New Backyard Chicken mom in northern Colorado

Pics
Date sort Score sort
Mommarobinette said:
Hello! I’m a new backyard chicken mom to a mixed crowd of 7. We have 1 Leghorn, 1 Dominique, 2 ISA Browns, 1 Rhode Island Red and 2 Red Stars. We bought 6 of them as pullets. The last one we got was the Dominique, “Pepper”. She is supposed to be about a year old. She was already laying when we got her.
I have a few questions for you seasoned chicken owners:

1) If I have 7 hens who free range from sun up to sundown, get a high protein pellet diet mixed with red pepper flakes, get scratch and BSF larvae every single day, and I’m only, consistently, getting 4 of the same eggs laid every day, is it right to assume 2-3 hens aren’t laying for me? I get two of the dark browns from the ISA Browns (1 for sure!) and one white from the leghorn, and one cream/olive from the Dominique. Who isn’t laying? How would I be able to tell? Wouldn’t they get egg bound if they weren’t laying? What are the tales of an egg bound hen besides the duck like waddle and separated tushy feathers?

2) I went with the wood chips from Tractor supply in the chicken section when we first got our girls. That’s what I’m still using but I want to get rid of it ASAP! 5/7 of them have bumblefoot, and I believe the culprit is the stupid wood chips. They may have had it before we got them (all from same breeder) because we didn’t know any better and never looked. So my question is this: Being in Northern Colorado where is a dry season about 6/7 months of the year, but the other half ish is a couple months of rain(if we’re lucky) and a few months of snow (really deep sometimes or really light), what bedding would you recommend??? I’m looking into a mixture of fine, medium and course sands. I like the idea of sand very much. Their coop stays dry, the cage that encloses the coop gets wet in the summer from the sprinkler head that hits half of it 3 days a week.

3) How do you get your chickens to want to be held? They just follow me around everywhere waiting for treats I think. My Leghorn is the only one that lets me love on her. Sometimes one or both ISA Browns do.

Pics of our ladies below!
Click to expand...
Welcome to BYC!

For bedding you might get away with washed river sand in your drier climate. You can use a combination of bedding, like sand on bottom, flake on top or straw.
 
janiedoe said:
Welcome to BYC. Most hens lay 3 to 4 times per week and that slows down after their second year.
Have you looked for hidden nests?
What type food are they on?
Do they have supplemental calcium available?
For bedding, I use pine shavings. If you are seeing bumblefoot that often, maybe your roosts need to be lowered. I would suggest a feed with higher protein too, such as an 18 to 20% grower/all flock type. I like Kalmbach 20% Flock Maker. (Chewy sells this.) I keep Small Pet Select Flaked Oyster Shell available too.
I do not do bumblefoot surgery . I soak and apply a drawing salve like Prid for several days.
Click to expand...
I will go and look under the grill and by the lean to for hidden lay spots today. I am currently using the pine shavings but they are really poky. When I clean their coop the shavings will rip my gloves. Bought the pine shavings from TSC. I feel like I’m ready to make the switch to sand/construction gravel, but I’m having a hard time finding it online. Seems I have to take half a day and drive around and see what’s out there. They will roost on top of their coop at night and that’s the highest they go, like 4 feet.
 
Mommarobinette said:
I will go and look under the grill and by the lean to for hidden lay spots today. I am currently using the pine shavings but they are really poky. When I clean their coop the shavings will rip my gloves. Bought the pine shavings from TSC. I feel like I’m ready to make the switch to sand/construction gravel, but I’m having a hard time finding it online. Seems I have to take half a day and drive around and see what’s out there. They will roost on top of their coop at night and that’s the highest they go, like 4 feet.
Click to expand...
I understand. I've gotten shavings with sharp sticks in them from Tractor Supply lately. I've begun buying mine from a small feed store.
My runs are mostly dirt. When I need an additional layer I buy, and have delivered, a truck load of "paver base". It lasts a long time. We have pine trees so I also scoop up piles of pine needles from under the trees. The hens love picking through them and they are free.
 
Mommarobinette said:
I will go and look under the grill and by the lean to for hidden lay spots today. I am currently using the pine shavings but they are really poky. When I clean their coop the shavings will rip my gloves. Bought the pine shavings from TSC. I feel like I’m ready to make the switch to sand/construction gravel, but I’m having a hard time finding it online. Seems I have to take half a day and drive around and see what’s out there. They will roost on top of their coop at night and that’s the highest they go, like 4 feet.
Click to expand...
I have a quarry near me, you might check around for one if you haven't already.
 
Debbie292d said:
Hiya, and welcome to BYC! :frow

If you have trouble finding sand, what about trying horse bedding pellets? We've loved using them for several years.
Click to expand...
Well, this is the first time I’ve heard of this! Thank you for sharing this, I would have never thought to use pellets. Would you say they are good in all climates?
 
Mommarobinette said:
Well, this is the first time I’ve heard of this! Thank you for sharing this, I would have never thought to use pellets. Would you say they are good in all climates?
Click to expand...
They are 100% compressed pine. When chickens poop on them, it pulls the moisture out. Thus, odor-free coop. We live in Wisconsin, so we have all the climates.

We leave ours in for a year and change them out in the spring. They'll turn mostly to sawdust and pulverized poop by then. We put that around trees, some in the garden, in our compost bins, etc. Then put down another 2-3" of pellets good for another year. Zero maintenance.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom