Well, we bought 4 'pullets' from TSC, 2 amber-links and 2 NHs, turns out they were 75% accurate. Here is an amber 'pullet' at 9.5 weeks old. The four amber birds we purchased were supposed to be girls. Obviously, by the comb (thing on the head) and wattles (things below the mouth) he is a boy. The other four were straight runs, so we knew we had a 50/50 chance. 2 white leghorns (turned out to be pullets) and 2 SLW. You can see the cockerel SLW in this picture also:Guys, I am so worried! I am a noob with chickens, hopefully much less so than when I bought them, but when I bought them, I was assured that they were all female. I did buy a couple straight runs, but just a couple. Now I fear, in addition to the one Roo I bought, that I have FOUR supposedly "female" Roos. One of my gold wyandottes has a very red (I always forget what that is called, on top of their heads) thing, and the only Roo I bought is a Silver Wyandotte, and his is very red, but the other two are more of a pale pink/peach color. Then my two D'uccles have a very red, very large one, and one of my leghorns has a bigger and redder thing than the other two! I am now looking at the straight runs, and I am just like, Oh God.......I can't even bring myself to take pictures, because I don't know what I'll do if they are boys! They are all very tame, sit on my lap, get petted, etc.
If their combs are large and red at an early age, I've found out, they are most likely boys. We are not sure what to do with our boys, but if they are well behaved they can stay. Othewise, off to freezer camp they go.
I've learned that optimum space for inside the coop is 3-4 square feet per large chicken. The more the better. Our coop is almost 4.5'x8.5' interior, so a bit bigger than 32 sq ft for our 8 birds, or a smidge larger then 4 sq ft/bird. The run should be at least 10 sq ft per bird, to keep them happy and not pecking on each other so much. We were thinking to keep our coop/run around $350, and ended up with about $1100. Oh well. At least if someone built it for us it'd be probably $2k. The fencing for the run adds up fast. Depends on how secure you want to be. You must bury the fencing all around the run to keep predators out. At least 2 feet down, or at least 2 feet horizontal out so the digging raccoons/coyotes/etc. go somewhere else. Build lots of human access, (we made 2 small clean-out doors on one side, and a large door on the other for us to get in the coop) consider a poop board that slides out, make sure to add a way to open the pop door from the outside of the run. Make sure for plenty of natural ventilation at the top, or they can get sick. Make it predator proof.Bradselig- Let me think on it. I've gone from 4 chicks to 10 in a week. I think DH might murder me if I added another. Do you know if it's a pullet or a cockerel?
Busy weekend! Made it to the Wolf Lake Animal Swap for the first time and wow, was that an experience. So many interesting things and people. I wanted to bring home a couple of these Pygmy's in the worst way. Does anyone know of any other swaps or flea markets in the Michiana area?
Also, we're hoping to move to our new house this weekend and then we'll start building our coop! Any tips or tricks or words of wisdom from those of you who have built your own coops? I've gotten a lot of the materials for free, so we're hoping to do a 6X6 raised coop with an enclosed run and come in around 300-400. I think we can do it, but I know they always end up more expensive than you'd think. Do you think 6x6 will work for my 10 girls or should it be a little bit bigger? We are planning to let them free range when we get home after work and they will have a large enclosed run for the rest of the day. I was also thinking of doing some PVC chicken feeders. Has anyone tried these?
Oh and that first picture with the 80s Lincoln, I thought you were going to post some vintage pictures!
