NY chicken lover!!!!

[tao chick]

  I just started buying/hatching so, I had various chicks in the house last year from November until we got them out in Spring.  I just built them brooder homes inside my muck room. Easy to clean and socialize them. So, this year I said no chicks in the house this winter...and then I bid on this great auction to get some white pavlovskaya and I now have a chirping office in the new house and an incubator due to hatch in a couple weeks and a shipment due in mid March.  I hadn't realized how much I truly missed their chattiness until I got this little crew.

  I guess the little guys in the house don't bother me that much because they have their own area. They are so much easier to tend to, play with and change their waterer every 5 minutes when they poop in it..lol  However, they really really bother my daughter. 

aww. Please post pics of the pavlovs. I love them.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Yes year round ..it is the best food for them as it doesnt waste any of the food ..they are able to absorb all the nutrients ..
Poop smells less too .
The flies do like it ..but in the summer you can give them just what they eat ...so it doesnt attract them as much

Herbs & greens they will eat all most everything - beets , kale , mustard greens , broccolli , cabbage .

yes the FF attracts some flies, however the girls make life short for them. The flies make a good source of protien . Ewwww.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

*I will NOT hatch early this year*

*I will NOT hatch early this year*

*I will NOT hatch early this year*


Fortunately, I can't really hatch early this year anyways because we are taking a short trip in April. It was hard enough to find somebody to take care of the dogs, cats and grown chickens. Never mind adding chicks on top of that. Plus, I wouldn't want to leave chicks in a brooder in the house when I'm not home. Hello fire hazard.

 

[Lapeerian]

I just started buying/hatching so, I had various chicks in the house last year from November until we got them out in Spring. I just built them brooder homes inside my muck room. Easy to clean and socialize them. So, this year I said no chicks in the house this winter...and then I bid on this great auction to get some white pavlovskaya and I now have a chirping office in the new house and an incubator due to hatch in a couple weeks and a shipment due in mid March. I hadn't realized how much I truly missed their chattiness until I got this little crew.

I guess the little guys in the house don't bother me that much because they have their own area. They are so much easier to tend to, play with and change their waterer every 5 minutes when they poop in it..lol However, they really really bother my daughter.

My biggest problem with them in the house is the dust. Still don't think I have it all cleaned out from the last couple years. I don't mind the first week in the rabbit cage brooder so we can watch and socialize with them, but they quickly outgrow it and becomes dusty pigs.

 

[rancher hicks]

Ah yes, I ordered 2 khaki females last year, and got 2 khaki mixed drakes instead. I was mad that I paid for pure breeds and got mutts. I would have gladly taken the mixes, it doesn't matter to me, but I paid much more for pure. I guess they made up for it though, they gave me Gibby, a huge Rouen who has won many contests

Did you contact the seller? It's important to let folks know who you got them from.

I ordered Blue Swedish one year and they were just fine. Can't remember who they were ordered from though.

My first chicks came from Idea and they were okay but not as good as one would like.

 

[AxolotlLove]

Did you contact the seller?  It's important to let folks know who you got them from. 

I ordered Blue Swedish one year and they were just fine.  Can't remember who they were ordered from though. 

My first chicks came from Idea and they were okay but not as good as one would like.  

I didnt. I don't have their information anymore. It's such a shame because the mixes killed one of my pekin females.

 

[rancher hicks]

Voice of reason, lol.
I'm in the same boat. Chicks in the house now might mean chicks in the house till May. I'm trying to figure out how I can keep them warm enough out in the chicken house. Will figure something out.

I moved them to this hoop with a heat light once they were feathered out. Two heat lights would be better I suppose.

 

[rancher hicks]

Anyone Want some hot Biscuits ?


My 30 + son left these in the toaster oven ...last night ..I cant believe the smoke detector didnt go off ..
My husband stirred in bed ...I woke up a little ..i said what do I smell ?

is Rich cooking something ?
This is what he found when he got up ..

As a matter of fact there is a use for charcoal. Charcoal absorbs poisons so you might want to save them.

I have no trouble giving the birds burned toast.

In reading about this herbicide "Grazon" poisoning soil and compost it stated that charcoal can help bring things back. Long story but you get the idea.

 

[rancher hicks]

My biggest problem with them in the house is the dust. Still don't think I have it all cleaned out from the last couple years. I don't mind the first week in the rabbit cage brooder so we can watch and socialize with them, but they quickly outgrow it and becomes dusty pigs.

When I first started I had 25 chicks in one brooder/bins. Then they grew and I had two bins, then they grew and I had three, then four. In the office, dust, dust and more dust. I had to take everything off the book shelves, knick knacks and a thorough cleaning. Still there is dust in the cracks, I suspect.

Now I do them in the cellar and the chicken webs need vacuuming. As they out grow the bin/brooder they go to the room off the garage. My Wieder weight set is covered in dust as is everything else.

Point? Let the broody hens do the work if you can. Build a hoop and let her raise them there.

NOW, speaking of hoops and heat.

This coop was just like you see it. I thought because it was so cold I'd hang some fleece over the part where they birds roost.
Yesterday I heard the wheezing. One hen an EE was wheezing pretty good. I took some Duramycin water out and gave it to them all but for the EE I dunked some bread in it and made sure she got quite a few pieces. Last night I listened and the wheezing wasn't quite so bad. I didn't hang the fleece but left things opened. This Am no wheezing. I'll keep them on the Duramycin a few days and toss the eggs. I will not hang the fleece again.


The only part of this coop that is open is half the door.


I had pulled down the brown fleece but hung it over the other side where they roost. The yellow is still there. I will leave both sides of the door uncovered from now on.

Speaking of eggs. Surprisingly during the low, low temps more hens began to lay. I didn't get a Marans or EE egg for nearly a couple of months. Then it gets below zero and they start to lay. What's up with that?

 

[Glasshen]

Rancher, I think it's not the temperature but the days are getting a bit longer. Easter egg hunts came from folks looking for eggs in strange places in the Spring...end of winter...