New to BYC- Seeking Opinions

[delflipz17]

Good morning, and welcome to BYC. That picture is a bit tricky, but I lean hen on gender and possibly an escapee from a truck on the way to the 'soup' plant. If a rooster , I would expect that it would be crowing.

I think you could be correct. I have never heard any crowing and it comes by every day for a solid 4 hours minimum. I saw her sitting in a very odd position in the grass yesterday, almost as if on an egg? I was confused. Checked the area she was sitting, nothing. Hopefully I can get a coop set up quickly before the predators do. I will take more pictures tonight

 

[Debbie292d]

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. This is certainly the right place for a beginner like me.

To provide a bit of the update, i've spent a decent chunk of change over the weekend to get this project moving forward. Probably around $500 in total. I want to get this thing completely ready to go before I go down the rabbit hole of buying the brooder, chicks and such. I cleared out the shed of the few items that were inside. Purchased a large enclosed chicken run that will be delivered in a few days. I plan to cut a small chicken door in the shed that would go directly into the fenced run. From there I can open the gate to let them completely free range.

Additionally, the shed does have roof ventilation already, and one window you can barely see in my pic. I think ill have to put mesh/chicken wire over the ventilation because the vents look a bit large, certainly a hawk could fit if they tried imo. Ill have to take a few pics of the inside when I get home today. There are a few minor areas of damage after close inspection that would need repair but nothing that would take much effort.

My wife keeps questioning me about winter. She seems to think that some kind of heater would be needed for the coop? To me, that seems a bit overkill. I guess they do make solar powered heaters but idk about it. Does anyone suggest using these? Or will the chickens be fine with extra bedding + well vented coop?

On my chicken visitor, i've sort of come to the conclusion that this chicken was lost/abandoned/chased away by something. It seems to live in the dense overgrowth just beyond my yard. I have many blackberry bushes that he seems to really enjoy. I've been putting out wild bird seed to give him something to eat as well. Looked skinny to me. I really wasnt planning on getting a rooster, but ive come to really appreciate this fellow. Would it be foolish to try and adopt him into a new flock? or is it possible he could take on the role of guardian/caretaker? Obviously its a pretty feisty spirited bird if its been able to make it by on its own for quite some time.

Heating would depend on whether you're keeping young chicks in there. We use a Cozy Coop radiant heater for the grow-out pen for when the temperature dips below 50F at night, and they are only 4 weeks old.

In the winter, we heat our coop to 40F. We have all silkies, and a couple of those are frizzled. The other reason is so that I don't have to haul water in the wintertime. They have a 5-gallon nipple bucket that lasts about a month.

If your chickens aren't wimps and fully feathered, then they just need to be out of drafts and dry.

 

[delflipz17]

Heating would depend on whether you're keeping young chicks in there. We use a Cozy Coop radiant heater for the grow-out pen for when the temperature dips below 50F at night, and they are only 4 weeks old.

In the winter, we heat our coop to 40F. We have all silkies, and a couple of those are frizzled. The other reason is so that I don't have to haul water in the wintertime. They have a 5-gallon nipple bucket that lasts about a month.

If your chickens aren't wimps and fully feathered, then they just need to be out of drafts and dry.

Definitely want to keep them in the brooder as long as possible 6-7 weeks hopefully enough time to get them big enough without baby feathers.

Got it. They will most certainly be dry and vented. There was a massive rainstorm where I was a month ago and I went out to the shed just to see if it had stayed dry in there. Dry as a bone despite the monsoon like conditions. Might just get a solar heater for the heck of it. If it provides them some additional comfort, that can't be a bad thing right?

 

[Debbie292d]

additional comfort

There ya go!

Solar heating isn't so dependable though from what I've seen but maybe there are some newer ones as it's been years since I delved into it. Our coop heater is a low-wattage, oil-filled radiant heater.

 

[delflipz17]

Adding some more pictures from today to show everyone what im workin with.

Tried to get some more pictures of my chicken friend but it was hard to get close. He seems to be good friends with the baby bunny that lives in the same area. I’m trying to familiarize her with the feeder in hopes she’ll just come to the coop one day when it’s finished

Planning to keep updating this thread as my project progresses. Now I am waiting on the run to be delivered (scheduled august 1-5) then I’ll have to build that. Hopefully while I’m waiting I can take care of any holes in the wooden structure

 

[TwoCrows]

Adding some more pictures from today to show everyone what im workin with.

Tried to get some more pictures of my chicken friend but it was hard to get close. He seems to be good friends with the baby bunny that lives in the same area. I’m trying to familiarize her with the feeder in hopes she’ll just come to the coop one day when it’s finished

Planning to keep updating this thread as my project progresses. Now I am waiting on the run to be delivered (scheduled august 1-5) then I’ll have to build that. Hopefully while I’m waiting I can take care of any holes in the wooden structure

Nice photos! The only time I use heat in the coop is if temps are due to drop 20 lower than what they are used to and if -5F is predicted. I use a panel heater on the wall across from the roost bar and sometimes an infra red heat lamp. Very young, very old or sick birds get heat as well.

 

[janiedoe]

Adding some more pictures from today to show everyone what im workin with.

Tried to get some more pictures of my chicken friend but it was hard to get close. He seems to be good friends with the baby bunny that lives in the same area. I’m trying to familiarize her with the feeder in hopes she’ll just come to the coop one day when it’s finished

Planning to keep updating this thread as my project progresses. Now I am waiting on the run to be delivered (scheduled august 1-5) then I’ll have to build that. Hopefully while I’m waiting I can take care of any holes in the wooden structure

I think you will have a great coop there. In the meantime, I'd put the feeder and waterer in a less open spot. You don't want arial (or ground) predators to spot your rooster. He will probably prefer a more sheltered eating area too.

 

[Marsha DeVaughn]

I wanted to extend a “Welcome” also! I understand being pleased to see your visitor! I live next door to a farm done strictly for a farmers mkt every Saturday purely for profit. They keep more chickens and ducks than they can even count and do not baby them as I always have mine. Well, I lost my last little girl a week ago. She was about 91/2 -10 years old. Broke my heart. So about 8 ducks and 6 chickens and one rooster from next door come over and stay all day everyday with me and have for a long time now. I buy them food, scratch and treats and have large water containers for them. I’ve been treating one for bumblefoot in my house in a pet enclosure I bought for her for three weeks now! The poor hens have a lot of bare backs from over breeding. They have too many roosters I think. All of that being said, this little lady I’m treating is going to break my heart to release her back into that! She has most all her feathers right now. Anyway, I used to have an Easter Egger, a buff Orpington and Wyandotte. The Easter Egger never was a calm girl. Fast and nervous! The other two were big sweet docile babies! I would recommend them for sure. The one I’m treating now I believe is a Buff Orpington and she is sooo calm and sweet and I’m the first to ever love on her! So, just some info there for you! Oh! Another, not sure of the breed but she’s gray all over and docile as can be and just walks up to me and very pretty and I have been the first to handle her. All the ducks, chickens and even the rooster eat from my hand! Gets expensive not to be mine but I think they’ve come to depend on me and will come on my porch and look in the door for me! . Sooo good luck with your undertaking! You have an ace in the hole with your wife being a veterinarian!!! Good luck!

 

[Kenneth Zweerink]

Thank's for the update and for sharing the picture's your Coop looks Really Nice!

 

[delflipz17]

Small update today. I’m starting to get somewhat concerned about my chicken friend that my wife started calling “hay hay”. I’m pretty certain it’s a hen now. No spurs whatsoever on the leg, never crows only soft clucks when she seems happy

Couple days ago, I followed her around dusk. I was surprised to find her roosting in a row of pines only about 30 yards from my garage.

Today, I saw her milling about near her roost in the picture. I went up to her and just sat on the grass. I tried making clucking noises and after a minute she confidently strode towards me. So I was able to get the closest look at her in 3+weeks. She has a lot of feathers missing from around her tail area, I can see her red skin Not sure if it was an attempted predation or what. She also had a strange looking black speckled spot on her neck that looked featherless. It’s actually pretty visible from one of the pics. If any one has any thoughts I’d appreciate it.

My run is close by according to the tracking, so I’m hoping to start setting it up tomorow or Saturday. Obviously, I’d like to secure Hay Hay as soon as possible so that my wife can treat her if needed. Needless to say that should be much safer for her then living outside in a pine tree.

It may seem silly to some, but I have a dream of taking this cast away chicken and giving her a proper home and allow her to become the alpha of a flock of her own. It’d be hard to come up with a better redemption story than that.