I am new to chickens, and have some questions first I have 10 chickens I got my first 5 pullets in July 1 Americans bantam, 2 buff ophingtons, 2 New Hampshire reds, then a couple of weeks ago I got 5 more from the same guy, this time I got 3 Americans bantams, and 2 Plymouth Barred rock pullets the last 5 were laying when I got them my 1st bantam has been laying for about 3 weeks and one of my buffs had just started so for the 1st week I was getting 5 eggs a day then went to 3 now down to 2 a day, the weather has been cool and wet this month and I think 2 of them are molting but not 100 percent sure but I do have some strange behaviors and I am not sure what they mean
1. One Barred rock is picking the feathers from the other birds,
2. The egg laying dropping off
3, I put a red heat lamp in their coop and they were still out at 10pm when they were cooping at 7:30 would the red light make them think it was daytime. (I turned the light off) I am not sure if I should use it or not
4. They didn't use the coop when it rained, the last few days and i worry about them should i coop them and lock them in until it stops raining or not
5. At what temperature do we need to put heat in the coop and with what is the best to use for heating the coop since the red light seems to confuse them.
I feed them the layers mash and some scratch grain I also give them bread veggies, fruit and some cooked beans just once in a while as a treat they are also allowed out in our back yard a couple times a day with supervision I don't feel safe letting them out by them selves we have Ferrell cats in the area.
Any help would be greatly appreciate s:/ince this is all new to me. thank you for your help in this matters.
1. One Barred rock is picking the feathers from the other birds,
2. The egg laying dropping off
3, I put a red heat lamp in their coop and they were still out at 10pm when they were cooping at 7:30 would the red light make them think it was daytime. (I turned the light off) I am not sure if I should use it or not
4. They didn't use the coop when it rained, the last few days and i worry about them should i coop them and lock them in until it stops raining or not
5. At what temperature do we need to put heat in the coop and with what is the best to use for heating the coop since the red light seems to confuse them.
I feed them the layers mash and some scratch grain I also give them bread veggies, fruit and some cooked beans just once in a while as a treat they are also allowed out in our back yard a couple times a day with supervision I don't feel safe letting them out by them selves we have Ferrell cats in the area.
Any help would be greatly appreciate s:/ince this is all new to me. thank you for your help in this matters.