The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Lacy Blues]

I think that is the best choice too lalaland.

 

[slordaz]

Trying to catch up, sorry was away for more than the couple of days expected out at the farm taking care of all the babies and bottle feeding a couple of calves. not sure how much I will be able to get on for next bit as partner is outta state with grand baby in the hospital..

Lala sorry to hear your chicken having so many problems.
Glad mine aren't quite there to laying yet cause we found another poser pullet. at least this one isn't a problem, my Barred rock cockerel is finally settling in as king of the coop as he was last one added to the flock.

Cochix nice hatching there.

We are going to be getting rid of the cornish crosses soon, ended up with a 50/50 mix of those and those roosters are a pain in my seat end but finally learned to be scared of the main cockerel. That should take care of the problem integrating the month old RIR's as the cornish are the ones that pick on them as they are smaller and theres 2 cockrels there, gonna have to re-home one but wasn't gonna leave it by itself as a baby .

Are RIR's part monkey? month old chicks get up into the strangest places for such small things. good thing the others are scared of the alpha pullet that raised them not even the roo argues when they get up in his perch as she is still protective of them. The other day they were on the top of the top nests and couldn't get any higher up and wouldn't let the older pullets up to those boxes lol.

 

[SherrieC]

Sorry about your hen

I have noticed in my short time of having laying pullets that they most commonly lay soft shell eggs when being bullied especially when newcomers first go into the big coop at night. This happened with my Plymouth and again happened with my Wyandottes when I put them in the big coop last week, just on the first night. One of my Plymouth also had a tendency to lay a soft shell the day after laying a double yolker, she eventually settled to normal eggs before going into a mini molt. All my pullets are back on the lay I think except the double yolker Plymouth who was last to molt and my broody.

I candled my eggs last Monday which would be day 8 and then again today and I do not see any progress so I don't think anything is happening, My broody would have been broody so far for at least a month now should I break her or try to buy some eggs for her and start again?

 

[slordaz]

SherrieC: I would think break her to let her recouperate but then again haven't dealt with this yet either. will be watching though as my pullets should be coming up on laying soon.

 

[lalaland]

I would also break her - they lose so much conditioning when they brood, she needs the break. sounds like a determined broody though, which is good.

this morning the ascites hen was up and at em - belly seems less distended although it is hard to tell. Being part sulmtaler, she has a ton of feathers, even more than buff orpingtons. and she was actively foraging so I'm letting her be for now. you know how it goes, she will do well this weekend and then during the week when I do not have the time to deal with her, she will get worse. but iI cant cull her when she is gleefully running with a frog in her beak!

 

[allyclair]

Hi, I'm new to BYC and chicken keeping and have been doing lots of reading on this website (my brain is scrambled from the huge amount of info on here!!). But this thread is the one I keep coming back to, and identify the most with.

I'm looking for some advice on setting up a little coop for my 3 week old chicks to live in. I have adult brahma rooster and hen that I adopted last year, and they have a coop with small attached run. They never use the run, just free range all day and enter and exit their coop from the 'people' door that I leave open during the day.

So, last week I closed off their run so they can't get in and set it up for the chicks to use in the daytime. The chicks were in there yesterday and the day before but I brought them back into their brooder at night. They haven't had a heat lamp since I got them (at 2weeks old). I'd like to build a little coop for them to live in, in the run, until they're able to go in with the big guys.

Any thoughts on how to make this work? I don't want to put heat in the coop, will dry and draft-free be good enough?

I am in Nova Scotia, our daytime temps right now run 10-22 degrees and it gets down to 5 degrees some nights.

Thanks for any help you can offer

Edit to add - temperatures are Celsius

 

[Lacy Blues]

Hi, I'm new to BYC and chicken keeping and have been doing lots of reading on this website (my brain is scrambled from the huge amount of info on here!!). But this thread is the one I keep coming back to, and identify the most with.

I'm looking for some advice on setting up a little coop for my 3 week old chicks to live in. I have adult brahma rooster and hen that I adopted last year, and they have a coop with small attached run. They never use the run, just free range all day and enter and exit their coop from the 'people' door that I leave open during the day.

So, last week I closed off their run so they can't get in and set it up for the chicks to use in the daytime. The chicks were in there yesterday and the day before but I brought them back into their brooder at night. They haven't had a heat lamp since I got them (at 2weeks old). I'd like to build a little coop for them to live in, in the run, until they're able to go in with the big guys.

Any thoughts on how to make this work? I don't want to put heat in the coop, will dry and draft-free be good enough?

I am in Nova Scotia, our daytime temps right now run 10-22 degrees and it gets down to 5 degrees some nights.

Thanks for any help you can offer

Edit to add - temperatures are Celsius

How many chicks do you have?

A dog house put into the run would probably be sufficient. You will just need to make sure they have plenty of ventilation without being drafty. Put deep shavings in it for them to snuggle down into. You will also need a locking door to keep predators out. Lock them up at dusk. You may want to put some kind of wind shield up for them, depending on how much wind you get and how cold it is.

 

[allyclair]

I have 4 chicks, I was thinking of just building a little house 4x3 ft with a 4ft roost with poop board. They'd have 12sq ft of floor space if I put in one of those vertical pipes for feed. I'm not sure what type of watering system to put in though.

How long is it before they will roost at night? I put a roost in their brooder and they all go on it during the day but at bedtime they do still huddle up in a pile in the shavings.

Thanks for the input, it is very much appreciated

 

[Lacy Blues]

I think all the breeds are different when it comes to roosting time.

If they pile up in the shavings and stay warm, then I wouldn't worry about them... depending on what those celcius temps translate to.

 

[slordaz]

ally
welcome to BYC

my chicks have used a watering dish, and the bigger chicks/ducks hanging waterer with nipples on it . was pretty comical to see at first they looked like jumping beans wanting to use it but couldn't lower it for them because of the ducks, a haning one with nipples though if it's just the chicks would work without taking up floor space without the older ones needing it.

My Rhode Island Red chicks became monkeys an use the older ones stuff perches, ladders and all at about 4 weeks old, now they wanna be up at very top of coup with in a day of being able to get on the older ones stuff, if it was smaller scaled they probably would have done it earlier. The older chicks we made a small perch with popcicle sticks that was pretty short about 4 inches in height, and they used it at about a week old in the brooding pen but they broke it down pretty fast too as they grow so fast