Things You Wish You Would Have Known?

[islandgirl82]

No, I am pretty much agreeing with you here. I would have to do something like get an income to get more. And our coop, even though we followed directions on size, I am surw will not seem big enough when they are grown. And we would have to clear some land.
I have no desire to make chickens get along. I have one already whose main agenda is to charge her sisters and be quite pushy and rude. So far, no one is letting her get the upper hand.

BUT, I cant remember name of breed, but the smallest chicken in the world would be fun. Topping out at 1.5 pounds, its smaller than a Chihuahua?

Seramas are the tiny chickens you're thinking of. They're so adorable.

 

[AllynTal]

..... And we made some shade, trying to keep the sun from beaing on the coop.....

Explore the idea of putting a roof-over on the coop. It's inexpensive and saves the coop from turning into an oven. Google "roof-over" and you'll find plenty of articles and YouTube videos. No matter how intense the sun is, you can put your hand on the bottom-side of the roof sheathing and it is cool to the touch.

 

[ChickenJesus]

Hhhh

 

[ChickenJesus]

Oh good grief, don't do that. Use a heating pad cave. It takes no effort to keep them warm. You can brood them in the coop, not in the house (yes, even in the winter, even up North), and there shouldn't be a smell. If there is a smell, there's something you're doing that you could be doing better.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

I haven't reached the level of perfection a lot of people here claim to have reached. I'm sure there is a lot I could be doing better.

 

[ChickenJesus]

Have you tried adding some Sweet pdz to the bedding? It has helped in the coop. How many chicks do you have at a time?

I hatch 90+ birds at a time, basically every 24 days. In the summer I can keep everything under control, it is warmer outside and I can keep everything in the barn with really little effort, even with constant cleaning. In the winter, with Temps in the single digits, I move everything to the basement. So depending on how quickly I advertise and sell the chicks or wait them out if I'm crossing breeds for something particular, at given day 90 to a few hundred birds.

 

[AllynTal]

I haven't reached the level of perfection a lot of people here claim to have reached. I'm sure there is a lot I could be doing better.

It has nothing to do with perfection. It's about identifying what is hard/causing a problem and finding a solution. If you're hatching 90 chick a month, the heating pad won't work for you, but the smell can be addressed.

 

[Lisa Wood]

Explore the idea of putting a roof-over on the coop. It's inexpensive and saves the coop from turning into an oven. Google "roof-over" and you'll find plenty of articles and YouTube videos. No matter how intense the sun is, you can put your hand on the bottom-side of the roof sheathing and it is cool to the touch.

Awesome. Thanks so much! I sure will look. Right now we have one 10 x 20 canopy over half the run, and another one to put up over other half after husband comes home, but nothing directly over coop. We do have three fans blowing, and they get cool water to walk thru, and ice in drinking water.
I also have 50 x 50 nettng to install over canopies to keep them in, hawks out, but I have no idea how Imma gonna install alone. Before church tomorrow. Cant very well tell my Pastor I couldnt come due to my chickens need bird sitting?/

 

[User395221]

it's a great idea to hold onto the smaller/not so functional coops (for permanent accommodations) to use for isolation purposes. One never knows when they'll have to separate certain birds for countless reasons or when adding new flock members and not having somewhere to put said birds is a problem.

Yes, having "somewhere else" is always useful.

 

[mossyroo]

If there is a smell, there's something you're doing that you could be doing better.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

That depends on whether you have my nose or my wife's nose. I gag on smells like Pine-Sol and ammonia (her best friends) and she wants to know how to get rid of the one drop of chicken poop 50 yds away.

 

[5Sons Coop]

Summer Heat....read it several times....buy shipped hatching eggs early spring....to eager to get all the birds I wanted....ordered late spring and temps start swinging and the entire US jumps to higher than normal temps....eggs arrive....long story short a disaster and not just me I read numerous posts with the same issue. Do not ignore information you read on BYC. Especially when you read it more than once. Even read once and if others viewed it, it will have relevance or normally is quickly corrected.