"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[PrimroseMom1]

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Sorry to see the loss you had mine feels so minimal now. I've only lost the peeps in brooder even with easy loose week olds even easier to get so probably a rat?

I found POOP! 2 spots so I know How it got in. Poop looks like a rats but much bigger than rat poop I've seen.
The chicks are small tho, I'd think a mink would eat more? Dunno but since you posted pics heres the 2 specific in all dead chicks way they were found. I also have 4 injured chicks with bites on side/back and legs treated by cleaning and a honey wrap. They're alive but probably going to cull tomorrow
5 like this

Rest this morning like this...only the heads skinned and brains missing. zombie rats? C'mon what creature wastes such food

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So bizarre. You really meant it when you said they skinned their heads and ate brains. What hungry predator would do that? I hope you have an answer tomorrow.

 

[LindaB220]

Raymond. Thank you for posting the pics and the thorough description on your coop. The chicken TV is most intriguing. So you can watch the birds in your home?
I'm guessing the blue tarp is to keep the bedding from getting between the framing and the tin? The hens on the bench are good looking.

That's an interesting history lesson you gave on the commercial chicken operations down there.


You mention the heat on the roof...1"x4'x8' Styrofoam insulation cut into strips and placed between the rafters will cool it off significantly. It's light and easy to cut with a utility knife. Would be quick to do. It would only take small wood strips to hold it in place.

Again, thank you for posting your setup.

@ Everyone. Thank you all for the help thus far. It's nice to be able to connect with LA folks.

I'm looking forward to keeping in touch here in the future.

I'm off to work on the bird house. Ya'll have a good day.

Cody

Hmmmmm Cody, That might work for my storeroom also. My SIL said it would take hundreds of dollars to insulate the ceiling in my 10'x12' storeroom. I wonder?

 

[LaDoodler]

Regarding my coop and pen details, thanks to all for comments, ovations and complements. Thanks topdog for the 10! Just trying to give back to BackyardChickens folks some interesting and helpful ideas that I've picked up here.

Chuck Mc, I didn't need a run since they have a pretty good sized pen which includes a grassy area as well as a good clump of trees. So far they have been safe during the day with the electrified fence surrounding their pen.

LindaB regarding the heat - yes it was warm inside the coop during the hottest part of the summer, but no fatalities. I had recently transferred them into the coop from a large box in which they lived the first few weeks. The girls were panting during the hottest part of the day. But, I made sure they had a continuous supply of fresh water, and they stayed near the wall covered by hardware cloth where they had the most ventilation. But then, with it 94-95° in the shade, and with the humidity we have here, heck, it was just hot and I was panting!

Now that I let them out of the coop each morning, they head to the clump of trees that's in their pen. That's about as cool a place as they will find. When shadows began to fall on the grassy area in their pen, they move out there to forage. It will be interesting to see if they are taking the heat better under the trees next summer.

As I mentioned in a couple of previous posts, I was having a rat problem when I left their food out. But, even when I put it up when they girls finished eating, a rat or mouse would come sneaking around looking for what the girls had spilled out of their feeding pail onto the ground. So, I used a crawfish tray under the pail and significantly reduced the spillover. Rats are almost never seen now, and I'm saving a little food. Folks in other places may not be able to use this solution, but I know many of you are so equipped, if you find this useful.

 

[LaDoodler]

Oh and Cody, thanks for the idea of putting insulation up against the metal roof. I thought about that, and then just forgot as I tended to other details of the coop. Will definitely try to have that in place before next summer.

 

[Ron Skekel]

Here's some happy pics of 1 and2 day old chicks. Put in the brooder today 1st meal they ate like piggys so cute. Nothing like fluffybutts. Well those aren't in the cloud yet. Here's the first one to hatch. I'll post the cuties tomorrow.or later tonight if they show up.
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[Ron Skekel]

Oh and Cody, thanks for the idea of putting insulation up against the metal roof.  I thought about that, and then just forgot as I tended to other details of the coop.  Will definitely try to have that in place before next summer.

Mine survive the heat with a bayou in the woods and going under the studio we have. We add electrolytes to their water. As long as they can cool off you could use a bird bath or kiddy pool they wet their feet to keep cool. Others put ice in water of freeze a block of ice. They love watermelon which is good for them and keeps them hydrated. Pam

 

[LaDoodler]

Way to go Pam. I've never have raised any - fascinating! Maybe one day I'll try, but would like to do so from my own hens, and I don't have a rooster. Afraid he would be disturbing nearby neighbors.

 

[Ron Skekel]

Way to go Pam.  I've never have raised any - fascinating! Maybe one day I'll try, but would like to do so from my own hens, and I don't have a rooster.  Afraid he would be disturbing nearby neighbors.

This was my first time. This is the first time having roosters. I love the crow reminds me of my childhood. My neighbor says she likes it for the same reasons. You could ask them they might suprize you. Maybe you could find someone local with your breed an find a stud rooster.

 

[LaDoodler]

Oh absolutely! I spent MANY happy times at my grandparents house in the little country town of Provencal, LA, and my grandmother always had chickens. Waking up to her rooster crowing will always be with me. I loved her so much that when she passed away, I hauled her remaining chickens down to our house in Lake Charles. It just helped keep her alive in my mind just that much longer, and our children, who were very young then, still remember them. Don't remember if a rooster came along with the bunch. Agree about using a stud rooster. Too bad more of our close neighbors aren't on here making it easy to get together. I would prefer to keep the breed true - RIR. Not the production kind, but the heritage stock. If they'd allow me to, I'd be crazy enough to take one back to where I got them, Ideal Poultry, to have fun with one of their roosters. But I doubt they'd accept an outside bird. I'm really getting ahead of myself, my girls aren't even laying yet!

 

[LindaB220]

Mine survive the heat with a bayou in the woods and going under the studio we have. We add electrolytes to their water. As long as they can cool off you could use a bird bath or kiddy pool they wet their feet to keep cool. Others put ice in water of freeze a block of ice. They love watermelon which is good for them and keeps them hydrated. Pam

Nutri Drench can bring a lamb back to life within 30 of almost expiring. It will do the same for chickens. I have kept it in the water on the extreme hot days. The sheep kind is almost the same as the poultry and I believe cheaper. That's what I have. Besides taking the hose and showering them a minute or two a couple of times a day. I have an open air coop in the shade with tinned roof. They did fine.