My husband and I have been having a very interesting discussion this morning. The city has been working on a creek restoration project for the past couple of years. We live right beside the creek, it runs right behind the chicken coop. Anyway our land has a sharp slope/hill in the front and back. When the kids were younger and played ball, the ball would always end up rolling down the hill to the creek. We always wished our land was more level. The city has offered to level up our land in the front and reseed it and make it look nice while they finish up the waterway work that they are doing. They mentioned also doing the same in the back yard but the chickens are in the way, coop, run and my garden. That got my husband thinking and me too, of course. We are going to see if they can still raise up our back yard too if we move the chicken coop. It may not work out but if it does, that means I will have a whole new coop for the chickens. Here is the current coop and run. This is before the chickens were inside, we've added more fencing since this picture, plus we had to add tarps since the roof to the metal shed that we refurbished leaked. Here is a current picture of the run and coop. The coop is under the ugly tarp. There is a family of squirrels living under the tarp now too between the roof of the coop and the tarp. They crawl under the tarp there on the side to get to their new home. You can see one of the cities machines there in the back. Here is a look at the raised bed garden where they free range, you can see the coop and run there in the back and where the city is working, the creek is right on the other side of all that dirt. So we'll have to move all of this and I will have to delay having a garden awhile until they finished. In the meantime, our plan is to move them into one of our sheds. This one is 8 x 10, which is the same size as the metal shed they are in now, but it also is a lot taller with a real roof and everything. They'll have more space overall and I can give them some high roost too. I won't have to use plastic to cover the windows either. Any windows we put will have to saw out of the sides, then the piece left over will become a cover for the window that I can close. I hope it works! If the city agrees to fixing the yard in the back, we'll have a lot of work ahead of us. Here is the shed that we will convert over. It is much closer to out house and at the top of the hill. This is a picture from the summer when everything was green and blooming and there was no construction. If you look beyond those trees to the left you can see the chicken run which is way down the hill. Our plan is to first fix the shed as a coop. Then make a ally of fencing to lead them to it. After we get them all inside their new coop, we'll start dismantling the run, hopefully we can save the run to reuse. Then we'll demolish the old coop/metal shed. Should be interesting, if the plan works! Sorry to go on so long, I am excited and you guys understand my excitement. My family does not get it. My husband is the only one here who understand.
I almost can't believe it worked! I substituted almost everything for stuff I had around and it didn't stick to itself at all before baking, but it worked!
Hello, I have an order in for 4 Black Australorps, 4 Rhode Island Reds, 4 golden Buffs, 3 Buff Orpington, 3 Delawares, 2 Barred Rocks and 2 Dominiques and a meal maker. They are coming from Meyer on March 17th. I think it will be a beautiful mix of good layers but I am now worried about fighting. Some say that Delawares can be very aggressive. Should I replace them with something else? What kinds of experiences has everyone had? I am new to Backyard Chickens - the site and the lifestyle! Your words of wisdom would be much appreciated!
I have had all those breeds before except the Delewares. I really love all of them, I no longer have a Dominique but wish that I did, the one I had was so sweet and a great layer. My RIR is a great layer too and lays an extra large egg. Delewares are pretty hens though. Good luck with your new venture! I've been keeping chickens for a year now and have enjoyed most of it except for predators, make sure you are prepared for those.
Welcome!! I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with the Delawares but hopefully someone else on here will be and can give you some advice.
If you do decide to swap for something else, the Easter Eggers would fit in nicely with your birds that you've chosen and they would add some great blue/green color to your egg basket! The EE's have a nice personality and are so cute with their fluffy cheeks
Wow, ladies, thanks for the quick responses! I was thinking of switching for EEs if I made a change. It would be fun to get blue or green eggs in the mix! I'll give that some more thought!
NotableNancy, here is a pic of my adorable sultan pullet from Meyer. I actually picked her from the bin inside meyers store, thinking she was a faverolle but I don't regret getting her. She is such a sweetheart. Although they are poor layers as I'm still waiting on her and my polish to lay.
I lifted the flock block out of the pan to hang it and it fell apart, so I just set it on a tray on the floor in their coop. I tried to get some pictures of the girls for all of you, but they were too busy running around the coop to hold still for the camera. I did manage to get a few pictures though.
The girls will all be 10 months on the 5th.
Ellie - (Easter Egger)
She was getting really bored in her cage away from the other girls, so I let her out to run around the garage. She doesn't even seem to realize that anything is wrong with her.
Lilly - (Black Australorp)
Poor girl is missing almost all of her head feathers...
Annie - (White Leghorn)
The girls enjoying their flock block. The one standing on it is not from Meyer. She's my almost 6 year old rescue hen.
And my naughty girl in her "chicken jail". I love this girl to death, but man is she naughty!
Oh and I can't forget Sunni! She loves it in the house. She's my little spoiled rotten girl.
We lost a total of 5 chicks. Not too bad for the weather they went through though. I totally forgot about the 15 chick minimum order. I guess I'll have to have them hold it until Apr, or order more chicks. lol
I sold the Partridge Rock and SLW today. I only stayed at the swap for 30 min. It was 16deg out and snowing. I had a heating pad on for the chicks but once the snow started really coming down and filling the back of my car I called it quits.
My husband and I have been having a very interesting discussion this morning. The city has been working on a creek restoration project for the past couple of years. We live right beside the creek, it runs right behind the chicken coop. Anyway our land has a sharp slope/hill in the front and back. When the kids were younger and played ball, the ball would always end up rolling down the hill to the creek. We always wished our land was more level.
The city has offered to level up our land in the front and reseed it and make it look nice while they finish up the waterway work that they are doing. They mentioned also doing the same in the back yard but the chickens are in the way also the coop, run and my garden. That got my husband thinking and me too, of course. We are going to see if they can still raise up our back yard too if we move the chicken coop. It may not work out but if it does, that means I will have a whole new coop for the chickens. Here is the current coop and run.
This is before the chickens were inside, we've added more fencing since this picture, plus we had to add tarps since the roof to the metal shed that we refurbished leaked.
Here is a current picture of the run and coop. The coop is under the ugly tarp. There is a family of squirrels living under the tarp now too between the roof of the coop and the tarp. They crawl under the tarp there on the side to get to their new home. You can see one of the cities machines there in the back.
Here is a look at the raised bed garden where they free range, you can see the coop and run there in the back and where the city is working, the creek is right on the other side of all that dirt.
So we'll have to move all of this and I will have to delay having a garden awhile until they finished.
In the meantime, our plan is to move them into one of our sheds. This one is 8 x 10, which is the same size as the metal shed they are in now, but it also is a lot taller with a real roof and everything. They'll have more space overall and I can give them some high roosts too. I won't have to use plastic to cover the windows either. Any windows we put we'll have to saw out of the sides, then the piece left over will become a cover for the window that I can close. I hope it works! If the city agrees to fixing the yard in the back, we'll have a lot of work ahead of us.
Here is the shed that we will convert over. It is much closer to our house and at the top of the hill.
This is a picture from the summer when everything was green and blooming and there was no construction. If you look beyond those trees to the left you can see the chicken run which is way down the hill.
Our plan is to first fix the shed as a coop. Then make a alley of fencing to lead them to it. After we get them all inside their new coop, we'll start dismantling the run, hopefully we can save the run to reuse. Then we'll demolish the old coop/metal shed. Should be interesting, if the plan works!
Sorry to go on so long, I am excited and you guys understand my excitement. My family does not get it. My husband is the only one here who understands.
Here is a current picture of the run and coop. The coop is under the ugly tarp. There is a family of squirrels living under the tarp now too between the roof of the coop and the tarp. They crawl under the tarp there on the side to get to their new home. You can see one of the cities machines there in the back.
Our plan is to first fix the shed as a coop. Then make a ally of fencing to lead them to it. After we get them all inside their new coop, we'll start dismantling the run, hopefully we can save the run to reuse. Then we'll demolish the old coop/metal shed. Should be interesting, if the plan works! Sorry to go on so long, I am excited and you guys understand my excitement. My family does not get it. My husband is the only one here who understand.
