Hello. My name is Jim. Glad to be here.

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JimsFlock

JimsFlock

Hatching
7 Years
Nov 11, 2012
3
0
7
Brush Prairie, washington
I guess the best way to start this off is by informing you that I am not only new to this site, but also I am NEW to chickens. I have started taking care of chickens for some friends and I only know what I am told. Sometimes I wonder if what they are teaching me is just a myth ( old wives tale ), or is it fact. So here I am. I have searched and searched for help and I finally found this site.
I am looking forward to learning as much as I can in a real short time, especially with the change in the weather. About a month ago these chickens which usually lay between 6-8 eggs a day, now barely produce at all.
As soon as I can get the pictures, I will add them, though I don't know how to tell what kind they are. So I'll have to wait until I can get that info from the owners when they get back into town. I can tell you though that we have 10 chickens and 2 roosters....There used to be a lot more chickens, but some have died for some unknown reason, at least that I am aware of. Anyway, I will look forward to talking to you here in the near future.
 
...what dawg said :) Molting and shorter days (they need about 16 hrs of light a day for optimum production) will both reduce production.

And welcome from Colorado as well!
 
ok welcome jim let`s start here try taking some bread in to feed them try getting them to eat it out of your hand this will get you close to them to see if thay have runny eyes if thay do go to the feed store and get them some med. make sure that thay can take and lay at the same time thay may have a cold yes thay get sick just like you do as for the eggs this time of the year egg pro. go`s down way down for some kind`s of birds you can add a light to the roost this will give them more day light an will help take a look at the coop are you seeeing a lot of fathers laying aroung thay may be moulting aka thay do not if any lay egg when thay moult ck. this out an let me know
 
Greetings from Kansas, Jim, and
welcome-byc.gif
! Happy you joined us! Best of luck with your birds!!
 
Thanks for the advice Danny. I will do that today. Some of the things that I have read so far lead me to beleive that sickness and the cold as not the main problem though. I have read that the coupe needs to be atleast 4 sq. feet per chicken, and the ventilation I should have approx. 1 sq. foot per chicken and at least 10 sq. feet per chicken in the run. I don't have none of that here. Infact we just got done making the coupe smaller, so the chickens stay warmer or theres not as much space to keep warm during the winter or for what ever her reasoning was, im not sure. we added 2 small windows inside there so they can have light coming in and we closed off the main door and cut a whole in the back wall under thier roost (? I thinkk that is what its called ) to let the out in a different fenced off area and a gain that is not big enough if they need 10 feet per chicken.
Now as far as their feeding goes, we got corn and pellets, plus the chickens get all the food scraps... they tell me they are just about like pigs and eat just about everything, though they do not get anything if its got mold on it ofcourse. I feed them once in the morning and once in the evening and not neccessarily the same time every day. I also give them what I thing is enough. I put a big scoop of the pellets out for them and abvout a scoop and a half of the dried corn and every once in awhile i give them a quarter scoop of shells or whatever that is.
Anyway I just dont know where to start; Now though with your advice I am gonna do that now.

Thanks again for your advice.
 
jim all what you said sound s good one theng chickens need laying mash to lay an in 50 years I have never known them to lay with out it that my be what you are calling pelets I know I mix my own food an it`s laying mash cracked corn a bird seed with sunflower seeds and ya thir pig`s in fact a lot of thir feed is made of chicken gut`s from slaughter houses thir is a lot of them down here in ga. an man do the truck haling it stick by the way jim you need to be adding 2 tbs. of appel vinter to a gal. of water thay love it it clams them and it help the water where are you anyway and can you send a pic. of birds it might help my email is [email protected] or post here
 

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