fuzzi's Chicken Journal

[fuzzi]

Dug up a few clumps of cudweed, roots and dirt attached, put them in the run:

When I went to the store this morning I brought back a small cabbage.

Their first ever...

Esther and Rahab check it out:

(see what's left of the cudweed, top right?)

Fascinating...

Eventually they started pecking it.

Later on, catching some rays:

Yesterday afternoon I put fresh straw in the nest boxes. This morning all three nests were rearranged, the majority of the straw pushed to the front of each box, the faux egg buried at the bottom.

It appears that the teens have gotten their laying/learner's permits, and are practicing for Big Girl Life!

 

[fuzzi]

Congratulations @Shadrach for reading the entire thread!

 

[Shadrach]

Dug up a few clumps of cudweed, roots and dirt attached, put them in the run:

When I went to the store this morning I brought back a small cabbage.

Their first ever...

Esther and Rahab check it out:
View attachment 3978336
(see what's left of the cudweed, top right?)

Fascinating...
View attachment 3978340
Eventually they started pecking it.

Later on, catching some rays:
View attachment 3978342

Yesterday afternoon I put fresh straw in the nest boxes. This morning all three nests were rearranged, the majority of the straw pushed to the front of each box, the faux egg buried at the bottom.

It appears that the teens have gotten their laying/learner's permits, and are practicing for Big Girl Life!

Made it!
Interesting thread. Short videos are great. Don't really want to watch ten minutes of a hen eating, unless it's a live event of course.
Damp straw and bedding. I would be tempted to take the tarpaulin right to the floor at the sides. We had a hay and straw rack in Catalonia. This gave air circulation underneath and a good quality tarpaulin over the top, something that would cope with muscovey duck claws without puncturing. I'll try and find a picture later.
What one doesn't want in stored hay and straw is the bale heating up while a bit damp. This encourages that horrid little pest, the straw itch mite to replicated and an astonishing rate. Maybe you don't have the straw itch mite problem where you are.
Interesting reading about a novice (I hope you don't mind the word) coop and run keeper and the problems they've had.
I became a coop and run keeper ( albeit with a couple of hours a day supervised ranging) three years ago as you know and I've been shocked at how much work and money is invloved. I kind of miss the "build them a bullet proof coop, let them out in the morning and hope there is the same number when one goes to shut them in" keeping method.
It reads as if you are planning on breeding, or at least letting hens sit and hatch (?)
The boys.
Have you considered eating them?
Zach is looking promising. Early days yet but has he shown a preference for particular pullets yet?
If you are happy with Zach you might be able to help him consolidate his position by casually dropping something nice in front of him if you can catch him away from the hens and Silas. He may well eat what you drop himself but, if he calls the hens and they take what he's nodding at then he gets points with the hens, The hens go wow, this is my man, he's got goodies.
It might be difficult in an enclosed space and but at the moment from what I can see both Silas and Zach have about equal access to the good stuff. Giving one of the males an edge can help things along.

You've had some of the best level headed advice on BYC from the other posters. Thanks for welcoming me.

 

[NanaK]

@Shadrach You have been busy!

 

[fuzzi]

Made it!
Interesting thread. Short videos are great. Don't really want to watch ten minutes of a hen eating, unless it's a live event of course.
Damp straw and bedding. I would be tempted to take the tarpaulin right to the floor at the sides. We had a hay and straw rack in Catalonia. This gave air circulation underneath and a good quality tarpaulin over the top, something that would cope with muscovey duck claws without puncturing. I'll try and find a picture later.
What one doesn't want in stored hay and straw is the bale heating up while a bit damp. This encourages that horrid little pest, the straw itch mite to replicated and an astonishing rate. Maybe you don't have the straw itch mite problem where you are.

Thank you for taking the time to read all of my thread. I saw notifications of posts being liked by you and when I looked to see what you were liking it brought me back to my trials and triumphs.

I had a lot of good advice, for which I cannot thank others enough.

About the hoop covering: the climate here is very humid, moist, and 3" of rain from a storm is not unusual. I was advised that keeping the tarp/shade cloth about 2'-3' from the ground would help with ventilation, promote drying out after a rain, and I have found it to be true. Keeping straw under the roost works well. I got ammonia during a long rainy spell but I had also thrown fresh grass clippings underneath. Since I removed them and resumed using only dry straw I haven't had any issues.

I've not heard of the straw itch mite. Yikes!

To be continued...

 

[Shadrach]

I've not heard of the straw itch mite. Yikes!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/straw-itch-mite.75561/

 

[1muttsfan]

No straw mites here fortunately, but stored straw should definitely be someplace dry and off the ground to prevent other issues as well, like mold and dust which are bad for the respiratory tract.
Southern coops are usually much more open to the weather than our coops up here, just too cold up here to have such open spaces, but imperative in the south where heat and humidity are a problem.

Most of these bantam boys you would be lucky to get four chicken nuggets out of.

 

[fuzzi]

Interesting reading about a novice (I hope you don't mind the word) coop and run keeper and the problems they've had.
I became a coop and run keeper ( albeit with a couple of hours a day supervised ranging) three years ago as you know and I've been shocked at how much work and money is invloved. I kind of miss the "build them a bullet proof coop, let them out in the morning and hope there is the same number when one goes to shut them in" keeping method.
It reads as if you are planning on breeding, or at least letting hens sit and hatch (?)
The boys.
Have you considered eating them?
Zach is looking promising. Early days yet but has he shown a preference for particular pullets yet?
If you are happy with Zach you might be able to help him consolidate his position by casually dropping something nice in front of him if you can catch him away from the hens and Silas. He may well eat what you drop himself but, if he calls the hens and they take what he's nodding at then he gets points with the hens, The hens go wow, this is my man, he's got goodies.
It might be difficult in an enclosed space and but at the moment from what I can see both Silas and Zach have about equal access to the good stuff. Giving one of the males an edge can help things along.

You've had some of the best level headed advice on BYC from the other posters. Thanks for welcoming me.

I don't mind being called a novice, unless it's being used in a derogatory manner. Even though I had a flock 30+ years ago there's still so much to learn.

The bantam Speckled Sussex variety/breed is unusual, and the Standard is apparently hard to achieve. I'm not looking to breed prize winners, but I also don't want to waste the opportunity to improve it if I can. As you read I got some eggs from another breeder, and have two good-looking pullets as a result. I am looking forward to seeing what offspring I can get from a mating between my flock and the new blood.

I don't eat my chickens. If I were raising them for meat I wouldn't name them!

Zacchaeus has been tidbitting the pullets, and now the hens. Silas is acting like a #2, gobbling food and not sharing. His color is wrong for the breed, so I do not plan to use him. How I will arrange this remains to be seen. I have time, won't be collecting eggs for brooding until February at the earliest. The two pullets will be 9 months then. And I will separate Silas at least a month before I collect eggs, just in case he's been getting some "sugar". At least that's the plan.

Your thread has been a treasure trove of experience and knowledge for me. Even if it weren't you are still welcome here!

 

[fuzzi]

No straw mites here fortunately, but stored straw should definitely be someplace dry and off the ground to prevent other issues as well, like mold and dust which are bad for the respiratory tract.
Southern coops are usually much more open to the weather than our coops up here, just too cold up here to have such open spaces, but imperative in the south where heat and humidity are a problem.

Most of these bantam boys you would be lucky to get four chicken nuggets out of.

My straw is now stored in my little shed.

 

[fuzzi]

For my fellow Americans (USA)