Things You Wish You Would Have Known?

[BradnerGirl]

Chicks cost around $3 a piece. My husband built a chicken coop that cost more than $2000! The chicks may be cheap but if your husband over engineers your coop it can get expensive!

I have kept chickens for about 10 years but still surprised by how much I have to learn. With a little more time on my hands and hoping to apply for tax break by obtaining farm status, we are currently building a second smaller chicken house. I've had to remind my husband several times...honey, it's a chicken house. Wired with auto door opener, light dimmer, 2 outlets for brooder light (for our cooler Canadian winter) and fully insulated, also will have a pendant light hanging from the front porch overhang. Some supplies were salvaged from other project leftovers, it's not finished yet but we are over $1,500 into it, That's not including fencing or gate still to be purchased and installed. It's a good thing we all like those fresh eggs and enjoy having the chickens around.

...and I should add, I've already got a third dwelling arriving this week. The price was right so I couldn't say no. Except for the price of MORE fencing and ANOTHER gate. At least using chicken math I will be able to accommodate them and hopefully bring in some $$ selling eggs. Picture is of our current project. It will look like a Southern Colonial with 4 columns.

 

[bigredshaverhen]

I wish I knew that chickens have crops. A few years ago I thought our two chicks had cancer or something

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[chickrunfun]

I had a camera in our chicken coop before we relocated it closer to our house. I was able to watch them from our computer. However, the cops raided our property once thinking we had a grow op...they were wrong of course but very curious as to why there was a camera in the chicken house. I'm sure they must have thought they were on to something but nope...just me being obsessive about keeping an eye on my chickens.

Baby monitor is a good idea too.

Baby monitor user here too

We got a mated pair of hawks and raccoons all over the place here. Possums as well. I got the mini barn locked up tighter than tight at night. Nothing would be able to get in unless they grew thumbs and had wire cutters. During the day, I'm around the hose and property all day long and when I go off to do or get something off property They get put in the enclosed coop till I get back. My one neighbor calls it chicken Alcatraz and I'm the warden. When I'm in the house and something comes along like those hawks, Jeanie (head chicken) goes from bossy chicken to stand in rooster and makes such a ruckus you'd thing something DID get one of them. Like yesterday...when I went out to check, she had everyone under the young pepper tree saplings. Hey....one that point there..."stand in rooster" have any of yall had a hen...act real roostery? Like...mount another hen??? I could've sworn Jeanie did that the other day but...It happen just at my side vision and when I looked that way it was over and done. Jeanie'd hopped off. This is a first for me. What do yall say?

 

[lazy gardener]

Baby monitor user here too

We got a mated pair of hawks and raccoons all over the place here. Possums as well. I got the mini barn locked up tighter than tight at night. Nothing would be able to get in unless they grew thumbs and had wire cutters. During the day, I'm around the hose and property all day long and when I go off to do or get something off property They get put in the enclosed coop till I get back. My one neighbor calls it chicken Alcatraz and I'm the warden. When I'm in the house and something comes along like those hawks, Jeanie (head chicken) goes from bossy chicken to stand in rooster and makes such a ruckus you'd thing something DID get one of them. Like yesterday...when I went out to check, she had everyone under the young pepper tree saplings. Hey....one that point there..."stand in rooster" have any of yall had a hen...act real roostery? Like...mount another hen??? I could've sworn Jeanie did that the other day but...It happen just at my side vision and when I looked that way it was over and done. Jeanie'd hopped off. This is a first for me. What do yall say?

Absolutely. In this case, it's not about sex, but all about dominance.

 

[BradnerGirl]

Baby monitor user here too

We got a mated pair of hawks and raccoons all over the place here. Possums as well. I got the mini barn locked up tighter than tight at night. Nothing would be able to get in unless they grew thumbs and had wire cutters. During the day, I'm around the hose and property all day long and when I go off to do or get something off property They get put in the enclosed coop till I get back. My one neighbor calls it chicken Alcatraz and I'm the warden. When I'm in the house and something comes along like those hawks, Jeanie (head chicken) goes from bossy chicken to stand in rooster and makes such a ruckus you'd thing something DID get one of them. Like yesterday...when I went out to check, she had everyone under the young pepper tree saplings. Hey....one that point there..."stand in rooster" have any of yall had a hen...act real roostery? Like...mount another hen??? I could've sworn Jeanie did that the other day but...It happen just at my side vision and when I looked that way it was over and done. Jeanie'd hopped off. This is a first for me. What do yall say?

When we first started keeping chickens, before we got a rooster, we had a buff orpington step in to the job. She would herd them to safety whenever necessary. Never saw her mount one but she was an older girl we acquired her.

 

[Ballerina Bird]

Baby monitor user here too

We got a mated pair of hawks and raccoons all over the place here. Possums as well. I got the mini barn locked up tighter than tight at night. Nothing would be able to get in unless they grew thumbs and had wire cutters. During the day, I'm around the hose and property all day long and when I go off to do or get something off property They get put in the enclosed coop till I get back. My one neighbor calls it chicken Alcatraz and I'm the warden. When I'm in the house and something comes along like those hawks, Jeanie (head chicken) goes from bossy chicken to stand in rooster and makes such a ruckus you'd thing something DID get one of them. Like yesterday...when I went out to check, she had everyone under the young pepper tree saplings. Hey....one that point there..."stand in rooster" have any of yall had a hen...act real roostery? Like...mount another hen??? I could've sworn Jeanie did that the other day but...It happen just at my side vision and when I looked that way it was over and done. Jeanie'd hopped off. This is a first for me. What do yall say?

Definitely -- I asked a similar question a while back because my lead hen was also showing some roostery behavior (not mounting, but calling over for treats), and several people said that they had seen hens adopt rooster behavior, including mounting.

 

[islandgirl82]

Hens adopting rooster behavior is quite common when there isn't a rooster around like tidbitting, mounting, crowing and even growing spurs. I had a SLW hen with spurs and have a GSH hen with them.

 

[Ballerina Bird]

Hens adopting rooster behavior is quite common when there isn't a rooster around like tidbitting, mounting, crowing and even growing spurs. I had a SLW hen with spurs and have a GSH hen with them.

Oh, it's called "tidbitting"? I didn't know that -- how cool. Thanks!

 

[islandgirl82]

Quote:

Yes, calling the girls for treats is called tidbitting.

 

[AllynTal]

I had a camera in our chicken coop before we relocated it closer to our house. I was able to watch them from our computer. However, the cops raided our property once thinking we had a grow op...they were wrong of course but very curious as to why there was a camera in the chicken house. I'm sure they must have thought they were on to something but nope...just me being obsessive about keeping an eye on my chickens.

Baby monitor is a good idea too.

Just curious...did the cops feel like they had probable cause because you had cameras or were there other circumstances that got their attention? I'm not asking for details, just wondering how much attention the cameras drew in the first place. I have cameras on our property. I've decided not to put signs on the property notifying visitors that they're under 24/7 recorded surveillance because I don't want authorities to think we're doing anything illegal. We aren't, but I don't want to be on their "radar," so to speak.

I recently checked into baby monitors and see that the new ones have cameras in them, as well. I decided to go with a day/night vision network camera with sound instead because the camera is rated for outdoor use; the baby monitors are strictly indoor. Even though it would be inside the coop, the camera is in a non-climate-controlled environment. I'm afraid the heat and humidity here would trash an indoor-only device.