Michigan

[Henny Penny04]

Quote:
If you were to post some pictures it might make offering a solution a little easier. Without seeing it I can only assume that you have the door too large.

I would love to post pictures but I cant find my camera chord. I like the idea someone else had about putting a rod up..that may work!! I have a pull string coop door opener so the rope pulls the door up (slides it) and I hook it to the fence so I dont have to walk all the way into the hen yard to open it and close it. The nubian (her name is rosie by the way) learned that if she pushes hard enough with her noggin that she can lift the door up higher (I only open the door about half way because little stinker pants kept walking right in like it was her own personal doggie door)

Im going to have the hubby put a rod up tonight, that way even if the door is open all the way, she cant get through.

praying it works

does anyone know if goats will get sick off of chicken feed and chicken poop? I sure hope not! Shes already stressed from moving to our house (just got her on Monday)

Thanks you guys!

ps. still selling some bantam golden sebrights, three hens and a rooster. laying small white eggs.

Yes, they can get sick. If she eats too much, she could bloat. If the chix feed is medicated, it can cause a vitamin deficiency. Best to keep her out!

 

[keyt1969]

Ok, now I'm worried. Last night I put all the duck eggs flat, and it was supposed to be the last day I turn them. Today about four of them the eggshells look stained black. Are they dead now?

I was so freaked out about the eggs that I opened it up to take a pic of one of them. That was when I noticed one of my cayuga eggs had a pip (the green one by Aric's pinky finger) and 3 others were moving like crazy!!!

 

[theron]

Getting ready for the Whittemore Swap tomorrow. We are bringing serama chicks, old english game bantam chicks, millie fleur duccle chicks, easter egger chicks, and older easter egger youngsters. We are also bringing some golden laced sebright chicks and a pair of quail d'anvers. Hope we come home with more than we bring and hope to see some of you there!

 

[Farmer Andy]

Welcome to bigbeck, hillbillycitygirl, and MIfarmgirl. I'm new to chickens within the last two years also. I'm in a township just outside of GR which shall remain nameless due to my chickens illegal status. Opa is right, there are many wonderful people on this thread and although I've never met him his advice on here is top notch. I really enjoy reading his posts.

Opa- you are so right about the poop boards. In my old coop I started out without them and what a mess. Now all I do is go out and shovel them off and the coop is good as new. I think I only changed the shavings on the floor of my coop maybe twice over the winter. And don't worry you're not the only one who has gone a couple weeks in between cleaning the poop boards.

Hillbillycitygirl- good luck keeping your goat out of the coop. I had two pygmy goats and they could squeeze thru the smallest pop door I could come up with. I tried making new feeders for the chickens that I thought the goats couldn't get into. Nothing seemed to work for me, but there are some great ideas from people on here. You took a good first step and asked for suggestions. Good Luck

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

[Opa]

My tail is draggin'. I did the trimming with the weed whip and then started in cleaning the large fowl coop. It amazing how much crud can accumulated in two years. The dust and dander that had built up on everything was no longer tolerable. I took everything out, opened all the doors and windows, and then fired up the leaf blower. With the volume of dust blowing out the windows it looked like the coop was on fire. Then everything was wiped down and the floor swept and mopped. Didn't get to the xmas light so I will have to try again tomorrow.

I am looking forward to the next batch of eggs in my new incubator. I checked the eggs in the one I've been using and trying to see inside is a real hassle. One chick has hatched and two others have pipped. The pips in one occurred early this morning and hasn't advanced much further than when I first checked. While I didn't expect to have any othe these eggs hatch, I hope that I get at least one more. Since chickens are a flock creature they do much better if they have a hatchmate.

Andy, I appreciate the compliment. Many years ago I decided that each day I would try to be the nicest person people would meet in their day. What initially required a little work now has become second nature and I have reaped rewards beyond measure. BYC has become a great place to practice the helpful attitude and hopefully my posts can brighten someones day or keep them from making some of the mistakes I have made. One early problem with chickens I encountered was egg eaters. After realizing that the commercially available rollout nest were beyond my means I designed first a 2 nest box and then a six nest box. I first posted the 2 nest box and the requests for it was unbelieveable. I have probably sent the plans free of charge to well over a hundred people. To lessen the number of emails I might have to send I started a new thread for the six nest rollout with very detailed instructions and pictures.

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi farm girl Pam, welcome!

Opa, I looked around home depot last time I was in there for any kind of plastic sheets, were the RFP panels in the wood section?

 

[Opa]

RFP is kept in the same aisle as the paneling. It is white, smooth on one side and pebble finish on the other. Obviously you will want to install it with the smooth surface up. It costs about $25 for a 4x8 sheet.

This morning two chicks had pipped. About 10am one was slightly larger and you could see movement in the shell. The other was well into zipping. Around 2pm the zipped egg was upside down and a wet chick was not far away. The 2nd egg had not changed. Check again at 4pm not change in the pipped egg but a 3rd egg had pipped. Tonight 830pm no changes in pipped eggs nor are there any more.

When you see a chick struggling it is difficult to not want to help it. However, you risk killing the others if you open the incubator. The temperature and humidity will drop no matter how quick you are and sometimes that small difference is enough to doom the remaining hatch. This information comes from sad personal experience. Something to keep in mind with a struggling chick. If it's having trouble there is a reason. It's not a very strong chick and you don't want any but the strong to survive. It is a sad reality of nature. So sit on your hands, leave the incubator closed and quit worrying and overthinking this whole hatching process.

 

[Farmer Andy]

1 muttsfan- I know I'm not Opa but at our Home Depot in Grand Rapids they are near the wood section with the paneling. Our HD has them laying flat instead of vertical like the paneling. It is the stuff used in commercial or institutional type bathrooms. Hope this helps.

 

[1muttsfan]

Thanks opa and farmer andy, will look again next time I make it to the big city

 

[keyt1969]

Well, after several hours of searching, Aric or I can't find anything similar to the darkened eggs I posted earlier. I even posted the same question under the incubating eggs section and really didn't get any answers there either. Good news is just about every other egg minus the 4 darkened ones are moving. Two have pipped.

Had more egg customers today. I think it's hard to know where to go because there's nowhere to put a sign in this yard without mailboxes or bushes blocking it, and if we put it at our other house next door...well, we don't live there lol. So Aric will need to make another sign with the address on it and put a sign on the door of the other house. Every time I've sold eggs we've been outside.
Funny thing was yesterday when we went to go get feed, I found rolled up money in 2 different places in my purse, more in my jacket and more in the bathroom....totaling $62!

So I fixed up a coffee can (been saving them up for a few traffic light bird houses) and put it all in there.

Also made headway with Bella the pot belly pig! Aric and I are now finally able to scratch her ears. Tonight after she realized we weren't enemies, she loved that ear scratching and after a few minutes, she fell asleep standing up and then jolted up as if she was surprised. A little while later she came back for more, taking time between the two of us. After doing that off and on for a few hours, she came up to where we were sitting and laid down...literally like a dog does and let us rub her belly. SO funny!! Definitely need to get video of that!

I re-inured my hand with torn ligaments. Last night I went to see if the neighbor across the street still had his trash in our yard. I took the flashlight onto the porch and when I turned around and went to step over the dog, she stood up at the same time. I landed directly on my damaged hand! Aric tried not to laugh (falling is a daily occurance for me..no joke so most of the time I laugh too) then asked why I didn't turn on the porch light. I had a flashlight!

No doubt I injured my hand further, but I also busted a bone in my calf and it's very swollen. Everytime we've looked at it today we've all had a good laugh!! Let's just say I've become very good friends with my frozen vegetables lately