NY chicken lover!!!!

[mderby48]

Good morning fellow NYers! I'm officially in lockdown for my very first hatch! Cross your fingers that all 13 eggs in the bator hatch!!

 

Good luck! Just don't get discouraged if they don't all hatch. A 100% hatch rate is rare. I'm on day 5 with 41 eggs. I haven't candled all of them but the few I checked had veins! I'm not expecting more than a 50% hatch rate. It's only my second hatch with my LG. All I know is 21 days is way too long! Haha. On another note my hens have picked up on the laying! I got 14 yesterday, up from 10 the day before! I'll be happy when I'm getting 2 dozen everyday.

 

[blzzrdqueen]

Good luck! Just don't get discouraged if they don't all hatch. A 100% hatch rate is rare. I'm on day 5 with 41 eggs. I haven't candled all of them but the few I checked had veins! I'm not expecting more than a 50% hatch rate. It's only my second hatch with my LG. All I know is 21 days is way too long! Haha. On another note my hens have picked up on the laying! I got 14 yesterday, up from 10 the day before! I'll be happy when I'm getting 2 dozen everyday.

I understand some may not hatch. I started out with 16, 13 made it to lockdown

 

[Glasshen]

Sorry, back to ticks, I had also heard the 24 hours. And had heard the bullseye was something that occurred sort of late, so it might be better to go by the 24 hours and treat earlier as the bullseye is not always seen, and you could already be knocking out the disease.

Perhaps the seramas are particularly good tick patrollers. They are sounding more and more wonderful.

Going to let them out right now.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:
that and their Total Ugly appearance

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote: I call those angel wings

Quote:
that and their Total Ugly appearance

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Here is a video ..it shows about how far our chickens range ...farther than I liked this day .
Chickens will come when called if they know there is bread waiting for them .
Here we go ....Here Chickies

My son and I enjoyed watching your ladies come running! Very sweet!

TOB

 

[Cass]

So to break up the tick talk. I'm gonna build my coop soon and was wondering if anyone has used sand in the coop. I talked to wife about it and she brought up what I I was wondering which is how does it holds up in the cold winter. I told her we could run a duel floor. Have sand in summer then winter put plywood over it then the pine chips.

Have used sand. LOOOoooved it when I had less than 10 chickens. Hated it when I had more than 10. Actually took it out and put in chips when I got up to 20 birds.

Sand was easy to scoop the poop out of, but had to be done DAILY or it got mashed in and you would step on it and that was a bigger mess still. Sand is not "green" for the purposes of composting, chips are; therefore my poop didn't compost. Lost a year's worth of good manure to that fact.

You can't just add to the top of sand. Well, you can, but it does no good, the smell is still there. Chips you throw some more down and clean it out once in a while to keep the flies down. Every time you throw out more chips, it smells fresher. And beleive me, in the summer the coop can get very very ripe.

I still have a coop with sand. 6 birds in it. In the winter the poop froze and I couldn't scoop it...perhaps my sand was too shallow in that coop.

Right now I have a nice big pile of chips and poo composting to use this spring. When all is said and done, given I am an avid gardener, I am going to stick with chips. When I clean out the small side that currently has sand in it, I am going to put wood chips back in.

Regardless of what you choose make sure that you build in something to hold the floor covering in the coop. My door is, well... door height, and it scoops everything along with it and makes it so the door won't close right and I am constantly scooping stuff back into the coop, away from the door opening. Design flaw on my part.

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

Munching pickled eggs and catching up. I'm going to be making more after sunday too.

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Regardless of what you choose make sure that you build in something to hold the floor covering in the coop. My door is, well... door height, and it scoops everything along with it and makes it so the door won't close right and I am constantly scooping stuff back into the coop, away from the door opening. Design flaw on my part.

Great post on the advantages vs. disadvantages of sand base in the coop, Cass - thanks. I remembered some of what you'd said here during an earlier question I had about the same topic. With regard to the door height...you're saying maybe have some kind of lip at the door threshhold to keep the bedding in? Or raise the door height entirely? We are planning the latter for the man door into the coop, from my small storage area / entry. However, there will be a separate door on the back wall of the coop that will be floor level so I can heave-ho all the shavings and waste as needed, into a waiting wheelbarrow / cart (the coop is elevated, so this will work great, I think.)

I was just reading last night that sand in an outdoor run is a good idea. Any thoughts on that vs. chips or gravel? I can see that the area around the coop is already trampled down and somewhat muddy from the construction and foot traffic. I don't entertain any unrealistic thoughts that the vegetation will get any better, especially once the chickens move in. There is a brushy area with lots of leaf litter and stuff for them to kick and scratch through, but the area right around the coop is trampled pretty good already.

TOB

 

[marquisella]

So I tried massaging my little girls crop for about a half hour I think I felt some stuff in there but not really sure. I put her by her self with just water that has save a chick and some poly vi sol but no food hope I worked something loose. She is going crazy chirping jumping at the cage door flapping wings. I see she's pooed some. I'm useing bath towels ATM for her. I think her crop may look a little smaller but not sure. When I got home wife said all she did today was lay there (the chick but wife prob did the same lol). I woke them up moving stuff around and she went back to pecking shavings while others went to food and drink.

The one time I have a hen with an impacted crop...I took away all food and I put red wine diluted a little with water in the water dish. The wine helps ferment the food & it passes through. If nothing else helps, why not try it? Put another chick in with her for company.