NY chicken lover!!!!

[Cydney83]

Check this out - it's the Rolls-Royce of hoop coops! http://mychickencoopplans.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/mobile-chicken-coop.jpg

Hope everyone did okay with all the nasty weather yesterday. Today I am doing cleanup outside in the yard/garden. A section of the backyard floods when we get heavy rains so I am hoping it's not too bad, noticed some of the tomato and eggplant on the ground, but they were just finishing for the season. I'm all ready for chicks, I setup a fifty gallon fish tank for the first few weeks, after that I was going to let them grow out in. A larger box setup in the downstairs basement bathroom. .....last few weeks, I am sooo excited!

Have a great day.

Good luck! and enjoy them! Chicks are so cute!

I'm beginning to wonder about my silkies...I don't know they're getting broody or they're not liking this cooler weather. I opened the door to the coop this morning, they came down for a few minutes and have been back up in the coop ever since. Along with Duncan, my little roo too. They spent quite a bit inside the coop yesterday too but I figured that was because of that crazy storm we had all day. Hmmmm....

When I had mine they always stayed in the coop longer then others?! Not sure way.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Afternoon everyone. After the crappy weather of yesterday the natives are restlessly demanding to be outside today freeranging. I have to rotate everyone as my hens (specifically Trouble and Mean Marge) go looking to pick on my silkie hens and roo if they are out. So the silkies get first dibs on being out and then I turn loose the terrorists and troublemakers. They have an understanding...whereever one group is, the other is not. Any violations are dealt with immediately and peace is then restored. It works. Now if only they would eat all the stink bugs that are invading my house!

Considering hatching some chicks for someone at work come spring. Her dh is looking for some fresh laying stock. I could do that. Means feed money and I have decent stock. Something to consider anyways.

 

[cheeka]

that sure was a nasty and long drawn out storm... my run has good drainage and isn't muddy, but is back to being hard packed... the gang had worked so hard to fluff the little bit of dirt on stone! ...so I let them out so I could clean up and get all fresh food and water in... there is a bonanza of baby crickets in the yard, they had a blast!
I have 3 birds, 2 blue EE cockerels and one bantam cochin x EE cross that are newest to the flock (and young ~ 17.5 weeks)... they are no longer in quarantine, get along perfectly fine with the other 7 while free ranging, but I cannot put them in the large enclosure with my older cockerel (21 weeks) ... he goes bananas, as expected... so they have been living in a portable run until Sunday. I fenced off a section of the enclosure that has access to one of 2 coops attached. They keep returning after free range to the portable run (also kind of expected) and I have to carry them over and put them inside the coop...
today, I moved the portable run right next to the enclosure, and am trying to decide if I should just let them live in the portable run for the winter. Checking on them after dark showed me that they roosted on the roost within the enclosure, they never used the roosts in the coop at all for the last 3 nights. there's no poop in the coop either but there is slight evidence of scratching around in the bedding. I have a large roll of seriously heavy duty vinyl, so I can wrap them up against the elements... and the portable run is big/tall enough for me to install some sort of nest box setup for the banty... The boys came from the same hatch and are really good together, albeit young... time will tell if I can keep them both together... they are beautiful and I want them both for breeding in the Spring... lots to think about and 2 weeks to get whatever I need accomplished... then 2 more weeks to look for and fix flaws... before the snow is likely to fly up on this hill...!

anyway... hope everyone has a great day!

 

[Sallysec]

Anyone in Saratoga area in need of a new home for a hen....I saw an ad for a four h club that is looking for a donated hen in that area. Checkout Craigslist if your interested in giving up a hen.

 

[featherz]

Anyone in Saratoga area in need of a new home for a hen....I saw an ad for a four h club that is looking for a donated hen in that area. Checkout Craigslist if your interested in giving up a hen.

I'll check, I could give them one.

Well, one of my broodies may have given up. The other two are still sitting - one has a fake egg and the other had a real egg, but it pipped and died /sigh.

 

[stonykill]

I'm beginning to wonder about my silkies...I don't know they're getting broody or they're not liking this cooler weather. I opened the door to the coop this morning, they came down for a few minutes and have been back up in the coop ever since. Along with Duncan, my little roo too. They spent quite a bit inside the coop yesterday too but I figured that was because of that crazy storm we had all day. Hmmmm....

the silkies are awaiting the arrival of their mothership

 

[vmdanielsen]

Afternoon everyone. After the crappy weather of yesterday the natives are restlessly demanding to be outside today freeranging. I have to rotate everyone as my hens (specifically Trouble and Mean Marge) go looking to pick on my silkie hens and roo if they are out. So the silkies get first dibs on being out and then I turn loose the terrorists and troublemakers. They have an understanding...whereever one group is, the other is not. Any violations are dealt with immediately and peace is then restored. It works. Now if only they would eat all the stink bugs that are invading my house!

Considering hatching some chicks for someone at work come spring. Her dh is looking for some fresh laying stock. I could do that. Means feed money and I have decent stock. Something to consider anyways.

If they aet the stink bugs, will the eggs taste like "stink". I just fenced in my birds to eat my stink bugs!!!!I hope the eggs don't stink!!!

 

[Lynzi777]

the silkies are awaiting the arrival of their mothership

I do have to say...They do look quite alienish going up and down that ramp to the coop. LOL Just found it weird that all three of them were up there, even the roo. Just hanging out as if I never let the door down to let them out.

I made eggs today for lunch for my daughter and I since I have all sorts of silkie eggs. I cracked one open and it had a double yolk! I was surprised for such a little egg. I have to admit though I didn't add it to the batch, the yolk was so dark it almost had a red tint and there was even two red dots on one of the yolks. Kinda skeeved me out a little so I didn't use it. Just looked odd compared to all the others that had a "healthier" look to them.


I have a question...Since I'm not letting the silkies out to free range in fear of my bigger birds attacking them, what should I do with the floor of my run now that they've picked thru all the grass and it's quickly turning to yucky messy mud, especially with all the rain we've been getting these past two days. I don't want to have to keep moving this coop all over the place and I read on another forum that someone used sand. Would that be my best bet??

 

[stonykill]

I do have to say...They do look quite alienish going up and down that ramp to the coop. LOL Just found it weird that all three of them were up there, even the roo. Just hanging out as if I never let the door down to let them out.

I made eggs today for lunch for my daughter and I since I have all sorts of silkie eggs. I cracked one open and it had a double yolk! I was surprised for such a little egg. I have to admit though I didn't add it to the batch, the yolk was so dark it almost had a red tint and there was even two red dots on one of the yolks. Kinda skeeved me out a little so I didn't use it. Just looked odd compared to all the others that had a "healthier" look to them.


I have a question...Since I'm not letting the silkies out to free range in fear of my bigger birds attacking them, what should I do with the floor of my run now that they've picked thru all the grass and it's quickly turning to yucky messy mud, especially with all the rain we've been getting these past two days. I don't want to have to keep moving this coop all over the place and I read on another forum that someone used sand. Would that be my best bet??

on my few pens that aren't free range I use grass clippings or pine needles or wood shavings (I make a lot of wood shavings in my business) or leaves etc. Natural matter to decay and give them something to scratch in

 

[Lynzi777]

on my few pens that aren't free range I use grass clippings or pine needles or wood shavings (I make a lot of wood shavings in my business) or leaves etc. Natural matter to decay and give them something to scratch in

That sounds like a good idea, especially now that fall is pretty much here and all the leaves will be covering the ground before we know it.