NY chicken lover!!!!

[why do birds]

Lynzi, Thanks for posting the CC Coop. I like hoop coops too. I showed CC Coop to the fiancée and he really liked the style and that it can be added on to. Please do keep us posted how the new coop works out. Does it come assembled or with easy to assemble parts? We think we could let the chickens out in the spring/summer but oh we do love them inside. They are so funny. So far, 7 weeks, no allergies, no dust, and they are such characters! They fly around in the kitchen and play with us! But they use the large dog cage as their "home".

 

[JLaw]

Love having power outages in middle of night. For awhile we had alittle power enough to barely light up a few bulbs. I think somone had a back up gen running. Now we have nothing i hope these chicks keep warm. I had two bulbs going since wasnt full strenght and it was only 77ish in there and now the bator is off also.

 

[JLaw]

Well i dont recommend it but since i'm staying awake by the silkie brooder i figured a way to keep them warm i hope. I took the cat cage i use as a brooder for first few days after a hatch and put candles in it. Have the hardware cloth lid on it then took a box put shaving in it and put the chicks in there on top of cat cage. Have thermometer in there so dont get too hot and have part way open to vent. Here is a pic.

Now i'm worried about the bator.

 

[dragonlord483]

Well i dont recommend it but since i'm staying awake by the silkie brooder i figured a way to keep them warm i hope. I took the cat cage i use as a brooder for first few days after a hatch and put candles in it. Have the hardware cloth lid on it then took a box put shaving in it and put the chicks in there on top of cat cage. Have thermometer in there so dont get too hot and have part way open to vent. Here is a pic.

Now i'm worried about the bator.

Hope every one is good

 

[JLaw]

Hope every one is good

Thanks it's back up now. When it went out at like 1050 power company said 230 would be up. called again at like 1 and they said 350 then at like 130 it came back up so got to blow out all the candles in house.

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

Morning

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all. Its brisk out this morning and now I have to go out earlier as it gets lighter earlier. Legolas son has been busy trying out his voice. His attempts to crow are cute. Little Ma, n was answering, showing him how a real crow goes. Bill was not going to be left out and so he sounded off as well. The nice part is that the boys arent really noisy. A few crows in the morning and some greeting ones when I am out and about and thats it. I am sure the neighbors like that.

Desiree--I know you are excited about your eggs. Wait till day 7 then candle. You will know then whether or not there is development. If in doubt, leave them in longer. Sometimes they develop at different rates.

Jlaw---glad you got power back and the chicks are okay.

Rancher---thanks for the article. I have done quite a bit of reading on the subject and agree that inbreeding can be an issue when hatching. It was one of the reasons why I aquired another line of silkies and will be crossing my two lines soon.

Morning to you Tab! How are those girls?

 

[Lynzi777]

Lynzi, Thanks for posting the CC Coop. I like hoop coops too. I showed CC Coop to the fiancée and he really liked the style and that it can be added on to. Please do keep us posted how the new coop works out. Does it come assembled or with easy to assemble parts? We think we could let the chickens out in the spring/summer but oh we do love them inside. They are so funny. So far, 7 weeks, no allergies, no dust, and they are such characters! They fly around in the kitchen and play with us! But they use the large dog cage as their "home".

It will require assembly but if I recall correctly, this coop took us less than hour to assemble. But we also "fastened" it together a little better by adding that liquid nails to the sides before screwing them together. Everything comes pre-drilled and with the hardware. I added new locks to mine eventually. I've had this one for going on 3 years and the bottom finally gave out when I was cleaning it one day this winter. It was my own fault actually, if I had just left it, I probably would have been able to just update the tray a bit to keep it lasting. But the ducks are in that house now and with it being winter everything in there turns rock hard and was getting heavy. So I tried shoveling it out of there on one of the warmer days and ended up jabbing the shovel right thru the bottom on accident. LOL So I said the heck with it, removed the tray completely and stapled a tarp to the bottom of it for the time being until I could make a new tray.

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

The girls are doing good. There is no school this week for the older 2, so I planned my vacation for this week too. The girls and I get to spend some time together which is nice. With my work schedule things always seem rushed and then I have to be in bed. The week is going to go by way too fast.

 

[rancher hicks]

Thanks, I might try this! Have you ever done it with pine bedding from a chicken coop? I don't really have a compost pile so I'd have to pull it fresh from the coop and I don't know if that would hurt the plants.

Because I am not rich, some of my beds were first filled with chicken cleanings from the coop right to the to top. These can be mixed with top soil or topped off with a bag of garden soil. A 2X4' bed requires about 1, 2 cubic foot bag of soil. Also keep in mind that raised beds don't have to be high. 6" will work IF you turn over the soil underneath.

If you are starting your beds over the lawn and there is grass, simply lay some cardboard over the grass and set you bed on top of that, fill and plant. The grass will be smothered and not come up. Place your beds wide enough apart and just mow between them when you do the lawn. In my first garden I fill in around the beds with wood shavings. Looks nice but can be a bit expensive.

There are many things you can use for the bed walls. I've seen those plastic kiddie pools used. Of course you'd need to put holes in the bottom for drainage. I have one that is no longer good for water if anyone is interested. It's a 48" round. I've also seen sand bags used, cement blocks, and hay bales. I've also seen free cement blocks in CL but with no truck couldn't get them. Images can be found on the internet.

Also keep in mind they can be used for Flowers too. I do one bed each year with just flowers for cutting and bee attraction.