NY chicken lover!!!!

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all. Had a scare yesterday. Looked out the window just before I jumped into the shower because I heard a noise and saw Legolas and his son fighting. Junior was going for kill with his father and poor Legolas was doing his best but is smaller. I threw something on and ran out, grabbed up both of them and brought them in downstairs. Junior was fine but poor Legolas was half scalped, his right eye swollen shut and his right side of his face all swollen up. I put Junior in a crate and proceeded to treat Legolas. He also got to stay inside in another crate. He looks a little better this morning (love vetermycin) and so I put him back in with his girls. I will be setting up a bachelor pad for Junior until he goes to his new home. First time I have had such a serious issue. I guess love is in the air and Junior wanted his own girls. Im glad I got there in time to prevent anything more serious from happening. Junior is generally a good boy but at 9 months old is looking ladies of his own.

My bator is full again with my eggs and heritage rir eggs from the don nelson line. Ordered chick bands and have started keeping a record book on the hatched chicks. One thing I did learn from the last hatch is that the chicks in the really big eggs never made it through all the way. They died shortly after pipping. They couldnt get fully turned. I selected eggs that were a bit smaller this time.

The tiny tots are doing well and were bouncing around like pinballs this morning. They eat out of my hand and are a busy bunch. Dh made them a long, low roost which they love.

Time to get cracking. Lots of chicken stuff to do today.

 

[matthewg325]

Quote:
Originally Posted by matthewg325

Started to build my chicken coop for my 6 chicks. What do you all think? Not finished yet but its coming along...









QUOTE] It has a window which is near the door not shown on the pictures. Im thinking i may add another window since i have plenty of old windows from when i replaced the windows in my house. Its raining like crazy right now but when its stops ill post more pictures of the entire coop so far

 

[matthewg325]

Looks great! Do u have any pics of the outside?[/quote]

I havent worked on the outside yet since there is still snow.

 

[Basskids08]

Thanks for the site. I just ordered my own catalog.

 

[armorfirelady]

Matthewg I believe you can not have to much ventilation. I would have ventilation on both ends of the coop across the whole end. And some at bottom to let air in (these would need to have covers on them for the winter to keep drafts out but still let air in.

I also leave my south end open all winter. I block the spots the snow blows in when it's windy but leave as much open as I can. The window on my door is usually more than half open throught out the winter. I am trying for an open air coop with my cattle panels. Their roost is at the opposite end of coop so they won't get a draft.

Also make sure you have a lot of windows as well. The sun will help brighten the coop during the winter and let the sun in to warm it during the winter. If you cover them with hardwAre cloth then you can use hem as vents also. I placed mine on the south end of the coop and was amazed by the difference.

Here is what I try to base mine on

Now his is from wood and I have cattle panels but it's the same theory. Mine has no insulation just a tarp to keep the snow, rain and wind out and they were fine all winter & we had temps get to -30 with the wind chill and a couple blizzards. The only difference is I have 2 roof vents on top of mine. With the DL it was always a few temps warmer inside the coop

 

[huntin fool]

Quote:
dont forget to check craigslist for supplies also, check the free section as well as the materials and farm and garden sections, i got all my roofing for 5 bucks a sheet, lots of lumber on clearance carts at home depot and lowes, remember, if in doubt about the size of the coop or run, always go larger rather than smaller, most of us on this site probably started with a small coop, then after we got chickenitis, we all needed more coop space! sounds like you might already be infected.... if you feel a bad case of chickenitis coming on, DO NOT go into TSC!!!

 

[matthewg325]

Quote:
dont forget to check craigslist for supplies also, check the free section as well as the materials and farm and garden sections, i got all my roofing for 5 bucks a sheet, lots of lumber on clearance carts at home depot and lowes, remember, if in doubt about the size of the coop or run, always go larger rather than smaller, most of us on this site probably started with a small coop, then after we got chickenitis, we all needed more coop space! sounds like you might already be infected.... if you feel a bad case of chickenitis coming on, DO NOT go into TSC!!!

Funny you should say home depot clearance. I actually got all my lumber from there clearance cart. Spent only $60 on almost $300 worth of lumber. All the ply wood was scrap wood from my cousins job so that didnt cost me anything

 

[huntin fool]

Quote:
are you building a run or free ranging? if you build a run, make sure its tall enough to walk in comfortably, and you have a good door to the run as well, my first run was only about 3.5 feet tall, what a pain to go in there. what part of ny are you from? this is a great site, you will learn alot from these nice folks, just dont mention silkies to rancher!

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote:
dont forget to check craigslist for supplies also, check the free section as well as the materials and farm and garden sections, i got all my roofing for 5 bucks a sheet, lots of lumber on clearance carts at home depot and lowes, remember, if in doubt about the size of the coop or run, always go larger rather than smaller, most of us on this site probably started with a small coop, then after we got chickenitis, we all needed more coop space! sounds like you might already be infected.... if you feel a bad case of chickenitis coming on, DO NOT go into TSC!!!

And big trash days in your town can be great also. I have picked up old 2x4s ( the good old kind from when they built houses a 100 yrs ago) that are solid. Plus other various wood pieces, landscape bricks, buckets, etc. it amazes me what people throw out. It's usually in great condition to be repurposed. And I agree bigger is better.

 

[matthewg325]

Quote: My yard isnt fenced in so I am building a run. I Plan on making it the width of the shed which is 9-10 feet and 4-5 feet off the shed. I may even wrap it part of the run around the shed. Once all the snow melts ill have a better idea of what I am going to do with it. I am hoping the rain will melt the rest of the snow so I can get started on the run next week. I am in the Hoosic Valley area