Texas

[Ms Jellybean]

I found a new chicken page on facebook. There are some nice chicken photos to look at on there. Probably not a good place for me. My list of chickens to get will get too long!
https://www.facebook.com/ChickenChat


I also found this old book (1917) on chicken coops that is pretty cool. Someone posted it on the Natural Chicken Keeping thread (I think) on here.
Built and Used by Poultrymen
I've just started reading it.

I am trying to read too many books at once again. I hate when that happens!

 

[jockeyeba]

I am so sorry about the loss of your 2 chickens!  I am praying for your husband and the recipient of his kidney.

Lisa

Thanks Lisa & everyone else for your thoughts & prayers, the doctor called me at 2:15, he's out of surgery & everything went fine but it will be 2 hours before I can see him, when I called this morning they told me 1 hour, I'll have to feed everything now before I go & then the traffic in San Antonio at that time of day will be

 

[Brookshire11]

I have also seen these hawks. They have lived on our property for years and raised many young. Sadly we found one of them at the bottom of our transformer pole. Guess it got into the wires. Don't know if it's one of the pair or a young bird that hasn't left home yet.. From what I can tell they are red shoulder. I'll go listen to the sound bite. Thanks Magpie

When I was in The Woodlands, we had a pair of Bald Eagles that had decided to raise their kids by the little lake. It was really spectacular to get to see them in person.

Of course!

I come by my baking desire and ability genetically. My grandpa was a baker by trade. He immigrated here (illinois), as a young man, from Norway way back in 1905. [You would think that I am older because of that. Nope. My mom is the youngest and her oldest sister was 18 years older than her. I am next to the youngest in my family and my oldest sister is 12 years older than I am.] i love hearing about my grandparents (grandma was from Sweden). They both passed away when my mom was 16 and I never got to meet them. I know my grandpa and I would have been great friends and dangerous in the kitchen!

That's amazing!
I've only met my great grandmother on my father's side. She's Dutch, and my great grandfather was fresh off the boat from Ireland! But I never met him.
My grandma grew up very poor in Amish Country PA, but she's very resourceful and strong, and very much my role model.
I hope to be just like her when I'm a Grandma! (in many, many years! Lol)

I found a new chicken page on facebook. There are some nice chicken photos to look at on there. Probably not a good place for me. My list of chickens to get will get too long!
https://www.facebook.com/ChickenChat


I also found this old book (1917) on chicken coops that is pretty cool. Someone posted it on the Natural Chicken Keeping thread (I think) on here.
Built and Used by Poultrymen
I've just started reading it.

We can always order together and save on shipping

hahaha
There's some guy around here that builds coops, but when I looked at his website, it looked like he raised and sold Swedish Flower Hens last year too!
Those, and Chocolate Orpingtons are on my "keep dreaming" list.

And I saw that book on the Natural thread too!
I have a hard time keeping up on there, it goes so fast!

 

[jockeyeba]

I have two hens that are fighting over the same clutch of eggs.  My little catalana has been sitting these eggs since Saturday.  When I checked on her today my seabrite hen was on the eggs and had run Belle off the nest.  She was so upset.  When she trys to go back the seabrite pecks her.  I took the seabrite out and let Belle back in the box.  Don't know how long that will last.  Any suggestions.

You will need to put a cage around the nesting box so she's safe from the others & can still get to water & food, or put her in another pen with her eggs if she will accept them being moved, my Games won't take the eggs if you try to move them

 

[SlipsWife]

I got 10 for now, gunna get another 10 or 15 more from local feed store. was there yesterday, they got about 40 more chicks from the batch I got mine from. they almost all feathered out now as well. My 1st 10 chicks are white leghorns. I want to get a couple more different breeds, and a cockerel yet. Want a few replacement chicks if a hen gets broody to replace what I butcher this fall. My coop is pretty fair size for the amount of chickens I want. It is 10 by 6, 10 nexting boxes. The run is 19 by 16, wired in with 1" hex chicken wire all around and over the top as well.
With all the rock ledge on my property, my fencing only has about 1 inch of dirt over the dolomite rock, so no worries about a pred tunneling in. I have overhead clearance inside the run of 7 ft. So i can walk comfortably around inside to clean up/feed/water as required. Just these cold snaps that hit every 5-7 days make feel like I am back up north on the frozen tundra..... one of the reasons i moved south LMAO
but I got a 1400 wat infared heat unit in my coop (heat unit for a green house) so not too worried about heating. Just on watching my electric meter spin on warp speed......

I was so nervous about ours being out when it was super cold a few days ago. I think because they had a small area to huddle up in, it worked to help keep them warm. We had originally used a large Rubbermaid container with a cutout for them to go into because the brooder/coop was going to be needed for the chicks we got in yesterday. There were just to many to fit in the upside down Rubbermaid container and I didn't like not being able to easily see them.

I'm finding that our chicks don't need near as much heat as what is recommended...but that's just our personal experience. Last year we stressed over it, this year we've backed off and so far, so good. We haven't had any losses from the chicks getting to cold but again, power in numbers. We have a group of 10 bantams and 2 ducklings from last week that aren't on any supplemental heat. We used a heat bulb the first couple of days, then a regular bulb for a few days and nothing after that. They are currently in our house and it stays around 67*.

I think the key is keeping them dry and giving them a 'cozy' place to snuggle. At least that's what has worked for us!

 

[Brookshire11]

How does everyone feel about these types of coops:

I'm....eh..on the fence..

 

[jajeanpierre]

How does everyone feel about these types of coops:

I'm....eh..on the fence..

I suspect it's heavy and small. When I first got chickens, that was how I thought I would be keeping them. I found they really are not happy in something that small. They don't move around much, either. Right now I have three bantam Cochins in quarantine in a 4' x 8' pen with a little dog house coop off one side. I can't imagine more in my pen, and mine is bigger than this one. There are lots of plus things about it--it has little perches and it does look nice.

 

[magpiesing]

I would use it for little ones getting use to being outside, but it looks small for bigger birds. Just my opine

 

[LBejaran]

So sorry about your Ameraucana. You said you made the brooder safer? What happend?

There was too much cool air going into the brooder and the chicks were huddling more to stay warm. Unfortunately, that led to one chick getting crushed. I ended up adding more shavings to the box and covering up any holes and cracks that were on one side of the box. Only the side opposite of the wind's direction now has a hole for ventilation.

The chicks were fine this morning, thank goodness. The little girls are troopers, I'll tell you that!

 

[Brookshire11]

I suspect it's heavy and small. When I first got chickens, that was how I thought I would be keeping them. I found they really are not happy in something that small. They don't move around much, either. Right now I have three bantam Cochins in quarantine in a 4' x 8' pen with a little dog house coop off one side. I can't imagine more in my pen, and mine is bigger than this one. There are lots of plus things about it--it has little perches and it does look nice.

I would use it for little ones getting use to being outside, but it looks small for bigger birds. Just my opine

Oh! and to clarify, this is just for the coop. They'll have a 12x12 run for 5 large and 2 bantams. That's 18 sq ft a bird

I really like this one better.