Spring 2017 first timers post!

[Magnolia7330]

The coop got roofing shingles today! I also put in an order for chick starter. I going to feed Modesto Milling feed. It came highly recommended in my chicken class I attended.

 

[AlynaD]

The coop got roofing shingles today! I also put in an order for chick starter. I going to feed Modesto Milling feed. It came highly recommended in my chicken class I attended.

You attended a Chicken class!?? Thats awesome wonder if they offer any in my area

 

[Wavechickens]

Chicken class sounds awesome! Not related but I want to take a bee rasing class. We want to get bees next summer

 

[Magnolia7330]

Chicken class sounds awesome! Not related but I want to take a bee rasing class. We want to get bees next summer

We thought about bees too. Costco sells a kit. However, three of our backyard neighbors have pools and we didn't want to risk them getting stung...plus I'm allergic. Don't want them too close to the house. One day when we have an actual farm with an acre or more (and win the lotto to afford it) we can have a hive or two.

 

[ImportTheBest]

Idk if you're in Texas but we have a six minimum from farm stores too...but I found a place to get one or two at a time. Made it easy to get what I was missing...ameraucana and welsummer.

We're in KY and the only way around the rule is hatcheries, craigslist etc, and buying them older than 8 weeks from one store somewhere in town that intentially raises them to sell after 8 weeks so that people can purchase as many or few as they want. I'm hoping to order 3 more from Meyer as soon as they have extra Olive egger pullets on hatch day!

We are first timers and will be getting ours from Meyer's 5/2/17....2 Barred, 2 Golden Lace Wyandottes, 2 RIR and 10 White broilers.  Our brooder is ready, old wash tub on legs (back saver!)  Next is the coop!!  We are so excited!!

Sounds a lot like what I'm doing!

I have 8 meaties and 7 layers together and they get along well! Though I'll have to separate the meaties soon to protect the tiniest layer and the meaties health (avoiding overeating).

The coop got roofing shingles today! I also put in an order for chick starter. I going to feed Modesto Milling feed. It came highly recommended in my chicken class I attended.

Wow, it's gorgeous! Lucky birds!

 

[trsutton82]

We've thought about bees too, but hubs is afraid of them, so no bees yet. Maybe one day.

@wavechickens My friendliest bird is one of my ameraucana! lol. I'd heard that they were flighty. My 2nd friendly is a RIR. As each day goes by, I'm more and more certain that my one Barred Rock is a rooster. either that or it's a really masculine hen. I guess we'll see. Mine are almost 4 weeks old and their personalities are starting to show.

At what point do we clip their feathers to prevent flight? Mine are trying to fly everywhere right now. thankfully, they are safe in my garage for a while. My black lab is curious, but has apparently decided they are not worth pestering because he will get disciplined.

 

[Flight4761]

I'm thinking of an insulated coop.
Any views on this?
I know that ventilation is most important.
I live in Idaho, and this previous winter got -20°F. Usually doesn't get that cold, though.
Summers can get around 100°F.
Leaning towards a pallet coop. (Planning for Ameraucanas)

 

[Wavechickens]

Thanks for the input trsutton82.

We are hoping that our male Blue Ameraucana will be friendly. Some of our pullets are a little more at ease then others, I am hoping that in time they will all come to love us, but even if they don't that's okay.
As far as clipping we never did clip because we always raised bigger birds with a tall fence so no problems with escapees. Last year though my parents ordered some Easter Eggers, sex links, Rhode Island's, and austrolorps, and every one of them escaped at some point in time, and many times! So we are thinking this year we will clip our newbies wings. As far as I've read they suggest to clip once they are full grown, but I could be wrong. Hopefully someone else has some input on this too.
We keep our brooder covered and the first coop they'll be going into is enclosed run attached, after they get moved to the permanent coop they'll then need them clipped if they escape like our others did.

 

[Wavechickens]

I'm thinking of an insulated coop.
Any views on this?
I know that ventilation is most important.
I live in Idaho, and this previous winter got -20°F. Usually doesn't get that cold, though.
Summers can get around 100°F.
Leaning towards a pallet coop. (Planning for Ameraucanas)

We custom built our coop and insulated the entire thing from top to bottom with 2 inch pink fiber board and put in two screened windows that we can open for ventilation. The upside is that even when it got down to -10/-15 at night it was plenty warm enough, even without the heat lamp on all the time. We tested the coop out during the winter to see how it would do before putting hens in it. Downside when it got warm during the day (30/40s) if we forgot to turn the light off it got a little to warm (like 70) in there and that can be dangerous because it makes it hard for them to adjust to going outside and more susceptible to getting sick from sudden change of temperature quickly. But we still feel it was worth the insulation because they are not cold.

 

[Wavechickens]

We finished it right before fall though so we haven't tested it during the summer months. But we added two big windows we can open to help with ventilation and cooling it off inside there