Our Mixed Flock Journey!

[WhoDatChick]

After the yard cleanup we did a little more on the Chicken Coop! We decided that it needed more ventilation and light...the chicks won't go in if the light isn't on, I'm hoping the vent will give enough evening light that they will go in. If not, we are going to add windows on either side of the coop. We also finally added in the roost bars, yay, I hope it will accommodate the whole flock!
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I need to add something into the nesting box to keep them out for a short time...they've been sleeping in there, now that we have the roost bars in place and the fact that they are higher than the nesting box, hopefully they won't want to sleep in there anymore!
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This looks so great!
I have one Silkie and three Cochin bantams with my flock of 12 standards.. for the most part they can manage but I do think they tend to get picked on a bit.. and one in particular standard gal feels the need to stomp Nilky(Silkie) to the ground .. I would LOVE to have a bantam coop but is it worth it for me.. as I will not have bantams after these are gone.. but I do have to weigh it out because they could be here a good while... sooo, I don’t know... but really when I think about it.. they don’t get picked on any more than the lower ranking gals.. except for poor Nilky by that one crazy! So I say you should at least give it a try...

 

[drstratton]

This looks so great!
I have one Silkie and three Cochin bantams with my flock of 12 standards.. for the most part they can manage but I do think they tend to get picked on a bit.. and one in particular standard gal feels the need to stomp Nilky(Silkie) to the ground .. I would LOVE to have a bantam coop but is it worth it for me.. as I will not have bantams after these are gone.. but I do have to weigh it out because they could be here a good while... sooo, I don’t know... but really when I think about it.. they don’t get picked on any more than the lower ranking gals.. except for poor Nilky by that one crazy! So I say you should at least give it a try...

Thank you! I've been worried about the size difference! There's always one isn't there, chickens can be so mean sometimes! I'm going to keep them in their little pen for the next 4 or 5 days and then, let them join the group and see how it goes! I really don't know how old they are, my friend is an older man and he buys chickens and then sells them, he thinks they are about 3 months, but they seem younger to me! I will give it a try, but I don't like to see chickens bloodied and if that starts to happen, they will be separated...either rehomed or I'll drag the little coop over or just block the pigs into the original pig pen and use the old chicken pen for these littles, but I'd rather not do that!

 

[Riv-6]

We had a huge storm blow through yesterday, branches were flying everywhere, our yard looked like tree Armageddon...lol!
We moved our vehicles over near two of our strongest tree's to protect them, it worked, my son has a mess in the garage from working on his Jeep, so I didn't have time to clean it before the storm hit!

View from the garden to the back yard!
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Oh no! That is too bad. Do you get storms like that very often?

 

[Riv-6]

After the yard cleanup we did a little more on the Chicken Coop! We decided that it needed more ventilation and light...the chicks won't go in if the light isn't on, I'm hoping the vent will give enough evening light that they will go in. If not, we are going to add windows on either side of the coop door. We also finally added in the roost bars, yay, I hope it will accommodate the whole flock!
View attachment 2170877
View attachment 2170878
I need to add something into the nesting box to keep them out for a short time...they've been sleeping in there, now that we have the roost bars in place and the fact that they are higher than the nesting box, hopefully they won't want to sleep in there anymore!
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Looks great, Rene! I'm sure your chickens will love the new roosts .

 

[drstratton]

Oh no! That is too bad. Do you get storms like that very often?

We get a lot of wind here and it often includes strong gusts, but the ferocity we had this weekend was unusual, the wind speeds we experienced are usually what the gusts can be and they are not usually sustained like they were on Saturday! I haven't heard what they got too, I will see if my husband found out when he got to work at the dam this morning!

 

[drstratton]

Looks great, Rene! I'm sure your chickens will love the new roosts .

Thank you Rei! I peeked in on them last night and I believe most of them were perched up on them, I saw a couple were still on the ground! I'm so glad to finally have them in place! We have a few more things to do on the coop and then we should be finished with it!

 

[drstratton]

@cavemanrich Thank you for sharing about the need for light in the coop. We are hoping the upper vent will provide enough, but I have a feeling we will be adding the windows too!

 

[N F C]

We get a lot of wind here and it often includes strong gusts, but the ferocity we had this weekend was unusual, the wind speeds we experienced are usually what the gusts can be and they are not usually sustained like they were on Saturday! I haven't heard what they got too, I will see if my husband found out when he got to work at the dam this morning!

Sorry about the wind knocking things around, that can be such a mess. Did you lose any trees?

 

[drstratton]

Sorry about the wind knocking things around, that can be such a mess. Did you lose any trees?

Thank you Debby! My husband said it looked like something came down, but he couldn't be certain if it was caused by this wind storm or one of the regular windy days we have! We get some big gusts sometimes and sections of tree's come out! Anyway, we will be removing it at some point! Some of our Poplar tree's have huge dead sections that need to be removed...I was hoping some of those would come down, but it didn't happen. We planted these trees in 1991, they've been growing a long time! My husband told me he needs to remove them and I told him that I don't want him doing that kind of work anymore...3 more weeks and he retires, I don't want him injuring himself at this stage in the game! We will probably hire someone to come take them down, it's hard to do that when we are so used to doing everything ourselves, but at point it's worth it!

 

[N F C]

Thank you Debby! My husband said it looked like something came down, but he couldn't be certain if it was caused by this wind storm or one of the regular windy days we have! We get some big gusts sometimes and sections of tree's come out! Anyway, we will be removing it at some point! Some of our Poplar tree's have huge dead sections that need to be removed...I was hoping some of those would come down, but it didn't happen. We planted these trees in 1991, they've been growing a long time! My husband told me he needs to remove them and I told him that I don't want him doing that kind of work anymore...3 more weeks and he retires, I don't want him injuring himself at this stage in the game! We will probably hire someone to come take them down, it's hard to do that when we are so used to doing everything ourselves, but at point it's worth it!

Living here in the boonies of Wyoming, we know about wind! Taking down trees and cleaning up afterward is a huge job. It's probably well worth paying someone to do it (and less chance of injury to yourself & DH).

Do you guys have any special plans for retirement?