Good deal. I am glad to hear that things are settling down a bit and going a little smoother and somewhat easier for you. You remind me a great deal of myself. You sound like a very caring animal lover who only wants to do right by your feathered friends and do the best for them and your connections to them I believe have taken you for a ride and taken advantage of your lack of knowledge or experience in not having chickens before. That is wrong and a shame and in my book down right sorry. Those are the nicest words I can come up with to write. I have better words for them that are more fitting I believe but shouldn’t be posted for tender ears or public forums. I believe once you get your chickens settled down to your standards they will feel it in you as you calm down with that satisfaction. Mine know when I am not happy with their conditions. Seems silly but I think they are like women also. Picky and flighty at times and need just some certain things in their lives to be just so no matter what and that is the bottom line no matter what. When those things line up for them then all is right in the world and they will be happy and lay eggs and not have another care in the world but to eat cluck, sing, poop, scratch, peck, and be merry. Women we have to have running water, a clean commode, toilet tissue, a bath, - at least every three days at the utmost extreme situation, and a tooth brushing of some kind somewhere and how. And in my mother’s case more than mine I am afraid- the dishes must all be done and dried and put away before she can go to bed - God rest her soul. She is in her permanent resting place now so she can’t fuss anymore God love her and so do I. Miss her like my right arm. She would turn over in her grave if she knew I raise chicks in the house until they were 7 weeks old. Geez. Their metal for their coop was delayed due to the July 4th holiday. If it doesn’t come tomorrow I will cry. We have got to get them outside. I am miserable with them in their brooder pen. It is huge and they are comfortable a plenty but they are in my basement because it is so hot in Mississippi. It was over 100+ temps and heat indexes all this past week and weekend and I think this coming week will be the same plus we have had additional storms and flash floods. I have had them on my screened in porch before for two weeks to get them acclimated to the outdoors and it just got too hot for them without enough way to get away from one another. They still want to sleep in a clump for security and even though I have a fan going too it is dangerous for them to do that. One night I heard one of them shrieking and I heard them on a baby monitor doing that and the one shrieking was being smothered because two had snuggled her so close they were on top of her too much basically smothering her to death and she could barely breathe. It scared her so bad that she is the most shy one but when I ran out there she came right out to where I was at the end of the brooder pen and wanted me to take her in my hands immediately. It was scary. They are happy in my basement but they should be outside learning and playing in the grass letting me teach them all kinds of things and enjoying themselves during summer. Hopefully by Thursday at the latest they will be in their coop. I can’t wait to let them loose in their run.
***OH! I was going to tell you this about the WOOD SHAVINGS! Mine have been on these their whole lives but as they have gotten about six weeks old they do not like them under their feet it seems. They like to scrape and scratch them out of their brooder pen. I put PDZ in their now with their shavings to keep the ammonia smell down but the shavings seem to irritate them. I now out a pile in the middle so that there is some left in there for a while that reach the sides and don’t end up all in the feeder. Yours might prefer straw Incase that is what they have been used to or some type of sand may have been what was used. You might ask if you are still speaking to those guys. Lots of folks use types of sand but I think it might be construction grade sand but you need to be sure and research it with folks that use it because I don’t. I plan to use the deep litter method with wood shavings that are not cedar and are not treated. I plan to also put PDZ- zeolite which is sweet PDZ or stalk refresher just depends on what brand or what place you get it from in the coop to keep down ammonia odor and flies. I will also do the shavings in the run after they tear up all the grass and them is shavings and some sand. I plan to use a concrete bird bath for a dust bath for them and use some peat moss mixture with diatomaceous earth to keep away mites and parasites. I will also dust the coop with this also and the egg or laying boxes when I install them closer to when it’s their age to start laying. I hope this was a help to you. I got most of my information from folks on here that gave me sound and willing advice which is gratefully appreciated. I wish you the best.
