Montana

[EternalHeritage]

Nice to meet you too.

I heard they were very loud but we're pretty rural so I'm not worried about grumpy neighbors since we don't have any that live close. I'm looking into guineas because I heard they're great for gardens since they're gentle with plants and don't scratch the ground like chickens do. They also are mainly carnivores and won't eat plants unlike our chickens. We have a stinkbug problem, along with grasshoppers. Last year we set our chickens on our rhubarbs since they were being devoured by grasshoppers. The chickens ate the grasshoppers and the rhubarbs. So they're banned from the garden permanently.

Worst case scenario, we'll probably order from a hatchery. I'm not too concerned about it.

 

[ReptileMom]

It's odd, I lost three roosters to some disease this last weekend. One on Sat, one on Sun, and one on Mon. They were active the day before and then found dead the next day. I lost my best lemon cuckoo Orpington rooster - he was show quality. I can't figure out what has hit my flock. I am treating them all with tetracycline now. Plan on worming them this weekend also. Wish it wasn't so humid from the rain. The coop is running in the 60's for humidity. I need to keep it open as much as possible. Any suggestions as to drying out the coop? Do I need to install a fan? I was using 'Horse Fresh" the zeolite stuff in the coop and it helps keep the humidity down too, but my farm place stopped has been out of it for over 3 months. Not sure where to get some more. It is too heavy to have mailed to me.

 

[karlamaria]

It's odd, I lost three roosters to some disease this last weekend. One on Sat, one on Sun, and one on Mon.  They were active the day before and then found dead the next day.  I lost my best lemon cuckoo Orpington rooster - he was show quality.  I can't figure out what has hit my flock.  I am treating them all with tetracycline now.  Plan on worming them this weekend also.  Wish it wasn't so humid from the rain.  The coop is running in the 60's for humidity.  I need to keep it open as much as possible.  Any suggestions as to drying out the coop? Do I need to install a fan? I was using 'Horse Fresh" the zeolite stuff in the coop and it helps keep the humidity down too, but my farm place stopped has been out of it for over 3 months.  Not sure where to get some more.  It is too heavy to have mailed to me.

how often are you cleaning your coop? If the humidity is so high is it full of poo? I clean my coop every 2 weeks if it needs it or not, it's never had humidity problems. Could be that yours is so high it's full of growing mold spores? Hope you can figure it out fast !

 

[montanachicks]

We installed a fairly large exhaust fan in the coop a month or so ago, it works wonders for pulling heat, etc, out of the coop. In the winter I will cover it from the outside to keep the cold air out. ReptileMom, so sorry about loosing your roos. Are your hens doing okay? That's pretty scary. I lost my first hen about a month & half ago, and was scared for over 2 weeks that something was going on & I'd end up loosing more, but **knock on wood** that has not happened. I hope the antibiotics work. I bought my zeolite at Big R. I don't know if you have one near you.

The exhaust fan certainly can't hurt anything.

 

[ReptileMom]

I clean the coop every 2-3 weeks. I think I didn't build in enough ventilation. There is a window, and two vents but it doesn't seem to be enough. That is why I asked about a fan. Most of the year it is fine, but with all the rain we have had, I have noticed that the humidity really went up.

How do you protect the chickens from the fan? Did you put hardware cloth around it to block it off from them?
I haven't lost any more of my kids so far. Keeping my fingers crossed and watching them like a hawk. I sat out in their run with them for several hours today, just watching and checking out all the other kids, making sure that I could not find any negative health signs.

I was gone for over two weeks and had to leave the care of them with my husband. Not really sure how well that went. Hard to know how much he is disclosing. The first rooster died before I got home, then on the day I came home another one died and again the next day.

I did a major clean and disinfecting of the coop and even their open area and their wired run. I am hoping that whatever it was is done. My puzzlement is why it has only taken full-grown roosters.

I don't have a Big R around here. I may have to make a trip to another major town and load up on the zeolite, but first, I think I will ask the farmers' supply here if they would special order in several bags for me that I can stockpile.

 

[ReptileMom]

I did notice this evening when I closed the coop, the covered run area had about 15 mice foraging that went scurrying under the coop when I came up to close the door. Does anyone know if rodents can transmit fatal diseases to chickens? What is a chicken friendly way to eliminate a heavy rodent population?

 

[DuginMT]

I was told full grown chickens will normally kill mice.

 

[mtolheisers]

Hello Montanans!!!

I'm new to BYC and new to chicken keeping!

We live in Clancy, near Helena. We have 1 BO pullet, 1 black sex-link pullet, 2 white LH pullets, 1 brown LH pullet, 1 Blue Cochin pullet (love this little ball of fluff!), and 1 suprise white crested polish (Murdochs sold it to us as a silkie

) and finally a white crested black polish (bought straight run; turned out to be a cockerel

)! We aren't really allowed to have chickens in our subdivision, but no one seems to care. They will probably start caring once they hear Don King crowing and find out where the noise is coming from. I'm looking to rehome him, so if you know of anyone who needs a cute roo let me know. Here's some pics of my girls and my set up. Love to hear from others in MT, especially about winter chicken keeping.


The little Black and White one is the ROO! This is what he looks like now.

Ironically, we named him Don King before we knew he was a boy.

 

[ReptileMom]

I thought chickens would eat mice, too. But I have loads of them living under the coop and coming out to eat in the evening and mornings and no one is eating them. When I cleaned out the coop, I even found two that had gotten into the coop and settled in behind an egg box. I have alot of chickens, so if they were going to eat them, they should be doing it. I guess I feed them too well. Apparently, I need another option to keep the mice out of the run and coop!

 

[karlamaria]

Hello Montanans!!! I'm new to BYC and new to chicken keeping! :cd We live in Clancy, near Helena. We have 1 BO pullet, 1 black sex-link pullet, 2 white LH pullets, 1 brown LH pullet, 1 Blue Cochin pullet (love this little ball of fluff!), and 1 suprise white crested polish (Murdochs sold it to us as a silkie ) and finally a white crested black polish (bought straight run; turned out to be a cockerel )! We aren't really allowed to have chickens in our subdivision, but no one seems to care. They will probably start caring once they hear Don King crowing and find out where the noise is coming from. I'm looking to rehome him, so if you know of anyone who needs a cute roo let me know. Here's some pics of my girls and my set up. Love to hear from others in MT, especially about winter chicken keeping. The little Black and White one is the ROO! This is what he looks like now. Ironically, we named him Don King before we knew he was a boy.

. Nice set up! I love polish, there so cute, not big egg layers but adorable. You did a great job on the coop and pen, I would love to see more of the coop and inside! Winter is easy, I just put plastic covering and my chickens stay dry and wind free. I'm in butte, have 12 girls and love them dearly. Nice meeting you, welcome to our corner of the web