Minnesota!

[holm25]

This is the front. The window will be replaced with a vent, although we installed a new ceiling.

That'll make a great coop!!! Very nice

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I'm drooling over that building Scandia! Holy buckets you guys with your awesome buildings for chickens! I'm telling you Minnesota Peeps know how to rock chicken coops!

No sign of Fern this morning. I'm a bit more skeptical of her return and will take a walk around for feather piles. We've had some ducks nesting in the nearby pot hole and that is nothing in itself...but what happens is the hawks move in and harrass and I'm afraid Miss Fern is the perfect size for a "pick up" . I also am a firm believer in a dog in the yard. Bears, hawks, critters of most sorts do not care for a dog meandering around a yard. 4 1/2 more weeks for the pup to get here. I hope I'm not chickenless by that point.


And not to sound too horrid, I hope. Why couldn't it have been one of the henopausals? Dang it!

Scott how's it going with the hurt beak on your SLW? Poor thing.

I've got a Bumble Toe on my BLRW I need to take care of this week. Her little toe is swelling a bit now trying to fight it off. Might need a little maintenance/intervention from me.

I've fought off mites and lice. I did drops of ivermectin pour on. And it licked the problem. Held eggs two weeks...which wasn't a problem since it was winter. But it's no fun cleaning out bedding and hauling vaccuums and such out to the coop. I also got neem oil to spray the roosts.

 

[scandiafowl]

Nice big building!  You could partition that off great for brooders and separate pens if needed, very nice.

Thanks for the idea! I was going to separate for feed and supplies,

 

[Cyrus83]

So I got home from the headwaters of the cloquet river yesterday. Apparently while I was gone someone's geese took up residence in my backyard. I almost forgot how dumb these things are!

 

[scandiafowl]

So I got home from the headwaters of the cloquet river yesterday. Apparently while I was gone someone's geese took up residence in my backyard. I almost forgot how dumb these things are!

Wild or domestic geese?

 

[Cyrus83]

Domestic, look like African geese, and God had to have laughed when he made them because they sound so dumb

 

[Minniechickmama]

Nordic they would be good to go at maturity which is at the 20 week mark or so. They say when the testosterone starts really flowing the meat also changes flavor. ( not as good according to chicken meat connoisseurs.). Some people will even caponize to keep flavor intact. To me that's a lot of work and the birds still taste like chicken to me.

The hormones also add to the toughness. I have tried canning those older, tougher birds and it is great! You can do it with the meat on the bone still. You don't need anything but a pinch of salt and the cut up bird. It comes out super tender and flavorful! It is great for salads and casseroles and soups. I find they are just to tough for a roaster. There is the option of fryers, but they are still a bit tough and stringy. You can also try a recipe for coq au vin with them.
I have tried caponizing. First, it is a pain in the *** to do, and difficult to get the testicles out without causing them to bleed out by nicking the artery that they are next too. I did a few one year that were culls anyway, and after 6 months, I didn't notice much difference in size other than they were more laid back and didn't show as much rooster qualities as the intact birds.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I have heard (on hear) so take it for what it is worth, turning the lights off can be traumatic on them, which is why I never use a light at night, other than my flashlight to catch them..

I am still in Florida, will be forever I am afraid. DW called the other day, I lost my largest BBW turkey. I had a cover on a bucket with watercups on the side/bottom, I had put a cover on the bucket that was easy to remove for my DW while I was gone. The silly bird someone got on top the bucket cover wrapped itself in the twine I had tied to the cover and fell into the bucket and drowned.

Turkey Poults are so dumb!

She says I lost a couple young chicks I never saw either, one had trailing yolk sack she sad when it hatched. The other was just weak. I have never had one hatch with that dangling yolk sac or umbilical and live yet. She says the Cochins are still not laying eggs, by the time I get home they will be in the general population. DW said she thought I needed to buy another game bird net and make a bigger run for the creamettes, There is hope for that woman yet! I wonder what Cochin creamette cross babies would be like? I am thinking "Fuzzy Chocolate Bars" for a name.

When I was having all my problems with hatching for that streak this Spring, I had quite a few with the yolk not completely absorbed or their guts hanging out. It is from a humidity problem from what I had been reading. Sorry to hear of your bad luck. Sorry you are stuck in FLA. I was stuck there at one time too, 4 1/2 years in Jax and another 6 months in Umatilla (30 miles north of Orlando), and let's not forget boot camp from March to May in Orlando. Blah! The humidity! Kind of like what we are going to have tomorrow and the next day after this rain. Yuck!

I am surprised you haven't gotten any eggs from the Cochins? I expected they might not lay for a few days, but they should have given you something by now. Then again, half my hens are suddenly not laying much.
Playing with crossing Cochins with other breeds is fun, they most certainly will have some feathering on their legs.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Have any of you dealt with lice/mite issues?

We finished putting up the interior walls of the coop today. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!

Having the coop up against the pole barn gives it added wind protection during the winter. They will have the area in front fenced in and will be able to free range when we are home. People have commented how large it is, but I figure the gals will enjoy the space.

The first thing I recommend, PAINT IT! By painting the inside, you will seal off many of the places that creepy crawlies can hid. OSB gives them LOTS of places to do that. It cal also brighten up the inside of the coop for them and you. If you have chickens at some point you will have lice. I also recommend using cedar for roosts, in case you hadn't read that earlier, but don't paint those. Paint and poly coat doesn't stay on cedar well.

 

[scandiafowl]

What a great building! There's so much you can do with it, too. Post pictures as you go!

I've been playing around with different interior designs. Where to put the roosts and such. We won't have external nests since walking in is easy, although I may eventually install a chute on the side to sweep out debris. There is a critter under the building, as evidenced by my dog barking at a hole in on the side.

Any ideas and suggestions would be appreciated, especially when it comes to heating.