So excited!

[Morgan7782]

Thank you so much for the feed store suggestions! Bradshaw seems good so I will check them out. I am off Freeport Blvd in WAY south sac, along the delta area.

And about finishing the coop.. Let me explain LOL

When we lived in Grass Valley and I had my two barred rock chicks, we had NOTHING. It was totally spur of the moment, and the brooder ended up fine, but the coop was an unfinished project till the very day we moved out of there. So, we learned our lesson :-D This time I refuse to lose steam. I am working my tail off to get this ready so that everything goes as smoothly as I can make it. Luckily, our Barred Rock hens were two of the more hardy hens I have ever met. They withstood everything from winter (even laying eggs in snow!) to natural predetors. They were in our dog run at night, but we lived beside a 32 acre park and are very lucky we never lost any to coyotes.

However, I did lose one to a German Shorthair Pointer. My complete idiot mistake. The dog was a champ hunting dog, ended up at the pound and I was fostering her and her 4 one week old pups. She was FINE with the hens as long as somebody was outside with her, but I made the mistake of running inside to grab a smoke (bad habit) and when I came back out, my chicken was flopping around and the dog was looking at me like "What happened?". To say the least I was peeved, at myself of course, not the dog. The hen was 7 years old at the time, poor girl

I will never make that mistake again!

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Lol, I see your ads on CL for materials all the time!


If you need help with anything, shoot me a PM.
I am very handy, I like chickens, and I smoke also(

,terrible habit I know)
I wish my coop building phase wasnt already done, thats the funnest part for me!

I myself am scouring CL to find the last few parts to my DIY plucker, I have almost everything I need and a guy just emailed today about a washer for the pulley.


PS- was just a joke about the coop being finished first, most folks run out and buy chickens before they have a coop up

Did you see the listing in Rio Linda about the started pullets?
Its a guy and his kid raising store-bought hatchery chicks to various ages, hard work is done.
They had some really nice chicks and take good care of them
The kid runs the show, and I think its a great way for a kid to make some cash and focus on doing something productive.

If you are gonna go to Bradshaw, go EARLY on a Thursday, maybe even call first to make sure they got the birds you want(they should, but . . .)

Like I said, lemme know if you need help, I like making new chicken friends and helping out.
(Im a 32yo male, strong, handy, and lotsa coomon sense)

Oh yeah, how bout some pics of the coop?

 

[Morgan7782]

Thanks for the offer of support/help!

Yeah I am a CL hound lol. Where abouts are you located? I will call Bradshaw early Thursday to touch base and see what they have. I talked to one of the guys, a real nice fella, and he said they will be getting barred rocks and EE's this Thursday, which is when I will be getting my chickies. I was able to get a pile of GOOD supplies from a guy off Elkhorn, good plywood, some 2 x 4's and other stuff. I was working on the coop yesterday, and finished it today. Well sort of. I will add the roof last because I am using it as a transition brooder for when they are 3-4 weeks old, but they will still need the heat light, so no roof yet. I am very excited, very very very much so.

Where is a good place to find hardware wire? That is my next buying thing, for the top of the brooder. I have two cats, the older one was around chickens when we lived in Grass Valley, so he will be fine. But I have a new younger boyo kitty who I will have to work on a little bit. Also have a dog, but I am fairly certain with the help of Cesar Millan I can get him to be alright too. When we lived in Grass Valley, I had a female pitbull who had one of the most intense prey drives I have ever encountered, and I was able to get her quite trained to leave the hens alone, so I have confidence in my current dog that I can get him used to them. Having the chickens as babies will help too I am sure. They will be well protected from any in house predetors.

Thanks again for responding

Also, what do you prefer to use for disinfecting the brooder? I am using one that is not brand new, so I would like to get it nice and clean before setting the babies in there. I heard something about white vinegar? I decided NOT to use bleach, so if you know of anything else that is not harmful please let me know

Will add pictures of the coop when I get my camera back, friend borrowed it

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Bleach is fine, I replied to another of your posts on how to do it.
Bleach evaporates and is completely safe in a few hrs, especially in this wind.

For the wire, just keep scouring CL, itll show up.
I saw a gut in like Loomis I think that has all kinds, the post is up every coupla weeks.

I had to use chainlink to keep my dogs out.
There aint no teachin a Jack Russell not to kill once hes been allowed to do so.

So much for the lousy weather they said we gonna have this week, the sun feels great today.
Im going outside to drink my coffee and play with the chickens.

Im in Carmichael.