Moving in day at the Chicken McMansion

[mstricer]

Quote:
How did you get that DE is those buckets. With no dust everywhere I really need to know, it looks like you have DE skills I don't.

 

[Chieftain]

No special skills mst, the pictures just show the tidy aftermath...

I put on a respirator, set the buckets up in the garage, and just poured it in as carefully as I could. Believe me, it was dusty as all get-out and I was glad for the respirator. After I closed the buckets I had to sweep out the garage with the door open because there was quite a bit of dust despite being careful. Yet doing it outside wasn't an option at the time because it was windy, rainy and wet. Sometimes you just do what you have to do and clean up afterwards...

 

[andalusn]

Chieftain... did you manage to get out and pick up a few new chicks? I stopped in at Pioneer this evening and they had pullet Orphingtons in the brooder. I am researching getting a good quallity incubator and try my hand at hatching the Brabanter eggs. The Cochin only hatched two from the 4 eggs I gave her and then one died so I only have the one peep. I figure it's a very long way from little peep to grown chicken with all sorts of things to challenge getting it to maturity. I was hoping to add 2 or 3 this year if I could get eggs to hatch from the broody hens. I may have better luck on my own

and keep them in a brooder.

Yep, the grass is growing very well on this side of town

 

[Chieftain]

I did get out for chicks today, Laurie! I stopped by Wilco in Battle Ground this morning first thing, and picked up two Golden sex links. Good thing too; they started last week with 200 GSL chicks, and this morning they were down to a dozen...

I cleaned out the brooder tub and got it all set up first thing this morning, then went up and picked up 2 chicks. they were hatched last Tuesday, and are plenty feisty! They already have significant wing feathers and are sprouting tail feathers to boot. They are also very aggressive little feeders! They have been hitting the crumbles hard, and are drinking plenty of water. Both are fast as greased lightning and look very healthy.

Everyone else was out enjoying the sun again today. It was up to the mid sixties here, and the chooks really enjoyed sunbathing all day. I had to run them into the coop tonight at sundown, otherwise I swear they were ready to camp out in the run all night. They are very healthy and doing extremely well.

 

[Armageddon]

Sooooo Cute!

 

[andalusn]

Congrats on the new additions, they will be grown before you know it and part of the established flock. Ditto on the quickness. My little ones can dart so fast it makes you dizzy!

My husband and I find the different personalities of the birds very entertaining. The Brabanters are in their own coop that is next to the main coop of my mixed breed flock. It is under a roofed section of the barn but exposed on all sides. just dry from rain and two sides face my barn aiselway. DH spent a weekend constructing a nice coop that could pass for the end of a tractor arrangement. The top opens over the egg boxes. Hens checked it all out but to thier delight when they hopped down from the door after inspection of the new digs they discovered the daytime roost he built. A 2x4 that spans the width of the coop and almost 6 ft off the ground. I swear they smiled as they flew to the top. That is where they stay everynight. The tidy hen house is for egg laying and the rest of the time they forage on the ground in the hay/dirt and at night take flight to their favorite spot. The two roosters like to call smack on each other through the fence. It's quite the dance to juggle turning out one group for about 3 hours and then herd them back in and swap to give the Brabanters range time. My Dominique hen, Lucy always has a lot to say about her wants and can really give me heck if she thinks I am late.

That should be the second batch of peeps at Wilco. On the 20th they had a special in the member flyer that if you bought a 50# bag of chick starter you got 5 chicks for free and they sold out in one day. All brooders were empty by Saturday and I hear from others it was standing room only in the back. You had to fight your way to see the chicks. I guess everybody

peeps.

 

[Chieftain]

I know exactly what you mean about the personalities andalusn, and it is a riot to watch the different ones emerge as they grow.

The oldest of our four original hens is about 2 weeks ahead of the other three, and significantly bigger than the rest. She has take a bit of a shine to me.

Tonight I went out at dusk to see if they were ready to go in, and as soon as they saw me coming, the three youngest headed up the ramp and into the coop, expecting scratch and oats for a treat. The largest one stayed in the run, and walked over, squatted on my shoe and stayed there until I finished with the rest, and had time to pick her up and pet her a while. She insists I personally give her a boost into the coop at night, but perches on my thumb, and clucks at me while I pet her along her back in between her wings....

That's right....I've hit that stage in my adult life where suddenly my newest best friend is a Rhode Island Red hen. She likes me so well she pooped on my arm yesterday, but today she controlled herself pretty well...

The other three stick pretty close together and I still cannot tell if any one of them is a roo or not. If there is a difference in the feather patterns, at six weeks I still cannot tell what it is, because they all look the same. Either I lucked out and got all hens or really hit "TILT" and got all roos...they look and act pretty much the same. One of them seems to take great pleasure in tormenting me, because she pulled the convulsions act again today in the sand, and I really thought we had a problem, until I picked her up and she was just fine...simply getting deeply into the joys of some dry coarse sand and a bit of DE. She lays on one side and kicks her top foot like she just had her neck snapped, and I'm not accustomed to it yet, so it is quite startling....she seems to be getting as much sand between her bottom wing and her body as she can, then she just grovels in it because it feels so good. I've checked them for lice, and they are clean, I think they just like a good dust bath no matter what. (More design vindication...

)

The new girls are extremely energetic, and vocal. I figured it would be best to have 2, to give each other company and I was right. They are closely bonded and fast as thieves. I have been offering a pinch of polenta with a little bit of fine sand in it a couple of times a day, and they hit it pretty aggressively, even from my hand. By the time they feather up, they will have no problem blending into the peck with the older girls.

These Golden sex links are a lot more vigorous than the RIR chicks ever were, and from what I have read they may well be more productive layers than either an RIR or a RIW would be, something to do with reinforcing the high-yield egg gene; fascinating reading on the entire sex link breeding issue. It's too bad we don't have a few acres here, because I could really get in to raising the "Best Of". In any case, they both had tail feathers that were 1/8" long last night, and tonight they both have 1/2" of tail feathers. Their wing feathers are white, and are almost long enough to touch behind them. I'm also surprised at how aggressively the two of them scratch. They have big feet and they move a lot of pine shavings around in the brooder. That keeps things nice and dry and they don't stink one bit. I figure they will fit in very well with the rest of the flock...

I am just having a blast! I've wanted to raise chickens for years, and never seriously looked into it until last year, and when I discovered how relatively easy it is, I jumped in and haven't looked back!

 

[Chieftain]

I went out to open the coop this morning, and found all four chooks huddled inside one of the nesting boxes, in what I just realized is the only dark corner inside the coop. I think they are telling me that they have plenty of feathers, no longer need the brooder light, and would prefer darkness as opposed to additional heat. The only reason they were huddled was so that they all fit into the shadow the side of the box cast from the brooder hood light.

Everyone is fully feathered now and the weather continues to be moderate for this time of year. I may not even need to use the lamp for the additional 2 Goldens, because it will warmer still by the time they are ready to hit the run. I'll be removing the lamp today when I clean the coop, and they can sleep in peace and darkness tonight. As long as the temperatures stay close to 50 I will start leaving the window open to the run so ventilation won't be an issue either.

Onward!

 

[Country Heart]

Quote:
Way to "listen" to your chicks - It's amazing what they can tell us, if we just have the patience to observe closely and listen.

 

[nanawendy]

Just read through this thread. Wow what a great set-up. Sorry about the little one, '
We're on the north end of WA.
Is the texture of your DE the same and the white powdery stuff ???