post your chicken coop pictures here!

[canehdianchick]

I still have a few more things to do and it isn't done yet... We have a second run just across from the main coop/run and I'm thinking of extending the size of our main coop.

First time chicken owner... We were going to order 12, then the minimum was 25 so we thought...why not? And ended up with 26 chicks!

I've been putting a lot of elbow grease in to the coop from its original condition.

I ended up painted the whole inside, hanging stairs, new perches etc etc. You can see a few of the upgrades inside in the one picture.

And here is our outside of the coop as of today! More to come

So happy with it so far!!! 2 weeks of chipping away! The run needs netting over the top as we deal with a lot of birds of prey. We also installed a new gate and need a new window still as a grizzly ruined the last window.

Wish us luck. Coyotes, wolves, bears, birds, and more for our ladies to worry about.

This farm dog has more jobs added to his docket---mother hen being his new most important one!

F

 

[Sylvester017]

There is a HUGE generalization as to egg size for a breed and as all generalizations are, is not a good indicator of what a specific bird might lay. My 2 Faverolles are supposed to lay USDA Medium (51g to 57g). On a REALLY GOOD day they might make the very low end of that. The average size (of all eggs ever laid) is about 46 grams.


My 4 Y/O EE (from Ideal) has an average of 64 g, the VERY TOP of Large and that is brought down by her pullet eggs. She rarely lays anything under 70g now and is frequently laying 72 and 74g eggs - Jumbo. She is currently laying 2 eggs every 3 days or so.

The 3 EEs (from Meyer) that will be 1 year old next month have an average size of 58, 57 and 51g. Now that they are past "pullet egg" age, they are running about 60, 64 and 52g so solidly Large, XL and Medium. The one that lays the Medium eggs is a machine, 85% of the days since her first egg and as of yesterday is on a 14 day streak; 10 days or more straight is normal for her. And yes, I do know that will change after first moult this fall.

Mine are all still pullets I think? So I wonder if that accounts for that? Some of the eggs have gotten bigger but not the EEs really. I haven't officially measured any on a digital scale but have the incredible egg scale and the one EE eggs are consistently off the scale so XL/Jumbo. Sometimes she lays normal sized ones but even those are big. I might try a digital scale soon

Oh and ors has laid every day since she started i think. She may have missed one or two days or had a broken egg but she started the Sunday before Easter so going on 2 months now.

Ams and EEs are all over the page for size of eggs or production -- for the most part that's the feedback I get back from owners. I would think if it's colored eggs one wants then one has to deal with the "iffy" production of these birds. But if better laying is wanted from a 2 year bird I would choose some other breed like the Orps you were considering. Wyans can form a dominant personality and I wouldn't put them with timid breeds but those two would make lovely eye candy. The Buff Orps however will probably be the best of the egg layers of all the Orp varieties. BRs and RIRs seem to be people's all-time favourites for egg production and my favourite brown egg is the Dominique which is lighterweight and easier on the feed bill and a good personality -- like some of the BRs. It's so hard to choose between eye candy breeds or breeds that will produce enough eggs for our table. Our choosing under-5-lb-&-under gentle breeds limits our egg output but it's enough for just the two of us.

 

[MeepBeep]

Ams and EEs are all over the page for size of eggs or production -- for the most part that's the feedback I get back from owners.  I would think if it's colored eggs one wants then one has to deal with the "iffy" production of these birds.  But if better laying is wanted from a 2 year bird I would choose some other breed like the Orps you were considering.

This is part of the reason I picked up some Whiting True Blues this year for my own EE breeding program, if they are what they are claimed that being a mix that includes commercial production leghorn they should be very decent layers and hopefully give a base to build a good layer line upon...

 

[Sylvester017]

This is part of the reason I picked up some Whiting True Blues this year for my own EE breeding program, if they are what they are claimed that being a mix that includes commercial production leghorn they should be very decent layers and hopefully give a base to build a good layer line upon...

Hope the mix keeps the egg colors consistent too!

 

[MeepBeep]

This is part of the reason I picked up some Whiting True Blues this year for my own EE breeding program, if they are what they are claimed that being a mix that includes commercial production leghorn they should be very decent layers and hopefully give a base to build a good layer line upon...

  Hope the mix keeps the egg colors consistent too!

They are supposed to be homozygous for blue eggs, so that should not be a problem... The only question is how much 'brown' contamination they might have in the egg color shifting it to a green tint, that might need some work to get more blue-blue eggs, I will know in about 5 months... But since I want to breed down the leghorn body shape anyway and thus have the option to bring in new blood lines it should not be a huge deal to clean up the egg color to blue-blue on one line... I will also be working on an olive line and for that and 'brown' contamination won't matter...

 

[Sylvester017]

They are supposed to be homozygous for blue eggs, so that should not be a problem... The only question is how much 'brown' contamination they might have in the egg color shifting it to a green tint, that might need some work to get more blue-blue eggs, I will know in about 5 months... But since I want to breed down the leghorn body shape anyway and thus have the option to bring in new blood lines it should not be a huge deal to clean up the egg color to blue-blue on one line... I will also be working on an olive line and for that and 'brown' contamination won't matter...

I like the greens, from mint to sage to olive. I saw a website that was breeding for deep avocado shades - really interesting.

 

[MeepBeep]

I saw a website that was breeding for deep avocado shades - really interesting.

I would like to get there as well, but that will require lots of time not to mention years of culling down to some proven extremely dark chocolate layers and years of line breeding... My Marans are laying a decent shade of dark brown but likely no where close to what is needed to get an avocado color, but I should be able to get dark olives all day long... I also have some Welsummers growing out so I can get green with dark green spots..

 

[gilcamp4]

well I made my babies a treat to show my sister how we take care of them

 

[twinsmom6]

canehdianchick.. I love that coop lots of places for roosting.. lots of work very nice

 

[Tika75]

So we took the old baby bed and wrapped it in chicken wire.
At the ends we used hardware wire. It is upside down in this
picture though. Boys. LOL