"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[TerriLaChicks]

Glad you that ol' possum. Was it going in the pea pen? Do you think it was eating the pea eggs?
Terri, I noticed one of the girls setting on the ground late last night (10:00 PM) near the area where they lay eggs. I wonder if she is wanting to go broody but has no eggs. Do any of your girls sleep on the ground?

Yeah!

I loathe predators! I've been too lax; normally I keep my trap set pretty much all the time but I got away from the habit of setting it & moving it around.

They can't get into the pea pen; it is completely enclosed including chicken wire strung on steel cables across the top of it. My chicken run does not have a top on it. I lock them up in the coop every night & it has wire in an "L" shape all around it, so something would have to dig under pretty far to be able to break in. A small, narrow snake could possibly slip through - I have chicken wire over the 2x4 wire gate & the vented area at the top on one side. I did kill a larger snake last weekend who was trying to crawl through the open chicken door--in broad daylight! It hissed & struck at me. No it wasn't poisonous & no I didn't care one bit -- I grabbed a big stick I keep out there for just that purpose & demolished it! I tell you, you can't relax your vigilance for one second! EVERYthing loves chickens & eggs!

My girls still roost at night, but yesterday evening Jim & I were watching them & for the first time they were laying on the ground & D'art was laying in between them, touching them & they let him - they didn't stand up & walk away. Romeo was in front of all of them fanning away. A little while after that - we had gone inside -- we heard the males call & then the females make that "hank" honking sound - you know, like the sqeaky trumpet. So maybe they were getting some action on. I sure hope so!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Glad you that ol' possum. Was it going in the pea pen? Do you think it was eating the pea eggs?

Terri, I noticed one of the girls setting on the ground late last night (10:00 PM) near the area where they lay eggs. I wonder if she is wanting to go broody but has no eggs. Do any of your girls sleep on the ground?

Yeah! I loathe predators! I've been too lax; normally I keep my trap set pretty much all the time but I got away from the habit of setting it & moving it around.

They can't get into the pea pen; it is completely enclosed including chicken wire strung on steel cables across the top of it. My chicken run does not have a top on it. I lock them up in the coop every night & it has wire in an "L" shape all around it, so something would have to dig under pretty far to be able to break in. A small, narrow snake could possibly slip through - I have chicken wire over the 2x4 wire gate & the vented area at the top on one side. I did kill a larger snake last weekend who was trying to crawl through the open chicken door--in broad daylight! It hissed & struck at me. No it wasn't poisonous & no I didn't care one bit -- I grabbed a big stick I keep out there for just that purpose & demolished it! I tell you, you can't relax your vigilance for one second! EVERYthing loves chickens & eggs!

My girls still roost at night, but yesterday evening Jim & I were watching them & for the first time they were laying on the ground & D'art was laying in between them, touching them & they let him - they didn't stand up & walk away. Romeo was in front of all of them fanning away. A little while after that - we had gone inside -- we heard the males call & then the females make that "hank" honking sound - you know, like the sqeaky trumpet. So maybe they were getting some action on. I sure hope so!

WOW!!! Sounds like it was Pea "Date Night" at your place. That is wonderful news. I hope that you see eggs soon.

 

[Crimson Dove]

Hi everyone I have new pix of my feathered children to share lol I've just spent the past hr or so in the breeds section trying to figure out why they still don't look like the breed I was told they were

I think I have finally figured out what all I have but I may be wrong

All of them are about 10 wks now. First pic is Lightning and I now think she is a leghorn...based on her body shape and size... Second pic is Princess and I also think she is a leghorn for her color variation and size... Third pic is Red (left) and CF (right) and I beleive they are Cornish Rock roos because they are only 10 wks and already weigh 7 pounds! By the way is that healthy for them? Or are they "overweight" should I put them on a diet?? Fourth pic is Miss Kitty and I think she is a Red Star and the last pic is Madison and I'm not sure yet weather hen or roo, I'm thinking hen but it resembled a RIR to me more than anything else. Let me know if I'm wrong please.

 

[unrulypinup]

Alright Louisiana Layers-

We are having a temperature debate with our chicks. All the research we have done says that you should start the chicks at about 90-95 degrees, then move the temp up by 5 degrees every week until 70 degrees. Since we live in a really hot, humid climate, we feel that this might be detrimental to the chicks because they will be hitting 8 weeks around late june/early july. Since it will be over 100 degrees sometimes in the summer and rarely goes down to the 70's, should we just acclimate them to around 75- 80 degrees? We don't want them to get too used to having a cool climate only to be placed in an outdoor coop and run with a much higher temperature.

What do you all think? How can we make the transition easier on our new chicks?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Hi everyone I have new pix of my feathered children to share lol I've just spent the past hr or so in the breeds section trying to figure out why they still don't look like the breed I was told they were :/ I think I have finally figured out what all I have but I may be wrong All of them are about 10 wks now. First pic is Lightning and I now think she is a leghorn...based on her body shape and size... Second pic is Princess and I also think she is a leghorn for her color variation and size... Third pic is Red (left) and CF (right) and I beleive they are Cornish Rock roos because they are only 10 wks and already weigh 7 pounds! By the way is that healthy for them? Or are they "overweight" should I put them on a diet?? Fourth pic is Miss Kitty and I think she is a Red Star and the last pic is Madison and I'm not sure yet weather hen or roo, I'm thinking hen but it resembled a RIR to me more than anything else. Let me know if I'm wrong please.

Beautiful birds. You definitely have a Cornish. That is the first thing I said when I saw it. Where did you get the Cornish from? How did you end up with those? People usually process the Cornish at 8 weeks or so because they end up with leg problems, heart attacks, etc. It's not a breed that a person usually keeps around but it's not impossible for them to live longer.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Alright Louisiana Layers- 

We are having a temperature debate with our chicks. All the research we have done says that you should start the chicks at about 90-95 degrees, then move the temp up by 5 degrees every week until 70 degrees. Since we live in a really hot, humid climate, we feel that this might be detrimental to the chicks because they will be hitting 8 weeks around late june/early july. Since it will be over 100 degrees sometimes in the summer and rarely goes down to the 70's, should we just acclimate them to around 75- 80 degrees? We don't want them to get too used to having a cool climate only to be placed in an outdoor coop and run with a much higher temperature. 

What do you all think? How can we make the transition easier on our new chicks? 

I always let the chicks tell me if they or cold or hot. 100 degress can be VERY hot in Hot Louisiana. I put my group of RIRs out VERY early in the chicken yard with less than required heat for their age and they did FINE. None of them froze to death or had any problems. SO, I agree with you when you say to acclimate them to around 75 - 80 degrees and at the same time keeping an eye on them to make sure that they are ok.


I had my turkey poults at 80 degrees when most people would have had them at 95 degrees and they did great at that temp.

 

[unrulypinup]

@kuntrygirl these are my new chicks at 2 days old. I can see a feather or two popping through all the fluff!

 

[unrulypinup]

Thanks Kuntrygirl! I am going to try it and see how they react. It's a sharp learning curve with your first set of chicks, but I am so grateful to have the resources on this site available to make sure that I do the best I can.

 

[kuntrygirl]

@kuntrygirl these are my new chicks at 2 days old. I can see a feather or two popping through all the fluff! 

OMG !!!!!!!!!!!!! LOOK HOW CUTE !!!!!!!!

I love your setup. So creative!!!!!! I love the roosts !!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing the pics and look forward to seeing them grown and seeing more pics.

 

[unrulypinup]

Thanks! I will be posting pics as they get older.

When do the chicks start to feather out?