Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??

[NanaLynn]

Ok, so it was way too hot to get much done outside today. But my extension project is almost there. I'm second guessing the plan to close in the back wall with plywood just to save the money on hardware cloth. But I figure I could switch it out at a later date. I guess you can't really see it in the picture.

Just have to finish building the brooder area in the back. Then take down the existing hardware cloth between the two areas and move it to the new outside walls. And maybe take some better pics lol

I am excited to see more pictures of your progress. The plywood would be a good temporary solution until you get more hardware cloth. It looks great so far.

 

[NanaLynn]

I'm pretty careful about contamination. The shoes I wear to the barn don't come in my house and never on my grounds, just near garage. I bought Oxine and spray the boots with that as well. I try to change my clothes before I go out to my coop but I haven't every single time. I guess I could spray myself with the Oxine too. I haven't been working there much this summer since my 2 boys work there and my nephew when he's home from college but come Sept. it will be just me and my youngest son so I will be so much more careful. I'm thinking I will start leaving my boots at the barn so they don't even come home with me or into my car. Always open to suggestions if you have any!

I think you need to get some sloggers, I just got mine today from Amazon for a little over $24. Love them.

They are like shorter boots and they come in a variety of colors and designs, you can have a select pair for each coop!

That is great! I didn't even think about making an addition at a lower height. You don't need to be able to stand in every bit of the run. That opens up a lot more possibilities for expansion!

So true. I can reach in with a hoe and stir the sand and add more dirt, ash or sand when needed. It has a big opening from the other part of the run. Since it is at a lower level and I already had a board to hold in the run litter I am hoping that the DL in the run will stay there so they won't track too much of it into the sand box area. It is a little over 3 feet high.

That's awesome. Makes me consider adding a sandbox to our area. I definitely need to figure something out for them.

It was originally their sandbox for when they free ranged. My husband made it for them and then it bothered him that since we were keeping them locked up they could not get to it so he came up with the idea of framing it in and giving them access to it. I like the fact that we covered it too to keep the sand dry. I also love the fact that he decided on his own to build on to the run. Maybe I did out a few hints out there.

It was 12 x 6, now 12 x 10. I was hoping to go bigger but my darn tree line is in the way! Great shade there though.
He doesn't get picked on too much. He is really good at avoiding the girls. I figure this will go on for a while. I'm pretty sure he will mature late. He is 4 1/2 months old, so maybe another 2? I guess we'll wait and see.

Poor little guy, I bet he'll get his revenge soon enough, once those hormones kick in.

Here's some pics of Mamie's head and the culprit!

She just started to grow a few feathers above her eyes... normally it's bald there too.
I spray with blu-kote but it wears off, or pecked off I guess, in a few days. And poor Mamie hates getting it put on her. It's quite the ordeal so I don't
get it in her eyes. AND it doesn't even work cause she still must be pecking at her.

Poor Mamie. Daisy was our bad one. She was sweet to us. Hopefully you can find a good home for the culprit.

 

[NanaLynn]

Love it! I need to come up with contained area for their bathing. Might just talk bf into making something like this. Thanks You're welcome, post pics if you make one

Our coming of age boys, Rocco & Bruno the Buff's and Rojo the giant Rhode. Both Rocco and Rojo are crowing more and more. The alpha male is Rocco, then Rojo and Bruno seem to be fighting for the next in line.




On a side note, I CANT WAIT FOR SOME EGGS! Lol.

You have some pretty roosters! I wish we had the land to have some. I hope you get eggs soon, it is always so hard to wait. Buy a couple dozen at the store and then the hens will start laying, always worked for me.

On a related note I witnessed some pecking going on at bedtime last night in our coop. Elizabeth aka Baby Buff, my snuggly BO who has always seemed lower in the hierarchy has started challenging the others during the day again and trying to attack some of her sisters when I give them attention. I've warded her off when this happens, but the look and sound of rage coming from her, my goodness is she jealous! It makes me reconsider the possibility of letting her raise chicks if she goes broody in the future (plus reading a thread on here about murderous broody hens (infanticide) and the comments that several were Orps, yikes! Sadly I could she her getting pecky with them if I gave them attention).

I don't really have any idea what is going on with our pecking order and the girls are always changing their order on the roost. Morgaine the BCM is bossy when it comes to treats and to a lesser extent the feed. She will ward off her sisters with vocal warnings, pecks and chasing, especially Amelia the GB, who will cower and scurry away, (she's very timid and quiet despite having been the boldest as a chick) and Baby Buff (super human friendly but at odds with her sisters), sometimes Clara the EE (who is timid of humans and hangs back when I'm around but seems to stand her ground with her sisters) but not Victoria so much (who is also quiet and sweet and human friendly). I can't tell who is submitting when Baby goes after them though. Amelia usually raises her neck high but takes a step back. Clara usually flaps her wings. I don't think Baby ever challenges Morgaine so that tells me something.

But back to last night, Baby took the spot next to the window, Amelia perched next to her, then Victoria squeezed in between Amelia and Clara as she was late to roost and Morgaine on the end/middle (they tend to only use half the perch, though sometimes I see from the droppings board that one has been sleeping by the other window). So they are all shuffling and stepping on each other's feet but Baby keeps pecking at Amelia right next to her, who stays stiff as a statue, taller than her and Victoria one over who is settled down and just flinches a bit. Before I closed the door I tapped Baby on the beak and told her no. Then I watched from the window and blew at her when I saw her peck again. Sigh. Often one or two of them will face the other way which probably decreases the head pecking. I hope it doesn't escalate to feather pulling though. Hopefully they settle down and order is fully established once they start laying.

Baby and Morgaine are also the only two that sing "the egg song" if it is that They aren't laying yet and usually they only bock bock bagawk when they hear a loud sound, like this morning when there was tree trimming on our street while the girls were free ranging. Baby started clucking up a storm and for awhile the others didn't care, then they moved behind her and when the sound got louder they all went back into the run on their own. But other times it's Morgaine being the more alert one and sounding off, Baby joined in once and the others added some minor clucking but they are mostly quiet, that was last week when there was a garage band playing on the street behind us.

Sorry to ramble on. Here have a sweet picture of yesterday morning's free ranging. They turned 4 months

Cute picture with the hens and picket fence. Is that a little person in the picture too?

We have a little drama in our hen house but nothing like we had when our aggressive WR was terrorizing the younger ones. It is just a peck here and there from the 5 original gals to keep the 16 young ones in there place.

@NotableNancy
I tried to quote you about your baby BO. Our sweetest hen is our BO, they are very sociable and friendly but usually lower on the pecking order but she is higher in rank then the 16 young ones. I want more BO's in the future and wouldn't mind a whole flock of them, although then I would not have a variety of colors and eggs, so maybe not.

 

[trsturself]

We lost our br this morning. :-(
Yesterday morning she was in the nest box but then when I went out there in the afternoon to check on them I noticed she wasn't it free ranging. I found her standing in the coop. She just looked at me. She wasn't all fluffed up so I didn't think too much of it, though I did say to my daughter I don't think she feels well. When I checked on them last night she was in her usual spot on the top roost. I told my daughter we should bring her inside the next day. I don't know why I could just tell she wasn't herself. This morning I went to feed them and found her still sitting on the roost, breathing really hard. I could hear the rattle of her breathing. I told my daughter to bring her into a steamy bathroom and give her some water and yogurt when she got up.
Well I got a call from my daughter a little while ago totally crying. She found her dead in the coop. :-(
She was one of our firsts and very friendly. My daughter is taking it hard.
I'm going to stop and pick up some medicine on my way home to treat everyone else. I heard of ba sneezing this morning but no one else is showing signs. I'd been battling lice on her for awhile now. No matter what I did she seemed to always have them. Then we've had a lot of rain lately and I think her immune system was just too low. My daughter feels guilty that she slept in. I told her there was nothing she could've done and she said, "yeah but at least I could've made her more comfortable and spent time with her."

 

[christine9]

We lost our br this morning. :-(
Yesterday morning she was in the nest box but then when I went out there in the afternoon to check on them I noticed she wasn't it free ranging. I found her standing in the coop. She just looked at me. She wasn't all fluffed up so I didn't think too much of it, though I did say to my daughter I don't think she feels well. When I checked on them last night she was in her usual spot on the top roost. I told my daughter we should bring her inside the next day. I don't know why I could just tell she wasn't herself. This morning I went to feed them and found her still sitting on the roost, breathing really hard. I could hear the rattle of her breathing. I told my daughter to bring her into a steamy bathroom and give her some water and yogurt when she got up.
Well I got a call from my daughter a little while ago totally crying. She found her dead in the coop. :-(
She was one of our firsts and very friendly. My daughter is taking it hard.
I'm going to stop and pick up some medicine on my way home to treat everyone else. I heard of ba sneezing this morning but no one else is showing signs. I'd been battling lice on her for awhile now. No matter what I did she seemed to always have them. Then we've had a lot of rain lately and I think her immune system was just too low. My daughter feels guilty that she slept in. I told her there was nothing she could've done and she said, "yeah but at least I could've made her more comfortable and spent time with her."

Aww, I'm sorry to hear this.

 

[christine9]

I am excited to see more pictures of your progress. The plywood would be a good temporary solution until you get more hardware cloth. It looks great so far.

I've been thinking about how unhappy I am with the plywood. The solution I came up with is to drill small holes in the board to allow for even more ventilation. If I could make the holes in a pattern or maybe the outline of chickens, then I may like it. Kinda like you see lanterns or candle holders. Of course, this is the idea. The execution of the idea is a whole other thing. I am just not that artistic!

 

[christine9]

@trsturself
How old was your BR? Sometimes I wonder what to expect as a lifespan of these chickens. I've heard so many different numbers, but some seem to go without any real cause.
I hope your daughter will realize it's not her fault. It's really just a part of raising these animals.

 

[Melabella]

I am so proud of everyone shrinking those pictures! Makes reading so much simpler on my dinosaur, virus ridden computer! Always freezing and stopping so thanks all!

Only 5 more days till my Meyer order of 3 arrive! 2 Olive Eggers and 1 Golden Buff who will hopefully join the adult flick of layers in 4 months. My first delivery of 3 (2014 edition) are 14weeks and are big enough to hold their own but don't want to expose them to a courting rooster and not be able
Escape his advances when confined to the run because I will have to leave the entire flock in for a while so the reset their homing balance to a new coop. I want to wait until they at least are squatting and teaches sexual maturity.
I have been hatching with my little Brinsea mini advance for 4 hatches now and am getting ready to set my last batch of Swedish Flower Hens. Send me some positive pullet vibes everyone since my last attempt with SFH resulted in 3 hatching and two are cockerels. I want some girls to go with them both!! Melding all these different ages has proved challenging and I hope I can peacefully attain my goal of two desperate cohesive laying flocks!

MB

 

[christine9]

Only 5 more days till my Meyer order of 3 arrive! 2 Olive Eggers and 1 Golden Buff who will hopefully join the adult flick of layers in 4 months.
MB

Yay! Five more days for me too! Two blue ameraucanas, and one each: Ex Leghorn, light brahma, cuckoo marans, lav orp, welsummer, and speckled Sussex. Woohoo!!

 

[NanaLynn]

We lost our br this morning. :-(

I am so sorry and I hope that your daughter is doing okay.

I've been thinking about how unhappy I am with the plywood. The solution I came up with is to drill small holes in the board to allow for even more ventilation. If I could make the holes in a pattern or maybe the outline of chickens, then I may like it. Kinda like you see lanterns or candle holders. Of course, this is the idea. The execution of the idea is a whole other thing. I am just not that artistic!

What a cool idea! Find a simple chicken design on google, then trace it out and drill away, should work!

I am so proud of everyone shrinking those pictures! Makes reading so much simpler on my dinosaur, virus ridden computer! Always freezing and stopping so thanks all!

Only 5 more days till my Meyer order of 3 arrive! 2 Olive Eggers and 1 Golden Buff who will hopefully join the adult flick of layers in 4 months. My first delivery of 3 (2014 edition) are 14weeks and are big enough to hold their own but don't want to expose them to a courting rooster and not be able
Escape his advances when confined to the run because I will have to leave the entire flock in for a while so the reset their homing balance to a new coop. I want to wait until they at least are squatting and teaches sexual maturity.
I have been hatching with my little Brinsea mini advance for 4 hatches now and am getting ready to set my last batch of Swedish Flower Hens. Send me some positive pullet vibes everyone since my last attempt with SFH resulted in 3 hatching and two are cockerels. I want some girls to go with them both!! Melding all these different ages has proved challenging and I hope I can peacefully attain my goal of two desperate cohesive laying flocks!

MB

I still didn't figure out how to shrink it using the graph that you mentioned, I just made all of them "100" on the width.

5 more days!!! Awesome!!

Yay! Five more days for me too! Two blue ameraucanas, and one each: Ex Leghorn, light brahma, cuckoo marans, lav orp, welsummer, and speckled Sussex. Woohoo!!