- Aug 10, 2014
- 13
- 8
- 52
So I have decided to take the leap from just reading all the wonderful posts to joining the community. My family moved to a 2 acre property last year so I finally have room to have the chickens I have always wanted! This past April we built a tractor coop using ideas from this site to house two 3 yr rhode island red girls who needed to be rehomed since their previous owner had developped allergies. They adjusted to their new coop really well but only one was laying eggs. The other wasn't broody....just not laying. After 2 weeks in the coop we started letting them out for some free range time and they loved it! They were so good about following a bread crumb trail back to their coop when it was time for them to go back in. Eventually I got more comfortable and just let them roam all day and they would put themselves to bed and I would lock up the coop for the night. Sadly one afternoon I came home and found one chicken hiding in the coop and a pile of feathers in the yard. I was very sad and so was my lonely chicken. She really didn't seem herself for several days but she was eating and drinking and laying and was not wounded. I think she was scared and lonely. A local farmer was down sizing and needed a home for a "special" hamburg hen who refused to lay her egg in the coop. Rather she'd lay it where ever she was... in the horses hay net, out on the lawn....etc and she was such a good flier the farmer couldn't keep her in the barn. So I adopted her hoping that the usual hamburg bossiness would put her on equal footing with my larger rhodie.The first night they slept apart but by the morning they were hanging out together in the coop. I have been too scared to let them back out of the coop for free range time and just move the tractor every day to fresh grass.
I was at home depot yesterday and I scored an 8 by 10 shed for an awesome price so I am going to build that and a large fenced in area for my girls instead of the small tractor coop I have now. It is too small for them to spend all their time in ( the fenced part is only 4 by 8 and 2 feet high so my hamburg has no outdoor perching or flying opportunities at all) and I am too scared about whatever ate my other girl in the middle of the afternoon to let them out.
We have the gravel laid for the new shed foundation but won't get to building it until next weekend. It won't be beautiful like the coops on here but hopefully it will be safe and spaceous!
A local lady is selling her male and female muskovy ducks and so I was thinking of adding them to my flock I would love to have some baby ducklings! My only concern is that this lady would like me to pick up the ducks this week and I won't have the new coop built for at least 1-2 weeks and I only have the tractor coop to house them in until then. Does anyone have any thoughts on how it might go to have the 2 ducks added in with my Hamburg and Rhodie? The indoor tractor space is 4 by 4 by 4 with a purch raised up 2 feet and a lower purch 6 inches off the ground and a nesting box. I don't want them fighting and am worried it will be too close quarters....
so that is me in a nut shell! any thoughts would be most welcome!
I was at home depot yesterday and I scored an 8 by 10 shed for an awesome price so I am going to build that and a large fenced in area for my girls instead of the small tractor coop I have now. It is too small for them to spend all their time in ( the fenced part is only 4 by 8 and 2 feet high so my hamburg has no outdoor perching or flying opportunities at all) and I am too scared about whatever ate my other girl in the middle of the afternoon to let them out.
We have the gravel laid for the new shed foundation but won't get to building it until next weekend. It won't be beautiful like the coops on here but hopefully it will be safe and spaceous!
A local lady is selling her male and female muskovy ducks and so I was thinking of adding them to my flock I would love to have some baby ducklings! My only concern is that this lady would like me to pick up the ducks this week and I won't have the new coop built for at least 1-2 weeks and I only have the tractor coop to house them in until then. Does anyone have any thoughts on how it might go to have the 2 ducks added in with my Hamburg and Rhodie? The indoor tractor space is 4 by 4 by 4 with a purch raised up 2 feet and a lower purch 6 inches off the ground and a nesting box. I don't want them fighting and am worried it will be too close quarters....
so that is me in a nut shell! any thoughts would be most welcome!
and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about the loss of your first RIR, you might want to post in the Duck forum about keeping ducks with chickens 
