Utah!

[lizardandchicks]

We have a small little crack in between the coop and run. That small little crack was letting enough rain in to cover the entire coop floor. More than half the run was flooded, but all of them survived, and are quite happy today with the warm weather. The worms seem to know how to stay away from the run. I have seen a few worms in there, but the hens ignore them. Then you let them out, and they will go after every worm they see. Our smallest chick found this giant 16 inch long worm (don't judge, I did measure), and took off running with it. Poor chick tripped over it and dropped it. The movement attracted our matriarch, and she stole the worm. I wish I had gotten a picture of Honey (smallest chick, Welsummer) running with it.

 

[Cynthia12]

We have a small little crack in between the coop and run. That small little crack was letting enough rain in to cover the entire coop floor. More than half the run was flooded, but all of them survived, and are quite happy today with the warm weather. The worms seem to know how to stay away from the run. I have seen a few worms in there, but the hens ignore them. Then you let them out, and they will go after every worm they see. Our smallest chick found this giant 16 inch long worm (don't judge, I did measure), and took off running with it. Poor chick tripped over it and dropped it. The movement attracted our matriarch, and she stole the worm. I wish I had gotten a picture of Honey (smallest chick, Welsummer) running with it.

That's funny. My big gals just don't seem to like them. I put one in a grow out pen for the little ones, and saw them later with it..doing the keep away game. They were afraid of it at first.

 

[newmarch2014]

Mine love love love worms. I am so glad the weather improved today. My daughter and I built a dust bath in the run today and I got the deep litter straw all removed and got the summer sand in the bottom of the coop.
I am trying to integrate the 9 week old little in with the big hens and most of it is going alright except the hed hen really has it out for the poor rooster. Not sure what to do to make it a little easier. I have had them in an enclosure inside the coop whenenver the weather and time permits so they have had a total of about 36 hours of face time with a fence between and they largely ignore them when they are in there but when I allow them to range with them she goes after the rooster big time. The rest of the girls give a peck here and there all within reason but this is much more aggressive.

 

[Kicken Wing]

Hi everyone, just started planning out my coop and I need some advise. Is it a good idea to use insulation? Windows? What's the best way to vent? I'd appreciate any advise, I know there are forums with this info but I'd prefer local info from those who know Utah conditions. Thanks

 

[newmarch2014]

I don't have insulation in mine.I do have a screened cutout that has a drop door to cover it so I have plenty of ventilation in the summer but I can drop the cover down almost entirely during the winter to keep the heat in over night. I use the deep litter method on the coop floor in the winter to up the degrees by a bit as well as feeding them a bit of scratch right before bedtime (I actually just set a little pile next to each on the roost right after they go to bed as I lock up the coop each evening (this is reported to increase their temp a bit as they digest the high energy food). I use sand on the coop floor in the summer to make clean up easy. I am in Herriman (south Salt Lake County) I try to avoid heating the coop unless it is going to be below 20 degrees since heating the coop is a big contributor to frost bite. Instead since I have a little flock in a coop large enough for 3x the amount of birds I had this last winter I put a couple bales of hay on the roosts to make them snuggle up more and to make sure that none of them ended up on the end by the walls. The bales of hay gave them another side for the end chicken to conserve heat. I use a poop board with pdz on it under the roost and scrape that off onto the floor at least every other day, leaving it to compost in the winter to provide the warmth but in the summer once a week I then rake it off the sand floor into the compost pile outside. The pdz cuts down on the dangerous ammonia smell a lot so I think my small amount of ventilation in the winter through the opening was sufficient while keeping in the warmth that the girls and the deep litter method generate. If I didnt use the pdz I think the ammonia build up may be too much since I cut down on the night ventilation a lot to combat the build up of ammonia I keep the poop board cleaned frequently. During the day I open the cover more for both light and ventilation. Our coop roof is black to maximize heat absortion during the day, in the summer sometimes the girls just sleep in the run which is fine with me because it is really predator resistant.

 

[the-bird-man]

Hi everyone, just started planning out my coop and I need some advise. Is it a good idea to use insulation? Windows? What's the best way to vent? I'd appreciate any advise, I know there are forums with this info but I'd prefer local info from those who know Utah conditions. Thanks

i dont insulate or heat my coop. the biggest danger is having too much moisture in the air as that leads to things like frostbite. so have lots of vents with some you can open and close because direct drafts on them is not so good in the winter. and remember summer is a issue too as heat can be too hard on chickens. as to how you vent depends on the coop.

 

[RedIII]

UGH! The older girls are just fine since the husband built part of their run with a metal roof cover so they have a 5x10 area of dry ground to hang out in but I was hoping to put the 9 week old littles out in the run this weekend but that is too close of quarters for all of them since the Production Reds are still terrorizing them a little bit. 

Not to mention I WANT TO PUT MY GARDEN IN!!!!  Wow, aren't you sorry you opened the door to my venting?

I got mine in before the rain, but I still haven't gotten the strawberries in :/ Dangit. But hey, the corn is coming up! Still waiting on those squashes, though. Bunch of freeloaders....

love all this rain even tho its a inconvenience. we need the water badly so i am happy to live with it

Me too!

 

[bitsyhorse]

okay, I'm going to turn to the pros to make sure I'm doing things okay...

I have a LG still air incubator. I have 15 eggs (2 were yolkers when I candled them on day 7) (we are currently on day 12). I've got the temp staying at about 102 (I have tried fine tuning it, but could never get to 101! >.< doh) but it dips to 100 at some points throughout the day/night. I do have the humidity around 30 - 35%.... when I candled everything looked great.... lots of moving embryos.

I read a lot of places to keep it between 99 and 102, or 97 and 103... so a lot of contradicting stuff....but roughly the same area... I just want to hear from everyone else's experience what they have found works for them.

is my temp too high? is my humidity too low??? what should my humidity be at lockdown? (I plan on adding sponges, because I could never get above 50% when I was testing....)

also, on day 18, when do you usually put them into lockdown? before noon? or around the same time I originally put the eggs in (5:30 pm)?

sorry, a lot of questions... I just don't want to mess it up

 

[Cynthia12]

okay, I'm going to turn to the pros to make sure I'm doing things okay...

I have a LG still air incubator. I have 15 eggs (2 were yolkers when I candled them on day 7) (we are currently on day 12). I've got the temp staying at about 102 (I have tried fine tuning it, but could never get to 101! >.< doh) but it dips to 100 at some points throughout the day/night. I do have the humidity around 30 - 35%.... when I candled everything looked great.... lots of moving embryos.

I read a lot of places to keep it between 99 and 102, or 97 and 103... so a lot of contradicting stuff....but roughly the same area... I just want to hear from everyone else's experience what they have found works for them.

is my temp too high? is my humidity too low??? what should my humidity be at lockdown? (I plan on adding sponges, because I could never get above 50% when I was testing....)

also, on day 18, when do you usually put them into lockdown? before noon? or around the same time I originally put the eggs in (5:30 pm)?

sorry, a lot of questions... I just don't want to mess it up

Sounds like you are doing just fine. You have the humidity right around where I have it. During incubation, I don't worry so much about the humidity, I just keep one well filled. Not sure what bator you are using, but if it's a still air, then your temps sound fine. You can't be real sure if your thermometer is working spot on anyway. Do your eggs feel right to you? Most times I go by how they feel. Too warm? Not warm enough? The thermometer does give me an idea when I see where it's at when I am happy with how they feel. I then watch to see if it's reading at that point from there on. Make sense? If you have embryos moving around, they must be happy.
Lock down. If you can't get it up over 50%..and putting sponges in causes condensation on the windows..that's too much. Again, is the reading right? Fill all of the wells. That's usually pretty good. I have some due to hatch on the 22nd..when are yours due? Sounds like we are close together here.

 

[RedIII]

Hi all - Can I ask a favor of my fellow gardeners? If you happen to run across any orange mint starts in your travels, would you ease let me know where you saw them? I'm hunting for one to put in my mint bed. Sanks