Jubilee Chicken Flock Updates and Photos.

[Shallon]

So, one week ago a Craigslist ad popped up. I had done hours of reading about chickens on this site.
I threw together a temp coop in my shed, and brought home the flock.
The same day I also picked up some chicks and set up a brooder in a bedroom.
Unfortunately, the move brought out some latent illness in one of the adult Rhode Island Reds. I tried treating her but my newness at all of this was apparent, and she passed away during the weekend. Her crop got infected, so what was ailing her may have been preventing food from passing through her system. I treated her and the other chickens for Coccidiosis.
Meanwhile, I have been constructing things for the coop. I was inspired by a few links on this site.
Florence is my favorite. She is confident and friendly, and when I come in to the coop she is the first to race up to see what I'm up to. She's very chatty as well, talking back to me and telling me all about something.
Here she is with one of the roos, Barney. Barney doesn't say much but keeps trying to mount the silkie hens.

The other rooster is the head rooster. I have been calling him Hank, after the character on Parenthood. He just looks a bit gruff but he's a nice fella.

My other favorite is my Rhode Island hen Sadie. She is sweet and while not as bold as Florence, is just as friendly, and lets me pet her already. She's on the left here:

The other two hens are so timid I am having a hard time getting to know them, so no names yet. They are both silkies, grey and dark cream.

Batch #1 of chicks was from a feed store who had chicks vax'd for Marek's at the hatchery. I got two older silver laced Wyandottes, a black sex link, two Ameraucanas, and six fluffy chicks. I don't know if they are golden sex links or Hampshire Reds. The lady said I got both, but I don't think she really knew.

But I wanted more.
I found another hatchery that vax'd for Mareks and had some more breeds on my list. Pete's Hatchery let me pick up at the hatchery, and threw in four chicks for free. So the new bunch contained a RIR pullet and cockerel, two Buff Orps, two Ameraucanas, two Cuckoo Marans, two Dominiques, and two Barred Rocks.

I expanded my brooder to give the chicks more space. The wire is on top because the Wyandottes can now get air and have taken to perching on the mason jars.

I want to move them into the same shed as the coop after a good quarantine period has passed with the new flock of older chickens and they are old enough to know to stay near the heat. Then I will make a much bigger brooder for their shenanagins. The bigger brooder will eventually become part of the main coop, because the main coop must expand to hold 20 more chickens.

So for the coop, I made roosts out of stormblown branches, nests from buckets, a feeder from a neglected kid's toy and some Nic cubes, and I am working on a better feeder. I need a drill bit to finish my chicken nipple bucket waterer as well. I have never done so much DIY with wood, power tools, chicken wire, and such. It's been rather fun and empowering! I tried to use a lot of onhand objects. Many things in the coop involve zip ties and wire storage cube squares.

First feeder on left, second on right. I need to find a bigger pan to hold the feed, they can't figure it out.



Finally, I had a spring photo shoot with my lop bunny, Penny, and the Pete's Hatchery chicks. Here you can see the Buff Orps, Ameraucana, RIR Roo, two black chicks that are either Maran, Barred Rock, or Dominique, and a lighter colored Ameraucana in front of the black chicks.

I am still learning things. I was doing more reading on silkies today and figured out that the reason my older chickens haven't been using the roosts is because the roosters are silkies and can't fly well!, and they like huddling in a corner. So I am going to make a lower roost, and make a nest bucket on the floor for my two silkie ladies.

I want to free range them, but I wasn't aware when I picked up the chickens last week how susceptible silkies are to predator attacks. I had gotten the lot thinking the roosters would be handy for watching for predators. Part of me wants to trade the silkies for hens and a roo of another breed, but I am concerned about chickens from a strange flock bringing in weird bacteria. I don't have a good place here to quarantine a third group of chickens!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Wow, cute chickens. The Silkie roosters can help watch out for predators. When it comes down to it any chicken is susceptible to predators. Give them places to hide from birds of prey during the day, and as you know, keep the coop secured at night. It sounds like you are going to have more roosters in the flock once your chicks mature.

 

[Shallon]

Thank you! How much coverage do they need? I was going to put up a 6 by 8 tarp in front of the coop for shade. Beyond that we have four trees in our yard which have great visual coverage, but they are very spread out around the corners of the yard.

 

[Odelia]

. The bigger brooder will eventually become part of the main coop, because the main coop must expand to hold 20 more chickens.



I am still learning things. I was doing more reading on silkies today and figured out that the reason my older chickens haven't been using the roosts is because the roosters are silkies and can't fly well!, and they like huddling in a corner. So I am going to make a lower roost, and make a nest bucket on the floor for my two silkie ladies.


I want to free range them, but I wasn't aware when I picked up the chickens last week how susceptible silkies are to predator attacks. I had gotten the lot thinking the roosters would be handy for watching for predators. Part of me wants to trade the silkies for hens and a roo of another breed, but I am concerned about chickens from a strange flock bringing in weird bacteria. I don't have a good place here to quarantine a third group of chickens!

Do you know that your Buff Silkie is most likely a mix? Silkies should not have a single comb. I am not saying you should not keep him. I just wanted to make you aware that he might not be a good choice if you were planning on hatching your silkie eggs in the future. No they are not good at flying. It is those lovely fur like feathers. Also your younger birds would have trouble with roosts that high. Lots of people set them up sort of like a ladder so that they can go from one roost to the next.

You said that your are going to expand the coop, but it already looks quite large. How many birds do you have now? How many do you plan on having in total and how large is your coop? Also if you are going to get more I would suggest getting them over the next year or two. For back yard flocks it is best if you stagger your birds ages. That way you keep your egg production fairly level. Others wise you will be flooded with eggs and then there will be nearly no eggs while you are feeding a large flock.

 

[Shallon]

The gal I got the adult chickens from did say the buff wasn't for showing because of his comb.
Hank the grey rooster's comb looks like a big lump. Is that normal for silkies?
The current coop is about 4 by 8 feed inside of a shed that is about 9 by 11. I was going to expand it to include another part of the shed, about 4 by 7 feet.
The total of chickens will be somewhere around 25-29, once my chicks are full grown.
I got this amount because I need about 7 dozen eggs a week for us and extended family, and if we have extra beyond that there's a few more people we could give eggs to. I was planning on having the silkies raise chicks next spring to start making replacement layers.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

The gal I got the adult chickens from did say the buff wasn't for showing because of his comb.
Hank the grey rooster's comb looks like a big lump. Is that normal for silkies?
The current coop is about 4 by 8 feed inside of a shed that is about 9 by 11. I was going to expand it to include another part of the shed, about 4 by 7 feet.
The total of chickens will be somewhere around 25-29, once my chicks are full grown.
I got this amount because I need about 7 dozen eggs a week for us and extended family, and if we have extra beyond that there's a few more people we could give eggs to. I was planning on having the silkies raise chicks next spring to start making replacement layers.

Hank's comb is called a walnut comb which is standard for the breed. If you are thinking of expanding the coop, will you have it so that it can be divided off. That is a nice option with a lot of chickens especially when you have more than one rooster.

The tarp covered area sounds good. In addition to that if you have shrubs in the yard that they can duck under when free ranging, it can provide some safety, too.

 

[Shallon]

Today my father in law came over and we added ventilation windows to the coop. It makes it much nicer in there! This week it's started to get hot so all the animals feel great relief.
He also made a chicken door and a ramp. I'll add some more photos of the coop later.
I made the holes in the bucket feeder bigger but they still aren't using it. It's within easy view and they keep going to the other feeder, which is now running out of food. I keep poking it when I'm standing there.
I also made a nipple bucket waterer and am having the exact same results. Sadie the RIR watched me fiddling with the nipples. She's look at the water dripping down, she pecked at one a couple times, but didn't get it. What can I do besides that to get them to use the bucket feeder and waterer?

 

[Shallon]

Oh, I let them out of the inner coop to see if they would try to go down the ramp and out of the shed. The open hen door and ramp were inspected, but ignored. I put Sadie halfway up the ramp and she got to the top but ignored it after that.

 

[Shallon]

They are all eating out of the bucket feeder, so I was able to remove the tray feeder. However, only 4/6 have figured out the nipple bucket. The two silkie hens are the ones who haven't. I am going to trip their little faces so they can see.
They will go out of the coop when the door is open, but not the hen door. I saw Hank the roo go through it once. Sadie is the one who lets me pet her and pick her up, and when I put her facing towards the door on the ladder she'll go up the last two bits and through the door.
They all had their first foraging party in the yard today. Much fun was had, until they wanted to go back in. Barney was having trouble hopping back up into the doorway, and he wouldn't let me pick him up. He finally got enough air to go up there. I have to pick up Sadie the RIR and the silkie hens to get them back in.

 

[TwoCrows]

Your flock is adorable!!