Moved to a new coop

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Our rainy weather has finally left us and we had a beautiful warm sunny day yesterday.
Everyone is still under strict supervision, but they got more time out.
Playing follow the leader with the cat.
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Lucy stalking and harassing them. View attachment 2332956View attachment 2332953
I’ve heard buckwheating from at least one of each color. I hope I have more then three females, but I can’t tell anyone apart yet to know if there are multiple females in the different color groups. They have been using their adult calls more and more lately.

What a cute brood!!! Almost the same size as our juveniles. Your cat is awesome too.

 

[Sydney65]

I get a kick out of the turkey hanging w/them. It's like The Ugly Duckling come to life. Lol. I split mine up one by one to figure out gender. - I'd put one in the kennel alone then wait. Everyone had ankle bracelets til I cld tell them apart. It worked for all but one that I never did figure out for certain. It was two syllable, but bar-ree, but the behavior was male/dominate/bully- the reason Blue is shy one toe.
I've tried recording the boys for this site, bc they have a chatty sound when "talking" to me that sounds like "for reallll"- and the ladies never did that.
But, despite being surrounded by cornfields, I'm too close to an interstate,so the recording was overwhelmed by the sound of semis.
I'm glad to see yours. Though, bc I keep looking at my 2 thinking their head is shaped differently. I guess I just forgot what they looked like sans all their accessories.

 

[R2elk]

despite being surrounded by cornfields, I'm too close to an interstate,so the recording was overwhelmed by the sound of semis.

You can make a cardboard cone to place on your recording device and aim it directly at the guineas. It should help block out unwanted background noise.

 

[My2butterflies]

What a cute brood!!! Almost the same size as our juveniles. Your cat is awesome too.

Thanks! The cat is our oldest pet. He’s very good with animals introduced as pets. He even let a stray cats litter “nurse” from him while their mom was weaning them. Lol. He’s a nanny cat.

I get a kick out of the turkey hanging w/them. It's like The Ugly Duckling come to life. Lol. I split mine up one by one to figure out gender. - I'd put one in the kennel alone then wait. Everyone had ankle bracelets til I cld tell them apart. It worked for all but one that I never did figure out for certain. It was two syllable, but bar-ree, but the behavior was male/dominate/bully- the reason Blue is shy one toe.
I've tried recording the boys for this site, bc they have a chatty sound when "talking" to me that sounds like "for reallll"- and the ladies never did that.
But, despite being surrounded by cornfields, I'm too close to an interstate,so the recording was overwhelmed by the sound of semis.
I'm glad to see yours. Though, bc I keep looking at my 2 thinking their head is shaped differently. I guess I just forgot what they looked like sans all their accessories.

The kennel is a good idea! I hadn’t thought to try that. I’ve only learned how to tell them apart this year. So very limited experience.
They do look very odd right now. That awkward transition stage. Haha.

 

[Sydney65]

Do you know the diameter of your silo? 14',26', etc.? Apparently if one plants an idea in the male brain and lets it percolate for a couple of years, it comes back to you as his idea.
So I'm looking around trying to decide the best size and then only installing it to maybe 8-9' up, bc why try heating unused space? Plus, as someone afraid of heights, I don't want to have to climb up to rescue anyone.
I'm breaking all protocol regarding having keets in the house, as this time the brooder is in the dining area of the kitchen by the sliding door. It's a big kitchen,so they're away from the food area, and w/my flock raised and gone, the dining area isn't in use. During the day I move the brooder in front of the door so they can see outside, and they're very interested. They're used to the goings on so barking, movements, curious eyes don't spook them. They just seem much calmer,happier& curious than those kept in the spare room. When I walk by they look up instead of scrambling.
Meanwhile, 5 in the incubator and Rosie's gone broody. PJ is going crazy w/o his foraging mate and has taken to chasing Nugget. But she must be out w/him now bc when I peeked in, Bella was on the nest. Or, beside the nest..,hope Rosie wasn't expecting her to keep the eggs warm....

 

[My2butterflies]

Do you know the diameter of your silo? 14',26', etc.? Apparently if one plants an idea in the male brain and lets it percolate for a couple of years, it comes back to you as his idea.
So I'm looking around trying to decide the best size and then only installing it to maybe 8-9' up, bc why try heating unused space? Plus, as someone afraid of heights, I don't want to have to climb up to rescue anyone.
I'm breaking all protocol regarding having keets in the house, as this time the brooder is in the dining area of the kitchen by the sliding door. It's a big kitchen,so they're away from the food area, and w/my flock raised and gone, the dining area isn't in use. During the day I move the brooder in front of the door so they can see outside, and they're very interested. They're used to the goings on so barking, movements, curious eyes don't spook them. They just seem much calmer,happier& curious than those kept in the spare room. When I walk by they look up instead of scrambling.
Meanwhile, 5 in the incubator and Rosie's gone broody. PJ is going crazy w/o his foraging mate and has taken to chasing Nugget. But she must be out w/him now bc when I peeked in, Bella was on the nest. Or, beside the nest..,hope Rosie wasn't expecting her to keep the eggs warm....

The main coop is 18’ round and the second one I started up this year is 21’ round.
The hight could definitely be lower, just not too low. The bins echo and startled birds could potentially hit their heads if the ceiling was too low.

Haha, sounds like you have your hands full!
I have wayyyy too many keets right now. I gotta get them sold(haven’t listed them yet It’s just been so crazy busy here lately.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Do you know the diameter of your silo? 14',26', etc.? Apparently if one plants an idea in the male brain and lets it percolate for a couple of years, it comes back to you as his idea.
So I'm looking around trying to decide the best size and then only installing it to maybe 8-9' up, bc why try heating unused space? Plus, as someone afraid of heights, I don't want to have to climb up to rescue anyone.
I'm breaking all protocol regarding having keets in the house, as this time the brooder is in the dining area of the kitchen by the sliding door. It's a big kitchen,so they're away from the food area, and w/my flock raised and gone, the dining area isn't in use. During the day I move the brooder in front of the door so they can see outside, and they're very interested. They're used to the goings on so barking, movements, curious eyes don't spook them. They just seem much calmer,happier& curious than those kept in the spare room. When I walk by they look up instead of scrambling.
Meanwhile, 5 in the incubator and Rosie's gone broody. PJ is going crazy w/o his foraging mate and has taken to chasing Nugget. But she must be out w/him now bc when I peeked in, Bella was on the nest. Or, beside the nest..,hope Rosie wasn't expecting her to keep the eggs warm....

Sounds like you have a lot going on there! How many eggs is Rosie sitting on?

 

[Sydney65]

Sounds like you have a lot going on there! How many eggs is Rosie sitting on?

I haven't counted. If I tilt my head and crouch while squinting with the sun behind me I can see the nest but I don't dare move a single leaf or flower.more than 10, less than 50. Lol

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I haven't counted. If I tilt my head and crouch while squinting with the sun behind me I can see the nest but I don't dare move a single leaf or flower.more than 10, less than 50. Lol

She must be a sensitive girl!!! I was really careful with my first broody hatch (the one that went so poorly) not to disturb the hens because I was afraid they’d abandon the nest.

When they started killing newly hatched keets, I grabbed a stick and a rake, stomped into the coop while waving said tools, loudly yelled at the hens and cursed them out for being terrible mothers, tears streaming down my cheeks as I could see the dead keets, and I felt terrible. I chased 5 hens out and then locked the coop door and tackled this terrible scene and piles of eggs that I had to sort, candle, etc. I took the eggs to the incubator, raked out the whole coop, replaced all the shavings etc. It took hours and the hens were standing there watching through the wire, chattering and scolding me the whole time. To my immense surprise, once I opened the door, every hen went back and sat where the eggs had been. Over several days, all but two hens abandoned the “nest”, but two refused to leave and hatched a keet six weeks later, after about 2 mo of sitting.

Since then, my policy has been that any hen who gets to keep a nest has to get off every day and let me take out new eggs, candle, clean etc. I use a stick and force them off and out of the coop, then block the door so they can’t watch me. I’ve had a few feisty girls try to attack, but they’ve mostly gotten used to the routine and get some mealworms for their trouble. All have happily returned to the nest once I let them back in.

 

[Sydney65]

She must be a sensitive girl!!! I was really careful with my first broody hatch (the one that went so poorly) not to disturb the hens because I was afraid they’d abandon the nest.

When they started killing newly hatched keets, I grabbed a stick and a rake, stomped into the coop while waving said tools, loudly yelled at the hens and cursed them out for being terrible mothers, tears streaming down my cheeks as I could see the dead keets, and I felt terrible. I chased 5 hens out and then locked the coop door and tackled this terrible scene and piles of eggs that I had to sort, candle, etc. I took the eggs to the incubator, raked out the whole coop, replaced all the shavings etc. It took hours and the hens were standing there watching through the wire, chattering and scolding me the whole time. To my immense surprise, once I opened the door, every hen went back and sat where the eggs had been. Over several days, all but two hens abandoned the “nest”, but two refused to leave and hatched a keet six weeks later, after about 2 mo of sitting.

Since then, my policy has been that any hen who gets to keep a nest has to get off every day and let me take out new eggs, candle, clean etc. I use a stick and force them off and out of the coop, then block the door so they can’t watch me. I’ve had a few feisty girls try to attack, but they’ve mostly gotten used to the routine and get some mealworms for their trouble. All have happily returned to the nest once I let them back in.

She only gets off once, 1st thing in the morning, she comes up,I let her in the run to eat and she'll go in the coop for awhile then heads back. I guess I could scrounge around and count then but PJ is right there with me, prancing.
This am Bella went out when she came in, but like I said, she just sat beside it. I'm not so sure she's not still a bit doolally from the hit, but she "talked" to me in the coop tonight instead of air striking me. But she's also trying to stay out of PJ's sight. Not sure on the technical words for bird feathers-her quills? -are regrowing, the scab was off this evening. Looks good.