back yard. Additionally, I am going to run wire along the floor of the run. With the wire floor cause any problems with the chickens scratching? I have heard of a few people doing this. I am also concerned with the coop size. I have heard many different thoughts about adequate square footage and am now worrying my coop may be on the small size. One final thought for this post...I am open for suggestions on shavings inside the coop. Should I line the floor with shavings and if so, how deep? How often do I sweep them all out? I see some clean the coops daily and it seems to me like that would be a large amount of shavings/poop over the course of a year. Will that be a manageable amount for composting? Do we have a problem with lice and mites in CO Springs for chickens? Sorry for the questions. I have read plenty of contradictory information and I figure if it works for you in Colorado, it will work for me.

Thanks
Aaron

These are almost exactly the questions I had my first few months! There is a thread that is all oldtimers with chickens 10-20 years or more that is the best source. Beekissed is the most prolific old timer that posts there but there are several common sense experts. My coop is 10x12 ft insulated with a huge run about 40x100. I have 25 chickens and one turkey. My coop is on the small side but because they have a huge run and only stay in the coop at night my flock is peaceful. I have 2 roosters which also helps keep the peace. You should have 3 chickens minimum because they are very social creatures and the general rull is 3 or more. If you let them out every day and you watch them and they seem happy your coop will be fine. If they are pecking each other and miserable then its not big enough. If they grew up together they are more likely to be friendly to each other.
I started out with straw, hay, shavings and found that shavings worked the best. Drier, smell better and over all more fun for chickens. I was killing myself cleaning it out each wek when I heard about deep litter. DL is counterintuitive. It seems like it would be nasty and smell but I've been doing it since August and there is no odor and the litter smells like dirt. Now I have added shavings almost every week to the floor and its about 6-8 inches deep. It is providing warmth and the chickens keep it stirred up. I'll try to post the link to the old timers thread. Is a must read. Might take a year to read at the rate I am going but its lively and interesting all the time.
L

 

[Mountain Momma]

Hello
My son and I are about to get a few chickens for our back yard in Co Springs. We are in the process of framing our mobile chicken coop and are looking to buy a couple of Rhode Island Reds. I live up on the North end of the Springs (Union/Dublin area) and would love to talk with someone locally that could give me a few tips, especially with winter approaching. I am conducting a lot of on-line research, but I still have tons of questions ranging from heating the coop to placement of food and water. If anyone has any successes they would like to share, I would love to hear them. Looking forward to fresh eggs soon.

Aaron

This is a sight that one of the old timers started with a logical way to look up specific questions and graphic photos. I have to go out and come back in to get you all the thread I want to recommend so bear with me and my lack of tek saavy.
L


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