Nevadans?

[SunnyDawn]

Penturner congrats on the new babies! So cute and so tiny! It's about time we saw an updated pic of Big Bird!

He looks much happier than he did in his early pics. Nice to hear that the new eggs are so much more successful than the past ones. Good luck with them.

Horsefeatherz you are a glutton for punishment! More geese? Ha ha. If I had an acre or so I'd probably be just as bad though.

As for this weather...

Nevermind, this is a family forum. I'll just shiver in peace.

 

[evonne]

ssooooooo

does anyone want to volunteer scrap lumbar and mesh/wire and time to build coops??? rofl....

i don't know how i'm going to make this happen, but i need to build about 6 breeding pens..... and a few smaller pens for trios and quads....

kody's birthday ended with our fowl population about to explode....
for his birthday we went down to get him a turkey from the feed store.. dad finally agreed to try a few, but there was only 1 left.... and now i'm buying hatching eggs too...
along with the turkey we got 2 RIR pullets, and 2 cornish rocks......
we also ordered 25 chicks from LeonValley http://www.leonvalleytradingco.com/
i'll let you guys know when they get here how they look.... but it's a small husband and wife operation and she was very nice on the phone....
from them we are getting
Silver and Buff Laced Polish, Egyptian Fayoumi, and Golden Phoenix... hoping they hatch enough of each of those breeds that i don't end up with surprise substitution breeds, but we'll see....

on top of the birthday stuff,i had just picked up a RIR roo for my cinnamon queens project.... he will have 2 harems.. lucky man.. he'll have the SLW and the RIR and i may put my BR and Cuckoo marans in another pen for a different variety of sexlinks.. that would give him 3 harems.. rofl... rotate him around... 3-4 days here... 3-4 days there... he will be busy... i might need to hatch another RIR roo or 2???
i also picked up 5 silkies (1 didn't make it) to give my MFCochin boys some girls untill i can breed some and raise them from my MFC hen....

and i have 1 pheasant (started with 3) and 3 chukars that hubby brought home when he picked up the silkies i had set aside.. lol...

oh, and i have 2 EE chicks that are the ones kody's old school hatched in their incubator....

oohh and my 1 little peachick.... i need to find her/him some friends....

i believe i will go out now and see if i can piece together a top for an outdoor brooder, and make a second so i can have one for game and one for chicken... so i don't have to worry about wrong protien lvls by having them in the same brooder... UGH......

and did i mention i still have to unpack and organize??? volunteers??? anybody????

 

[Penturner]

evonne, To tell the truth I would love to lend a hand, but it is an awful long walk from my house. I love building and really do wish you where close. Of course now that I have let that get out I bet there is no shortage of "Help" that can be given around here.
Good luck, I thought dealing with my Seramas was getting confusing.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

evonne

your work is cut out for you. I need to build also, the weather has just been so

and I guess I am a big baby

All this work piling up.............. So here I am

 

[vegaschick]

Quote:
Wow! You are busy, or crazy...maybe both?!? Thanks so much for your help the other day. Both chicks made it and seem to be doing fine ... so far. That was definately one of the most stressful things I have ever done. The chicks are fine but I'm still traumatized. I think that my humidity was off and that is why that happened. So I probably won't get anymore hatched. *sigh* I don't know what I'm gonna have to do to get a Welsummer and a Delaware hen. I keep telling myself that those eggs were probably all boys but I'm not sure that I'm buying that! I guess I'll have room for a cinnamon queen once you get those going, right? So, EE chicks? Any girls? Yes, that does sound pitiful, and desperate, but yes, I'm getting there fast. One thing's for sure. I won't hatch again until I have an adjustable hygrometer. They seem fairly cheap on ebay so that's not much of a deterant. Hmmm....

Anyways...good luck on all that. If I weren't busy teaching....

 

[evonne]

i have the EE's that are just a year old, i have the one that was born on christmas.. you've seen her....and then some more that were born in feb and april... any or all could go at this point... i love them, but they are not part of the project and i know they'd have a good home with you... i think i may have gotten the christmas girls first egg the other day, and it wasn't green if it was hers... and i know you want some colored eggs..... i think i might need to get an ameracauna roo or an olive egger roo from ke_ben to be able to hatch more colored eggers... i thought since paige hatched out of a green egg she would lay green, but i think my roo has very prominant genes... like when all the kids in the family look like dad and not much like mom....

we can talk more about it later though..... and it will only be a few more months till these feb-apr babies start laying...

 

[Knemeyer]

Hi all! I first posted here in April about building a coop. You gave me some great advice which I am still incorporating into a shed I bought off of Craigs List. I haven't reported back because I'm a little frustrated with the progress. As I'm sure most of you have experienced, simple projects turn into not-so-simple projects. It's a 6' x 12' shed that has unfinished drywall. When installing 2 2'x2' windows for ventilation, we discovered that they also put in insulation. I painted the outside a light sage green so it doesn't absorb too much sun and painted the inside a bright white! My dad installed a turbine vent and next we'll put insulation in the ceiling and cover that. My husband has finished framing the run which is roughly 7'x18' and is finishing the door into the run. The shed has a single side door and double doors on one end. We will be covering the run with metal roofing for shade and close it completely with wire. I also plan on putting in a misting system. My husband will also wire the inside for a heat lamp. As you Vegas people know, it goes from one extreme to another! We will also add ventilation at the top and bottom of the shed which is great advice from you guys! Never would have thought of adding at the bottom. The coop/run is right next to my garden so I will be tossing over greens and such for them to devour. When I find any evil bugs in the veggies, I'm bummed that I don't have any chickens to devour them! On a side note, do chickens like grapes and berries? I'm including some pictures I took this evening to show the progress and would love any more advice you have to offer. I hope to be more vocal on the forum and will probably be bugging you all on breeds again. Thanks!



This is the shed when we first got it.




Just underneath the window at the North end will be the chicken door into the run. To the left will be the roosts.


The double doors face south and to the left will be 4 nesting boxes. That should be enough for 12 chickens, right?


Here is the run all framed up. My husband wanted the roof line to match the coops. Can't wait to see it all enclosed and the chickens scratching around! Our border collie, McKenna, decided she wanted to be in the pic.


Another view of the run. Sorry it's a little dark.

Kim

 

[SunnyDawn]

Wow, that's turning into a real nice set-up for those 12 chickens. To answer a couple of questions, yes most chickens like berries but mine won't eat strawberries (maybe because I keep the good ones for myself) and yes 4 nesting boxes is plenty for 12 chickens. I put in 7 boxes for 25 hens and they only use 2 for the most part, but will use a couple of the others if the 2 favorites are being used by a broody or just a dawdler.
Can't wait to see pics when it's done and has chickens running around in it!

 

[Knemeyer]

Thanks SunnyDawn! The reason I asked is because the run is right next to my garden and on the fence are red grapes and I'll be planting blackberries, too. So they will have all the grapes and blackberries they can get their beaks on. I was just on the mypetchicken site and I so want some silkies and/or polish so the count of chickens may go up slightly. I've red they can be unreliable layers so they would just be for looks and giggles. And then I saw the Welsummer rooster! I so want a rooster but I hear they can be real mean and then some people have no problem. I know they can be loud, but we have two neighbors with roosters. My husband might kill me, though!

Kim

 

[laceynoelle]

Most roosters are nice as long as theyre handled and treated well while growing up, but even then they may turn out a little suspicious of things, which is okay. ive had roosters that have the 'you leave me alone and i'll leave you alone' mentality, and thats fine because their job is to protect the hens and makebabies anyway. (then hens are the pets here, with the exception of jack <3 ) ...and if theyre wayy mean, throw a barbeque.