Oregon

Updated pics of our new little flock

Road Runner our bantam braamha cockeral
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Cookies and creme our big bramhas
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Bonzi our bantam silkie she's crazy

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And Roxy our barbed rock she's really dark
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Coop building is finally set to commence! I'm having some friends over this weekend to get the frame work done. A barn raising if you will. One of my best friends is married to a carpenter. I've been assisting with her job search as I am a corporate recruiter so this is bartering at its best! It feels only right that I should barter for services and use as much reused and reclaimed materials as I can with my back yard chicken endeavor.

I have 6 chicks and the oldest three are nearly 6 weeks now and feathered. they keep trying to fly out of the brooder. But the babies are only 2.5 weeks so they are no where near ready to go out. Not to mention it's still too cold at night. Right?

I have the girls seperated by standard chicken wire in the same really large brooder set up. Any suggestions on how to go about letting them in together and when? They sleep together just on different sides of the wire. It's cute but I am afraid of chicken violence!
 
Coop building is finally set to commence! I'm having some friends over this weekend to get the frame work done. A barn raising if you will. One of my best friends is married to a carpenter. I've been assisting with her job search as I am a corporate recruiter so this is bartering at its best! It feels only right that I should barter for services and use as much reused and reclaimed materials as I can with my back yard chicken endeavor.

I have 6 chicks and the oldest three are nearly 6 weeks now and feathered. they keep trying to fly out of the brooder. But the babies are only 2.5 weeks so they are no where near ready to go out. Not to mention it's still too cold at night. Right?

I have the girls seperated by standard chicken wire in the same really large brooder set up. Any suggestions on how to go about letting them in together and when? They sleep together just on different sides of the wire. It's cute but I am afraid of chicken violence!
My 5wk old chicks are outside without a heat lamp, and it was 30 last night. BUT they are broody raised so have been outside from day one. Last night momma decided they were old enough to fend for themselves and rejoined the adults on the roost. I was worried, checked periodically, but she was right. They slept in a group in the shavings, but never even felt the need to pile up for warmth.

I have integrated that age range before without any issues. It helps they have been able to "visit" and that they have a large brooder. I would say just remove the wire when you are there to supervise and see how it goes, if there are going to be any issues it should happen early. And keep the multiple feeder/waterer setup so the big ones don't try to keep the little ones from eating. Good luck!
 
I think if they are already sleeping with just wire seperating them, then they'll merge just fine when they finally are of age. We introduced 6 week chicks to 1 year old hens by letting them both free range on different sides of a fence, then after a week put the babies in the coop at night, and we've had no problems, just normal pecking order stuff, and some girls are territorial of their perches, but they've gotten along fine. They're already used to the others being there, so they will probably be fine.
 
Hello everybody! I'm a brand new newbie from Portland. My BF and I are currently shopping for a house, and hope to be moved in this summer. We are looking forward to getting chickens at the new house! In Portland (as I'm sure you guys know) we can have up to 4 hens. I've been reading, reading, reading about what breeds would be best for us, and I'm leaning towards a Cuckoo Maran, Golden Campine, Barred Plymouth Rock, Speckled Sussex.... basically the loud-colored spotty ones with clean legs! Egg volume isn't super important, but being friendly is. We plan on getting 4 chicks at the same time and being sure to handle them (gently) often, so they are used to us and such.

He's great with building things, so we will find coop plans online and build it ourselves - I can't wait! I think we will plan on attending the swap in Canby on April 27th, just so we can meet some people and see birds in person... With only getting to have 4 birds total, we need to make sure we pick right the first time. I used to be very active in showing horses, so the ability to take some of our hens to shows is very appealing to me as well!

Looking forward to getting to know you guys! :)
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Welcome from yer neighbor on the other side of the BIG creek. Hey FYI there is a POULTRY show at the Clark County fairgrounds this Saturday That would be a real good chance to look at lots of breeds and meet some BYCers. I will be there with my metal art. Feel free to stop and say HI.
Next Saturday April 27 there is a swap in Canby at the Clackamas Co fairgrounds. The swap is put on by a group of poultry peeps and is mostly poultry but there will be other things too.
I hope to see ya at one or both of these events.
Rob
 
Ugh.... So, so upset right now. I just found mites on the Wyandotte cockerel. Right before the show. I immediately dusted him, his hen, and tossed and replaced all shavings in their pen. This makes me sick. I was looking forward to showing, after all I've been through with my chickens this year... He definitely picked them up at my last 4-H meeting. One of the new members brought a rabbit with mites not knowing any better. We don't do health checks at 4-H before letting people bring in their animals, but that is going to have to change with all the new members. I dusted him head to vent and he looked white by the time I was done with him, same with his hen. I think I caught them just in time, I only saw 2 live mites (they were brown and very small, what kind could they be? Northern Fowl Mites)? and no egg casings... But I'm planning on bathing him Thursday, and using Frontline puppy/kitten flea and tick drops afterwards. Judging by how things are going at this rate, I'm never going to show again. I was really, really looking forward to showing him this weekend... I wish there was some kind of treatment that would kill the mites immediately. I'm still going to look, but that's not the same as showing.
 
When I find mites, I automatically bathe them with the puppy or kitty flea and tick shampoo and let those darn mites go down the drain. Then I blow them dry and let them stay in a warm room for a few hours to dry with really good food for them to gobble. THEN, I'll dust the crap out of them and everywhere in the coop. Usually, it's only the sick ones that seem to catch those things.
 
When I find mites, I automatically bathe them with the puppy or kitty flea and tick shampoo and let those darn mites go down the drain. Then I blow them dry and let them stay in a warm room for a few hours to dry with really good food for them to gobble. THEN, I'll dust the crap out of them and everywhere in the coop. Usually, it's only the sick ones that seem to catch those things.

These guys were showing no signs of them - no excessive preening, no constant dust bathing, no poopy butts. I actually decided to do a quick check for mites after I got done cleaning the pen, and that's when I found them. No doubt where they picked them up, and I'm going to be having a serious talk with my 4-H leader about doing health checks before letting people with animals in the building. I feel like Murphy's Law went into effect with me. I was really looking forward to the show. :(
 

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