***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[jcatblum]

Mike thanks for the invite. I know the girls would love to come. Think we may be busy. One of our new does is a fence jumper!!! She is a Nubian & taller than any of my boers. DH is going electric fence shopping. We have several chargers here but none of them are working (or DH didn't set it up right, who knows).
When the new doe jumped the buck started chasing her & then the other goats joined the chase, followed by my human kids & 4 dogs. Her baby is about grown but can't jump so momma won't leave the pen & runs in circles while everyone is trying to be her back in the pen. What a fun day at our place! So far we are on round 2.

Mitzi, we have a large barn that has a lean to. The lean to is 16ft wide & as long as our barn (think 40ft.). The chickens has a 16ftx30ft covered area that opens to a 16x40ft run. If we are home they are out free ranging. The rest of the lean to is duck & guinea shelter. They both get 8ftx10ft shelters that open to 28x28 pen. The guineas have an additional 8x8 also. Can't remember why, but that is how DH built it. We use old privacy fence pannels for all the walls of the lean to & when it is cold I staple plastic between the roof & tops of the privacy fence. So it that wasn't too confusing, all of our birds live in the lean too of the barn & have pens around the barn. Inside the barn we have a small room where all the brooders are & we can fit 4 8x8 portable pens inside the barn easily that we use for grow out pens. When the weather is nice those pens are out on grass. We store all our feed in the barn too.
Up @ the house we have an old swing set A frame covered in roofing metal that connects to a dog kennel. That was the guinea cage, but now that I let chickens hatch guineas several chickens refuse to leave & go back to the barn.
I may try to take some pics, not sure how well it will photograph.
The barn was here when we bought the place & they had cattle pannels & oil pipe built around the barn for sorting cattle. So we only had to add 2x4 fence & aviary netting-- it was a little more work than that, but the main part of our pens already was in place. There is one more area they sorted livestock in that we haven't use yet. Also on the other side of the barn we used privacy fence pannels & built a dog kennel for our dogs. There are times we need to pen them up when we have visitors
Poor Taron just brought a hen up that use to be so pretty, but now she is losing all her feathers. Tried to say it was moulting but Taron says that isn't fair she is so pretty she shouldn't loose her feathers.

 

[Ksane]

Mitzi your set up sounds like ours. We have 2 big dog kennels that are 12' x 40' both those have 1/2 acre runs that are uncovered they can forage during the day. They have a 12x10 enclosed area in that kennel for shelter from wind, rain ect with nesting boxes and roosts. Then we have 2 hoop houses 10' x 10' only one has birds right now. The other is empty until some of the chicks are ready for the ground but that won't be for at least another month or two. Then we have a 10'x20' dog kennel that (hold your hats) has dogs in it! LOL But it normally is for birds. Once we find the momma dog a home it will return to being a bird coop. Then we have two smaller kennels that are 5'x10' that have Kurt's bantam cochins in them. They each have a igloo dog house for shelter in them. Then there is the chicken condos which has 10 pens ranging from 4'x14 to 16'x14'. 6 A-frame pens all with birds, Lastly is our feed house yard that Nathanael's Mr. Red and 2 hens use during the day it is 10'x10' so perfect for 2 OEGB to use during the day. And our rabbit hutches we have 3 that have 4 pens each in them that are 24"x36" each. That is where Nathanael's OEGB's live now but we are thinking of moving them into cages in the feed house now that cooler weather is getting here. It will be easier and cheaper to keep them warm that way. But they will have smaller pens and have wire floors in those pens so I haven't been in a rush to move them in there. We have plans for 2 more pens out of chainlink panels that will be 6'x10' for more of Kurt's bantam cochins. Nathanael and Jackson are still looking for little tykes play houses to convert to chicken pens for their birds, lol.

Oh good. I don't feel quite so crazy now lol
Where did you find the fence panels for dog kennels that big???? My husband got 8 brand new bundles of shingles for free (!) yesterday so we're covering a couple coops today that need it, they just have plywood for a top right now. I'll get a picture of the 4x8 pen with enclosed coop I'm making when I get it done. I want to make a few more and put a pair of small bantams in each of them. That only gives them 32 sq feet but it'll have an enclosed coop and with lots of shavings they'll stay clean and warm.

 

[MacGuyver]

Robin any time we have a major weather change the birds that are not as strong & healthy usually let us know. Only other thing you can do is wait & see how she does IMO.
My girls are busy with their school, the goats are munching down the back yard & the birds are protesting the cold. When I told Taron it was time to let them out she even protested the cold.
DH guys are at the range & will be there all weekend. Made them the black bean soup & Mexican corn soup. Did a double batch of both, imagine it will all be gone in a few hours. Think I may start some sit pea soup for us, got some ham hocks waiting in the fridge.
Speaking of ham hocks, last weekend 3 hogs were in the front pasture & my dogs took off after them. DH couldnt get a shot in, I called neighbors let thm know we saw them. Neighbor stopped by yesterday, they got a 280lb one. I hope I don't see the other 2 again or any of their family.

I just put on some pinto beans with a ham hock. Gonna be some good ol' Okie cookin' tonight!

 

[Ksane]

Christina, that doesn't sound like it's any easier to take care of than the way I've got mine set up lol! You have a definite advantage in that your birds are all together. What's a hassle here is having them all separated individually with who they hatched with. I could mix all the ones I've hatched myself except for the fact I've got a boy or 2 in with each group that I've gotten attached to. I can't mix all the groups with all those boys together at this point, way too many boys.
Some of these girls just looked pathetic when they were molting. I've still got 2 Cochin girls that better get on with it or they're going to be bald in the snow. They haven't even started molting yet.

 

[bridget-rdh]

Bridget's post didn't quote for me.
But Bridget, I with any new yard or coop or set up you usually have to physically put the birds into their coops for anywhere from a few days to (in the case of my Brahma girls) 4+ months. The Brahma group went into their new yard with a new coop 3 months ago and every night I have to go out there and shoo them into their coop. There's a nice light in there but it sits up under the 50' spread of a huge tree. The tree branches droop down like a canopy and I think nighttime sneaks up on them. When it starts getting dark they have to go under the darkness of the tree branches to get into the light coop and they're scared to. I'm going to get some walkway lights I guess.
Do your birds have a light in the coop? If there's a light and a clear shot to the coop they'll naturally gravitate to the coop when it starts getting dark. Most all birds only have to be reminded a night or 2 before they get it as long as you make the coop look appealing to them in the dark.

Thanks.. I do have a light in the coop and a timer.. have read both ways-- use it at night;don't use it at night. I'll turn it to come on this evening for an hour or so after dark. A few are still pacing the run this morning, I'm assuming they are wanting to go lay in the old house so I'm keeping them in the coop/run again today.

 

[MacGuyver]

Well everyone I've hatched this year has their own yard or pen so it ends up seeming like a lot. I did just add some up, there's 6 50x50 or bigger yards (but 1 is empty for the Brabanters whose eggs haven't even been LAID yet

) and 12 8x8 or 10x10 roofed pens plus the Spitz's and an Araucana boy each have their pens plus a 10x15 yard. Each yard or pen obviously needs their own coop, too. So that's what gets time consuming. I had built a few 4x8x6' tall coops that I really like. But there's a guy that sells huge dog houses down the road that are really well built so I started buying them if there's only 3 or 4 birds in a yard. I want to put the doghouses on 4x4's. The Orpington yard still needs a 5x10 coop built, I thought we'd have that done this week but don't. They still fit in a 4x4 doghouse with a latched door at night though.
It's kept this year's hatches all incredibly healthy by raising them separate and keeping them that way. My husband looked disappointed when he asked what I wanted for Xmas and I said another 10x10x6 dog kennel lol

Darn. I tried to get the disappointed look from my hubby this morning by asking for more chicken coops for Christmas and he just said "No."

 

[jcatblum]

Mitzi you can mix the boys, after a few days they will sort it out. We prob have 8 or so boys in one coop. They all learn there place quickly!

McG enjoy those yummy beans. DH came home told me his guys were putting my Mexican corn soup in the bowl then spooning the black bean soup on top. Guess they liked mixing the sweet with the savory. Not sure if I could eat it mixed, the thought grosses me out!

 

[MacGuyver]

It's official I hate fall hatching! The last two hatches have had one chick each and my only hatch from this last week died this morning. It was a sweet little silkie chick and was fine when I went out to feed the big birds but when I came in it was laying dead in the water dish. The water dish is filled with colored marbles so I don't see how he drowned. I don't know what happened. Then I candled the eggs that are to hatch this week and over 1/2 are clear! I am going to gather eggs one more time for hatch but if it doesn't go well then I am done for winter/fall hatching. I will try again in Feb/March. I set eggs today for the kids they had a little over 2 dozen between them of OEGB, Silkie, and Bantam Cochins so we will see how those do. Today's chore is to get supplimental light to all the pens that are laying. I have some lights in our main pen but the other 3 need them. Still undecided if I want to put a light in the guinea pen or not.

That is a bummer!!

 

[MacGuyver]

See?? No matter what the rest of us do or how hard we try we're always going to look like lazy slackers next to her lol!

Oh, good. If it doesn't matter how hard we work, then I'm just going to give up now, kick back with a warm coffee and veg out on the internet.

 

[MacGuyver]

Mitzi you can mix the boys, after a few days they will sort it out. We prob have 8 or so boys in one coop. They all learn there place quickly!
McG enjoy those yummy beans. DH came home told me his guys were putting my Mexican corn soup in the bowl then spooning the black bean soup on top. Guess they liked mixing the sweet with the savory. Not sure if I could eat it mixed, the thought grosses me out!

I dunno, the black beans and corn together sounds SO good to me.