Maine

[IZZYBELLA]

Usually green is one of two things: lots of green food consumed or an internal failure... kidneys or liver, I can't recall. Just keep an eye on her and if she is acting fine save the worrying for when someone needs you to. I love this saying, "Don't trouble trouble till trouble troubles you."

Thanks, ash.

 

[suzMEchicks]

I don't know the answer but I know one of mine was doing something weird like that but totally watery and very green and all over the place. I thought Oh no, now what. I couldn't figure out which one either. But nothing ever came of it.

 

[malcom]

Hello all northern mainer here lookin to get up and running with chickens this summer .need to build a shack but have no clue as to how much room I need to have for each bird to roost.

 

[Jazor]

Hello all northern mainer here lookin to get up and running with chickens this summer .need to build a shack but have no clue as to how much room I need to have for each bird to roost.

They take very little room to roost. Especially when it's cold, they will pack in tightly for warmth. How many birds do you have, or are you planning to get?

If you are unsure how many birds you want, or are getting, but know how big of a coop/shed you've got to work with--maybe you can use that as a starting point. If you believe you can house a dozen birds in it, start there.

Lots of great info on this site, and plenty of quick responses within this thread here. Good to see ya join!

 

[lazy gardener]

Plan on 10" to 1 linear foot for large fowl. They will cram into a much smaller space when they're on the roost, but they need room for the flight or hop up onto the perch, and then a bit of space for the nightly squabble over sleeping arrangements. It's also nice if you have more than one roost for pecking order issues, the roosts should be above the height of the nest boxes. Some folks use a poop board under the roost, others just use deep litter and plan on the accumulation getting stirred into the litter.

 

[Jazor]

Usually green is one of two things: lots of green food consumed or an internal failure... kidneys or liver, I can't recall. Just keep an eye on her and if she is acting fine save the worrying for when someone needs you to. I love this saying, "Don't trouble trouble till trouble troubles you."

I see this from mine time to time--but then again I feed them lots of left over veggies. They all tend to seem ok, even when they are dropping greenish presents for me to avoids stepping in. Honestly, it never crossed my mind that something may be wrong with them for it. Just figured it was green in, green out!

Plan on 10" to 1 linear foot for large fowl. They will cram into a much smaller space when they're on the roost, but they need room for the flight or hop up onto the perch, and then a bit of space for the nightly squabble over sleeping arrangements. It's also nice if you have more than one roost for pecking order issues, the roosts should be above the height of the nest boxes. Some folks use a poop board under the roost, others just use deep litter and plan on the accumulation getting stirred into the litter.

All of these things are pretty much exactly correct. My birds basically refuse to roost on anything but the highest perch, so there is room enough for all of them to roost, but half of them sleep in the corner huddled together. I plan to rebuild their roost to see if I can get them all to get off the ground, but they tend to do what they want!

 

[lazy gardener]

A couple of days ago, I planted the idea of a new, larger, stick built coop in hubby's brain. I just casually dropped the bomb, and then moved on to other subjects. Last night, he brought up the subject... and is actually entertaining the possibility. Of course there's still the issue of where it goes, with our yard not being the typical expanse of open green. And I want it to have a dirt floor, which raises some construction nightmares... but, we'll see where this idea goes. Also sharing my breeding ideas with him. Though he won't be an active participant, at least he's receptive!

If we build this summer, I'll have a lovely fort knox cattle panel coop (8 x 8 with an insulated sleeping loft: 4 x 6, outside attached nest boxes) for sale.

 

[boskelli1571]

It's amazing what you can achieve with a small planted seed!

I do believe chickens should come with an addiction warning!

 

[lazy gardener]

Welcome to Maine!

 

[lazy gardener]

Malcom, An other consideration when planning your coop: You'll want those roost bars to be plenty wide. Most folks use a 2 x 4 with the 3.5" side oriented so it's under the girl's feet. If they're on a skinny little perch, they're more apt to loose toes and nails to frost bite.