Minnesota!

[holm25]

That's pretty good for a Pekin. Do they lay during a certain season. One of my mom's friends had some geese, and they only laid in the spring. 

Pekins dont lay seasonal. But they do take 2 months off for molt

 

[duluthralphie]

Minnie Weasels (fill in the blank).

Sorry to hear one attacked you, You have had such a rough spring and now this.


I am hatching today (again) I have 2 poults now out of 20 eggs, I think that is all I am going to get. I have Bert eggs, Diamond encrusted egg and guinea eggs hatching tomorrow or day after. Based on my expert candling skills that is going to be a total loss too.


I have 35 eggs to hatch in next day, 2 out of 35 is better than average for me....geez

Whining over.

I tried to graft some chicks on a broody EE yesterday, I failed miserably, after about 3 hours the broody decided she hated the chicks. She is back in a nest box today acting like a snotty witch.

Censoring myself is so hard! I am going to try and move her tonight to a brooding box, She is taking up a nesting box and ticking off the working hens. I think this is the same EE that was broody a month ago and abandoned her eggs at about the 2 week mark.


The Cochins are adapting well to their new home. I have Bert eggs for them as soon as they go broody. BTW the toads are the cutest babies I have. I have moved my trip to Florida back to Sunday, I am planning on getting my CX's around June 15th. They should be nearly grown, but this trip has delayed them. If I get them on the 15th I should be able to process around Oct 1st.

Holm do your ducks lay eggs year round?

 

[Blackberry18]

Pekins dont lay seasonal. But they do take 2 months off for molt

That makes sense.

 

[holm25]

Ralph they do lay year round. But they molt in February!!!! Granted they dont freeze their butts of whe n they go swimming its still stupid of them to think of molting then.

I hope your broody is good to you this time and stays sitting. And I bet you that before the month is over you'll have a broody Cochin.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I tried grafting chicks to my Silkie last spring after her own hatched 3 days before. It was a No Go. Now triplell's cochins would graft, take over any chicks. She had a great broody momma down there when I picked up the creamettes.

 

[duluthralphie]

I was tempted to put them with Ethel she stole babies last year and I grafted some to her, when she was still laying eggs and not broody. The one batch of eggs she tried to sit on was a family affair, She and her 6 turkens sat on the nest together.

She is a special bird, just a little weird.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

Letting the warm air out on a cold Minnesota night is definitely something to wrap your head around! But yeah... The moisture rides up on it. On a 25 below night I'd be tempted to cover the holes myself but insulate the roof that makes a huge difference in temps without getting them too warm. My goal always is to keep the poop frozen and my birds climatized so they can go outside. I would turn that building so the vents are to the south (out of prevailing winter winds). Frame in some windows to the south as well so you get a nice bright winter day helping take off the edge. That's a nice building for birds! Kinda jealous here! Lol.

These factors affect how your coop will deal with moisture.
*roof line-- in my humble opinion you have the best.
* number of birds. More birds=more warmth. Tempting but also adds issues with moisture. Poop boards are our friends. Overcrowding on boring winter days: not good.
* head space above the roosts. Give that moisture a good amount of space to climb up and away from combs. For standard breeds you want roosts no higher than 2 feet anyways.
* size of the coop. Bigger=Slower to warm, but slower to cool down too. Yours looks like a dandy.
Consider also insulating your floor frame underneath. You may not need to provide any supplemental heat in the worst weather if that floor is holding in some animal warmth. The birds notice a cold floor-- that's for sure.

Agreed! That is my thinking, which I need to let go of. Makes sense how you put it. We still have to move the beast of a coop a bit further, so I'll try to turn it - great advice! I didn't think that far. Should I have all of the vents on one side? Outside of a hurricane, tornado, and blizzard, what would warrant closing the vents? Also, is it better to layer roosts? I've seen both and wasn't sure if it mattered. I found a great thread ( https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/945110/finally-started-my-big-coop/30 ) that gave me a great roost idea for the space I have. It'll put the roosts about 12-16in apart (I'll use 2x2 or 2x4) on a framed 2x4 with a poop board underneath. I'm all about easy cleaning : ) For now, I think I'll use the plastic nesting boxes Fleet Farm sells. Next Spring/Summer, I'd like to build (okay, have my hubby build) outside nest boxes and attach them. The chicks are growing like crazy, so I gotta get a move on.

It worked out perfect having that ice fishing house in the back. The former owners left it and I told my husband he can build his dream garage if he moves it and converts it to a coop. Needless to say, we now have 21 chicks and the former ice fishing house is on it's way to becoming a coop. Lol!

 

[Rhetts]

Just to clarify Minnie, there are no chicks in the brooder house. These were the ones in there until they moved to the big coop. The brooder house was empty. BUT you brought up something I had not thought of. IF she is sick with something she will infect the 3 I moved with her AND she will be sick in my brooder house. I better think of a better plan (and a disinfecting one) for separating birds in the future. Thanks

 

[holm25]

He got a boo boo. And does his poop look bad? Is there something wrong with him?

 

[Rhetts]

He got a boo boo. And does his poop look bad? Is there something wrong with him?

My eyes are not the best so can you tell me what I am looking at here in the first picture? What happened? What are you doing for treatment at the moment? Could that cause the poo to be off?