Minnesota!

[farmrDAN]

The problem is that I'm in the middle of building a "new" coop and until that's done they stay in the garage until I get home from work. Once the coop is done they will be ranged all day.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Ah you put the horse before the cart. it happens in chickening. We had the roof left on the coop when I got the chicks. Plenty of time, I thought. By the time I got the hardware cloth on the windows, pop door rigged, last sealed screw in the steel roof, and last bell and whistle... The chicks were 6 weeks old. I agree with Theri. Any hatchery stock is going to have a few "failure to thrive" issues with all the modifying and crossing of familial members ( I'm guessing). Something's bound to go wrong with cookie batter. Free ranging gives them half a chance even if it's for only an hour or two befor dark or with a length of 3 foot fence wrapped in a circle. Hard to see living creatures in that state I'm sure.

 

[farmrDAN]

Yea I'm just replacing the floor. And I work for a civil engineering company and this summer has been crazy busy so it's taking a little longer to get the floor done than originally planned.

 

[NikonD2xer]

I had a broody HRIR give up on her clutch and I threw an incubator together in 15 minutes to see if I could save them. I ended up with 7 out of the 11 eggs she was sitting on hatching. Seeing i have an incubator now......i threw in some more eggs.

Just a couple of photos of my latest additions.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

They are just beautiful....!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

We have a lot of low spots in our yard and this year has been horrendous mosquito wise. My birds are constantly shaking out their legs and combs & wattles like I've never seen before. I walk down to the coop and my arms and legs are gray with Mosquitos. I'm hanging mint in the coop and today I threw out some mosquito dunks (bacterial larvicide) in our potholes. I've never used them before and wanted a biological approach with my birds free ranging and all -- I didn't want chemical sprays or granules in the lawn. Any body else use "dunks"? I'm just curious how fast we'll notice a difference. Lol. Today we have sustained (nice) winds and they are still ferocious! Crazy! I guess I can google lifespan of skeeters! Thanks all and happy swatting! Egads!

 

[farmrDAN]

Anyone use sand in their coops for litter? Any experience with it?

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I haven't used it. I have heard other MN or upper Midwesterners say that the birds don't like it in the winter as it retains a lot of cold and cold on their feet. Others say that they love it for cleaning.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I had a broody HRIR give up on her clutch and I threw an incubator together in 15 minutes to see if I could save them. I ended up with 7 out of the 11 eggs she was sitting on hatching. Seeing i have an incubator now......i threw in some more eggs.

Just a couple of photos of my latest additions.

The third picture needs a caption, "Did you see what just came out of your BUTT???"

 

[zsooman]

Hello, don't get on and reply to often but I read this tread as often as I can. In response to the question about the Cornish X, we had that happen last year. We've never had that problem with ones we've ordered from Sunnyside, but have had it happen with some from L&M. I can't remember which hatchery they came from. I agree that it's not "flip". Its almost like they have an inner ear problem or they're drunk. When the first one did it I was worried about it having got into some chemical or something, but it wasn't that because that was the only one it happened to in that batch. In 4 batches we had 3 that did it. When it happened I butchered each one and did a pretty through post-mortem on them. For the life of me I couldn't find anything. They're internal organs all seemed fine. The leg bones were OK. I finally came to the same conclusion as was mentioned that they must just have been on the low end of the gene pool.

We raise ours on pasture and feed them twice a day, morning and evening. They are allowed to free range from about 8AM to 7pm.

I'm not a vet nor do I play one on TV, but did go to the U for Natural Resource Management so it's just my $.02. Hope it gives a little explanation.

On a side note I have to agree with Triplell that ours don't grow as fast but they don't have as many leg problems. Plus its funny watching those fat wide bodies chasing bugs. Makes me think of what a T-Rex probably looked like

.

Matt