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dheltzel said:
Definitely getting rid of all the Rhodebars soon, but keeping the Biels for a while longer. Hoping for improved hatchability over the next few months. I have a few young ones growing out for this fall/winter. I will get you eggs or chicks sometime, and let you know before I sell them all so you can get some eggs or chicks.

They have to compete with the Welbars and so far are coming in a distant second in every way except for being better known. I just setup a secondary breeding pen of Welbars with 2 roos and 22 pullets all around POL. If they start to produce like the older group, they will be my main dark egg layer and all the others will be "by request only". I love the way Welsummer birds look, but I get nearly as many eggs and chicks from my 7 Welbar pullets as I do from my 20+ Welsummer breeders. Some days the 7 Welbars outlay the Welsummers and Marans combined. I can't wait to see how the new group does. They are in a portable hoop coop on grass, I hope that makes the quantity and quality of the eggs even better.
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Thanks Dennis! I'm more interesting in a large autosexing dual purpose breed for the future, which is why I like the Bielefelders. I am more concerned with the size of the birds and the eggs, rather than the quantity of eggs. I have read that they are a more calm breed too, which is also desirable. I'm also going to want some more bantam Cochins if you have still have them. Everyone loves my bantam Cochin the best, as far as appearance. What would you say is the size difference on the Wellbars vs. the Bieles?

Hopefully it will only be a couple months until we have a new home. A house of similar size sold around the corner in 6 days, so fingers crossed.
 
Stay warm everyone! Just blustery wind and a passing shower to contend with in my neck of the woods.

My new BRs are doing well after some tough love. The pecking from my other girls had them hiding in the coop loft, so I shooed them down and shut the door. I figured it was best to get on with the order of things rather than prolong it. All are now getting along well, allowing the girls to feed and water with the group with much less picking. With the cold wind today, the girls are in and out of the loft, but they're doing it together!!! Yay!! A win!
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Hubby and I are shopping for materials for our larger, expansion pen this afternoon.

And on an even brighter note, my youngest cat, Maverick, who has been missing since sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, returned safe and sound bright and early this morning.

HoedeManor is happy today!!!
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Sad day here! My daughter just called from her house and said we lost our 3 3 1/2 month old chickens. :-(

They were not in the coop but out in the run, I am not sure if they got cold or were dehydrated. She said when she went out this morning before church they did not have water in their chicken nipple bucket, but had water in the dish on the ground. I have only really seen them drinking from the nipple waterer. Not sure if they just didn't drink from the dish. :-(

My grand daughter is crushed. She would take them out one at a time and sit and play with them. She would take them to her fort and feed them treats.

We may now keep some of the naked necks, but we do want to find another silver laced Wyandotte. I will have to look local and see if I can find a hen close to laying age around Harrisburg.
 
Does anyone have a used chicken coop forsale that is around 4x5 or bigger please let me know I maxed out my coop and need a spare one I would like to spend 200-300 I would also take a used shed for the same price and convert it into a coop thanks
 
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@dheltzel - have you seen fox or evidence of them bothering your hoop tractors? Have you had any predator casualties in the tractors? Dh finished up our hoop tractor and the girls spent their first night in the hoop rather than closed into their coop. Couldn't believe my eyes to see a fox on top of the tractor about 9 AM this morning in broad daylight!
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We see fox moving through regularly and have seen scat around the permanent, wooden coops and runs so are aware, but it was unnerving to see him bold as day on top of the tractor.

Our design is very similar to your build model, but w/o the hardware cloth around the bottom 14" b/c our girls roost reliably.
So basically cattle panels wrapped in welded wire. Welded wire on each end. Tarp covers a little over half of the tractor. We did not put welded wire on the cattle panels under the tarp. Can fox, coon, etc. tear through tarping? We did put an apron of folded chicken wire (so double layer) extending about 1' out all the way around the tractor (attached to the base frame) to prevent digging.

Does this sound fox proof or do we need to beef it up? I can take pics if you think it would help. I'm nervous to let the girls in there tonight. They are at POL and it would be a shame to lose any after all this growing up work!

I know several of you local to me have/had fox problems so very interested to hear how you're taking care to keep them away from your girls.

ETA: I'm chicken . . . brought the girls into their enclosed run and will lock them in the coop tonight while we consider whether the tractor is fox proof enough.
 
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Roada Red said:
Does anyone have a used chicken coop forsale that is around 4x5 or bigger please let me know I maxed out my coop and need a spare one I would like to spend 200-300 I would also take a used shed for the same price and convert it into a coop thanks
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Check on pennswoods.net or craigslist. There's usually stuff available there.
 
Ya I looked on Craigslist but I found a person down in Lebanon who builds some nice coops for a cheap price but then by the time it's shipped here it would be queit the price and I have mountain road structures less than 5 minutes from me but by he time the price of shipping and the price of labor and the price of e lumber then it's well out of my price range for a smaller coop than I already have my cousin has a role back but the size I want it isn't going to fit on the role back so we would need something I can take apart and rebuild or something that is the size I want that can travel a short distance on my cousins role back, I have found one that is two years old probably less than 7 minutes from me but it was two years old and he wanted 600 at e least for it so I told him if he would come down any and he said 500 but being that he just posted it yesterday I doubt he is going to want to come down on price yet. I offered 200 cash but he hadn't said anything. But I haven't thought of checking pennswoods
 
Roada Red said:
Ya I looked on Craigslist but I found a person down in Lebanon who builds some nice coops for a cheap price but then by the time it's shipped here it would be queit the price and I have mountain road structures less than 5 minutes from me but by he time the price of shipping and the price of labor and the price of e lumber then it's well out of my price range for a smaller coop than I already have my cousin has a role back but the size I want it isn't going to fit on the role back so we would need something I can take apart and rebuild or something that is the size I want that can travel a short distance on my cousins role back, I have found one that is two years old probably less than 7 minutes from me but it was two years old and he wanted 600 at e least for it so I told him if he would come down any and he said 500 but being that he just posted it yesterday I doubt he is going to want to come down on price yet. I offered 200 cash but he hadn't said anything. But I haven't thought of checking pennswoods
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How big of a coop can your cousin fit on his roll-back and how far is he willing to drive for pick-up? Maybe you could extend your search out a little further than your general area if you have someone willing to haul for you.
 
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