Consolidated Kansas

[Hawkeye95]

OK, so really quick question. I checked on the chickens in their big girl house today and the rain made most of the shavings moist if not wet. But not like soaked. Is this going to make my babies sick and what can I do to resolve this situation???


Also, no one wants Leroy...HE ROCKS MY SOCKS OFF and I want to keep him but I can't and now I don't know what to do with him. I am going to wait a few more weeks and put him on craigslist I suppose

I hate to say it, but I'm guessing most people are in your situation and just can't have a rooster. That, or they just don't want another one. If I took roosters, it would be for dinner, that's about the only use I can see for them right now. Except for the one I'm breeding with. I've love to off load my two little white silkie roosters, but I highly doubt I'll get any takers. I'd eat them, but I just don't know if I can handle the black skin, bones and meat. I think it would throw me off. I need regular looking chicken! ha! Not sure what to say about your wet shavings. I'm guessing this is happening because you do not have siding on your coop yet. If you have any shavings that are really wet, I'd probably get them out of there. To resolve it, I guess work on your siding or figure out where the leaks are coming in. Surely not the roof?? The again, if you have it open under the eaves, it very well could be, I guess. If it's just damp, I might let it be for now and check it and see if it dries out fast.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hawkeye, Amber Waves is the place I ordered the first set of silkies from last spring and they just started offering that soon after I received mine last June. But the price of the chick plus the shipping made these birds a bit pricey, I thought, anyway. But they are nice looking birds and if I would have been willing to spend $5 more per bird I could have had their guarantee of hens that I wanted. Oh, and the coop your working, I really like it[/FONT]

... may I copy your plan?? I have a chicken tractor now, but I'd like to put these new babes in a more permanent pen over by my garden spot so in the fall I can turn them out into my fenced in garden.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Thanks, Danz, that's what I wanted to know...[/FONT]

I've heard some great things about Amber Waves. Absolutely you can copy my coop! If you're really that interested I'll write up all the dimensions I used so you can get a feel for how much, etc. So far I have $89 in it. I bet it will be right around $120 by the time I'm done. I went to the Habitat ReStore on Harry and Hillside to pick up that really cool wood window in it. I just sanded it down, put more caulking along the outside panes and then painted it. Hinged it at the top. I'll put on a lock for it at the bottom later. I bought a "remnant" piece of flooring vinyl at Sutherlands for about $27 I think. It did my other little coop and it will cover this one's floor too. Anyway, I made the cuts on an 8ft 2X4 so that I could use both cuts. I made the height 5 feet and then used the 3 foot cut for the width. That worked out well. I forget what the one truss on the roof is, but I can go measure that. It makes the best use of wood I could possibly come up with so I didn't have to buy a lot of lumber and then not use it all.

Wow, you're all a busy bunch of people on all of your projects, now I hope we can start on mine soon, but it looks like rain for the next several days. My DH is trying to recover today too from his run in the rain yesterday, he's not moving too fast.

I tried to take both little chicks out to the brooder this morning & the black Ameraucana is doing fine out there, but the wheaten chick I had to bring back in & put back in the hatcher by itself. It still is having a lot of problems standing & walking. I felt so sorry for it out there I just couldn't leave it to be picked on, it would fall over on it's back & then the other chicks would pick it's feet & walk all over it. I put the vet wrap back on it's legs to see if another day would make a difference. I sure hope this poor little thing can make it, it's a cute little thing & it's trying so hard. It's not happy to have the wrap on it's legs, but maybe it will help. Danz, I'm also giving it electroytes & vitamins from a syringe because it has not seemed to want to drink yet & also the Vit E because it has a balance problem too. I hope all of this helps the poor thing. IVY, how long should I give this wrap on it's legs before I give up on it & take it off? This is the first chick I've had hatch with any kind of problem like this.

I Hope your chick starts feeling better! I've read Ivy tell others that the wrap should stay on 2-3 days. Hopefully she will chime in. Yeah, I'm glad we're getting the rain, but it does interfere with building and project working.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Sunshine if you ordered silkie pullets you should count on all but one being a pullet so you should be fine. If you plan to keep at least that many pullets I would add a couple more to your order to account for any losses and missed sexing. Keeping chicks alive isn't always as easy as it seems. If you ordered straight run chicks they should be about 50%.
As far as I know, silkies can be sexed if you find a place that still vent sexes. That is a bit of a rare art any more and not 100% accurate,but at least it improves the chances. Hawkeye knows a lot more about silkies than I do though. If they say they are sexed they should turn out at least 80% correct however. Some places do DNA testing but that makes them very expensive chicks.

Sunshine ---I recently read a while ago that a lot of the hatcheries are not offering sexed silkies anymore (along with some other very small poultry breeds) because the risk of injuring the bird while venting was a big problem. If you've ever seen it, they have to manipulate the vent in such a way that it can cause a serious injury that just isn't a problem with larger chicks. Amber Waves does the DNA sexing, and yeah, it can be pricey. But if that is what you want, then it might be worth it. I don't know if you've considered it, but you can also buy started birds too that will be sexed. They would be right around 3 -4 months old, but they are still a great option.

 

[Hawkeye95]

I have two little chicks who need a new home. My neighborhood will not let me have a rooster, let alone 2. One is a cuckoo Marans and the other is a Salmon Favarolle- both were from Orschelens. If any one knows of anyone who would want them, for something besides dinner.... I would be much happier giving them away for that!
Thanks!!!

Hey, I was a little caught up and sidetracked by my hatch yesterday. I don't remember if i did (but I doubt it!) welcome you to the Kansas thread! Did you find a home for your chicks? Did you know that we have a Facebook swap for Kansas people? Kind of like Craigslist but for one very cool difference--- this is for POULTRY people!!

http://www.facebook.com/groups/275183675880038/

You could list your chicks there. If you post a picture, that usually gets people to pay more attention to your ad and more likely to respond.

 

[rvroman]

I hate to say it, but I'm guessing most people are in your situation and just can't have a rooster. That, or they just don't want another one. If I took roosters, it would be for dinner, that's about the only use I can see for them right now. Except for the one I'm breeding with. I've love to off load my two little white silkie roosters, but I highly doubt I'll get any takers. I'd eat them, but I just don't know if I can handle the black skin, bones and meat. I think it would throw me off. I need regular looking chicken! ha! Not sure what to say about your wet shavings. I'm guessing this is happening because you do not have siding on your coop yet. If you have any shavings that are really wet, I'd probably get them out of there. To resolve it, I guess work on your siding or figure out where the leaks are coming in. Surely not the roof?? The again, if you have it open under the eaves, it very well could be, I guess. If it's just damp, I might let it be for now and check it and see if it dries out fast.

The windows are only screened right now, no covering, thats where the water is coming from, I probably should have seen that one coming, is there a way to prevent rain coming in through the windows without forfeiting the breeze that it brings with it/ventilating abilities?

 

[Hawkeye95]

The windows are only screened right now, no covering, thats where the water is coming from, I probably should have seen that one coming, is there a way to prevent rain coming in through the windows without forfeiting the breeze that it brings with it/ventilating abilities?

Yeah, that's why most people hing their windows at the TOP and then prop them open. It prevents a lot of weather/rain, etc from getting in. Sort of acts like an awning to protect it. I have an opening on the south side of my coop. It's not a built in window like on the other two sides. I simply made a "door" for the opening and hinged it at the top. I keep it propped open all the time, I never shut it. I figure it will help prevent rain from coming right in that way. But it's a solid door, so if I were going to shut it, say like in a blizzard... it would be a solid and easy way to close that large vent/window opening I have on that side.

 

[sunshinegirl620]

Well, called to add to my chick order and found out now, that the min. is 25 and on bantams, its a straight run only. 60% roo - 40% hen is what TSC told me. He was very helpful and gave me the hatchery websites so I could look at the different varieties and do a mix and match if I wanted. I've never worked with that young of chicks before! Would I be smarter to go Amber Waves again? It was $25.00 per bird with a hen guarantee and $75.00 for shipping! It's $20/bird if no guarantee. My DH says it's not worth it, ordering Amber Waves again.

Thanks for putting up with this 'New Chick' and her questions!

Hawkeye, We have just taken out a section of our cedar picket fence and we will just reuse those pickets, so I'm thinking we will come in nice and low on cost. My DH is the carpenter, so he will be helping me out on it! Any measurements will be helpful!

 

[HEChicken]

Hawkeye, can I suggest you post the measurements of the coop on the forum vs. a PM? My only project right now is my big coop but I wouldn't mind saving your dimensions for future reference in case I ever need to build a smaller additional coop.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well, called to add to my chick order and found out now, that the min. is 25 and on bantams, its a straight run only. 60% roo - 40% hen is what TSC told me. He was very helpful and gave me the hatchery websites so I could look at the different varieties and do a mix and match if I wanted. I've never worked with that young of chicks before! Would I be smarter to go Amber Waves again? It was $25.00 per bird with a hen guarantee and $75.00 for shipping! It's $20/bird if no guarantee. My DH says it's not worth it, ordering Amber Waves again.

Thanks for putting up with this 'New Chick' and her questions!

Hawkeye, We have just taken out a section of our cedar picket fence and we will just reuse those pickets, so I'm thinking we will come in nice and low on cost. My DH is the carpenter, so he will be helping me out on it! Any measurements will be helpful!

OKay-- go here: http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Day-Old-Baby-Chicks/Assorted-Silkie-Bantams-p681.aspx They are still offering sexed chicks. You might still get a rooster, but you would mostly have pullets. Yeah, I bet you would come in low on cost if you already have pickets! That was half the price, right there.

Hawkeye, can I suggest you post the measurements of the coop on the forum vs. a PM? My only project right now is my big coop but I wouldn't mind saving your dimensions for future reference in case I ever need to build a smaller additional coop.

Okay, I'll get the measurements. I have them written down, but not all of them.

 

[Trish44]

Well my poor little chick just kept falling over on it's back with the vet wrap on, so I took it off & I put an old kitchen towel in the hatcher for it to walk on & it seems to be able to get a better grip there. We'll see if that helps any. I think if it can just stay on it's feet for awhile it will get stronger & then be able to walk better. What we will go through for our chicks, huh. I did see it peck a little at the food, so maybe it will start eating, I sure hope so, I would hate for it to go through all of this & then starve to death. I make it drink a little water every once in awile, I wish it would drink on it's own too, that would help.

 

[Ivywoods]

Trish-I would leave those hobbles on as long as it needs it. If it is able to stand up with them, but not without them, leave them on. I've usually only needed them for 1-3 days. If you take the hobbles off and it's legs spraddle out, go ahead and put it back on. Generally, if applied right, the chick with hobbles can get around about as well as the ones without it.

We were without power for a while this morning while the electric company fixed the damage caused by the storm the other day. During the time it was off we were at physical thereapy. When we got home the power was on, but DH had lost 4 of his quail chicks when they all piled in a corner for warmth.