Muddy Coop Run, Chick/Adult Questions

[Silkies~Polishes]

Hi, i have many questions! Sorry!
- i have 2 bantam cochins(1 is a rooster!) and 1 buff orpington hen. I also have two chicks that are 3 1/2 months old, 1 is a standard polish, the other a bantam silkie. I recently moved to a house with a small yard, but i used to have a medium chicken coop with a large run(i could have 8 chickens), now i have the eglu and i am pretty sure it is going to be too small! Is this true?
- The run is always muddy, every week i have to clean out the run and put in new bedding, only a few days later to have it look all mucky again, what is a temporary fix? I am only going to be living at my house for about a year
- Recently i noticed my polish has lost many of her head feathers, about a inch by inch area, it looks a little red and there is a small spot with dried blood! What do you think is wrong with her? It is not overcrowding since the chicks are currently in a small covered pen. I worry it is maybe because they are too wet? even though they have shelter from the rain, whenever i check on them they are wet and just standing in the rain. Although my silkie is fine and does not appear to be losing any feathers(fluff?)
-Last question! My adult chickens try to attack the chicks every time they are outside together, although i positioned the chicks near the adults and now they can eat together without any problems, is this all i need to do to get them used to each other? Also, if they eventually are together, how should i go about keeping the adult chicken food away from the chicks? Does it matter if my rooster eats the layer feed?

 

[Judy]

You need to feed all of them a feed they can all east such as flock raiser or grower. I don't know of an eglu that would be big enough for 8 chickens. Sounds like they are feeling crowded. The polish head feathers are probably being pulled out by the others.

Roosters can eat layer, though it's not their optimum feed; many roosters live their life out eating layer. It's the young ones, before point of lay, eating layer that can cause problems.

On muddy runs: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run

 

[DuckLover2399]

You could put straw in the run..

 

[CapeReds]

What are the problems? Ours transitioned to layer at two and a half months and really like the crumb.

Quote:

 

[Judy]

The higher level of calcium in layer feed can damage young organs, particularly kidneys. I've never been able to pin down the cutoff point, though -- do they need to stay off layer til point of lay, or only the first month, or what? Similarly, it is logical that a chronic high intake of calcium might eventually be harmful to a rooster, but I've never seen any documentation of that, either. Like so many things, commercial operations don't care, so we don't find out.

 

[CapeReds]

I wish that I knew earlier. This was a problem in integration because the elder hens were going for the chick feeders. They were separated till well into the second month.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
No problem for the older ones to eat chick feed; even if it's medicated with amprolium, it's not supposed to cause any problem with eating the eggs. The only problem is with young chicks eating layer. For a while I fed my whole flock grower feed because flock raiser was not available locally. This included young chicks, pullets, hens and a couple of roosters.

 

[CapeReds]

I messed that up. Our young ones started eating layer at about 2 months. I hope they will be ok.

 

[mstricer]

The run is always muddy, every week i have to clean out the run and put in new bedding, only a few days later to have it look all mucky again, what is a temporary fix? I am only going to be living at my house for about a year
I had the same problem, I put sand in coop and run and that solved the mud and wet bedding problem.