Texas Member List - Updated 1/2010

[texasbartrambaby]

I am very sorry about your predator problem - you might want to post it under the predator section. There's some helpful people that are experts over there!!

So, when are we having a chicken swap in the Texas Panhandle? We could have it at my house I suppose!

 

[RuffTuffCreampuff]

Put me down for Gainesville in Cooke County.

John

 

[nurseellen1120]

Newbie from Austin, no peeps yet - but my hubby mentioned today we should start looking for chicken coop plans so hear I am. I have been buying farm fresh eggs at the farmer's market instead of the grocery store and they taste so much better not to mention a better life for the hens. We looked at some chicks at the feed store today. They are ADORABLE!

Ellen :>

 

[lindabean]

Ellen, I have been working on a pen for chicks since last fall. It was slow going till I found a lady here locally who sold chickens of all ages. I went to visit her with the intention of buying some little chicks, but once there, I decided to buy 3 hens that were less than a year old that were already laying and 2 younger hens that were about 3 months old, and would be laying in a few months. That gave us instant gratification, with eggs right away, while we wait for our little peeps from the feed store, to grow up. Hubby freaked out when I brought home the Big Girls, but once he calmed down and found a few eggs, he was happy with the arrangement. The 3 Big Girls have consistantly given eggs since their first day here, so we have rarely had to buy extras. We finally finished the run & coop the week after we got the big girls, and they were happy to move to their bigger place. (I kept them in a portable dog pen with an igloo dog house for a chicken house & I put deer netting over the top to keep them from flying out or the dogs from flying in!)

I found my local lady as a referal from a friend at work, but I know you can look on Craigs List for chickens for sale. I think Carla, who is organizing this list, lives in San Marcos and could probably direct you to someone locally with older hens. You are also very close to a major hatchery that also may have older chicks for sale. Look for the hatchery in your area (north east of Austin I think) Good Luck with getting your new flock going. To see a video of our pen, go to You Tube and look for wileyemac video's. Hubby just put one up on our Chicken Run.

edited for spelling & content.

 

[lindabean]

To person in Conroe that has lost most of flock due to predators: Have you buried the bottom edge of your perimeter coop fence in the ground? If not, it probably would be a good idea to get a hard wire horse panel, cut it in strips about 18 to 24 inches high & as long as the side of your pen, dig a trench about 12 to 24 inches deep at the bottom of your pen and insert the panel strip in it, attach it firmly to the existing pen wall, then pour in concrete into the trench to prevent varmints from digging under the fence and getting into the pen. If you don't already have it in place, I suggest putting 1/2 inch plastic deer netting over the top of your pen to keep other birds from getting in. If a coon was serious, it could probably rip the netting, but it would take a while. It is pretty tough stuff. I found mine at a local nursery. It is in a roll about 3 feet wide and the netting is folded in half, so when I cut off the length I wanted, I unfolded it and it was 6 feet wide. I just used tie wraps to attach it to the top of the pen, and then also tie-wrapped it together where it overlapped across the top of the pen. My hubby suggested we use horse panels around the bottom of the pen and also the door, then covered the panels and the upper section of the run with 1 inch chicken wire. I figured the bottom part would be where most of the predators would try to get in, and with the netting covering the top, and boards in all the gaps, we have been lucky so far, not to have had any breaches. We live in a rural area and see plenty of ferral hogs, deer and coons, so I know there are also coyotes and civet cats and other nocternal critters that would love a plump hen as a snack. My friend, who got her hens a bit before me, had a coon or something reach through her 2 inch chicken wire and kill one of her hens, so we decided to "double wrap" the bottom of our run and use hardware cloth around areas the hens like to sleep in. Knock on wood, so far we have been lucky. You might also consider a Hot Wire around the bottom of the pen. One of the guys at work says he has one around his chicken pen that he has seen keep snakes out.
To the lady in TUlia, Were you a Tulia Hornet? I went to WTSU, (now WTA&M) and was in the band, back in the '60's. Our Drum Major was from Tulia. I remember it being FLAT, FLAT, FLAT, and could see 20 miles to Amarillo from the roof of our church there. After spending 5 years or so there, I felt a little claustrophobic back here in the Hill Country.

 

[juliecox]

Hi, I'm a new Texas person on the board!

 

[allen wranch]

Hey Julie !
Welcome !!!!!

(Yes, I really am going to update the Texas member list on My Page."

 

[Cock-L-Doodle Garoo]

Hey fellow Texans.
I've been wanting to be on the Texas List since I signed up a couple of months ago. So sign me up please.

My bantam grove is in the Smithson Valley of Comal County.

 

[allen wranch]

Cock-L-Doodle Garoo,
Welcome !
You are on my list ! Love your user name.

 

[allen wranch]

I finally updated the Texas BYC members list on My Pages.

The new entries are in red.

If you are not on the list or anything is incorrect, please let me know.

Check the unknown city or county for your User ID also.