Show off your Delawares! *PIC HEAVY*

[kathyinmo]

Yard Full is probably still recuperating ....

I'm busy today, banding my chicks and photographing.

It is cold here today! 14* currently. We still have a couple inches of snow on the ground, as well. I decided to throw a bale of hay out on the ground, in the run, in the layers' coop.

I got my first egg in the layers coop today. I don't know who layed it, but it was in the nest, and enormous. I do know it is not a Marans! Most of the chickens there are around 16 weeks old. .... Marans, Jersey Giants, a couple Cochins, my EE, as well as my Cuckoo Marans (Shirley) just out of molt (and no egg yet) and looking beautiful!

 

[Laney]

Sorry for my silence. I woke up late and went straight out to do hard labor on the farm. More siding on the barn, then fixing the bad job Poppy and I did on the hay rack. We hung it a wee bit too high (as in 12 inches too high).

Biden is really starting to get hormonal. My husband said to me last night, "I don't think a single egg will be laid on this farm that hasn't been fertilized by that Delaware rooster of yours". He has reached that stage where he has outgrown all the other roosters. My others are Standard White Cochin's and Silver Phoenix. He will stop chasing the other Hens when he runs across the path of the Silver Phoenix roo's but he won't back down from them.

He doesn't seem to have developed his manners yet though. He dives right into the food and treats without so much as a "by your leave"....while the other roosters stand guard and let the ladies go first. Definitely a hormonal teen!

Laney

 

[speckledhen]

Hi, Laney. Happy New Year to all my Delaware cult members! My birds are cooped for the night. It's going down to about 20 degrees tonight, then two nights forecasted to be 15 (will be 10 at my elevation, I'm sure). Brrr! Though it's not like I haven't seen really cold weather-lived in Ohio and saw 25 below zero, plus snow and ice- this is Georgia, for goodness sake!

 

[Julie_A]

Speckledhen, do you have a chance of snow this week? Forecasters are calling for a chance here Wednesday night. We're an hour from the Gulf...

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

HAPPY NEW YEAR Del Lovers

I have fully recouped (Kathy....

)

Got home around 130am and I had only had about 3 glasses of wine all night. Too old and too many BAD memories from fraternity days to be drinking more than that. For some strange reason couldn't sleep past 730am this morning.

Got up, put plastic sheeting on all the coop windows that needed extra "draft reduction" , filled up all of my wild bird feeders and WATCHED FOOTBALL (amongst a short nap)

Like Cyn, I've just closed everyone up for the night....gonna be cold here tonight and all next week. Calling for teens every night and maybe 30s for highs. My "blue bunch" has been out free ranging today and after I put them up I noticed Pepper in the next coop over had blood all down his chest. Not sure if he'd been fighting Shadow (my BIG Blue Rock Rooster) thru the fence or if HIS girls are picking on him. Looks like a spot, below his waddles, about where his neck and chest come together, is picked clean of feathers and that's where he was bleeding from. Guess I'll be doctoring him up tomorrow. Not sure what I'll do if its his girls picking on him as all the extra coops have "lil ones" in them. 6 dellie girls in one, a trio of houdans (need to go btw) in one and 8 silkies in the other. I wonder if he'd be nice to the little 10 week old Dels if I need to move him??!!

Headed for the shower and more FOOTBALL, a fire and a glass of good wine.

See y'all tomorrow!!!

Scott

 

[Laney]

You know, Funny thing about chickens. We used Stromberg Plates to build both our chicken coop and our Goat Barn. We used the plates and 4 foot boards for the coop and then plywood to cover in the triangles

We used 9 foot boards to build the barn, and are doing plank siding. We paid for pine boards and the gentleman gave us cypress. A very nice upgrade in this economy and the goats are very appreciative. We've left a scaffolding inside the goat barn and placed the chicken feed up on it because we haven't found a way to leave out chicken food that the goats can't get into. My husband took a fence post and placed it halfway up the scaffold in an effort to be nice to the chickens.

We'll I've told you all how the chickens don't appreciate the coop we've built for them and would rather sleep outside huddled up against it's side? Or roosted on the goat stanchion?

Well, now the Delawares had always claimed the chicken coop as their own, and the cochins after that last snow storm have wised up and decided it's much nicer than they thought it was...but the Silver Phoenix have been stubborn and were still sleeping outside.

Today though, we finished closing up all but one side of the barn and what do we find? The Silver Phoenix roosting in the Goat Barn, admiring the work we did on THEIR larger accommodations! They think it's much nicer than the tiny prototype we mad last spring.

All chickens must go to the CHICKEN COOP. The goat barn is for GOATS!!!! (Except for Izzy the goat who thinks she's a chicken)

Laney

 

[speckledhen]

Julie, in the next two weeks, there are several mentions of snow in our forecast, which is highly unusual for this time of year.

Scott, some of the girls were plucking Isaac in the same place. I think he's becoming better at protecting himself now, though. He's been in the main coop with his girls and the rest of the layers for several days now and no blood (so far). Hope they don't start in on him when they have to be cooped up longer in the mornings.

 

[joletabey]

BRRRR! Cold here, too. They are predicting between 10 and 16 in the mountains- I have an extra blanket ready to throw over the brooder, but the insulation wrap is really holding the temps nice and steady! If i want it cooler, I just need to move the ones on top to let more air out.

Laney, excuse my ignorance, but how did you decide on your design? I think it looks cool, but I am blanking out on the advantage. . . ? And are they portable?

Everybody, stay warm!!

 

[Laney]

Well the advantage is simply that you can put the frame together in about 30 minutes if you have 3 people with you. The plates come in the mail and you cute the boards to fit, drill the holes for the bolts and then it's like an erector set. Everything just slides into place. The bad part is that siding them for a coop or barn is heck.

They are originally designed to be used for greenhouses or sheds. The open triangle you see in the picture became the door. The whole thing opens to the left side for the people door, and a small triangle opens up from the bottom to midway where it locks for the chicken door.

The other advantage is the way we installed the plywood walls was to simply screw shims into each side and sandwich the plywood in between so that we can put it in and out. We replaced one sheet already with a sheet that has outdoor nestboxes attached. Soon we'll be doing the same with some indoor nestboxes. If we wanted to take one side out and replace it with hardware cloth, it would only take about 5 minutes etc.

On the Delaware front, there is a thread where someone was looking for what breed of bird to start with...she had a list of 5 breeds....and Delaware didn't even make the list. Someone else suggested Delawares....mwha haha....and I seconded that. After she stated that she now had to look into Delawares, I directed her over here....SDWD....the mind control has started.

Laney

 

[kathyinmo]

Yard full o' rocks :

HAPPY NEW YEAR Del Lovers

I have fully recouped (Kathy....

)

Headed for the shower and more FOOTBALL, a fire and a glass of good wine.

Scott

Happy to hear you survived the New Year's celebration!

Did ya catch the first part of the Rose Bowl?

Laney,
Awww, come on now .... those chickens like the goats! LOL
Isn't is funny how they are so particular? Build them a mansion, and they want to sleep in the trees! Crazy birds!

You all try to keep warm now!