Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Babybockbock]

hmmmm well if you want three get 6 if you want 6 get 12 isn't that how it works

Chicken math is when something happens and you end up with an exponential amount of chicks.
My chicken math this year went something like this. New Years day, a coyote chewed it's way into the coop and got two hens. So I hatched out 8 chicks on Valentine's day. Then, I had to get rid of my adult rooster. So just for fun, I hatched a bunch of chicks fathered by my black sexlink cockerel to see what he would produce with my Easter Egger hens. 11 hatched two days before Easter. Then, I had a hen pass suddenly, so I loaded my incubator with as many eggs as I possibly could, 3 dozen due next week.
It's only April...
So to recap-
15 chickens has turned into 27, with more on the way...

Hah ok I allready have it down...I have 7 chicks with plans of 3 maybe 4 hens!

 

[Leigti]

hmmm i believe its advised not until full grown

They've been housed near each other for few weeks and have free range together for two weeks without any issues. I watch them for two hours tonight and there were no problems. Right now the younger ones are up on the roost and the younger ones are sleeping on the floor of the coop. I will keep a close eye on them over the weekend, and my pet sitter can check on them when I am at work. There are three food bowls and two water stations. Even with all the changes today the young ones still went in the coop and up on the wrist by themselves. I had to show the older ones how to go up the ramp, one by one. And I set my alarm to get up early tomorrow to let them all out into the run.

 

[junebuggena]

I free range chicks starting at about 6 weeks old. You just need to make sure that there are lots of places for them to take cover.

 

[Leigti]

I free range chicks starting at about 6 weeks old. You just need to make sure that there are lots of places for them to take cover.

I will tear down the old coop/pens. I'm just wondering how long it will take them to call this new place home. I want to make sure they know where to lay eggs and where to go at night. My youngest are 10 weeks old.

 

[Duck Drover]

I put young chicks out in the Silkie pen once they are feathered because they can snuggle up with the hens during colder nights. The ducklings can take cold weather sooner, before they are fully feathered (their wing feathers come in last) but they also pile up with each other to stay warm overnight just like they would snuggle up with a mother. I also have good tree cover that helps keep them safe from overhead predators plus they have shelters to hide inside or underneath. It also helps having roosters to sound their safety slarms.

 

[pennyJo1960]

See we never had covered anything growing up
and no runs chickens were always free run the hens would take care of the chicks and
Katie bar the door no one or nothing could bother them, if we actually lost any
I was too young to know or care.. I guess the adult thing was something I heard
recently but couldn't say were as now I have the excuse of crs
I neglected to state of the rooster that chased me

 

[Duck Drover]

When I lived on acreage our birds were on open range. With open range you do not have to have fences unless you want to fence out open range cattle. Here we have to fence our birds in or they are tresspassing if they cross our property line. We had coyotes approach our property but since we raised wolves and foxes the coyotes did not come too close. We probably lost birds to predators but we just we put out feed and collected eggs, we never did a head count.

The coop was half of the goat barn but we just had a high entrance to keep the goats out and high roosts to keep the chickens safe at night if they slept in the coop. If they roosted in the trees or in the hay barn they had the barn owl to deal with at night but they did just fine as far as I could tell because we always had plenty of chickens and plenty of eggs. The worst losses were when the baby turkeys put their heads in the fox pen or the peacocks flew into the wolf pen.

Having birds in a residential is different but we have fewer predators to contend with and we lock up the chickens for safety every night. The ducks stay out and sleep under our porch light in a large enough group that someone always has an eye open for threats. Their numbers have increased greatly so they are doing just fine.

I have never named our birds. They are socialized so they will come running when we offer them treats (the ducks come running when we turn on the hose) but otherwise they go about their business and do not get in our way when we have work to do. They are pets but not like our cat and dogs. We enjoy them more as a group and not on an individual basis, plus we could eat them if we were hungry enough even though that is not their intended purpose. We eat our Easter Egger eggs and hatch our pure breeds.

I do believe birds make great pets with benefits so I support the concept of naming them and petting them. It is just not something we do with our flock. I get more satisfaction looking at them for their beauty and functionality than seeing them as companion animals like dogs.

 

[Duck Drover]

My surgeon was kind enough to call in a prescription for me so I have enough Tramadol to get me through the weekend. After surgery on Tuesday I will have stronger pain killers but then I should have less pain in time. I hope to be able to ride our horses again soon but not until I can do an emergency dismount off my Thoroughbred mare.

 

[pennyJo1960]

a few small rain showers here managed a few small projects
turned a empty barrel into a compost bin.. all my pullets joined the
5 barred hens on the table I have in the coop best part was my new
ee where on it next to the hens all barred pullets behind the rest,
my barred pullets tend to think the ee are momma's treat them with much respect
sleeping on them cuddling around them the ee's where a tad bit bigger then the barreds
but where in the same brooding pen.
and a garbage can with no lid has a nice wood one we can put a treat mash I bought
in the coop with the feed one and corn one.

 

[Chickielady]

My mutant 6 toed silkie. Yes I know it happens with the multi-toed breeds. Normally I only get double toenails on one of the rear toes. This toe is surprisingly well developed with joints.