Nevadans?

[laceynoelle]

Hey DesertChick. Welcome and all that. hahaha sounds jaded by now but whatever.

Guys im wayy tired. for no reason too.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Welcome to the Nevada thread DesertChick324! Sounds like you have quite a varied flock up there in Pal Val! Love the idea of converting a trailer into a coop. Much bigger than most portable coops I've seen.

Thanks for the feed back on Polish. I was considering making them my next addition to my flock since they are sooo cute but maybe I won't after all. Anybody else have feedback on their experiences with Polish?

Laceynoelle get some sleep. There is a nasty cold virus going around Reno that I've got right now and sleepiness was my first symptom. If you rest enough you might fight it off before it gets you down.

 

[NevadaRon]

Dayton Nevada here. My first foray into raising chickens. I have 10 pullets - 4 RIRs, 4 BOs, and 2 Black Sex-Links. They are about a month old. I've been working on a coop and run - the coop is almost complete, the run hasn't been started yet

I'm anxious to get them outside. Is it warm enough yet? Are they old enough? Here's what they look like now.

 

[Humbrd]

I move my chicks out at about 4 weeks but I keep a heat lamp in their box and they do just fine. When I put them out at 4 weeks this year it was over 40 degrees at night. By the time they were 6 week old we had that nice cold snap that got down to 26 degrees (Gotta love this Nevada weather) but I didn't lose any chicks. Still I wouldn't recommend putting 4 weeks olds out unless temps are above 40 at night even with a heat lamp. That's my opinion anyway. No hard facts to back it up. Hopefully we are done with the snow for the season although I've heard it snowed here in July before too so....???

 

[Penturner]

Happy Memorial day to everyone.
Welcome Dessert chicks and NevadaRon.
Ron really nice to have another male in the neighborhood. Was feeling a little outnumbered around here.
Humbrd, That July snow is not a myth. I was here to see it. We had full sun. rain and snow then back to full sun that day. snowing one minute and running around in T-shirts the next. That is the single strangest day I have ever seen in my life.

I bring all my birds (Even Adults) in if the temp is going to fall below 40. Most of mine are Seramas and i don't want to push it with them. a couple are Bantams and they think I am crazy. I think the Adults could handle temps down to freezing with no heat but I also have an issue of stressing breeding stock. I am not looking for their limits. I am looking for what will not effect them at all in a negative way.

By the way I would rather just heat their coop and not have to worry about it. But I need to do my homework before I decide just how to do it. So anyone with any and all ideas of how to heat a coop please share. the more ideas the better. For Reno though I really like the idea of putting together some sort of solar powered thing. I don't really like anything that will create light. so warming pads, radiator type configurations and other ideas are encouraged.

 

[Penturner]

Quote:
The rules I follow are.
hatch to 1 week old, keep them at 95 degrees. you then drop the temp by 5 degrees each week until they are fully feathered. Watch the bellies and rump for the final feathering and most important is that their backs are well insulated (that is where the lungs are). Once they are fully feathered they are supposed to be good to go for any temp that an adult can withstand so it is plenty warm enough during the day. I personally would not leave chicks that young out over night though. Not that it would harm them, I just not gutsy enough to chance it.

 

[Peep_Show]

Quote:
Oh, TOO funny! My mustang-training friend piggy-backed an order of hatchery chicks way back when and got the Polish ones. She liked them...because they didn't see very well, they were easy to catch. They also were the first ones to disappear due to predators. Probably why they are not the free-range flock of preference.....

 

[DesertChick324]

Penturner,

For heating I use the red bulbs. Online reptile supply stores will be your best bet for heating supplies. They do make ceramic heat bulbs that don't produce light. Heat tape is great also. www.kingsnake.com has the websites of every company. I use Boaphile thermostats and they are the best.

 

[Peep_Show]

Quote:
Welcome, NevadaRon!

Your RIR's look ready. The BO's still a little sketchy on the feathering. Nice starter flock o' layers you got there!

- - - -

evonne,

re: white roo..... I'll bring him along. I swear, he's got blue eyes! Well, lighter than the other birds, anyway. I wish I could have roos here in Henderson as he's a cutie keeper... Well, for now. Who knows what happens if/when hormones kick in?!? For headcount, that's 10 coming to your place on Saturday.... me + 9 peep heads.

Don't worry about being in over your head with young birds.... They have a way of winnowing themselves into keepers and freezer campers. And when you have masses of 'em, it's an easier task of deciding fates.
When I had my bird operation a few years back, I had one coop of pet layers (CQ's!), one coop of birds I liked but hadn't decided if they made pet status (could be layers, but didn't have the fancy coop like the pet layers), the rotating out birds (sale to public), and those that were going to have "the destiny talk" and visit my kitchen/freezer. There were a whole stall full of the latter...too many to have any real attachment to and young roos. I didn't worry too much about the feed bill because my freezer was full and neighbors were more than eager to buy up the remainders..... Comfort in numbers, you know.

Someday I'll be there again...but for now I'll hatch a batch here and there and just live stealthily and vicariously....

 

[evonne]

Quote:
Oh, TOO funny! My mustang-training friend piggy-backed an order of hatchery chicks way back when and got the Polish ones. She liked them...because they didn't see very well, they were easy to catch. They also were the first ones to disappear due to predators. Probably why they are not the free-range flock of preference.....

rofl.. i missed hte line about them being retarded... i really didn't want them either.. but my 7 yr old apparently runs the house... but i wont compalin too much since he wanted a turkey and hubby had told me no last spring but bought kody one for his birthday then let me order more hatching eggs... lol...

so kody can want whatever animals he wants... except dogs.. i'm absolutley drawing the line at more dogs....