First time chicken owner!

Date sort Score sort
soot87

soot87

In the Brooder
6 Years
Feb 13, 2013
52
0
41
Hi my name is Sutton and I'm knew to ownig chickens. I grew up with horses dogs, rabbits and other pets in the country but we never had chickens. We had been talking about it for a while and then impulse bought 3 at TSC the other day. We converted a dog house into a coup and used chicken wire to make a run. Pretty good sized run. We're in MO so it's still a little cold but not too bad. We got two laying 1 yr old black austrolorps and brown leghorn that is two and I guess moulting and not laying at the moment. We've gotten 5 eggs since Saturday from the blacks and for the first day got 2. The leghorn is being more temperamental. I know they're flighty but she doesn't seem to want to get out of the coup much and sh e was fine first few days. Not sure if she's sick or just stressed. She is eating. I guess she's in her molt right now so maybe she's just conserving energy. Not sure I'm going find another spot and post a whole thread about this but if you have any advice let know. Thanks!
 
Hello and welcome from Ohio....so glad you joined BYC. Hope your leghorn gets to feeling better. I know mine just came out of molt and they didn't want to move around much either.
 
Ok that's good. Just never had birds before so this was kind of strange. Hopefully my two bird dogs get used to them soon......
 
Greetings from Kansas, soot87, and
welcome-byc.gif
! Great to have you here! My only advice is about the chicken wire. While great at keeping chickens confined, a determined raccoon or dog can make short work of it. Lot of stories as well on BYC how a raccoon would snare a chicken from the other side of the CW and eat it right through the wire! Might want to invest in a little hardware cloth. It's the real deal when it come to protection. Good luck and have fun with your flock!
 
soot87 said:
Hi my name is Sutton and I'm knew to ownig chickens. I grew up with horses dogs, rabbits and other pets in the country but we never had chickens. We had been talking about it for a while and then impulse bought 3 at TSC the other day. We converted a dog house into a coup and used chicken wire to make a run. Pretty good sized run. We're in MO so it's still a little cold but not too bad. We got two laying 1 yr old black austrolorps and brown leghorn that is two and I guess moulting and not laying at the moment. We've gotten 5 eggs since Saturday from the blacks and for the first day got 2. The leghorn is being more temperamental. I know they're flighty but she doesn't seem to want to get out of the coup much and sh e was fine first few days. Not sure if she's sick or just stressed. She is eating. I guess she's in her molt right now so maybe she's just conserving energy. Not sure I'm going find another spot and post a whole thread about this but if you have any advice let know. Thanks!
Click to expand...
welcome-byc.gif
Welcome! You're officially a chicken nerd! I agree with what was said earlier about the chicken wire, it really is not very strong when it comes down to it and you need to be aware of what predators you have there. Old dog houses are nice, but they probably don't have nest boxes or roosts, both of which are needed for chickens. Hardware cloth is better, but if you can and you plan on owning chcikens for a while, try to get your hands on some chainlink frames. Being able to walk into the run made my life (and cleaning) SOOOOOO much easier. Of course if you get some tall lumber, you can make your own frames by stretching hardware cloth between them, but I would definately go stronger if you can, and don't forget the roof!

As far as your Leg being fussy, that sounds fairly normal. I had an Americauna moult her first year this past fall and here is what I observed to be "normal" during her molt:
She went to bed early, and even would go into the coop during the day to take naps
She did NOT want to be held (which was unusual because she is generally VERY friendly)
She would eat and drink fairly normally, I tried to offer them higher protein and vitamin treats during that time especially with winter coming on it was good for all of them
She seemed especially flighty and irritable with her sisters and me
She ceased to lay
She preened ALOT

Things that would not be normal:
If she were to stop eating or drinking
Her stool would be abnormal (runny, bloody, discolored)
She doesn't engage in any normal chicken behavior like scratching or preening

Make sure you have checked your birds for any external parasites like mites or lice just to make sure. Good luck with your girls!
 
Thanks everyone. I'm feeling a lot more confident that the chicken isn't sick. The coup is pretty good actually. We're making some changes to it to accommodate chickens. I'm adding 3 nest boxes and perch this weekend and a big door in the back so I can get in there and clean it. If we can keep these guys alive and healthy for 3 weeks we're going to get another one. I want a barred rock and my wife wants a Buff Orpington. Any thoughts on these breeds? Both are good layers and pretty hardy from what I can tell. These are my eggs from this morning. First day where there were 2 egs.
400
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom