Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I'm talking about doing the same HEChicken. I'm planning to sell all my egg layers soon and just put some good pure bred pullets in for layers.I figure in the long run it will be a wise decision money wise. I need to incorporate a few older birds in the hen house area but it's been so muddy and I really haven't had time. This rain has me so far behind on getting things done. I was keeping up with weeding both gardens before all this rain but now they both look like weed patches. I think it would be easier to find a day with no rain and no wind and spray roundup than try to weed all this. I also need to get some tomatoes staked before they break off.
I lost my pet one legged chicken today and cried like a baby. She was such a talkative girl. Even DH's eyes started to water a little. One Wing was running through the house yelling for her and pacing back and forth where Betty always slept. Those two were best of buds. They've been together for months. I blame the rain. They usually went outside together on warm dry days and ran around the yard together. Because of the rain I couldn't put them out there. I think she just didn't get enough excercise and went into pneumonia. It took her really quick. I still wonder why I care so much for certain birds when I know they have a short life span.

 

[4BoyMama]

Hello fellow Kansans,
We are new to chickens and so excited. Our girls are only a week old but doing well, I have 2 more coming tomorrow for a total of 8. We are just NW of Wichita in Colwich. We live in a small neighborhood on 5 acres, UNFENCED of course. I know my chickees will need to stay in the brooder until about 8 weeks and then to the coop/run. I've read to keep them in there for a week so that they will know where home is. I need some direction for free-ranging though. I really want to be able to let them out of the run for a good chunk of the day but I want them to be safe too, then then of course to the coop at dusk. Any suggestions how to "work-up" to this? I thought we would start with just letting them out when I'm out gardening and such. We have some tree over but not a lot. We also have neighbor dogs that are not fenced in.... I have my paint ball gun ready just in case! j/k
Any helpful suggestions?

Also, can I leave the coop windows open at night during the warm weather? they have the wire mesh over the openings. Or is that unsafe, poss predators get in easier?
Thanks!

 

[chicken danz]

Hello fellow Kansans,
We are new to chickens and so excited. Our girls are only a week old but doing well, I have 2 more coming tomorrow for a total of 8. We are just NW of Wichita in Colwich. We live in a small neighborhood on 5 acres, UNFENCED of course. I know my chickees will need to stay in the brooder until about 8 weeks and then to the coop/run. I've read to keep them in there for a week so that they will know where home is. I need some direction for free-ranging though. I really want to be able to let them out of the run for a good chunk of the day but I want them to be safe too, then then of course to the coop at dusk. Any suggestions how to "work-up" to this? I thought we would start with just letting them out when I'm out gardening and such. We have some tree over but not a lot. We also have neighbor dogs that are not fenced in.... I have my paint ball gun ready just in case! j/k
Any helpful suggestions?

Also, can I leave the coop windows open at night during the warm weather? they have the wire mesh over the openings. Or is that unsafe, poss predators get in easier?
Thanks!

Welcome to the forum. We love having new people and seeing more people get into chickens. Feel free to ask anything you want. Sometimes you will get conflicting answers but that is the beauty of it. We are all friends here and obviously different things work for different people.
I'd be afraid to let your chickens out free ranging unless you have time to sit and watch and monitor them. The neighbor dogs could be a major problem. If I were you I would start by letting them out in late afternoon and watching them until they go to bed. They will most likely get spooked and run back to their coop several times. Of course you want them to know the coop is home so you need to get them used to being in there for a couple of weeks before free ranging. Not sure what you have set up for a brooder but you might want to move them to the coop a little earlier if you have access to electricity and can put some supplemental heat in there for nights and cool days for a while.

Absolutely leave the windows on the coop open at night. Unless they are down close to the ground you should be golden. They really need that ventilation. I have a hardware cloth door on my brooder house and any day it's not cold it is open to let air in. I also have a couple windows I open and close to regulate air flow. Even if I am still using heat on the babies if they won't get chilled I open things up.
There's always a danger of predators but most coops are safe from them. Just keep an eye on how things are going and you'll figure out what is safe or not safe by watching.

@Dani4Hedgies , By the way I got a coupon notice from Nasco today that they have free shipping as a special so it would be a great time to order a Sweeter heater.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Danz great thanks

 

[turboscooby07]

finished up the wall framework today. And set the subfloor. I havent done any framing since I was in the air force about ten years ago but I am picking it back up and content with whats done so far. And I am also out of 2x4s so back to cutting up some more huge pallets.
I am considering some man made deck planks for the floor, they go together like hardwood flooring. Any suggestions? Something that wont be destroyed by life inside the coop.

 

[HEChicken]

Hello fellow Kansans,
We are new to chickens and so excited. Our girls are only a week old but doing well, I have 2 more coming tomorrow for a total of 8. We are just NW of Wichita in Colwich. We live in a small neighborhood on 5 acres, UNFENCED of course. I know my chickees will need to stay in the brooder until about 8 weeks and then to the coop/run. I've read to keep them in there for a week so that they will know where home is. I need some direction for free-ranging though. I really want to be able to let them out of the run for a good chunk of the day but I want them to be safe too, then then of course to the coop at dusk. Any suggestions how to "work-up" to this? I thought we would start with just letting them out when I'm out gardening and such. We have some tree over but not a lot. We also have neighbor dogs that are not fenced in.... I have my paint ball gun ready just in case! j/k
Any helpful suggestions?

Also, can I leave the coop windows open at night during the warm weather? they have the wire mesh over the openings. Or is that unsafe, poss predators get in easier?
Thanks!

Welcome! Unfortunately, as soon as you start to free-range chickens, you'll find out you have a bunch of predators nearby that you didn't even know were there. I would say the odds of them being safe for long without supervision are pretty low. The neighbor's dog may or may not be an issue. I have 5 dogs, 4 of whom are poultry safe and the fifth is only 7 months old and getting there. My neighbor has 2 dogs who are poultry safe (we introduced her dogs to my birds when they were puppies and worked with them until we trusted them). So poultry safe dogs are possible - but if your neighbor's dog has not been introduced, it could be an issue in addition to wild predators.

You have other options that would still allow some free-range. One is to put them in a chicken tractor that will keep them safe but will allow you to move them to a new area of forage every day. Another is to get livestock guardian dogs that will keep predators off your property (they come with a whole other set of issues if your property isn't fenced though, so fencing may be something you want to consider sooner rather than later).

Regarding your coop and brooder. I personally feel that chicks are hardier if they are weaned off heat when they are younger, so I turn off the heat when they are about 2 ½ weeks old and then over the course of the next week, introduce them to being outdoors by day but inside with no heat at night. At 3 ½ weeks, they go outside full time. I do that even in March/April so at this time of year, you really shouldn't need heat for long and you won't want chicks in a brooder for 8 weeks - the mess and stink will be horrendous

I put hardware cloth over my coop windows, using fender washers to secure it. I leave them open to some degree year round - as Danz mentioned, ventilation is super important. Chickens have a layer of down that insulates and keeps them warm - they are far more cold hardy than heat hardy. I find that fresh air, as long as it isn't a draft blowing directly on them, keeps them healthier than closing them into a coop, thinking it will keep them warmer. My windows are storm windows so I can adjust whether they are fully open or partway closed. If it is blowing snow, I close them almost all the way, but the rest of the time they are partway open and from about March to December the glass portion of the window is removed altogether.

 

[JiltdRoyalty]

Need some opinions as to good lgd breeds. Thanks, Chad

 

[Ralph Moyer]

After the all night rain we had here, Tuesday morning, I noticed one of my turkey hens, setting in the middle of one of my larger chicken lots. My turkeys usually stay, in another lot,, on the opposite side of the place. She stood up when I approached her, and she had 13 baby pullets under her. I have no idea where here nest was, but I had been missing a hen for over a month. How she kept them dry and hatched them, without being in a shelter, is amazing. One of my other turkey hens hatched out 17 two weeks ago, but she had a nest in a shed. When she left her nest I found nine Marian hen eggs. One of my Marian hens had been laying her eggs near her, but I thought I had been gathering them. She must have swiped them, before I knew the hen was laying there. The eggs were cold, but I gathered them in an egg carton, and put them in an incubator without a turner. Seven of the nine eggs hatched, but only one or two at a time. I was surprised that any would. They hatched out in the carton. They were in the incubator for over a week, before the first chick hatched. I really forgot about them, until I hear the first one peeping. I had some quail that were in a brooder, so I just added the chicks as they hatched, and they are getting along fine.

 

[chicken danz]

Danz great thanks

If they don't list the coupon code on the site let me know and I'll give it to you.

finished up the wall framework today. And set the subfloor. I havent done any framing since I was in the air force about ten years ago but I am picking it back up and content with whats done so far. And I am also out of 2x4s so back to cutting up some more huge pallets.
I am considering some man made deck planks for the floor, they go together like hardwood flooring. Any suggestions? Something that wont be destroyed by life inside the coop.

Okay here' some facts about the deck planks. I use cut deck planks to hold waterers. They are great for that and they keep the surface below dry. HOWEVER, they have those little grooves all the way through them that give great traction. That's the good part. But those groves also let all the damp feed and water and poop channel in there and get packed. I have to use a scrub brush to get it out of there or it will mold. I think for a floor, it would be a great alternative other than being able to keep those cracks clean. I don't know if they make one without the wood look surface grooves or not. I just don't see how you could keep it from being a nasty mess. I made the same error when I had my big building built. I put in concrete floors. I thought the brush finish was wise because it would give the birds traction. Wrong wrong wrong. I now have to resurface the entire brooder area because the feed and poop and their messy drinking ends up packing in every one of those tiny places. It's okay for the bigger birds cause they aren't quite as messy, but I was having mold build up even with gobs of shavings and a dry bedding treatment. Might want to consider something different. I've tried about everything. Vinyl flooring seems to hold too much moisture and not dry out well. I've found ordinary plywood, (Not OSB) painted with a good satin exterior deck paint with a primer on it works the best. It seals the wood and dries easily. You could also use a water seal like Thomson's but you'd have to redo it at least once a year. Just my opinion after trying many options.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

If they don't list the coupon code on the site let me know and I'll give it to you

Thanks Danz I will take a look today and see thanks