Texas

[henless]

Why don't you have your granddaughter put her hand prints on the outside of the coop?


Lisa

That's a great idea! I plan on painting the outside barn red, so her handprints would show up great! We did handprints last year at Thanksgiving and made Turkeys. At Christmas, I did her feet and made Rudolph out of them.

hello all, been in the forums for awhile, but mostly to get ideas on coop design ect for this climate. I am originally from Michigan (Voted with my feet 6 yrs ago and moved here to texas). Up north had good idea on how long to brood chicks for release to outdoors. Which in michigan was end of april, beginning of may.

But with the wild swing here in temps (For west central texas, Concho Valley area) wondering when i can put my chicks out into the coop from my indoor brooder. They are just about feathered out, I got heat out in the coop, right now it is buttoned up pretty tight for cold drafts. And all sorts of vents to open when summer oven temps hit! My run is completely wired off so no threat of avian predators getting my young birds.

Do y'all think about time to throw them out into the coop with a heat source?????

Welcome!

I have my babies in a brooder out in my husbands shop. It is unheated. I have a premier heat plate for them. They have done fine so far.

I'm getting a 12'x12' chain link pen ("dog kennel") on Saturday!
It might not look as crisp and tidy, but 144sq feet should be enough for my 5 large birds and 2 banties lol
And if I got more, I shouldn't have to expand it!
Besides adding cover/a roof, how should I modify it for a run?
My backyard is enclosed by a 6' wooden fence. And I don't think foxes or bobcats are a problem here. As you can see from Ms. Jellybean's pictures though, we DO have some hawks.
I HAVE seen a coyote (one!)...just walking down the street. I've never had an issue with one, but is it possible the chickens would attract them enough to where they'd dig or climb into my backyard?

I would put some wire, hardware cloth if you can, around the bottom and over the top.

Good morning from the piney woods. Going out to let my gang out. Have been in since Sunday. Our roo Abraham has been yelling at me for awhile. My little bantam catalana is brooding two eggs from my big hens. Saturday will be a week so gonna candle and hope I have two on the way. She raised four last fall. Need to build a brooder pen for her because my big girls keep giving her more eggs. Have a great day. Magpie

I hope one of my babies goes broody next year. I bet it's cute watching a banty raise big babies! LOL

I'm so far behind on posts my husband is donating a kidney today so my mind is elsewhere + we've been doing all kinds of jobs to make it easier on me while he's down a min. 2 weeks

Sorry about everyones chicken losses we've had 2 chickens get killed 2 nights in a row now & something tried to get another one last night, went out & caught her & put her in a coop for the night ( they were all freeranging AG's) put the live trap out but no luck

I'm glad everything came out ok with the surgery. Praying he has a quick and uneventful recovery. So sorry about the loss of your chickens.

If you hear the hawks, is it it this sound?

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-shouldered_hawk/sounds

I like having this hawk around (Red Shouldered Hawk). It doesn't seem to bother the birds and is very territorial, especially now in breeding season. It complains loudly when other hawks are in the area. We've had a pair nesting on a neighbor's property for the last two years I've been here, but I haven't noticed them so much this year. A Red tailed hawk killed one of my neighbor's chickens (I saw the hawk), so I wonder if that pair are no longer nesting around my house.

Red Tailed hawks make that screeching hawk/eagle cry you always hear in the movies. A Coopers makes another sound altogether. Although I've seen Coopers occasionally, I have yet to recognize their calls. The Red Shouldered hawk is really vocal.

So your saying the Red Shoulder Hawk does not bother your chickens? I would like to free range mine, but we have a pair of Hawks that fly over us pretty regularly. I believe they are Red Shoulder hawks since the others don't look/sound like these.

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.

Can you split the eggs between them and let them both hatch out some?

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!

Aww, poor baby! Glad they are all doing better!


I got to do some painting in my coop today. I wasn't able to take pics since it was so late when I finished up. Still have a bit more painting to do tomorrow, then its roost/brooder building time for Saturday. It was such a lovely day today. Kinda cook, but so much better than it has been! Spring is 2 weeks away! Yiippee!!!

 

[henless]

So this is definately the Head Honcho amongst my girls. She cinstantly gets challenged and quickly puts the other pullets in their place. I need a good name for her. Ideas?

She's pretty! I hope my SLW babies look as good when they get big.

 

[hensfortherapy]

So this is definately the Head Honcho amongst my girls. She cinstantly gets challenged and quickly puts the other pullets in their place. I need a good name for her. Ideas?

Matilda

 

[hensfortherapy]

Why don't you have your granddaughter put her hand prints on the outside of the coop? Lisa

I am going to do that with my new grandbaby.

 

[TexasLisa]

I am going to do that with my new grandbaby.

 

[SlipsWife]

Does anyone know anything about the Bryant Grain Company?

We got an order of 47 chicks in yesterday from Cackle, different breeds. They all seemed to be doing great yesterday, we did lose one but I didn't put to much thought into why because I chalked it up to shipping stress. As a group they were some of the most active shipped chicks I've seen.

We haven't done anything different with this group than we have our others this year and our only losses were from severe cold/shipment about a month ago and our dog got 2 that got out of the grow out pen.

Wait, scratch that, the only difference has been the feed. We usually use Dumor, starter/grower and bought a small bag of the Bryant Grain and Feed '22% Start-Grow-Layer Krumble', they spell it w/a K. Anyways, our 1 and a half week old chicks haven't shown to be effected by the new feed, they've been on it since Tuesday. We've also fed it to the 3-4 week olds out in the grow out pens, other than the fact that everyone seems to be constantly eating, they seem healthy.

We are having chicks go down hill fast this evening. I had 1 early I wasn't sure was going to make it through the day but it has and then 3 more go downhill quick and about 5 more that seem weak.

Symptoms are weak, lethargic, just standing in one place like they are sleeping, not eating/drinking. The first one that died did have its neck in a weird position at the end but I don't believe its wry neck. I didn't have anything in their water because they were doing so wonderfully but now have added probiotics and electrolytes.

Could the feed have been missing something that is causing this? Would it effect some breeds more than others? Would the older chicks not be showing signs of the feed missing something because they've had enough of the good feed and are a little older? Could the constant eating of the 3-4 week olds be a sign that the food might be missing something (I chalked it up to age but I don't recall them eating this much over the weekend)? Could there be something in the feed that is hurting them?

Luckily it was a small bag and we finished it up today and are back w/our normal feed now. I HATE to blame the feed if its not but something is going on and I can't figure it out!

 

[Ms Jellybean]

Does anyone know anything about the Bryant Grain Company?

We got an order of 47 chicks in yesterday from Cackle, different breeds. They all seemed to be doing great yesterday, we did lose one but I didn't put to much thought into why because I chalked it up to shipping stress. As a group they were some of the most active shipped chicks I've seen.

We haven't done anything different with this group than we have our others this year and our only losses were from severe cold/shipment about a month ago and our dog got 2 that got out of the grow out pen.

Wait, scratch that, the only difference has been the feed. We usually use Dumor, starter/grower and bought a small bag of the Bryant Grain and Feed '22% Start-Grow-Layer Krumble', they spell it w/a K. Anyways, our 1 and a half week old chicks haven't shown to be effected by the new feed, they've been on it since Tuesday. We've also fed it to the 3-4 week olds out in the grow out pens, other than the fact that everyone seems to be constantly eating, they seem healthy.

We are having chicks go down hill fast this evening. I had 1 early I wasn't sure was going to make it through the day but it has and then 3 more go downhill quick and about 5 more that seem weak.

Symptoms are weak, lethargic, just standing in one place like they are sleeping, not eating/drinking. The first one that died did have its neck in a weird position at the end but I don't believe its wry neck. I didn't have anything in their water because they were doing so wonderfully but now have added probiotics and electrolytes.

Could the feed have been missing something that is causing this? Would it effect some breeds more than others? Would the older chicks not be showing signs of the feed missing something because they've had enough of the good feed and are a little older? Could the constant eating of the 3-4 week olds be a sign that the food might be missing something (I chalked it up to age but I don't recall them eating this much over the weekend)? Could there be something in the feed that is hurting them?

Luckily it was a small bag and we finished it up today and are back w/our normal feed now. I HATE to blame the feed if its not but something is going on and I can't figure it out!

I don't know anything about the feed really. The store that sells it here says it's good....

I know when I have changed feed for any pet I have I do it gradually. Really, I would buy one kid of food and stick with it. Changing food around can cause upset stomachs (at least in dogs and cats) and I know it is bad for fish as well.

 

[SlipsWife]

I don't know anything about the feed really. The store that sells it here says it's good....

I know when I have changed feed for any pet I have I do it gradually. Really, I would buy one kid of food and stick with it. Changing food around can cause upset stomachs (at least in dogs and cats) and I know it is bad for fish as well.

Normally I wouldn't have used the other feed if we hadn't been out of our regular feed...we should have just made the drive to TSC and bought our usual feed.

We won't be switching again but its the only thing different. It was pretty cold at the hatchery the night they shipped but they seemed fine when they first got here so I don't think that was it...I wish the website listed more info on the product so I could compare it to the other feed and see if it might be lower in something that could be causing the symptoms...just when I thought we'd at least gotten the brooding thing down...

 

[jajeanpierre]

So your saying the Red Shoulder Hawk does not bother your chickens? I would like to free range mine, but we have a pair of Hawks that fly over us pretty regularly. I believe they are Red Shoulder hawks since the others don't look/sound like these.

So far, (furiously rubbing an oak bookcase) the Red Shouldered hawks have not bothered my chickens. One did chase one of my smaller macaws (600 grams) for a wild chase through the trees but I think that was more an instinctual chase or just curiosity rather than true hunting.

My property has a lot of live oak cover. Maybe it is the availability of other food. Maybe it is the layout of my property/trees. Maybe chickens are just a bit too big for a Red Shouldered hawk. Or maybe I've been lucky.

Red Shouldered hawks aren 't very big--only a less than 500 grams (a bit more than a pound) to less than 800 grams. They eat mostly small mammals. I suspect a big chicken is too big for them unless they were desperate.

My neighbor did lose a chicken to a Red Tailed hawk last week.

There are hawks everywhere whether you see them or not. I would just prefer a red shouldered hawk to a Coopers hawk. For one thing, the red shouldered hawk will make a lot of noise if another hawk invades their territory.

 

[henless]

So far, (furiously rubbing an oak bookcase) the Red Shouldered hawks have not bothered my chickens. One did chase one of my smaller macaws (600 grams) for a wild chase through the trees but I think that was more an instinctual chase or just curiosity rather than true hunting.

My property has a lot of live oak cover. Maybe it is the availability of other food. Maybe it is the layout of my property/trees. Maybe chickens are just a bit too big for a Red Shouldered hawk. Or maybe I've been lucky.

Red Shouldered hawks aren 't very big--only a less than 500 grams (a bit more than a pound) to less than 800 grams. They eat mostly small mammals. I suspect a big chicken is too big for them unless they were desperate.

My neighbor did lose a chicken to a Red Tailed hawk last week.

There are hawks everywhere whether you see them or not. I would just prefer a red shouldered hawk to a Coopers hawk. For one thing, the red shouldered hawk will make a lot of noise if another hawk invades their territory.

We have some open space in our pasture, but we do have quite a few trees. I've seen the swoop down a couple of times and leave with prey in their claws. Lots of small mamamals for them to eat here, if they can get them before Jack does.

I'll have to wait and see how it goes. I know I'm not free ranging them until we get the rest of our pasture fences back up. That will keep out the coyotes and stray dogs.

Does anyone know anything about the Bryant Grain Company?

We got an order of 47 chicks in yesterday from Cackle, different breeds. They all seemed to be doing great yesterday, we did lose one but I didn't put to much thought into why because I chalked it up to shipping stress. As a group they were some of the most active shipped chicks I've seen.

We haven't done anything different with this group than we have our others this year and our only losses were from severe cold/shipment about a month ago and our dog got 2 that got out of the grow out pen.

Wait, scratch that, the only difference has been the feed. We usually use Dumor, starter/grower and bought a small bag of the Bryant Grain and Feed '22% Start-Grow-Layer Krumble', they spell it w/a K. Anyways, our 1 and a half week old chicks haven't shown to be effected by the new feed, they've been on it since Tuesday. We've also fed it to the 3-4 week olds out in the grow out pens, other than the fact that everyone seems to be constantly eating, they seem healthy.

Do you still have the feed tag from the bag? Compare it to your regular feed and see if something is different. I hope you can find out what is causing this and that no more of your babies are affected.



Cold 32 degrees out this morning. Sun's up and looks like it will be a beautiful day! Rain is due in tomorrow for us, hopefully it won't take up the whole weekend.