Beautiful day in the neighborhood today! We made progress in the building of our run.
If anyone would be interested in a very tame (I can pick him up every time with just one hand) hand-raised Black Orpington Roo that is just about 9 weeks young, feel free to send me a message. He is beautiful, showing green shiny feathering in the sun and is very kind to the 2 hens we have. It breaks my heart that he is a little rooster because we aren't allowed to have roosters by law ... and he's become my favorite
My husband is finally starting the process of coop planning, we have decided on the design, but I have some questions before he actually starts building as I do not want to have to say "wish I had done this", or should have done that" when it is finished.
Should we insulate our coop if we are planning on heating it in the winter with a thermostat for heat to go on at 32 and keep the coop at 34 degrees. Or is adding insulating overkill?
What about insulating the next boxes that will be exterior. Is that necessary? Or will the 34degree temp inside the coop be enough to compensate for the
fact that the next boxes stick out from the coop.
We are going to build the coop, and then hopefully get chicks ( buff Orpingtons). Is it to late to get chicks? If I order them, my fear is the heat during shipping, or should I wait until next spring to get chicks ( I really do not want to wait, I want them NOW!!!!
Insulate is a good idea but you can get away without it.As long as you have winter hardy chickens I would not heat unless it got really cold (Like 0 degrees)Then I would put a heater in for the night.A heated water bowl is a good idea.Your chickens will acclimate to the cold. A bigger problem is frost bite so make sure your coop is well ventilated but NO DRAFTs. This will keep the humidity down. Use 2x4 for roost. This way your chickens can sit on thier feet to keep them warm.
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Hey, does anyone have any experience with one bird not letting the others into the range? They're not quite 2 months old and I *hope* they're all female... the 'boss' chicken is a BR, looked like a female as a chick ( head spot, black wash on leg fronts) and since I don't really know what to look for on a 2 month old, I'm operating with the assumption that she IS a she... anyway, the BR chases the other 4 chickens around in the range until they go back into the coop...it's 11am and they still haven't spent more than 5 minutes in the range today. I did have food and water both in the coop and in the range; I've just taken it out of the coop hoping to get them outside. Any suggestions on whether this bullying is something i need to address, or are they just establishing the pecking order in a normal fashion and sooner or later the BR will let the others out??
Thanks for the help..... -Jen
So it appears that the two white Polish Silkies we bought this past spring are BOTH roosters. Beautiful, healthy birds, but we already have a roo and three is two too many! Looking for new homes for them. They have been together since hatchlings and they get along great with each other. Located in Ivoryton (Essex), CT. Call Ron at 203-376-9514. Please leave a message if no answer.
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After predators got 5 of our first eight birds when they were 3 months old, we bought a new batch of 6 chicks. The 3 older birds would not let the younger ones into the range for several weeks. After a while they worked out a truce of sorts and now they are one happy bunch (although the older girls claimed the best roosting spots!). I think it just takes a while, as long as the younger birds can take refuge somewhere and not get pecked on they should be ok. I had to run separate water and feed for them but tapered it off after a couple weeks or so to help encourage the younger birds to do a little adventuring.