Katie's Coop

[Auntiejessi3]

Beautiful babies!

 

[katiefloy]

Beautiful babies!

Thanks! I can't wait to see if any of them frizzle.

 

[katiefloy]

Broody is Contagious

So I mentioned this in a prior post, but a 2nd girl, Princess Fluffy Butt, decided to go broody shortly before Josie's babies started hatching. Princess Fluffy Butt is the top hen of the group and she is a much more difficult broody than Josie was (Josie is bottom of the pecking order). She decided to fully commit to brooding on May 10 and I gave her 6 eggs to hatch. I will be doing my first candling May 17 to see if any are viable. I did try another one of Guiny's (light brahma) eggs just because I would love to see what a product between her and the frizzle rooster would look like, but I doubt it is viable. These eggs are due to hatch May 31.

I am very concerned about how Princess is going to do as a mother. I will have to keep a close eye on her hatch since the baby I gave to her to finish incubating died of mysterious circumstances in a previous post. I should start looking for a large box to use as a brooder in the unfortunate instance that I have to take the babies away.

I have noticed that the other girls are getting a little impatient with the rooster now that he only has the 4 of them to love on. I plan to add a few hens from these hatches to the flock to help spread the love out a little more. We did have 7 girls, which seemed a good number to keep everyone's feathers in good shape (figurative and literal). Several weeks after Clara committed suicide by dog I noticed that the feathers on the rest of the girls backs started getting a little worn. I have gotten aprons for his favorites, which I hope helps.

I have told my son (and myself) that we can only keep one or two hens, so we will need to find homes for all the other babies. It is so hard to send my babies off. I do have someone who really wants a frizzle rooster so has volunteered to take a rooster baby off my hands and since she had a fox raid her henhouse has said she can take any extra pullets as well.

 

[katiefloy]

The Coop

So when we first decided to get chickens we originally planned to keep 3 (the counties limit for 1.5 acres). We ordered 10 chicks from Meyers Hatchery expecting to lose some and give away any extras. With those requirements in mind, I started researching coops and found one i liked on amazon that claimed ot would hold 8-10 chickens.

I am sure you can see where this is going. I put that coop together by myself, painted it, and was very pleased with my accomplishment.

The first nice day i put our 10 4-week old chicks in it and discovered this thing would MAYBE hold 2 full grown chickens. At this point we had become very attached to our chicks and chicken math struck. We could only bear to give away 4 of the 10 chicks. That left us with 6 instead of the planned 3.

Soooo I started looking for a bigger option. Unfortunately, we had already tapped the extent of my handiness and my husband is less handy than me. That meant we needed to find a prebuilt option and have it delivered. And it needed to be fairly soon as our chicks weren't getting any smaller. Luckily I found a shed place that didn't have a 4 month wait and they had a coop with attached run I liked. So we had one custom made and it was delivered in about 4 weeks. Just in time for the babies to move in.

I ended up adding a roosting bar with wide side up and a poop board under the roosting bar. i also added hardware cloth on the outside of the run, and as an apron along the bottom and along the open eaves of the entire coop. I have been really happy with this setup so far.

The yard area has changed significantly since these pictures were taken. Will go into that in another post.

 

[thehenandchick01234]

Those are so cute don’t worry I want good at chicken math for a wile I was only supposed to have 4 but I have 7

 

[Auntiejessi3]

The Coop

So when we first decided to get chickens we originally planned to keep 3 (the counties limit for 1.5 acres). We ordered 10 chicks from Meyers Hatchery expecting to lose some and give away any extras. With those requirements in mind, I started researching coops and found one i liked on amazon that claimed ot would hold 8-10 chickens.

I am sure you can see where this is going. I put that coop together by myself, painted it, and was very pleased with my accomplishment.

View attachment 2671412

The first nice day i put our 10 4-week old chicks in it and discovered this thing would MAYBE hold 2 full grown chickens. At this point we had become very attached to our chicks and chicken math struck. We could only bear to give away 4 of the 10 chicks. That left us with 6 instead of the planned 3.

Soooo I started looking for a bigger option. Unfortunately, we had already tapped the extent of my handiness and my husband is less handy than me. That meant we needed to find a prebuilt option and have it delivered. And it needed to be fairly soon as our chicks weren't getting any smaller. Luckily I found a shed place that didn't have a 4 month wait and they had a coop with attached run I liked. So we had one custom made and it was delivered in about 4 weeks. Just in time for the babies to move in.
View attachment 2671429View attachment 2671432View attachment 2671435
I ended up adding a roosting bar with wide side up and a poop board under the roosting bar. i also added hardware cloth on the outside of the run, and as an apron along the bottom and along the open eaves of the entire coop. I have been really happy with this setup so far.

The yard area has changed significantly since these pictures were taken. Will go into that in another post.

The white picket fence just sets it off super cute!

 

[katiefloy]

The white picket fence just sets it off super cute!

Thanks! That whole garden area has been a work in progress for the last year. I think I am happy with it now, although I am sure I will continue to change things. I absolutely love it. I will be posting an updated picture after my phone recharges.

 

[katiefloy]

Those are so cute don’t worry I want good at chicken math for a wile I was only supposed to have 4 but I have 7

That's pretty close to my original goal and reality. Although, I think with my rooster we need at least 7 hens. Now that one girl has hatched her babies and the 2nd has gone broody, the remaining 4 girls are getting pretty fed up with him.

 

[katiefloy]

Broody Mama #2 Continued

So today was Day 6 of Princess Fluffy Butt's brooding. I think it is supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so wanted to do the candling today instead. I went into the coop and found somebody broke an egg on the floor. The only evidence was the yellow stain on the floor. I couldn't find any sign of the shell. At first I thought it was one that was laid that day, but when I pulled Princess off her clutch for her daily potty break, I discovered she was only sitting on 6 eggs instead of 7. Poor Egg #3 was kicked out of the nest.

I took the remaining 6 eggs inside to candle in the laundry room where I can shut the door, turn off the light and have complete darkness. I wanted to take pictures for my records, but my cell phone was dead (thanks to my son playing phone games on it). Here were my results:

Egg #1: air cell and mass, no veins that I saw
Egg #2: air cell and mass, no veins that I saw
Egg #3: kicked out of nest and broke
Egg #4: air cell, mass, and veins visible
Egg #5: air cell and mass, no veins that I saw
Egg #6: air cell and mass, no veins that I saw
Egg #7: air cell and mass, no veins that I saw

All eggs are brown and I found them hard to candle with Josie's clutch as well. I put them all back on the nest and hopefully will see some development by the next weeks candling.

Today when I checked to make sure Princess got on the right nest, she was one box over. This was the first time she has done that, so I am glad I actually checked. I almost decided not to bother. Although now I am wondering if she is actually going to get to hatch any babies. It seems strange that there would be that much of a difference in the result between Josie's clutch and Princess' since the eggs came from the same flock. Although I looked back and I candled on Day 8 for her clutch. Those 2 days might make the difference.

 

[katiefloy]

Broody #1: Josie's Brood 1 Week Old Update with Pics

Josie's brood is one week old today. So far it has been fairly uneventful.

I noticed a couple days ago that one of the orpington babies was very lethargic, so I pulled her out dipped her beak in water and egg mixed with crumbles periodically for about 45 minutes. She would eat and drink when I dipped her beak and every few minutes I would dip it again and she would start eating and drinking more on her own. After about 45minutes she was eating and drinking on her own and much more active, so I put her back out with her mom and siblings. She has been fine since then.

The babies have started getting their wing feathers in and I can tell one of them is definitely a frizzle. The pecking order is already being established. I have seen them chest bumping multiple times. I am still trying to figure out who each one's mother is, so if anyone has idea's that would be great. Also, gender references are totally up in the air. I just use what I refer to them in my head.

Daddy for all the babies (except the 2 orpington's) is a frizzled rooster with feathered legs (pictured with 3 of the possible moms, light brahma egg wasn't viable).

Baby #1, Oly: He hatched first. He is black and white, has feathered legs, a single comb, and smooth feathers. I'm not sure who his mom is, options are a partridge cochin, a blue laced red wyandotte, a wellsummer, or a delaware.

Baby #2, unnamed as yet: This one is a laced orpington (from Papa's Poultry) I picked up from a local who hatched her and her sister from eggs.

Baby #3, Poly: Hatched shortly after his brother. He is black and white, has smooth legs, can't tell what kind of comb, and frizzled feathers. I'm not sure who his mom is, options are a partridge cochin, a blue laced red wyandotte, a wellsummer, or a delaware.

Baby #4, Lavender: Last to hatch. She hatched from Josie's egg (Easter Egger). She is grey, has smooth legs, not sure what kind of comb and possible frizzled feathers(?)

Baby #5, Baby Olaf: 3rd to hatch. I *think* she hatched from the Delaware's egg (solely due to her yellow color). She has smooth legs, not sure what kind of comb and possible frizzled feathers(?)

Baby #6, unnamed as yet: This is the 2nd laced orpington (from Papa's Poultry).