Texas

[showbarnmom]

Any cow people here???? This is our newest squatter:

That's a very cute squatter!

One of my Moochers this year.

 

[hotrodflash]

I like this idea (scroll down a bit) for watering. I think I will try this. Plus it is really easy to make and clean.

What do you think if the 'prickly' matt idea?

She also has a feed recipe that I would like to try, but I don't have storage room for all that or the budget for it!

When you are brooding chicks, keep it simple. Elevate the waterer to keep the shavings out, stick with chick starter, fermented or not, for the first 4 weeks or so. They only need grit if they are getting anything other than starter/grower feed. Don't try to follow all the different advice that is out on the Internet, figure out what works for you as you go along. For example, they say don't mix chicks with the existing flock until they are the same size. My chicks go into the coop at 4-5 weeks old. They are not harassed too much by the older chickens, and they have a place to escape to if needed. I also start free ranging them at the same age with the rest of the flock. My current 8 week olds are more adventurous than some of the older pullets because they started to free range at 4 weeks not at 14 weeks like the last ones I purchased.

Start with the basics, food, water and shelter and proceed from there.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

I read some of the comments on the waterer I thought I would try and it turns out it isn't the best.

I did find these neat things though. I could hang the small one in the brooder I am making too.


I have another question too. How do you keep water from freezing? Do the chickens keep the coop warm enough to prevent their water from freezing when the coop is closed up for the night? How about when it stays below freezing for days? I have fish tank heaters and I know they sell heated water bowls. Do I need to look into that for next winter?

It sure is getting cold here tonight. Brrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bnjrob]

I started reading up on chick care today. I found this article that seems to be pretty informative. Is there anything wrong with the advise here? Is there are better way to water chicks so their water stays cleaner?

Chicken nipples. They can be put into all kinds of things from pvc pipe watering systems to buckets and soda pop bottle caps. Very versatile.

 

[bnjrob]

I like this idea (scroll down a bit) for watering. I think I will try this. Plus it is really easy to make and clean.

What do you think if the 'prickly' matt idea?

She also has a feed recipe that I would like to try, but I don't have storage room for all that or the budget for it!

I have some of those little red auto watering bowls like in the photo of the link you gave. I only use them as a last resort. Bowls are gonna get poop and especially bedding and dirt into. The bedding and dirt gets into it and those bowls clog - they have little holes that dirt can get into - that's where the little auto watering device is, behind the holes. When things get clogged, then the water doesn't come out and the chickens have no water. Did not work well at all for our chickens.

For less mess, chicken nipples are really the best. I use a quail watering base for about 3 days with newly hatched chicks. The quail watering base has a smaller trough, so you don't have to worry about chicks drowning in it or try to dig up marbles to put into the regular sized trough chick base. After about 3 days I go to a nipple waterer. In the brooders I use small soda pop bottles with a nipple in the cap (and a pin hole or two in the bottle bottom for air flow so the water will come out). I hang the soda bottles using "macramé" hangers like the old-fashioned plant hangers, that I make and then suspend from a dowl or piece of pvc pipe that I place over the top of the brooder. Leaving long tails on the rope hanger lets me adjust the height of the nipple as the chicks grow. The coops/runs have hanging buckets with nipples in the bottom, lids on the buckets keep stuff out of the water buckets. The buckets also let me use reflective bubble insulation on them, to help keep water cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

I have some of those nest box mats but I put them underneath shavings. They are great. They help keep the hens up off the bottom of the nest box. Had to get them after having a stupid broody hen, that was constantly going broody, get a pressure sore on her breast because she would scratch out the shavings and brood directly on the bottom of the nest box.

 

[bnjrob]

I have another question too. How do you keep water from freezing? Do the chickens keep the coop warm enough to prevent their water from freezing when the coop is closed up for the night? How about when it stays below freezing for days? I have fish tank heaters and I know they sell heated water bowls. Do I need to look into that for next winter?

That depends on what your water system set up is. They have heated waterers, but of course they are open trough so subject to getting stuff in the water. and being knocked over and spilling water. There is heat wrap tape for plumbing that can work, different types of deicers to put into the water, some people use an incandescent bulb underneath a metal pie tins or terracotta plant bases than put the waterer on top of that. Once you decide on a watering system you like, you'll have a better idea of what to do in winter for freezing issues.

My watering buckets have the reflective air bubble insulation on them year round. Inside the coops, the body heat of the chickens is enough to keep it ice free unless there is only one chicken in one of our larger houses. The buckets in the runs usually only have a little bit of ice at the bottom around the nipples - doesn't take but a little bit of heat from my hand or a hair dryer to thaw the nipples out. The more water in a watering device, the less likely it is to freeze. I generally have at least a gallon of water in every bucket, more for larger housing units with more chickens in them.

 

[Heidisgran]

Quote: ME TOO
Love my buddy Sam

 

[TexasLisa]

Any cow people here????

This is our newest squatter:

MOOOOOOO!! Too dark to see if my runaways are in the orchard again.

GOOD MORNING FELLOW TEXANS!

42 degrees, wind is blowing, and the stars are out!

Ya'll have a GREAT day!

Lisa

 

[TammyTX]

That's a very cute squatter!

One of my Moochers this year.

The problem is that ours truly is a "squatter"! We don't know who she belongs to!

I think she is cute...husband went crazy chasing her with a stick because she was eating the horses food.

 

[TexasLisa]

The problem is that ours truly is a "squatter"! We don't know who she belongs to!

I think she is cute...husband went crazy chasing her with a stick because she was eating the horses food.

Tammy do you know what the laws are concerning this cute little thing? You always hear 'possession is 9/10th of the law'.

Lisa