NY chicken lover!!!!

[Gramma Chick]

Want to have some fun with your new chicks ?
Put a little dirt in the bottom of the cage ..
They will instantly peck at it ...Mine then started to dust bathe in it .

I didnt realize they did this at a week old or less ..so funny

 

[trilyn]

Thanks Sue, I appreciate it..you've hatched tons of marans so I know I can count on your advice!

Trish

 

[Tough Old Bird]

My outdoor run has a hardware cloth bottom with compost on top of it; chickens shouldn't walk on wire full time. My pop door open onto the run. I have only closed the pop door 4 times in the entire 2 years I have had birds. It is low and the birds roost high...heat rises, cold air sinks....so I only close it when it is getting below zero at night. (My run also has a chicken wire top, so nothing can get in at night and nothing has gotten in, including small rodents.

I have seen Featherz set up and she needs her pop doors closed at night. I built my coop set up so I didn't have to open and close a pop door regularly; so you do have a choice.

Cass, thanks for the advice and details to where I can envision your set-up. From the get-go, I've been badgering hubby for a completely enclosed pen with very small diameter wire mesh. He offered some resistance at first, but has come to see my reasoning.

He says it will offer more design challenges than the coop itself, but it'll be great peace of mind for me as we not only have predators of every kind out here in the sticks, but have busy schedules in the summer months.

TOB

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Want to have some fun with your new chicks ?
Put a little dirt in the bottom of the cage ..
They will instantly peck at it ...Mine then started to dust bathe in it .

I didnt realize they did this at a week old or less ..so funny

Now that is just TOO STINKIN' CUTE! Amazing how early those chicken behaviors must kick in!

TOB

 

[featherz]

I have seen Featherz set up and she needs her pop doors closed at night. I built my coop set up so I didn't have to open and close a pop door regularly; so you do have a choice.

Heh my system is WAY different since you have been here.. Now I have covered 6' runs (2" flight netting), electric wires around all runs and coops and electric netting around my entire back field.. Hardcore! That said, I still close my pop doors.. Juuust in case. Plus having auto doors allows me to open the coops with roosters a little later to be nice to my neighbors. My hen only coop can come out whenever they want to.

For the original question, there's no training or anything - I just set the timer to close the pop doors about 1/2 hour after I know they'll all be roosting. I'm changing my timers around today to let everyone out at about 7AM and closing the doors at 8PM. That should cover it for a bit.

 

[featherz]

Cass, thanks for the advice and details to where I can envision your set-up. From the get-go, I've been badgering hubby for a completely enclosed pen with very small diameter wire mesh. He offered some resistance at first, but has come to see my reasoning.

He says it will offer more design challenges than the coop itself, but it'll be great peace of mind for me as we not only have predators of every kind out here in the sticks, but have busy schedules in the summer months.

TOB

Our first coop is the fort knox one - I insisted on covering the entire thing with hardware cloth, even the run. Thankfully it is a small coop as that was a ton of cash! I cheaped out a bit on coops two and three, but they are much larger and it would not be cost effective to use hw cloth so I went with HW cloth for the bottom 2 feet and skirt, welded wire for the rest of the fence and 2" flight netting for the top. I also run electric wires along top and bottom to deter climbers. I am still vulnerable on my back coop to small things like weasels so I am keeping my fingers crossed there.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all! My you all were chatty yesterday. I had a lot of reading to do. The mud firmed up overnight so I could walk out to let everyone out this morning without sinking up to my knees. Spring fever has hit and they all piled out the door as soon as it was open. Dh was kind enough to release the beasts yesterday afternoon and they were thrilled to be on all the bare patches of lawn. I could see them out there when I got home from work last night. My two broody girls are still sitting tight on one egg each. I figure I will put a couple more chicks under them when the ones in the incubator hatch if they will take them. All are due within days of each other.

Sending off hatching eggs today to someone in tennesee. I am hoping the post office is careful with them. This is my first time mailing eggs. I packed them well so I am hoping for the best.

Rancher--nice chicken water park. Was that a selling point of the property when you bought it? I am assuming that you charge group rates and have height requirements for it.

Gramma--I have read up a lot on the subject of gall bladder removal and it does change peoples systems, sometimes in a very negative way. I am just learning to live with it. Its like anything else, what doesnt kill you makes you stronger.

Heres hoping the wind and warm temps melt more of this snow in my yard. My snowbanks are still high and the ice behind the divas coop is killer!

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Our first coop is the fort knox one - I insisted on covering the entire thing with hardware cloth, even the run. Thankfully it is a small coop as that was a ton of cash! I cheaped out a bit on coops two and three, but they are much larger and it would not be cost effective to use hw cloth so I went with HW cloth for the bottom 2 feet and skirt, welded wire for the rest of the fence and 2" flight netting for the top. I also run electric wires along top and bottom to deter climbers. I am still vulnerable on my back coop to small things like weasels so I am keeping my fingers crossed there.

Fort Knox for sure, but then it would seem you gotta! When all things great and small are after some KFC...

Sounds awesome, featherz. Thanks again. These kinds of responses help me to envision my future coop / run needs.

TOB

 

[blzzrdqueen]

Got room for one more New Yorker? I'm in Albany, the grandest city of the all (NOT). It is against the law to keep hens and roosters in the city, but I have decided that I want to hatch some chick purely for the fun of it. I just picked up a loaner incubator (a Little Giant Still-Air) from the Cornell Co-Op Ext. of Albany County (they loan them for free ) and I got 16 eggs from various breeds from a fellow BYC poster . I believe I have 8 black austalorp, 5 d'Uccle, 1 blue ameraucana, 1 leghorn, and 1 penedesenca. I will be doing a dry hatch, and I will add very little water if needed, I will check the air cell to determine that. If this hatch is successful I may have to do this again and again!

 

[rancher hicks]

Got room for one more New Yorker? I'm in Albany, the grandest city of the all (NOT). It is against the law to keep hens and roosters in the city, but I have decided that I want to hatch some chick purely for the fun of it. I just picked up a loaner incubator (a Little Giant Still-Air) from the Cornell Co-Op Ext. of Albany County (they loan them for free ) and I got 16 eggs from various breeds from a fellow BYC poster . I believe I have 8 black austalorp, 5 d'Uccle, 1 blue ameraucana, 1 leghorn, and 1 penedesenca. I will be doing a dry hatch, and I will add very little water if needed, I will check the air cell to determine that. If this hatch is successful I may have to do this again and again!

Of course you're welcome here. And if you work at it like others have you can get the powers that be to change the ordinances so you can have chickens.

Good luck with your hatch. I'll be it will inspire you to get those laws changed.

Rancher