Hello from Hyde Park, UT

Date sort Score sort
frow.gif
and
welcome-byc.gif
. we have RIR's, barred rock, GLW, BLRW and some crosses! so glad you found us!
 
Well I gave away 1 hen quite awhile ago - golden-laced wyandotte - she just was too aggressive with my flock, then this Spring I gave away the last of my older hens (3 years old now) and took the 4 hens born last July (SLW & BR) who are now laying eggs (after I thoroughly cleaned the old girls coop part out) and moved them there. Then I had some new chicks (2 Red sex link and 3 yellow sex link) and put them in the "nursery" side of the coop after I had cleaned and disinfected that part as well. They love being out of the brooder and into their own "spacious" area.

I had the new chicks in a lizard aquarium that one of my daughters had me store for her, but I decided to make my own brooder from a clear plastic container (the biggest I could find locally) and cut out a section of the lid where I mounted a frame with metal window screening. They loved it until they got a little large and my kids started complaining that the chickens were getting too big and needed to go outdoors. Wow one add in the local paper for the old 5 hens got me a lot of calls and the first to actually get me to answer was quick to pick them up. Even though I tried to get the newspaper to take the add out, they did not and subsequently had a lot of people wanting the old hens and leaving messages on the answering machine.

I have insulated the north and west sides of my little coop and finally got something to cover the insulation, but it needs a little more work to get it to look a little more stylish. Plus I was able to make windows out of old picture frames with their clear glass intact and added a layer of chicken wire so if some predator was able to break the glass there would still be something to keep the frame together (these frames were really good with hardwood edging) and I painted them too. (Plus I caulked each side of the glass in the frames) I made frames for the windows and bought barrel bolts and hinges locally). The picture frames were from the local thrift store at $1 each. What a bargain for windows as the large hardware store can make me on that is about 1 ft square for $50 each!!!!! Besides I have 2 layers of chicken wire inside so when the windows are open the chickens get ventilation and cannot get out or anything get in. Now if I could ever figure out how to add pictures I would show the brooder and the new windows. It it great to be able to open and close windows instead of having plastic that needs to be stapled down in the wintertime and raised at other times when the weather gets hot. I even have a timer on my 2 heat lamps so they shut off at night and turn on again in the morning and on some days when it is hot, I will go and manually shut off the strip where the lamps are plugged in to conserve power and heat so the chickens won't get overheated!

Now the best thing I have discovered is those chicken treat balls (wire shaped into a ball with a bell on the bottom). These chickens (both old and young) love to eat the vegetable scraps I load into those balls. They will peck for hours if they can! That is sure a lot better than pecking each other.
 

Hi cackleberrychooks and welcome to BYC!!
I call my in-between chickens 'teenagers' too! If you're interested in supplemental light in the fall and winter, a string of Christmas lights is much less expensive and much more safe than a heat lamp. As for the water freezing, you can make your own water heater that runs off a 40 watt light bulb for under ten bucks in ten minutes & is much less expensive to power than a 250 watt red light. I have DIY instructions on my blog post here:
http://eggcartonlabels.blogspot.com/2011/11/make-cookie-tin-waterer-heater-under-10.html

cackleberrychooks said:
Hi. I am new to this. I have been raising chickens for about 3 years now. I have 11 hens, 4 of them are about 2 months old and I call them my "teenage" chickens. This summer I recently added to the original coop which

was about 4 X 4 feet. Now I have 2 coops under one roof. I added about 6 feet more and have 2 layers of wire between the youngins and the older girls!

I have 2 grown wyandottees, one golden and one silver-laced, 2 black sex-link, 2 rhode island reds, and one buff orpington and I lost one of my buff orpintons to some kind of predator. Since that I have sturdy coop doors and locks

and a light which turns on when any movement is detected at night. It is solar powered. I stumbled upon this website by accident when looking for some kind of solar heating lamp. I'm trying to get away from

having to use fossil fuels and the expense of electricity. I have the heat lamps, not just for he chicks to start with, but also to give them more light in the wintertime and keep their water from freezing! Oh, forget to

say that my four new girls (2months old) are 2 silver-laced wyandottes and 2 barred plymouth rocks.
Click to expand...
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom