The Middle Tennessee Thread

[DMRippy]

Hi all! Was wondering if everyone's girls have stopped laying in this heat? Mine have, I'm down to one or two eggs a day from my 5 hens. Usually get no less than 4.

Haven't lost any hens though, so thankful for that!!!

yeap! some breeds more than others.

 

[wife89]

Mine haven't laid an egg in a week. I only have 2 layers... the other one died... just waiting for the chicks to start laying soon... hopefully we will start to cool off soon

 

[pickledchicken]

Would anyone be interested in some Cuckoo Marans (clean shank) I could do a couple trio's and I have a couple of Barnevelder cockerels that need homes....?

 

[pickledchicken]

OK Donna I changed it back

 

[DMRippy]

OK Donna I changed it back

 

[CarolJ]

Hi all! Was wondering if everyone's girls have stopped laying in this heat? Mine have, I'm down to one or two eggs a day from my 5 hens. Usually get no less than 4.
Haven't lost any hens though, so thankful for that!!!

I only got 8 eggs today. Usually I get at least a dozen - and more often 14 -16. Maybe tomorrow they'll all lay eggs.

 

[TinTennessee]

Mine aren't laying at all..... but then again their only 12 weeks old.

 

[Lots A Cluckin]

 

[debid]

Hey all, haven't been around in ages but popping by to say hello.

Hoping everyone made it through the heat OK. I've been freezing gallon pails of water and giving them the ice blocks on the hottest days. DH installed a fan in one coop window so they can have a nice breeze even when the air is still.

Even with that, I still lost one hen but not sure if it was the heat or egg laying issues. She was in the nest box with wings out but was always an erratic layer so really it could have been either. It made me horribly sad because she more than made up for the lack of eggs with a whole lot of personality.

I notice that nobody has answered this so I'll be happy to:

I've located a few sources for local chicks. Thanks everyone. But a question I have is whether it's a bad idea to mix chicks from different sources, as we're having a hard time finding all the breeds we're interested in from one source (unless we mail order, which we're not crazy about doing). And how different in age can we mix chicks also? In other words, could we mix chicks that are a few days old with chicks that are 2 or 3 weeks old? Or will that lead to the older ones constantly pecking or bullying the younger ones?

Some will say it's a bad idea but I mixed with a 3-week age span and had no issues. I think it's even more important with that scenario that you have plenty of room and access to food/water so nobody gets bullied away. I used two feeders and water nipples (one with a block under it) and put in a little wooden table made from scraps (it was originally meant to be a feeder platform) that the littles could hide under if needed. I found that the younger ones slept more directly under the light in a chick raft while the older ones slept at the fringe or even away from the light.

What I would NOT do is to get a batch of chicks and then 3 weeks later, toss in some day-olds. That's asking for trouble. But if you put all of them into their new environment at the same time, there won't be any established territory or order so they will be on more equal ground.

 

[Raven1]

Chad that incubator is looking great and so are the coops. I always have eggs too so if you want any that I have just let me know.
Hi to the new peeps and hi again to the re-peeps LOL!
Thank you lord for the rain and brak in the heat!