Texas

[jajeanpierre]

I think the white leghorn would do well, and I to have heard that milk jugs or two liter soda bottles with frozen water help them with cooling. My husband is considering a "mister" for our hens - not sure if that would cause any problems - thoughts?

After last summers horrific heat, I'm setting up a mister this year, too. I'm also looking into a different watering system, since I'll have several of a breed that do NOT cope well with heat.

I would like to find a system so that I could use some sort of nipple in a large soda bottle that I can freeze or partially freeze.

Does anyone have that kind of a automatic nipple system? Where can I buy it?

I really don't like the waters that I have. They are made of plastic, probably in China so who knows what toxic garbage will leak out into the drinking water, especially when I add apple cider vinegar. At least a soda bottle is human food-grade quality plastic that can cope with acid.

 

[TexasLisa]

Hi...I'm new to BYC and to chickens. I hope to get a coop this spring and get some chickens. I'm an animal lover and very excited about chickens!
---Mandi

Welcome from Rosenberg, TX!!

Lisa

 

[bnjrob]

Building an a-frame chicken tractor with anticipation of purchasing 3-4 backyard birds. Looking for a breed (mixes are fine) that are good laying dual purpose chickens that are hardy for Texas weather. Urban environment so no roosters & not breeding... just laying.I 'm looking for opinions from actual Texans since my online research gives extremely varied results... Thoughts? P.S. I'm in Central Texas specifically

If you acclimate them right, just about any breed can do well here.

I am curious as to why you specified dual-purpose birds since you can't have roosters and won't be breeding - since most people don't plan on butchering females for meat. A dual purpose bird will give you eggs, but not necessarily as many eggs as a breed geared toward egg laying, and it will give you meat, but not as much breast meat as a meat bird.

We have dual-purpose Javas but we breed ours for preservation, as well as getting meat and eggs from them since we are working on improving them to get them back to being a more popular all around homestead bird.

 

[bnjrob]

Chicks got delivered. Thank goodness hubby was home and heardvthe mailman becausebthey were left on the porch!
All of them are alive as of now, with the exception of 2 of the Mille Fluers...
Sure enough, we found those babies cruahed at the bottom..
1 Mille Fluer left! Its a little fighter! If its not a roo, I told him that one will stay.
theres 2 barred rocks and 1 buff Im worried about. All of the Easter Eggers are great!

I would be putting in a big, noisy complaint with the postmaster!

 

[TammyTX]

Hi...I'm new to BYC and to chickens. I hope to get a coop this spring and get some chickens. I'm an animal lover and very excited about chickens!

I have a question about free ranging chickens here in Central Texas where we have little to no grass and lots of dirt. Is it worth doing?

I am also somewhat concerned about predators during the day. We are on 24 acres, surrounded by acres and acres of open land, our nearest neighbor being a mile away, so I see the hawks. But this is all undeveloped, and I have left all of my "yard" as unlandscaped as possible. We cut down all of the tall native grasses near the house for fire reasons and because I don't want snakes to sneak up close to the house (this is where I am counting on those hawks to see clearly!).

I am planning to clear out more grasses where we want to put the coop, but even if there was grass, there just isn't much to it before it turns crispy and dry. Is this something that the chickens like? Basically it's rocky dirt with little grass. Am I better off putting in a big run for them?

I'm thinking of having a roofed run so they can be in the shade if it's hot or raining, and possibly letting them free during the day. If I had an urban backyard I'd let them out without much worry. What do the rest of you who are a bit more rural do with your chickens during the day?

I'm attaching a picture of the area I'm going to put the coop. Where the shadow is the grass ends. I'll trim further back, to the trees.



I've tried to read as much as possible, but I think i could read forever and still feel unprepared!

---Mandi

Mandi, WELCOME!!

How many chickens were you planning on getting?

I have a covered run that is inside the fenced chicken yard. I haven't had any problems that weren't preventable by me. The most notable was a fox that climbed the chicken yard fence, climbed the covered chicken run and slipped through the only opening about 6 foot off the ground before going into the coop, grabbing a bird, then going back for seconds and thirds.

A covered yard will keep them safer, but if anything wants to attack your chickens they will find a way in. You just have to make it as hard for them as possible.

I've considered planting yucca type plants around the perimeter to keep vermin at bay...

 

[bnjrob]

I would like to find a system so that I could use some sort of nipple in a large soda bottle that I can freeze or partially freeze.

Does anyone have that kind of a automatic nipple system? Where can I buy it?

I really don't like the waters that I have. They are made of plastic, probably in China so who knows what toxic garbage will leak out into the drinking water, especially when I add apple cider vinegar. At least a soda bottle is human food-grade quality plastic that can cope with acid.

I've noticed most people here on BYC seem to get their nipples from Ebay because they buy just a couple and sometimes shipping is thrown in for free.

I get mine online from QC Supply. They are in Nebraska I think and have given excellent customer service and decent shipping costs - I buy more nipples than most people at a time so it is worth it. They have different kinds of nipples, one kind has to be pecked at and pushed straight up in order to get a drop to come down, then there is the kind that just has to be knocked any way to get a drop of water. I get those so that I can situate bottles and buckets for the shortest chicken to reach straight up and the tallest chicken kinda has to crook their neck sideways but then can peck sideways and still get water.

They also sell the screw in kind as well as the push in kind of nipple, and you can get extra washers for the push in nipples too.

I use both screw and push in, depending on what I am putting the nipple in. Coke bottle caps get the screw in kind of nipple (screw ins are not reusable since the threads get messed up and can leak if you unscrew and then screw them in again).

You also have to put a couple tiny air holes into the end of your Coke bottle for air to escape when using the nipples - I use a #14/16 sewing machine needle to poke the holes - or you can end up with a vacuum and nothing will come out of the nipples.

If you want to freeze, just hold your finger over the holes and fill enough so that you get some water in there but it does not come out the holes or freeze around the nipple, so you'll want to sit your bottle at an angle in the freezer. Or you can just throw ice small ice cubes into the bottle.

An 11/32 drill bit works for both screw in and push in nipples.

 

[MandiB]

I think I might get up to 10 chickens. I had not thought about putting a secondary fence or something like yucca around the perimeter. Yucca deters me! I can see it deterring a coyote, too. We do have foxes, I've seen them. And skunks and raccoons.

jajeanpierre I have big dogs. I am hoping by extending their invisible fence (which is where the grass starts) they'll patrol the area around the chickens to discourage other 4 legged predators. Training them not to eat my chickens is my next challenge. They chase my cats, but so far nobody has been injured, so i am hoping we can work with the chickens.

 

[bnjrob]

Hi...I'm new to BYC and to chickens. I hope to get a coop this spring and get some chickens. I'm an animal lover and very excited about chickens!

I have a question about free ranging chickens here in Central Texas where we have little to no grass and lots of dirt. Is it worth doing?

I am also somewhat concerned about predators during the day. We are on 24 acres, surrounded by acres and acres of open land, our nearest neighbor being a mile away, so I see the hawks. But this is all undeveloped, and I have left all of my "yard" as unlandscaped as possible. We cut down all of the tall native grasses near the house for fire reasons and because I don't want snakes to sneak up close to the house (this is where I am counting on those hawks to see clearly!).

I am planning to clear out more grasses where we want to put the coop, but even if there was grass, there just isn't much to it before it turns crispy and dry. Is this something that the chickens like? Basically it's rocky dirt with little grass. Am I better off putting in a big run for them?

I'm thinking of having a roofed run so they can be in the shade if it's hot or raining, and possibly letting them free during the day. If I had an urban backyard I'd let them out without much worry. What do the rest of you who are a bit more rural do with your chickens during the day?

I'm attaching a picture of the area I'm going to put the coop. Where the shadow is the grass ends. I'll trim further back, to the trees.


I've tried to read as much as possible, but I think i could read forever and still feel unprepared!

---Mandi

They definitely need a covered run if you are like us and have minimal shade where you want the chickens to be at - which it looks like is the case. I use shade cloth over wire on most of the runs we have although we do have one run that has corrugated metal roofing. The chickens enjoy being able to be outside but not getting rained on and they will go out even with sleet and freezing rain.

Anything that is not inside an enclosure is at greater risk for attack, although even Fort Knox will not deter the most determined predator. Chicken wire keeps chickens in, it does not keep predators out. I personally use welded wire fencing with chicken wire on the inside - keeps casual predators out and the chicken wire keeps chicken body parts inside since finding headless chickens in the run does not sound appealing to me.

If I had hatchery chickens, I would probably let them free range anytime and not worry about losses. Because I do not have hatchery chickens and am breeding rare chickens, mine are kept penned unless I am out there with them - armed. Being in the middle of pasture, we don't have much cover for predators to hide in, but coyotes here are quite bold.

If you decide to build a good sized run, you can put in planting beds with hardware cloth/chicken wire over the top of the beds. That will let the grass/plantings grow through the wire for the chickens to munch on, but then they cannot dig up the roots and destroy the plants. Just leave paths for you and the chickens to walk around the planting beds.

 

[TammyTX]

That is a good suggestion about the hardware cloth on the ground. I also use only welded wire and my run is covered in lattice work.

Ten chickens is a good start...please read about "chicken math".

 

[Brookshire11]

We lost the last Mille Fleur. I couldnt save it..passed while i was holding him.