The Front Porch Swing

[enola]

Fabio has just never thrilled me......

I am more the Sean Connery type.

Or maybe Tom Selleck ..........

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Fabio has just never thrilled me......

I am more the Sean Connery type.

Or maybe Tom Selleck ..........

I'll take Eric Clapton then.

 

[sarahsunshine]

@ perchie - They sell them as straight run so I am going to get boys and girls.. but we love to eat chicken and I want to perfect my butchering skills (we did 20 last year and it was great!), so I am happy to get mixed. I may want to do just girls in the future if I find it easier to do meaties separate from egg layers... Maybe I can figure out how to sex chicks too to save money in the future on my own chickies.

@Jellybean and perchie.. hahaha! two very different opinions here! I see the benefits of either way (all 50 at the same time, or splitting them up). I'll have to see which wins out in the end!

 

[jmoeller]

Hello everyone,
I have brownies with cream cheese frosting if anyone would like one.
I started building my brooder today out of a rubber maid tote. WOW those things are tougher than you think. I had to call my husband and ask where his jig saw was so I could cut a hole in the top. My husband is the kind that when you ask for help he takes over and you stand and watch. Anyway, he suspiciously asked why I needed to use a jig saw. ( translated it means why are you messing with my power tools unsupervised.) I said, " because you're not here to do it for me." after a very long pause he finally told me where to find it and said don't hurt yourself, who's there with you?

OMG what a vote of confidence. LOL Well, I cut the whole in the rubber maid box, and that went so well I cut a couple strips of wood I want to frame the mesh over the hole. Then I found 2 dowels in his junk pile and decided they would work well for the dish towel rack idea I have rolling around in my mind. Yep I cut them to size also.

I'm taking a poll of sorts. What do you find is best to water your chickens? I am thinking of the nipple with a cup kinda thing. It reminds me of the old watering cups along side the stanchions for dairy cows. Do these really work??
can you use a traditional water trough type thing in the run and use the cups in the coop? Will the chickens use both or do they get "nipple confusion?" or is that is my pediatric nursing mind showing through. LOL.

 

[lovingmyhens]

Hello everyone,
I have brownies with cream cheese frosting if anyone would like one.
I started building my brooder today out of a rubber maid tote. WOW those things are tougher than you think. I had to call my husband and ask where his jig saw was so I could cut a hole in the top. My husband is the kind that when you ask for help he takes over and you stand and watch. Anyway, he suspiciously asked why I needed to use a jig saw. ( translated it means why are you messing with my power tools unsupervised.) I said, " because you're not here to do it for me." after a very long pause he finally told me where to find it and said don't hurt yourself, who's there with you?

OMG what a vote of confidence. LOL Well, I cut the whole in the rubber maid box, and that went so well I cut a couple strips of wood I want to frame the mesh over the hole. Then I found 2 dowels in his junk pile and decided they would work well for the dish towel rack idea I have rolling around in my mind. Yep I cut them to size also.

I'm taking a poll of sorts. What do you find is best to water your chickens? I am thinking of the nipple with a cup kinda thing. It reminds me of the old watering cups along side the stanchions for dairy cows. Do these really work??
can you use a traditional water trough type thing in the run and use the cups in the coop? Will the chickens use both or do they get "nipple confusion?" or is that is my pediatric nursing mind showing through. LOL.

I'll take a brownie or two...been that sorta day and I have staff meeting at 3:50. Joy!

 

[lovingmyhens]

Fabio has just never thrilled me......

I am more the Sean Connery type.

Or maybe Tom Selleck ..........

Richard Gere

 

[perchie.girl]

Good to think about. We have an old coop that needs work that has two runs (well, it needs a wall between them, but it does have them!). So keeping pullets and cockerels separate is no big deal... Now, I was thinking of using a chicken tractor, though, so keeping them separate would be easy then - pullets in one, cockerels in another!

Now, if I want to have my own roo (or two), for breeding and chickie pruposes, then how do I pick the best of the lot, or is it obvious usually? I'd probably pick one roo of each breed for hatching eggs., and from what I understand, I should wait until they are about 1yr old before I try to get hatching eggs... or a broody chicken!

We have a fair bit of space for tractors (most of an acre in either place), and a run in the woods in a wetter area.

I am thinking (and that's always the dangerous part), that if I get chickies in June, then July and August they are growing outdoors. The Cornish get processed at 7-10wks, and then the Mistral Gris get processed at about 12 weeks. We have a 15cuft freezer that is currently empty (just moved), so freezer camp gets rid of 20 chickens. Then, come October, it starts to get purdy wet. The coop gets arranged for everyone (two runs next to each other one for pullets, one for Roos), and as they get too aggressive, the roos go off to freezer camp until I have about 4-5 of them (one of each breed).

Now... when is it safe to have the roos be in with the pullets age wise?

And what is a good ratio of hens to roos? I mean, really, 10-12/roo is ballpark, but what are the behavioural signs of too many and someone needs to be separated?)


Quote: For what its worth I kept all my chickens of one breed together in one coop. The roos got along because they were raised together. The roos will establish a dominance where there will be one roo who will ride herd over the others. when free ranging I have seen the roos keep watch over the hens taking up guard stations.... LOL whille waiting for their chance to get a lick in.... I had 20 hens and 5 roos at first. I was down to three roos and was deciding on which roo to keep when I lost the whole flock to predators. But the one I wanted to keep was the handsomest and had a good stance very healty and gentle to the hens and he wasnt a PITA to deal with myself. The other Roo I just couldnt get rid of him.... he was a dufus... kind of squatty and didnt hold his wings collected up against his body.

One roo to 15 hens Is about right. but My Wellies got along and didnt over use the hens. the way to see if there are too many roos is if the hens start showing broken feathers or bald patches.

For what its worth I hatched out Pullet eggs.... two years ago.... I have always kept them together rather than separate out the roos.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: Sigh... Russel Crowe......

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Hello everyone,
I have brownies with cream cheese frosting if anyone would like one.
I started building my brooder today out of a rubber maid tote. WOW those things are tougher than you think. I had to call my husband and ask where his jig saw was so I could cut a hole in the top. My husband is the kind that when you ask for help he takes over and you stand and watch. Anyway, he suspiciously asked why I needed to use a jig saw. ( translated it means why are you messing with my power tools unsupervised.) I said, " because you're not here to do it for me." after a very long pause he finally told me where to find it and said don't hurt yourself, who's there with you?

OMG what a vote of confidence. LOL Well, I cut the whole in the rubber maid box, and that went so well I cut a couple strips of wood I want to frame the mesh over the hole. Then I found 2 dowels in his junk pile and decided they would work well for the dish towel rack idea I have rolling around in my mind. Yep I cut them to size also.

I'm taking a poll of sorts. What do you find is best to water your chickens? I am thinking of the nipple with a cup kinda thing. It reminds me of the old watering cups along side the stanchions for dairy cows. Do these really work??
can you use a traditional water trough type thing in the run and use the cups in the coop? Will the chickens use both or do they get "nipple confusion?" or is that is my pediatric nursing mind showing through. LOL.

LOL>... its a guy thing.

Any hoo. Lots of people use nipples.... I like em if they work properly.

In my climate I prefer a water tub for the coop about five gallons with a float valve that can be attached to a hose. I like them to be able to dip their wattles in while they drink to help them cool off. When I have broody chicks running about I put a little chick ladder of stones and chuncks of wood so they can get up there to drink. Then I make a lid over the top of the water out of Small mesh chicken wire. So when the chicks fall in they can walk around on about a half an inch of water before they get out. The mesh acts as a ladder to get out.

In the brooder I am not happy with any waterers out there.... I Do like the waterers they use in those Borooders in the feed store. Which essentially an exterior trough where a person can clean and refill them from the outside. The chicks drink the water through bars spaced so the chicks cant get out.... I also like their feeder troughs too.

My hope is before I can get involved with chickens again to build a brooder that will have those features. And I very much like bees idea of brooding them outside.

deb

 

[Ms Jellybean]

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