Washingtonians

[FlyRobinFly]

Those were my thoughts too ! I would put a top on your nest box's. Then if ya wanted to do chicken math next year you could always put more nest box's on top of your existing ones. But then I would put a top on them

Yes, they look way too open...hens tend to prefer darker, more private areas for laying.

 

[FlyRobinFly]

Quote:

That sure looks like a ROOSTER to me!

That's a boy.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Quote:
They *could* be molting, but I doubt it; I don't think that starts with the rear end. I have a feeling Honey might have had a feather picker in her flock? I watched all day long and neither of them ever touched their bottoms until they preened a bit before bed. Apparently chicken skin allowed to be exposed to the elements does turn bright red though?? I read all over BYC and apparently a naked butt isn't necessarily a sign of an illness or infection; lots of people reported perfectly healthy hens who'd had naked butts their whole lives for some odd reason or another. Anyway, I'm going to reapply the BluKote once a day and still thinking about giving both the newbies some abx, but think I'll hold off on that unless something worse crops up. I don't want to medicate unnecessarily.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Where'd y'all go?!

 

[JennS]

Woohoo, more progress on the coop site! We almost finished the retaining wall today, but we ran short on stones. 10 more stones and it's done. We also placed the pavers that the pen will sit on. I wish I could give my girls more dirt to play in, but we couldn't fit the whole 6X6 pen over the dirt. Some of it has to sit on the cement patio (the whole thing wraps around a support post for the deck), so only a 4X6 section is on dirt. I'll have to put some pans of dirt under the coop for dust baths.

My next task is to make a hardware cloth "pan" to put under the pen. I'm thinking of bending it into a 6" deep box that will go inside the pavers with an apron that goes out under the pavers to hold it in place. That should keep the rats out. While we were working under the deck we could hear the rats scurrying around under the ivy on the fence. Fearless buggers. After the "pan" is in we can fill in the dirt, add sand around the paving stones to keep them in place, and then start cutting wood!

I ended up with a pallet thanks to my retaining wall stones. UrbanEnthusiast, would you like it? I have no use for it. It's in good shape, but has some nasty splinters coming off.

Candled another egg today, and I saw nice veins! About half the egg was dark. I don't know how I'm supposed to see the air bubble. It's really dark inside!

The down side to today is that my dog is definitely getting clumsier. She was doing much better last week, but she stumbles a lot now and has a hard time walking a straight line. Sometimes she holds her head tilted. I don't know how much longer we'll have her.

Jennifer

 

[FirewifeJess]

I just finished "ordering" all our library books online for the next 4 school weeks. Now to keep them all straight as they start coming into the library.

And please, please, please, dear Toddler Child, PLEASE stop shoving them under the couch and throwing them off the deck!

How do families with small children utilize the library without paying through the nose!? We never had this problem before having 3 kids; I'm telling you, #3 is a doozey!

 

[Breshcandra]

Definently a rooster. It has clear pointy hackle (red feathers on neck) and saddle feathers (on back near base of tail). Sorry!!!

No problem. I have someone I clean house for them that just lost there roo. I am going to see if she wants him. He would add color to her flock All she has are buff colored chickens.

 

[Nikki99]

And I have extra dummies if you need some to borrow

I have been trying to find some with no luck! How far from Castle Rock are you?

Those were my thoughts too ! I would put a top on your nest box's. Then if ya wanted to do chicken math next year you could always put more nest box's on top of your existing ones. But then I would put a top on them

Thanks RonB! I guess I can't blame em for wanting more privacy!

It should be reported to animal control. Also, if your kids were ever hurt by your neighbors dog you need to file a police report and then you can get coverage for any medical bills from the dog's owners as they should have coverage under their homeowner's insurance policy. If you do not file a police report though it makes the process much more difficult. Take care!

I know that would've been the smarter route to take and it will definitely be the route we take if there's any more issues. They have 7 kids, 5 of which living with them and they are foreclosing on their house. Had we called animal control and/or the police there would've been fines and since there was no skin broken, we didn't take it that far.

WOW VERY nice !!!! First remember you have seen my ugly old coop so I probably have no business commenting but here goes!!!! First what size are the nest boxes? I would cover some of the nest boxes to give a more "private" area. Other than that the couple other details I see are just personal preference

Thanks CR! Every coop is different, doesn't matter what they look like, as long as they hold our shikens!!

And, you know much more then we do about chicken anything so please, don't hesitate to edu-ma-cate me! They are 11" wide by 12" long. The ones at Dells I think were 12x12. What other details are you seeing? I wanna know it all!! Lol.

I'm no expert, but I agree, it may be the nest boxes aren't "private" enough being open on top like that. I'd also make it cozier inside the next boxes as well. My girls are loving the excelsior pads from eggcartons.com. They fit well in my next boxes, and the girls can pluck at the straw as they wish to suit them. I use them for a good long time until I feel they're too soiled then, compost the old and replace with new.

Here is a photo of my nest boxes right after we built the coop. Let me see if I can find some of those excelsior pads to show you. This photo was before I switched over to the excelsior nest pads which tuck neatly into the little litter box nest box.


The excelsior nest pads

And a link to the page on eggcartons.com
http://www.eggcartons.com/Poultry-Care/Nest-Pads-and-Bedding

Thanks SadieSue! I'm definitely interested in grabbing some of those pads. That looks great! I bet your girls love it, much comfy-er then mine for sure!! I see blue something in your boxes, did you line them with something?

I agree. You have enought nest boxes there, you should try a couple of different things. Cover half of them. Then put straw in one covered, one uncovered, shavings in one covered, one uncovered, I'd also do the covered one's, one with a curtain, one without. Then lock them in for a bit. They will find one they like and then you can duplicate it!

I like this idea of trying a variety of things just to see what they like. With the curtain, how do I set that up? Do I just hang one big curtain in front of the nest boxes all the way across?

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote: I would also add more of a ledge/roost on the front of the nests. Also This is just my preference but I don't do the leaning ladder type roost. I put them all on the same level. And one more minor thing .....NO WONDER you are NOT getting eggs !!!! You don't have any chickens in there silly bajilly! ! ! !

 

[Nikki99]

I would also add more of a ledge/roost on the front of the nests. Also This is just my preference but I don't do the leaning ladder type roost. I put them all on the same level. And one more minor thing .....NO WONDER you are NOT getting eggs !!!! You don't have any chickens in there silly bajilly! ! ! !

I wondered about the bigger ledge when DH and DS were building it but they weren't as enthusiastic about changing it up at that point. I will see what we can do about that.
Why don't you do the ladder type roost? I decided to go that route because I read that they are good to have for lower ranking birds because sometimes the boss birds will kick the lower guys off the higher bars on the roost, the lower levels provide a spot for the ones lower on the pecking order to roost.

OMG.....I knew I was forgetting something....the chickens of coarse!! D'oh!! Lol!!