Maine

[TAMMACLEAN]

I give up.

???

 

[MustardTiger]

The succulent is some kinda creeping sedum. Def. not poison ivy on the other one either.

 

[Rubymoonlaundry]

I would love some chicken advice! We have 7, 4 week old chicks who have already outgrown 2 of our makeshift brooders. They are getting cramped, unruly and bigger by the day. When can I get them in the outside coop? WE don't have anymore room and need them out of the kitchen! Any help would be greatly appreciated! We live in Maine and it is still down in teh 40's at night.

 

[lazy gardener]

Oh, how well I hear you. 4 weeks seems to be the limit of tolerance. I have mine down in the garage which is under the bedrooms. Unfortunately, the dust and chick smell has a way of wafting up the stairs. It's not bad when the garage door is opened... Mine are hopefully getting out for good within the next week.

Can you get an appliance box? That might buy you some more time. Or, if they are fully feathered, they should be able to go out now. Most of us tend to coddle our chicks, and i am one of those guilty ones. If they have a place to cuddle and share their body heat, they should be fine at this age. One thing that will help them adjust outside, and would work well for your 7 chicklets would be a broody bucket or box. One of the gals on an other thread made one by taking a spackle bucket, laying it on it's side, and drilling a bunch of holes in the side which is now the top. She then threaded a bunch of 1" strips of fleece through the holes, with knots to keep them from sliding all the way through. A bit of hay in the bottom, and the chicks have a nice place to snuggle under the strips of fleece. One thing I'd do, is cut out a portion of what used to be the bottom of the bucket, also cut out a hole from the top of the bucket, and put that back on, so the chicks can enter through a large hole from each end. (Imagine a nesting box open from the front and the back) That would help to keep the bedding in the bottom of the bucket. You could improvise by using a large box.

 

[Cknldy]

Busy, busy! Aren't we all glad we asked for warmer weather? The plant looks like the common blackberry around here. Or briars as most folks call them since they get poked all the time. Ran out of wire today while building a run for the bantam cage/coop. That stuff runs out fast!

 

[quailtrail]

What a beautiful day!!! So wish I could've been outside! !!! Chickens are loving running around and finding lots of stuff in the yard.

My Dominique eggs arrived!!! Going in the bator soon. Lock down today for my SLW and Ameraucanas! !!

 

[ashandvine]

Black berry and brambles are related to and do look like Swamp Dewberry. Swamp Dewberry creeps by runners and does have very hairy runners at that. It will put out small berries that are at first green then red and then finally black much like a small blackberry. They are edible.

Rubymoonlaundry you can put your chicks anywhere protected at night so long as you provide them some source of supplimental warmth. At this point I would put a heating pad in there but I do know one woman who puts a hot water bottle in with hers. You could set a smaller box in the large coop so they could huddle in it at night and it would hold their own heat better. Stuff it well with straw or leaves or shavings and let them snuggle in there. Lazy's idea of a bucket is an interesting one. I don't do that myself but I do use buckets for nesting boxes on occasion.

Three new chicks today. I am glad to have more Orloffs in the incubator but I am really well and done with raising them in the house myself. I can't wait to be done. I am still waiting on ducks and geese, sadly, but the garden is beckoning and I have a summer camp to run so my energy can't be spent worrying over all these little chicks. I hope more than three hatch out tonight or else.

Jazor-- we have a rooster we chase regularly now. He got the idea he could flog and we remind him we are bigger on regular occasions so he's in the habit of fleeing from us. I do think it would have been fun to watch you and yours though.

 

[lazy gardener]

Perhaps we could plan a chicken rodeo. I'm sure my little leg horns would be champions at human evasion. An other event could be "chicken calling". Could even have a version of chicken karaoke, or "name that chicken song". ie: the broody growl, the rooster tid-bitting, the "I saw a hawk trill", the most annoying crow and egg song... Then, there could be the rooster strut, the layer squat, the chicken shuffle or moon walk... the options for amusement are endless.

Ash, my chicks will be 5 weeks old this weekend. Do you think they'll be ok outside with a well stuffed large box for their night time warmth? There are 28 of them, and my biggest fear is that the little guys will get squished by the meaties. I really don't want to separate them yet.

My winter hay bale cold frames are looking pretty good in spite of the brutal winter... still nothing compared to previous seasons, but the spinach and lettuce are nicely sized.

Am layering one garden bed with last years hay mulch, coop cleanings, including the stuff that desperately needs to come out right now. (poo and shavings) last years pile of grass clippings, a full winter's worth of hay/leaves/poo in the lower level of the coop. Topping it all off with flakes of wintered over mulch hay and a bit of top soil. It should be at least a foot tall, and will have a lot of hot stuff. In spite of that, will plant squash directly into it, and see what happens. The garlic that is pushing up through the shavings/poo layed down last fall and winter is looking awesome. So much for the old "never use wood products in a garden b/c they'll leach out the nitrogen."

I'd love to have a Lazy Gardener clone right now. This time of year, there's more work than this old body can manage, and I'd love to be outside sun up to sun down. Of course when I most want to be home, I get called in to work, and then there's baseball season.

 

[CoopChick719]

I would love some chicken advice! We have 7, 4 week old chicks who have already outgrown 2 of our makeshift brooders. They are getting cramped, unruly and bigger by the day. When can I get them in the outside coop? WE don't have anymore room and need them out of the kitchen! Any help would be greatly appreciated! We live in Maine and it is still down in teh 40's at night.

Hi Rubymoonlaundry & Welcome!! I've 16 4 week olds (8 meat birds/8 layers) in an appliance box w/attached dog crate in the garage. As soon as I open the breezeway door, I can smell them. However, it's not an unpleasant smell but I'm sure my family would disagree w/me.

I've got to clean out my deep litter in the coop & run before I can move them to the coop.


In the same boat with the 4 week olds, LG!! I saw the chick bucket and loved it!! Here's a link to that thread w/pictures of the bucket.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/729605/the-natural-chicken-keeping-thread-ots-welcome/30390

Perhaps we could plan a chicken rodeo. I'm sure my little leg horns would be champions at human evasion. An other event could be "chicken calling". Could even have a version of chicken karaoke, or "name that chicken song". ie: the broody growl, the rooster tid-bitting, the "I saw a hawk trill", the most annoying crow and egg song... Then, there could be the rooster strut, the layer squat, the chicken shuffle or moon walk... the options for amusement are endless.

Ash, my chicks will be 5 weeks old this weekend. Do you think they'll be ok outside with a well stuffed large box for their night time warmth? There are 28 of them, and my biggest fear is that the little guys will get squished by the meaties. I really don't want to separate them yet.

I'd love to have a Lazy Gardener clone right now. I'd love to be outside sun up to sun down.

Chicken rodeo?!!! Good one!!

I separated my meaties from the layers but put them back together hence the attached dog crate. I think everyone was happy--they were all snuggled next to each other. One of the Wyandottes was stretched across one of the meaties--both of them were sound asleep.

So much for the old "never use wood products in a garden b/c they'll leach out the nitrogen." All that good chicken poo nitrogen!!

I'd love to be outside sun up to sun down. Me too! I just wish someone else would cook dinner while I'm outside!! Just love that question when I come in from outside, tired but a good tired, it's nearly dark--"What's for dinner?" My reply usually is "All of you are fully capable of cooking dinner!!"

The day has come...my sister wants her chicken tractor back! NOOOOOOOO!!

Update on my meatie who is not standing. He stood up a couple times last night! I think to try to get away from me who was forcing him to drink water. I tucked him a corner of the brooder this morning because everyone was stepping on him and he was having a fit--rightly so! I noticed him picking at some feed that was on the floor in front of him so I gave him a little pile all his own. He wouldn't eat out of the dish I gave him but would from the floor. I just wish he would drink more!! I moved him into his own bachelor pad--a small animal trap w/lots of soft shavings, his own food, water and heat.

 

[buckabucka]

I need clones too, LG, if you get around to making some. Too busy here. Tons to do at school, I need to start planting the garden, chickens are locked up in beautiful weather because I haven't finished with the fences, must move all my daylilies before the basement guys come, cut back the old asparagus and raspberry canes, etc, care for the chicks and chickens, seedlings....... I did say I would start exercising. Maybe when school ends.