Consolidated Kansas

[sunflowerparrot]

HEChicken, Yeah, they have a color pallet of those roofing materials, but you have to order a minimum of 10 sheets, which we may not end up using all of, but I can always use them on top of rabbit hutches, I have some I got free from a friend that were used that I have on several hutches for coverings over the nest box part, it works great. What I like about it is it's flexible & not really heavy. It should last for a very long time. I'm also ordering two skylights that are special order to go in the roof to let in more light since it is a shady spot there, I will just offset them to give more light in more places. Those are more expensive than the regular roofing, so I can't really afford too many of them. Oh I don't think your coop looks like a Christmas coop at all, it looks nice. I just happen to have the option to do mine in earth colors, so that's what I'm going to do. I think you did a great job on your coop.

The new pullets seem to be doing pretty well so far, one is more bold than the other & she came out right away & started picking around in the yard with the others when I let them out, the other one is more shy & she kind of hid behind the little guinea pen & in the coop for awhile. Hopefully she will get more comfortable & come out & learn to fit in with the others too. It's funny how different they can be with different personalities just like people. Hopefully these two will start laying soon & my other young ones too. I just think quite a few of my hens from last year must be going into molt or have been in molt. I have noticed quite a few are finally growing in feathers on their backs that got picked out when I had Big Red & there were too many roosters. Maybe that's why they have been eating like starved birds because they're growing feathers. They have just been putting down some serious feed lately, I hope they level off on that or I won't be able to afford to feed them all. My two little pullets in the garage that have been sick are slowly getting better, I had already taken the little roo back outside, but the other two are improving slowly. The Swedish Flower Hen pullet is almost well, but the Cream Legbar pullet is taking longer. They just may be more prone to things here since they haven't been in this country long. I'm still treating the ones out in the grow-out pen too. There are still a few that need treatment yet, but they're all eating like pigs & running around, so I think they're doing well. I hope to be able to move the 3 Welsummer pullets out of there soon. I just want them to be closer to the size of my other pullets before I move them or they will get picked on.

Well my DH just left for work early, so I need to get out now & go work on my turkey pen, I want to take the top off & try to redo it so the water doesn't stand in the tarp. Wish me luck that I can get it done by myself!

Hollar if you need help - I can run over and help.

 

[mommahen10]

Hawkeye, I was surprised at the calf owner's response too. I shouldn't have been though. Last year he had a cow stuck in the pond, he has one that adjoins with ours so the kids spotted it. We went and told him and had about an hour before dark. He was said, oh... I'll get down there in a little bit. He got there just before dark and was shining his truck lights and my boys went to help and were in the water to rope it for him. They finally got it out after a long struggle and the cow died a couple of days later. It's like he has so many he doesn't take really good care of any of them. He's got a whatever kind of attitude. I still don't know the outcome of the calf, but what I didn't say earlier was that he had weird poop and it was streaked with blood. I'm sure he wasn't well. My little guy wasn't holding the rooster, the kids always want to hold the rooster or catch the rooster but I won't let them unless it's official business. I don't want to harass him, he's too nice to ruin. The one he was holding may be a rooster but I wouldn't know because I just can't tell until it's obvious. That chicken isn't dead, it's one of our babies a few months old. Some of them are so super tame, they just lay there like that. It's funny, but I hope they have enough sense to be safe, and I'm not so sure that they do.

Last night, I basically hatched 2 chicks myself. I felt so bad doing it, I'm scared the entire time but when I saw them I felt reassurred. They were barely damp, no blood, one pooped a little inside his shell, and within just a few minutes they were both up and vigorously moving around. I'm having a terrible time with this hatch, they're just not hatching. The two last night only had a little hole in their shell, they never zipped and they were shrink wrapped. I want to buy something to monitor the humidity better. They're all hatching earlier than I would expect and that has been a trend around here. Today, I went ahead and took a little chunk out of the air end of the eggs that had dates of already hatched chicks. Enough so I could peek in. What I found were some almost completely developed chicks, some looked like they were completely developed and there were dead and dried out looking inside. I found one that was still alive and no blood but he just couldn't move at all. I'm working on getting him out a little at a time, I'm scared to help, scared to not hel Something went terrribly wrong this time, terribly wrong.

checoukan~ Wow! That's quite impressive how much you know. Well, he was given to us maybe 2 years ago, I don't even remember. He's so nice, he has huge spurs and I don't think he's ever used them. We don't have any hens like him.

Thanks Trish, the chicks pictured in a row are babies of my rooster and various hens. I should take pics of those too, we have all kinds of different ones. Some look weird because they are mainly black with some red and those green feathers too. I'm going to have to look up all of this stuff about the neck feather and saddle feathers, I just don't know what I'm doing. It didn't matter until we started hatching so many.

Thanks for your help everyone, and for putting up with me while I figure out this stuff.

 

[checoukan]

I don't want anyone to think I am only having a one sided conversation with hawkeye, in ways I am, but the information is for everyone. She has asked questions, I will answer those questions. if you have a question, ask it, and I will answer your too, if I can.

Hechicken,~~~ where are you loacated, that will determine if I can come or not I drive school bus, and well, day events for the weekdays are out for me.

Hawkeye~~~ ABA bands are a hard plastic. They have no give what so ever to them. I don't think you could get the band on the young birds now, Anouther problem is the fifth toe, you have got to have enough room to slide the band on. So, kinda out for this year, unless you have some babies you can place them on.

Now, I also use colored spiral bands. I use several colors, each color has its own meaning to me. I can use spirals, to identify babies when they hatch, and then when they get big enough for the ABA band to stay on, I remove the spiral, and just write the number down for the chick.
I don't like the zip ties as much, you have to cut them off, and then they are unusable. Spirals you reuse over and over.

 

[checoukan]

mommahen10 Lots of reading, asking questions, and talking to people. Sounds like you are having a sticky hatch, what is you humidity running? What r u using to incubate with? If it is a foam one, everytime you open it up you lose humidity and that will sure cause you grief.

 

[MarcAustin]

For those of you posting about calves. Now that I've mastered chickens (YEAH RIGHT) I'm starting bottle calves. I wanted to do goats but everyone seems to hate goats except me. Anywho - I have all the starter equipment - hutch, calf halter, milk replacement, tubing, meds. So if you find an orphan or hear of someone giving one up, pls PM me and I'll go get it.

 

[cubbysan]

I can't believe how expensive it is to build a coop! $1700 later, and we're almost done! My boyfriend did an amazing job on this thing.. Just need nest boxes and the hen door cut out... oh, and a handle on the outside to make it easier to pull open the door.

Oh, don't say that! I am hoping to keep mine under $1000. I do know when my husband built my duck house, it did add up really fast with all the extra trips we had to make to Lowes.

 

[HEChicken]

Oh, don't say that! I am hoping to keep mine under $1000. I do know when my husband built my duck house, it did add up really fast with all the extra trips we had to make to Lowes.

Yeah, the expenses really do add up. If you can get used supplies, that helps a lot but used can be a lot of work too, to haul them and figure out how they will work for your set up, strip or remove nails or screws etc so its a double edged sword.

I was given 4 internal doors from a neighbor who was remodeling the house (she had them out at the curb for trash pick up so I stopped to ask if I could have them and she was pleased to have them used). They became the two external doors to my coop (I have a people door on either end) and the dividing door between the two halves of the coop. The fourth was cut in half and became a "chunnel" to protect my auto door. I was also given some metal roofing material at our barn, that was leftover from a roofing project. It was enough to do the whole roof. And I was lucky to find some metal siding in our pole barn, left over from the previous resident. I got the windows at ReStore. So in the end all I had to buy new was the lumber, OSB and hardware. Plus the auto door, which was the single biggest expense. I was able to make the nest boxes and roosts out of scrap lumber I already had lying around (some I moved from the old house and some was left by the previous resident). Another big expense was the wire to surround my chicken yard. The previous resident left the t-posts but I bought 5' high welded wire which is quite a bit more expensive than the more common 4' stuff but I felt it would contain them better. Anyway, even with all the stuff I was able to get for free or cheap, my coop came out at $1100 for a 10x14 coop.

MarcAustin, I may be right with ya on the calf. DH and I have tossed around several idea, one being goats or sheep and the other being raising a couple of beef steers. I like goats but the problem with them is they are escape artists so I am leaning more towards either sheep or calves. Let us know how you get on with them.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

For those of you posting about calves. Now that I've mastered chickens (YEAH RIGHT) I'm starting bottle calves. I wanted to do goats but everyone seems to hate goats except me. Anywho - I have all the starter equipment - hutch, calf halter, milk replacement, tubing, meds. So if you find an orphan or hear of someone giving one up, pls PM me and I'll go get it.

My friend in Oxford does bottle calves every year... I think they did 50 this year and will double next year. I helped her feed them one night and they are so cute! She has quite the set up for them at her place.. individual little pens with bottle holders and they even built a milk house this year. (with AC!)

 

[sunflowerparrot]

Oh, don't say that! I am hoping to keep mine under $1000. I do know when my husband built my duck house, it did add up really fast with all the extra trips we had to make to Lowes.

Lowes has a lot of my money in their register! My biggest expense was the side panels - they were about $40 each - then the paint was ridiculous! Those panels really soaked up the paint and I bought the good Glidden with primer paint too.. We did a gable roof and put 4 vents in the gables.. a white shingled roof that has these roof vents running down the entire length (http://www.lowes.com/pd_17210-18591-STMPOFSBRV_0__?productId=3365666&Ntt=roof+vent) I might still put 2 more vents in the gable walls should I feel more ventilation is needed. The only supplies given to me were 2 old mobile home windows that crank out (had to purchase the cranks for it though). The coop is 8x12 and was built on 3 horizontal risers to keep it off the ground.

I was going to have electricity hooked up to the entire building, but then we decided to go ahead and put up a solar system. That should be done within a week or two. I am also have a large tree planted in front of the coop on the west side to help with the summer sun beating down on it all day. (Am putting a few trees in front of my house too for the same reason and one in front of my grow-out coop too) I live on 27 acres out in the middle of a field and there aren't any trees to help protect from the west sun.

I am going to be taking an old dog house and working on that in the next few weeks to add some hardware cloth underneath and then build a run that will come out of it for the ducks... am also going to put it down in the fenced lagoon and put up some wind breaks on the north and east side. I love projects

 

[mommahen10]

Thanks checoukan. It is just a foam one and there is nothing to measure the humidity. Maybe I did better in the heat of the summer too because the canner was going constantly putting lots of humidity in the house. I'm so sad, I didn't have to look inside the eggs, yet I'm sure I saved one chick by looking, I don't want to see more dead ones. My husband went to Orcheln's and brought home 4 buff orphington chicks to cheer me up. They're so sweet, a little bigger than the ones that we hatched, but they are probably a little older. The ones we hatched seem agressive compared to them. They're pecking at the new comers but I think they'll get used to each other. In a few more days I can clean up the incubator and put it away if I want, I was thinking I would quit. But, knowing me, this will just make me want to try again. It's so hard when they die, it's hard when any animals die but the babies are the hardest.