NY chicken lover!!!!

[pharmchickrnmom]

Crochet

Hook.
Howdy all. Ive been hunkered down with 20 ce credits to get my recertificaton as a pharm tech. Brain cells have exploded but they are all done and in. Between that and work I have had no time for much else so I hope that everyone is doing well. Spent yesterday building a rock raised bed in front of the terrorist coop. The back wall is right up against the wire so it keeps them from pushing it out. Reworked and raised their water platform and redid the one side of their run which they were also pushing out. Dh and I moved lots of rocks yesterday !

Bill, my rir roo, has finally moved beyond the jerk stage and is turning into a good rooster. He watches over the girls and feeds them or calls them to someting tasty and has his technique down for mating so the girls dont object any more. He is leaving the divas alone and no longer challenges dh or me. Must be the last correction I gave him finally got through to him. Gladys comb finally dropped off and she is fully healed. Eowyn is being a great mom to the new babies and their older siblings are looking after them as well. I dont know why we worry so much about temps in the brooder box. She had those babies outdoors on day two in the am when it was 37 degrees out.

Off to work. Now I can go back to reading the forum again! Have a good day!

 

[JLaw]

Well I have to say I cant wait for thanksgiving. My egg count is down with having turkeys in with the ladies. I let them out earlier since I've seen the turkeys peck the girls in there a few times and the roo and tom go at it out side the coop. My ladies are hiding they're eggs on me out side. I found 2 brown eggs under a sled that is sitting on some spare hardware cloth. I had my white leghorn lay on top of a little grow out brooder thing on my front porch. I think I need to get more hay for the next boxes its looking alittle thin in there hopefully that will help.

I have also went from layer to starter/grower since I have the turkey's and some new ladies in the big coop. Does this have what I need for laying hens or do I need to supplement anything with it? I thought of doing a 2:1 ratio starter/grower to layer so at least they have some. Not to mention I have a garbage can full of layer and I think it might go bad before thanksgiving.

Well had someone buy some of my 35 chicks yesterday sold 10 gave an extra 5 away. Now to get rid of 14 more. We desided to keep 5 chicks but we are really keeping 6. I noticed the smallest chick in the bin the other day had legs starting to spraddle out so I bought some vet wrap and he/she is running around with taped legs. Since I wont sell a chick with problems we are going to keep little gimpy.

I cleaned the big coop out yesterday about 5-6 wheel barrels full I think. Then when I closed the coop last night I had chickens pecking each other they all try for the top roost and they all didn't fit up there to begin with but now the 3 barred rocks and turkeys want up there so I get to move another roost higher today to keep the peace.

I have my month old chicks out in small coop with a heat lamp since it seems to be getting cold and I was worried about them. Takes the bite off some at night and they keep eating watched them eat while the big girls was fighting for that top roost last night. I cant wait to see what colors all these ee's turn out to be. Seems everytime I look at them they change some how.

Well enough of my rambleings I need to go do that roost bar.

josh

 

[rancher hicks]

lordy, got done hosing out the coop (18ft x 7ft ish) spraying chlorox on everything today, trying to fill in the new stone on the floor with sanitized play sand and a layer of pine bedding over that for the girls, still need 9 more bags of sand to finish. the ducks who get 1/3 of the area only get shavings on dirt. everyone enjoyed the freshening up and completely new bedding. it was funny to watch the girls claim different spots in the bedding in the boxes. the ducks gave me the look when I locked them in their area tonite. they have been allowed all summer to socialize with the chickens nite and day. quack quack--lets get back on winter schedule.! have a good nite everyone!!!

You do know that vinegar is a good and much safer disinfectant don't you? White distilled might be much less potent.

 

[rancher hicks]

Marq, I dropped in for you. I noticed some of the new BM pullets have markings on their hackles and fronts. I am seeing some copper of course, but at least there is hope of breeding it out.

Now if they'd start laying, that would be good.

 

[ag29ande]

Anyone in the area have BBS orps for sale (chicks or started pullets)? I purchased 8 chicks over the summer, looks like most of them are roos~!

My luck!

 

[JLaw]

Anyone in the area have BBS orps for sale (chicks or started pullets)? I purchased 8 chicks over the summer, looks like most of them are roos~!

My luck!

nope sorry.

GRRRR stupid hens this is not what I like to see. after buying nest boxes and building some out of litter tubs. May have to make some a little bigger I guess.

 

[rancher hicks]

nope sorry.

GRRRR stupid hens this is not what I like to see. after buying nest boxes and building some out of litter tubs. May have to make some a little bigger I guess.

Chickens will always find alternate places to lay. The solution is to eliminate places that lay that you don't want. Once you've blocked access to unwanted laying places they will got back to the nest boxes.

I place wooden eggs in boxes to give them idea where they are to lay. I also believe that they are NOT as dumb as we believe and will learn NOT to become egg eaters. Right now I have a couple on the coop floor after finding a hen eating one.

It's also important to make sure shells are firm so as not to become broken if stepped on. If when cracking open or collecting eggs the shells break easily it's time to add some calcium.

 

[Lapeerian]

Chickens will always find alternate places to lay. The solution is to eliminate places that lay that you don't want. Once you've blocked access to unwanted laying places they will got back to the nest boxes.

I place wooden eggs in boxes to give them idea where they are to lay. I also believe that they are NOT as dumb as we believe and will learn NOT to become egg eaters. Right now I have a couple on the coop floor after finding a hen eating one.

It's also important to make sure shells are firm so as not to become broken if stepped on. If when cracking open or collecting eggs the shells break easily it's time to add some calcium.

x2
And if the Turkeys are beating on them, they may be avoiding the nest boxes and coop.

 

[armorfirelady]

Jlaw just make sure they have oyster shell available and they will be fine. Mine are on grower also and I have nice hard shells.

Empty litter box tubs are great nesting boxes. I have had 2 girls in there at once so plenty of room. Easy to clean and won't harbor bugs.

 

[Lynzi777]

Good Afternoon All!
Well so far since having the poultry netting the only bird that likes to fly out is my Buff Orp. The others stay in and seem to enjoy it. I've been placing my rabbits in there with them, one a day otherwise they'll fight. Yesterday I placed my angora in there to run around and get some exercise, went out there later in the evening to find it missing. He obviously found a spot near the bottom and went under it. He's much too big to fit thru the holes of the fence. Found him hopping around down on the side of the yard, couldn't catch him of course and it was getting late. He stayed out all night and I was able to catch him this morning. Not sure what's keeping the predators out of my yard but he's lucky he wasn't eaten. I'm beginning to think there's a creature in the woods keeping all the predators out because I just can't get over how I've had a duck out all night, two rabbits now, the coop door left open night by accident, and not a single thing has gotten to them. Of course it'll happen now that I've said it.

4 of the baby bunnies go to their new homes this weekend. Chicks are getting big and almost ready to go in with the silkies. Then when the Orp chick is a little bigger I'll try placing it in with the bigger girls. I may even wait until it's full grown though knowing how much bigger Gru is than the hens. I would really hate for something to happen to this chick. I'm pretty sure it's going to look more like an orpington than BR, and it's looking blue now, not black. I've seen pictures online of blue orpington chicks and they look just like this little one did when it hatched. So I'm going with blue for the orp and the silkie chick is definitely black.