INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[hoosiercheetah]

I'm in a bit of a quandary. I'm going to add to the flock in the spring. I want to start the chicks as soon as possible, but I don't want them living in my house any longer than necessary. It seems people will move them to an unheated coop at anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks old, if they're feathered out... but would that still be a fair rule if they're 8 weeks old in February?

 

[ChickCrazed]

I'm in a bit of a quandary. I'm going to add to the flock in the spring. I want to start the chicks as soon as possible, but I don't want them living in my house any longer than necessary. It seems people will move them to an unheated coop at anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks old, if they're feathered out... but would that still be a fair rule if they're 8 weeks old in February?

You have to find a way to slowly acclimate them which is difficult to do in Winter. You could put them in a side room in the house and slowly open a window over the course of a few weeks maybe. I was able to get some outside in March by dropping the temp in the room they were in, then moving them out to the garage, then outside when we had a brief warm spell. As long as you can find a plan to get them acclimated to the cold it should be fine.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@hoosiercheetah

It depends on what you are using as brooder heat. I was able to brood completely in the unheated chicken house with a heat plate (or you could use a sweeter heater) as they will self-regulate by going under when they need the heat and staying out when they don't. I also had a broody raise chicks in January in the unheated chicken shed....again, they can self regulate by going under mom when needed.

In both instances I was very surprised that they went away from the heat a lot as early as their second week - even with the mamma when the temps were in the teens. I was totally amazed at that, but I do think they acclimate quicker when they can do it themselves.

Many of the folks I know that use the heat plates said their chicks were not using the plates at all after 3 weeks old even in cold temps. One of them in Canada in during February/March record cold. (I have not experienced using the plate in extreme cold so I can't confirm from my own experience...)


Now if you have a heat lamp inside the house, it will be much different as far as being able to acclimate from household temperatures down to the teens.



ETA: Even if they are using a heat plate or sweeter heater, I would leave the heat available to them for as long as they used it so I wanted to be clear that I wasn't saying to just remove heat after some particular number of weeks. I just watch them and see how they are using it and remove it after I see that they no longer go under at night.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Thanks for the replies!

I'd really like to brood in the coop with a look-no-touch area sectioned off - my coop is huge and it would be easy to do. I've seen people make a fake broody with a bucket turned on its side and fabric strips hung in. I could heat one easily enough with a cinder block and a light bulb, or something else that won't catch on fire.

I guess I should probably do it the easy way, and just wait until spring. I have so much trouble being patient!

Does anyone have any experience with Ideal's 236 layer chickens?

 

[hoosiercheetah]

In other news, I built a trebuchet that threw 10 lb pumpkins 60 yards. It was awesome.

 

[Indiana feather]

In other news, I built a trebuchet that threw 10 lb pumpkins 60 yards. It was awesome.

Sounds fun Good morning to you!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Oh, and as long as I'm double posting, I may as well triple.

I used some cheap blue tarp material over my run this summer. It worked well for a while, then the sun took its toll, and the stiff started shredding. I spent most of an afternoon picking up little bits of blue plastic. Not cool.

 

[ChickCrazed]

So I had an exciting Saturday, I was in the barn cleaning stalls when a couple of chickens came hurtling in and hit the hay stack. I went running outside just in time to see a small whitish hawk start flying back up into the sky. No chicken fatalities luckily. I have seen hawks flying all over out in my "hood" but this is the first time I have seen one go for my birds. It couldn't have been that much bigger than my chickens!!!! The chickens have been staying under cover since.

Operation barn kitty has been a failure so far. It appears I just got two extra mouths to feed and no payoff. I was excited when I started finding a corpse a day in the barn, then realized they were moles and not mice. I still told myself that at least my mole population was decreasing.....then spotted the female cat bringing a mole into my property from the field across the street......so basically she is bringing extra rodents INTO the barn.......

I finally reached a breaking point in my shed/coop. The mice have eaten into all of my plastic storage tubs and I have to throw all of my egg cartons, medications and supplies out. I can't reach into anything in either my shed or my barn without uncovering a nest and having at least 6 mice run out. It is freaking disgusting. My coop reeks of mouse droppings. There are a good 200 mouse pellets on my nest boxes in the coop the day after I clean. I was hoping the cats would help but I can't continue like this, i can't touch anything in my coop without worrying about catching a rodent carried disease. So I broke and put mouse poison in the loft of the shed/coop. It is safely out of reach of the chickens who are being strictly locked out of the open area of the shed for a while. There is obviously a risk of the chickens eating a mouse that has been poisoned but they have not shown any interest in eating mice so I am crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. I tried snap traps (too many mice, not even making a dent), buck traps (same thing), humane traps, homemade poison and cats (worthless).....it is my last ditch attempt to re-claim my shed. 24 hours after putting the poison out I had 13 mouse corpses clearly visible in the people part of the shed, I can only imagine how many more are in the loft or in the corners, under boxes etc. My shed will smell TERRIBLE for the next few weeks, but hopefully i can keep the rodent numbers manageable with the other control methods once I knock the population back.

I will feel terrible if I accidentally poison a chicken but am really at my wits end with the issue and am willing to risk it at this point.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Oh, and as long as I'm double posting, I may as well triple.

I used some cheap blue tarp material over my run this summer. It worked well for a while, then the sun took its toll, and the stiff started shredding. I spent most of an afternoon picking up little bits of blue plastic. Not cool.

My "cheap" one did the same thing. But my better quality ones are good.

 

[Leahs Mom]

On the mice, why not set traps in areas that the chickens don't access? Also, there is the "rat zapper" that would be safe in the chicken area too....