Coop Project: Maken the Plunge & Getting Chickens

[aoxa]

I put my flock in early last night...6:30pm. We had a great rain and lots of much needed moisture. Thank goodness for the rain. The Ducks were in Hog Heaven investigating each and every down-spout, billing in the wet grass and splashing in the puddle that formed under the spout. They were like a couple of little kids playing in mud puddles. Chickens were not as enthused as the Ducks...they mostly huddled in under the deck and watched the Ducks.

My ducks adore the rain. My rooster that thinks he is a duck looks miserable when it rains. He is a duck, and ducks stay outside when it rains. Much to his dismay.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

My ducks adore the rain. My rooster that thinks he is a duck looks miserable when it rains. He is a duck, and ducks stay outside when it rains. Much to his dismay.

Thank you for posting a photo of your poultry...I enjoy seeing what others have in their yards.

Say...are those ducks Kahki Campbells???

 

[aoxa]

Thank you for posting a photo of your poultry...I enjoy seeing what others have in their yards.

Say...are those ducks Kahki Campbells???

Yes they are Two females. Bertha & Martha lol. I can hardly tell them apart. Martha walks funny - so that's about the only difference.

And thanks for looking!~

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Today started off a little rainy, but quickly turned into a great work day for me. I started on the run and got quite a bit done before I ran out of wood and needed to take a break

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I added about 5 struts to the ramp into the coop and tested it on th ducks. It works very well. They used to sort of ski out of the coop in the morning, now they have a lot more control. If you compare the above photo with this previous photo you can see the struts that have been added.



There is 5 & 1/2 inches between the struts. That seems to be a good distance for both chickens and ducks.

The fencing on the run is 1 x 2 welded wire...

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I've wanted to get a few photos of the chickens and the ducks when I feed them a treat...I got some this morning just before I started work on the run.

I feed my pullets and my ducks Bird Seed as a treat. The Bird Seed has many of the same grains that are used in the manufacture of commercial feeds, but with the Bird Seed being a whole grain the nutrional value of the feed does not degrade over time, as long as it is stored properly. It does not have the added vitamins and minerals of a complete ration, so it is intended as a treat. It does contain grit, so that is another slight benifit. By hand feeding the birds at least once a day, it allows me to check each and every bird both visually and physically. I do a quick visual of each bird in turn, and I can see if they are behaving normally (well...as normal as a chicken can behave). This is a quick way to head off any ailments or pickup on injuries that may have befallen a pullet during their daily activitirs. I also check their crop and their breast to see how they are fleshing out as they mature. I have one little pullet that is just way behind the others. She is also very skiddish and tries to hide and go under the other birds in an attempt to hide herself fro me when I try to check her growth.

The other day I picked this little pullet up and took her up to the deck with me. She sat in my lap while I drank an iced tea and watched the flock glide around the backyard in their foraging activities. It took her awhile to calm down and relax, but she finally settled in and took about a 10 minute nap in my lap before she was again ready to hit the yard. She's a nice little bird...but very skiddish. With my luck, she'll probably turn out to be one of my best layers...DANG.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

The chickens are rather dainty and peck and select what they want from the grains that I hand feed them.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I have a few in the flock that really like sunflower seeds and will actively pick out all the sunflower seeds before they try anything esle.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Then there are the ducks...this pair is just rude, crude and socially unacceptable.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

When the ducks get to going...seeds are just flying every which way...there's seed on th chickens, on the ducks, in the air. Zero table manners.




And you get two ducks in there going at the handful of seed and they just sort of loose track of what they are doing and start gobbling fingers...sometimes they grab one of the chickens...

Ducks are just pigs with wings.