The 10th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!!!!!

[chicken4prez]

Congratulations on the hatch!

Please post some pictures

I'll try to get some soon when the weather warms up a bit!

 

[ronott1]

I'll try to get some soon when the weather warms up a bit!

The weather has warmed up here! We will dip down to the high 70sF a couple of days next week but are solidly in the 80s and 90s now. The triple digits will state soon too!

 

[chicken4prez]

The weather has warmed up here! We will dip down to the high 70sF a couple of days next week but are solidly in the 80s and 90s now. The triple digits will state soon too!

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Well lucky you! We had a nice weekend here last week but today it's been freezing! It's 0C right now I believe. The poor chickens and rabbits are very confused!! Thankfully our chicks are inside so they have no idea.

 

[ronott1]

Well lucky you! We had a nice weekend here last week but today it's been freezing! It's 0C right now I believe. The poor chickens and rabbits are very confused!! Thankfully our chicks are inside so they have no idea.

It is nice now but chickens do not do well in 100 plus weather. Many die here in the summer. During a heat wave several years ago, a breeder lost 15 of her nice Marans

 

[chicken4prez]

It is nice now but chickens do not do well in 100 plus weather. Many die here in the summer. During a heat wave several years ago, a breeder lost 15 of her nice Marans

That's true. I learned the hard way last year which was too bad. I've only lost one hen from dehydration thankfully. Now I know to put more waters out and I need more shade in the pen but it's hard losing hens to learn something!

I think I prefer having chickens in the winter over the summer. Winter had its cons but personally for me I like it more.

 

[ronott1]

That's true. I learned the hard way last year which was too bad. I've only lost one hen from dehydration thankfully. Now I know to put more waters out and I need more shade in the pen but it's hard losing hens to learn something!

I think I prefer having chickens in the winter over the summer. Winter had its cons but personally for me I like it more.

I have lots of water, shade screens and a misting system. I need to get it all set back up soon. Winter was rough here.

 

[chicken4prez]

I have lots of water, shade screens and a misting system. I need to get it all set back up soon. Winter was rough here.

The misting is a good idea! My flock size is growing with all the new chicks coming so summer is going to be a lot harder with all the extra waters, shade, space, etc so I need to start planning for that. One of the things I don't mind about winter is that the hens are in the coop pretty much every day so I don't worry about predators as much. In the summer we have a ton of hawks and raccoons that love taking a nibble on our hens. I'm hoping that the roosters will help a lot this year though since I have more this year. Also there's been some coyotes living across our road in our forest and they've been getting more friendly with our yard. Before they lived a bit further back but there's some house building going on and that's scared them closer to our house.

 

[ronott1]

The misting is a good idea! My flock size is growing with all the new chicks coming so summer is going to be a lot harder with all the extra waters, shade, space, etc so I need to start planning for that. One of the things I don't mind about winter is that the hens are in the coop pretty much every day so I don't worry about predators as much. In the summer we have a ton of hawks and raccoons that love taking a nibble on our hens. I'm hoping that the roosters will help a lot this year though since I have more this year. Also there's been some coyotes living across our road in our forest and they've been getting more friendly with our yard. Before they lived a bit further back but there's some house building going on and that's scared them closer to our house.

The shade cloth helps screen them from hawks.

I use the orbit misting system along with a faucet timer. Amazon sells them. They make a nice fine mist that does not make the run too wet.

 

[chicken4prez]

The shade cloth helps screen them from hawks.

I use the orbit misting system along with a faucet timer. Amazon sells them. They make a nice fine mist that does not make the run too wet.

Do you just put it on top of the whole pen or just a part of it? The hawks keep getting worse every year and I'm starting to get more concerned.

I'll check that out for sure. It's probably nicer for the hens rather than getting sprayed by a hose!

 

[ronott1]

Do you just put it on top of the whole pen or just a part of it? The hawks keep getting worse every year and I'm starting to get more concerned.

I'll check that out for sure. It's probably nicer for the hens rather than getting sprayed by a hose!

I put the shade in one spot and have some old pallets around for the chickens to hide under The trick for hawks is to break up the area so they do not have a nice path to swoop down and attack the flock.

It helps that I have big chickens too! The hawks here like to go after smaller prey