Consolidated Kansas

[Henagerie]

Grain Gypsy please post pics of the new babies when you get them!

 

[Prairie Fleur]

We are all geared up and ready for our next brood of chicks, arriving at the post office in time for pick-up tomorrow morning. This is our first time brooding two different ages of broods so close together. Our first brood is exactly 3 weeks older than our new chicks. We set up the brooder in the garage this time, and tonight we added a hardware cloth divider so the 3-week-olds will have one side and the day-olds will have the other. We moved the Brinsea Ecoglow to the day-old side and I put up a heat lamp (WAY UP HIGH) for the 3-week-olds. The 3-week-olds are a spritely bunch, so I doubt they'll need supplemental heat much longer. Just in case, though, they've got it! Here are pictures. This is the entire brooder with the hardware mesh screen divider in. Here are a couple ladies at the watering hole! I stapled hardware mesh to the sides of the brooder so I can raise and lower the waterers as needed. Here's the 3-week-old side of the brooder. I drilled an old board onto the side of the brooder for stability, then clamped the heat lamp onto that. Heat lamps make me very nervous! This is miss half-pint herself. I call her Millie. She's our Mille Fleur D'Uccle. After brooding chicks in the fall/winter, we decided to use this 4-H feeder that holds 7 lbs. of feed for even the tiniest of the chicks. We start it out on the ground, then raise it up using a sturdy base of bricks as they grow. A full feeder is a happy flock of birds! This is the new chick side of the brooder. We can't wait 'til it's full!

I love your set up! Thanks for posting pics! That definitely gives me some more ideas! I'm currently using a kiddie pool as my brooder.

 

[Grain Gypsy]

I love your set up! Thanks for posting pics! That definitely gives me some more ideas! I'm currently using a kiddie pool as my brooder.

Prairie Fleur,

I forgot to mention that my husband designed this brooder to be taken apart and used again, which I am super excited about. Also, the front is hinged so that it folds down so we can have easier access to things. I was a little worried about rodents getting to the chicks since they're in the garage this time, as opposed to the house, but so far, so good.

Our first brooder was very sufficient and made out of free cardboard appliance boxes from Menards, a box knife, and duct tape My husband did put a wood-and-mesh open-able lid on that one so our cats and dog could not get to them. They were fall chicks, and the brooder was in the basement great room on the linoleum kitchenette area. We had to throw the abused cardboard away when we were done. The chicks had pecked holes through it and, well, just done rambunctious chick things in it! LOL!! All of the wood we used for this new brooder was scrap wood we recycled. I'm all about free or cheap (but functional). I did purchase a little bit of hardware cloth to make the other half of the lid (not pictured) for when the girls/guys get the hunch to try to fly the coop!

 

[sharol]

You know the song, "Be careful what you wish for cause you just might get it."?

Now I have 2 hens (the two who raised babies last summer) hanging out in the nest boxes. I suppose if they both raise babies, they can chat during their "confinement." Time to get some eggs for them, I guess.

 

[Trish44]

I would love to be able to garden as well as he and provide most of the food we eat. I've got the grapes covered! It's a start. Hearing about him makes me feel more motivated to get those fruit trees trimmed. The nectarines really need trimmed badly. I think they would produce for us, if the centers were trimmed out properly and I do love fresh nectarines. Maybe tomorrow when it warms up I'll finally take my lawn chair out there and tackle that job. Prune, sit, prune, sit. My neighbors must think I'm really lazy but I'm too restless to just hide in the house so they will have to think what they think. I am able to walk on the treadmill 45 minutes now. As soon as I stop, no matter how slowly I cool down, the dizziness hits and I have to lay back in the recliner to keep from passing out. It's the weirdest thing. My blood pressure just drops for no apparent reason. I'm doing everything they are telling me to do and I do feel a bit better. I think it may just take more time and more weight lost.

My Speckled Sussex/Buff Sussex crossed chick is so cute. I will have to take a pic later and show you. She has a downward tail right now -- do you have any idea if that tail is going to come up or is it destined to droop the rest of her life? I had one White Rock hen whose tail drooped but now it's upright so I have hope it won't stay that way. Have you seen chicks do that?

I would love to be able to garden as well as he and provide most of the food we eat. I've got the grapes covered! It's a start. Hearing about him makes me feel more motivated to get those fruit trees trimmed. The nectarines really need trimmed badly. I think they would produce for us, if the centers were trimmed out properly and I do love fresh nectarines. Maybe tomorrow when it warms up I'll finally take my lawn chair out there and tackle that job. Prune, sit, prune, sit. My neighbors must think I'm really lazy but I'm too restless to just hide in the house so they will have to think what they think. I am able to walk on the treadmill 45 minutes now. As soon as I stop, no matter how slowly I cool down, the dizziness hits and I have to lay back in the recliner to keep from passing out. It's the weirdest thing. My blood pressure just drops for no apparent reason. I'm doing everything they are telling me to do and I do feel a bit better. I think it may just take more time and more weight lost.

My Speckled Sussex/Buff Sussex crossed chick is so cute. I will have to take a pic later and show you. She has a downward tail right now -- do you have any idea if that tail is going to come up or is it destined to droop the rest of her life? I had one White Rock hen whose tail drooped but now it's upright so I have hope it won't stay that way. Have you seen chicks do that?

I wouldn't personally care what the neighbors think if I were you. You just need to take care of yourself & do what you need to do. It would be nice for you to know what you're dealing with though. I'm impressed about your garden areas. You'll have to post some pics so we can see it.

I was wondering if anyone near Hutch has any barred rock chicks, few days old? I am just hoping for one to add to my existing new babies. (30-45 minutes away possibly)

I'm about an hour & a half away & I will have some but not maybe fast enough to be buddies with your others. I'm still waiting on my other pullets to start laying since I only have one right now. The other older one should lay any time, the rooster is breeding her so she must be getting close. I have orders for chicks so they need to get with it.

We went to OKC for the weekend last weekend & my DH ran in the marathon there. He missed qualifying for the Boston marathon by 21 seconds. He was kind of disappointed, but it's something to work on next time I guess. It was nice seeing my son & grandson as well while we were there. I don't get to see them nearly as much as I would like. We took our granddaughter down with us too. It was so cute, my grandson is only 14 months old & he kept giving his sister hugs.

I have a small break for a few days from hatching so that's kind of nice. I came home from OKC to a full tray of chicks & ducks. There were a few that fell down into the bottom of the hatcher & two had fallen into the water & drowned. I hated to see that. I need to put a screen over that water.

 

[MrsProf]

Our classroom hatched chicks went on a little field trip to another Elementary, where my own sons attend, to visit the 3rd graders. We spent about 45 minutes passing them around and answering questions, they had some very good questions about when they will start to crow or lay eggs and what they will look like when they are grown. They loved the feathery feet on the Silkies! As I got ready to leave my own 3rd grader whisked away his favorite and tried to hide him in his desk. Good thing I counted heads!

 

[ashncarson]

Hey, Ashley! I know you!!

I wish we could've coordinated on this! I have 10 day-old chicks coming tomorrow in the mail, and I could've just added some to my order for you if I would've know you were wanting some. Darn. Next spring we will have to chat before we plan our newbies so we can coordinate. I have 3 barred rocks (1 roo and 2 hens) that are 4 weeks old. Our one that was killed in the "Good Friday Dog Massacre" was the sweetest hen we had. She was pretty much a lap chicken. When I was picking roos, I asked the people at My Pet Chicken for advice (because I was contemplating buying a Rhode Island Red roo). When I said I had kids, she suggested the Barred Rock. She said the Rhode Island roos can be protective to a fault (aka sometimes viewing people as a threat to their girls). I was thankful for the advice. We will see how Mr. Rock does as a (hopefully) gentle but firm protector!

I am SO glad to see you here, I might have to come back all the time now so we can talk "chicken" here and not look crazy!

We used to have a barred rock/ cochin mix that was SO nice, the others picked on him so bad, we re-homed him to a nice guy in Wichita! We miss him so much! I can't wait to see new photos of the babies!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Our classroom hatched chicks went on a little field trip to another Elementary, where my own sons attend, to visit the 3rd graders. We spent about 45 minutes passing them around and answering questions, they had some very good questions about when they will start to crow or lay eggs and what they will look like when they are grown. They loved the feathery feet on the Silkies! As I got ready to leave my own 3rd grader whisked away his favorite and tried to hide him in his desk. Good thing I counted heads!

Oh my gosh, that is so cute and so funny!

 

[chicken danz]

Busy busy busy here. I just can't seem to surface. I spent my afternoon cleaning out the brooder in the building and getting it all fresh and clean again. I was going to move a bunch of older chicks but it took a lot more energy and time than I expected. Maybe tomorrow.
I've been working all day with the birds and still have a ton more to do.
I had my first 6 pheasant hatch today of the year. They are still in the incubator. I need to get a brooder bin ready for them. They start flying really early so it has to have a lid. I've got one more egg that hasn't pipped yet. Those things are so tiny you have to make sure they are kept in a brooder with nothing bigger than hardware cloth. And of course they don't do well fending against bigger chicks for awhile. It'd be nice if I could figure out a way to put a separate brooder in the building. I'll have to think on that one.
Mrs. Prof that is an adorable picture.
My broody hen that hatched chicks yesterday gave me a battle trying to move them. And the second hen that kept insisting she was going to sit jumped in the nest box while I moved the mother and some of her babies. So now I have two hens claiming those chicks. There were three that were smashed in there and two eggs left that weren't good. Obviously quit growing for some reason. These hens are both white rocks but most of the babies are black or dark and are missing a tail stump. Looks like my rowdy little Araucana figured out how to aim better than the middle of their backs. So, if the feral cats don't get them we should have some little olive egger pullets in this bunch. I don't hold a lot of hope for them though with these cats unless the Moms get really nasty and keep the cats at bay. Too bad I don't have a pen they could stay in and still be able free range in the grass and stuff. I have an empty pen but it's just chicken wire and the chicks tend to get out of chicken wire when they are little. I may have to see what I can come up with if they are still okay in the morning.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Trish44, here's the garden. There is one more row on the very back that doesn't have it's watering system yet, and the 3 small boxes (you can only see 2) to the left of the larger ones don't either. The odd placement is due to shade from various trees near the garden so no point in planting there.

We take the dirt from between the rows and fill the boxes, then fill the areas where the dirt came from with free mulch that Asplundh delivers to us. I created this garden area with some of the 3 tons of wood chips from them and as it broke down, I used it as deep litter bedding for the chickens. Asplundh has saved me a lot of money in pine shavings.

While the dirt/wood chips are in the coop, I sprinkle Sweet PDZ around to change the chemical makeup of the ammonia from the chicken poops so that it keeps the odor down. It is an organic material that turns out to be simply minerals. So when I cleaned out the coop it went back into the garden to break down further. This area has sat unplanted for 2 years except for small little areas. The areas we dug out were dirt created entirely from wood chips, chicken poop, and Sweet PDZ. I planted some beans last year to till back in and they grew very well. Now I am going to start all over by filling all the areas in between with wood chips so it's cleaner to walk on as I weed the raised beds.



Not a great pic, just from the cell but maybe you can get the idea.