Consolidated Kansas

[Hawkeye95]

HEChicken, that would be about 9 eggs a day for me (just from them)--- uh oh. I think I might be in trouble! LOL I'm really starting to re-think having this many hens. Hopefully my inlaws will take the eggs and I can give them to my neighbor, too. I still get silkie eggs and a turkey egg every day, too.

ChickMama-- I have the front finished now, and I didn't post another picture. I opened the garage now and it's raining pretty good. When it stops, I'll go out and take a pic of the front. The front won't be open. BUT, the sides are going to stay open and that will be venting. However, I'm going to build a door/flap (for the sides) so that in winter you can shut it if it's just too cold. It may make more sense when I get the picture uploaded later (after the rain stops for a bit).

My birds are about 5 months old... isn't that early for laying eggs? Crazy birds!

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken, that would be about 9 eggs a day for me (just from them)--- uh oh. I think I might be in trouble! LOL I'm really starting to re-think having this many hens.

My birds are about 5 months old... isn't that early for laying eggs? Crazy birds!

I do a constant see-saw on bird numbers. This time of year, when they all get to laying and the days are getting longer, I get inundated with eggs, and find myself constantly looking for an outlet for them. And then Fall comes, and laying slackens off, chickens molt and so on, and some days I get only 1-2 eggs. About that time I start thinking "I need more chickens", which works out very well for the farm stores because when chick days start, I succumb every time. Now I have chicks that have just moved outside, and eggs in the incubator - and I'm collecting about a dozen eggs a day which is WAY more than my family can eat. So when DH asks "WHY are we hatching more?" I don't actually have a good answer for him LOL.

5 months is about the age mine usually start.

 

[chicken danz]

David the house looks great. I love the gambrel roof. I guess it helps to plan ahead because my progress is always hampered by my planning as I work.
Hawkeye. Congrats! You are in the egg business now. Those eggs will get larger as time goes on. Sometimes off and on they'll pop out one the size of a robin egg.
Last year I saved several of those tiny robin sized eggs you get now and then. They don't form with a yolk inside by the way. They eventually just dry up inside without rotting. My Mom put those in a little craft type nest and used it for a spring decoration. It was adorable. Just food for thought for something you guys can do with those. I still get them from time to time but it seems pullets lay them more often.
I'm going to a meeting in a few hours to talk to the administrator of the rest home with my siblings. I've made up my mind that things have got to change for my Mom. My siblings may not see it that way. thak sall for the sentiments and suggestions. My dad can get to the rest home but he is in very poor health himself and can only last about an hour before he gets too tired. He stayed a couple hours the other day and I had to go get his car and help him walk to it even with his cane. He normally doesn't get out but about once a week. This is exhausting to him.
I swear all this stress is killing my brain. I can't think any more.

 

[Mandilynn]

Hi everyone, I haven't been posting, but have been reading and trying to keep up. The chicks spent their first night outside last night, I know, great timing with the weather right? I got up several times through the night checking for leaks/drafts/other issues. My husband and father-in-law are pretty convinced everyone in town is out to steal our chicks so the coop was designed with multiple locks to get through to actually get to the chickens. (because wire and 2x4's are absolutely impenetrable to chicken thieves) At the time I figured all the locks sure won't hurt and we do have some questionable neighbors. Well, at 4am in the dark and rain... they seemed less and less sensible with each trip. Anyhow, the good news is, the coop is sound and with a 100W bulb the temp stayed in the upper to mid 70's all night. The chicks seem much happier out there too, though a little nervous.

I'm way too far behind to even attempt to give all the comments I would like to to everyone, but I am very interested in this automatic watering some of you speak of. This darn watering jug thing I got at TSC is quickly becoming the bane of my day. I asked about chicken nipples at TSC (almost killing my husband with embarrassment as I walked up to a sales girl and asked for chicken nipples) but they did not have much information other than they do not carry them. I've never heard of the cups, which sounds better to me in theory. Would it be hard for the chickens to adjust to a different water delivery system?

 

[JosieChick]

Howdy all!!

I don't know how you folks keep up with this thread!! 74 posts since last night!! Anyway, welcome to new folks and cute new baby chicks. Hope everyone is well and stays dry today! I just moved my 5 week old brood of chicks outside so now I am contending with their lack of experience in rain.

I am sure I will be out there 50 times in the next couple hours to make sure they know how to get in under their shelter!

 

[tntblake]

OH!!  I forgot to say last night, I got side tracked!  I got my [COLOR=FF0000]FIRST[/COLOR] egg from my girls out in the big coop!!!!  It's a brown egg, so it either had to come from the Rocks or the Wyandottes.  It was on the smaller side--- almost the size of my silkie eggs!  
I guess it's my first "pullet egg"!!  e   They are finally earning their keep!  

Yay! I told you they were getting ready to lay! I bet it was a rock.

 

[tntblake]

Howdy all!!

I don't know how you folks keep up with this thread!! 74 posts since last night!! Anyway, welcome to new folks and cute new baby chicks. Hope everyone is well and stays dry today! I just moved my 5 week old brood of chicks outside so now I am contending with their lack of experience in rain.

I am sure I will be out there 50 times in the next couple hours to make sure they know how to get in under their shelter!

They will figure it out pretty quick but even though they know how to get out of the rain doesn't mean they will do it. My birds used to always be out in the weather. The only time they stayed in was in the really deep snow. If it was raining, hot, cold, or only an inch or 2 of snow then they were out there.

We do talk alot, don't we? The secret is getting on here a few times a day that way you don't have to read a bunch at one time!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Danz, cute!! If I get any of those tiny eggs, I'll keep them. Good luck at your meeting and I hope everyone can agree on something.

MandiLynn, Hilarious that there might be chicken thieves a foot! hehe! It's doubtful anyone is going to want to snag chickens from you... unless they are just up to no good and wanting to do something stupid. Do you have a motion detector flood light? That might solve a lot of problems if you install one that will shine directly on the coop and turn on if anything moves back there. Anyway, most people I've come across have zero interest in my chickens and certainly don't want to hold them or get close to them. I'm guessing your neighbors feel the same way. If they didn't, they'd have their own. As for the watering system-- the cups would be easier to switch to than the nipples. But if you get one chicken figuring out how the nipples work, they should all get it. Anyway, there are a LOT of threads on here about exactly that. I've read them and that seems to be the consensus. Now-- where to buy them? No one locally has them, so don't bother. I've seen them on eBay, and on a couple of poultry retail sites.

http://www.qcsupply.com/chicken-waterers-drinkers?gclid=COO0l7uu864CFchdTAod0WoeFw (nipples)

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/poultry_cup_waterer.html (this is the cup waterers that people talk about)

JosieChick-- good luck with having your babies out in the rain. I might have picked another day LOL I had my babies in a horse stall until they were about 9 weeks old, I was a little over protective of them.

 

[Hawkeye95]

WOW-- I came back an hour later and my post never went thru! Our internet is acing up-- it seems nothing on here works for me anymore.

tntblake, I bet it was a BR too! I heard one of them do the egg song and I looked and didn't see anything. Then I heard it again later on-- and there was the egg.

OKay, I've been cleaning house and working my bootie off this morning. The kids have been a MESS because they are trapped inside again. My youngest just tore off the front of one of my drawers in my kitchen!!! So far, my cabinets have been in perfect condition! I'm SO upset!!!! I put her in her room because I was seeing red. Furious, furious. I'm always telling her not to climb on my cabinets. Now I'm going to have to hunt down another drawer. I don't know where we got these cabinets. I may have to call our builder and find out. They are pretty standard. Perhaps I can just take the front to Lowes and order a new drawer. ARGH!!!

 

[Trish44]

Hawkeye, congrats on the egg! That's about the right age for laying, some breeds lay earlier, some later.

Danz, you stick to your guns, don't let people discourage you by saying nasty things. I agree with the statement that people say things they wouldn't ordinarily when they're under stress. I have always gotten flack for my chickens, any animals I raised, or whatever. My family are city slickers, so they never understood why I wanted to raise birds or animals. I just never cared whether they approved or not. You have to do what you feel is right for you & your parents regardless of what anyone else says.Good luck with your meeting.

WichitaKidd, Wow, great job so far on the coop! You really did a lot of work for a weekend. Keep us posted on how it's going, we always like to see building projects around here. I hope to get to start on mine soon.

Well we had a good afternoon & evening yesterday with our granddaughter. We took her to the park to help walk the little dogs & she enjoyed that. She just loves our little Bella & always wants to take her home with her. She is a Mal-Shi, half Maltese & half Shih Tzu. She looks more like a Maltese in size & coloring except she has the Shih Tzu ears & just a little bit of color on her ears & head. It's a cute mix of the two really. She is spoiled rotten of course, she & the Yorkie, Satin. We got her bike out & aired up the tires & adjusted the seat that I had gotten her last year but she had to grow into it a little. She now is tall enough to ride it & she talked grandpa into running along side her down the road. She can talk him into anything! Then she talked us into letting her take the bike home & bring the one she has there back with us to fix it. She knows how to manipulate us doesn't she! Oh well, they're only young for a little while, we have to enjoy it while we can because they grow so fast. I can't even believe she's 7 already, how time flies.

It's been raining all morning here, it started during the night & it looks like it will rain all day & maybe tomorrow too. I've been waiting for a break to go out & take care of the animals, but it hasn't come. I may end up going out & getting soaking wet. The chickens will be fine in the run & coop, they won't be happy, but they will live. The pups on the other hand won't be happy if they have to stay in all day.