YO GEORGIANS! :)

[missy1971]

2 Questions...what does everyone do to keep their chickens cool on hot days??
And y'all with vinyl or linoleum floors do y'all put bedding down or leave it bare! If so how thick?

 

[brucifer]

Ok here's the deal. I recently traded two juveniles and a almost 2 year old hen for a beautiful white silkie roo.
The juveniles now show mild scissor beak. I inspected the pair they hatched from and neither parent bird has it ( nor do any of my other hens)
The two I was hatching from at the time were I their own run do to an issue with the behavior of my pheasant patterned hen. She is not the best browser ( She wanders off from her best allot I usually put her eggs under my best browser but let her keep two and that would be these two jueviniles)
I read where incubation temp could do this too. Or could it be a recessive gene from the original line where I purchased my flock?

Cross beak that shows up in chicks is usually genetic, and it can be hard to detect early on, yet it becomes more pronounced and apparent as the chicks get older. Injury and lack of beak honing can also cause it.

2 Questions...what does everyone do to keep their chickens cool on hot days??
And y'all with vinyl or linoleum floors do y'all put bedding down or leave it bare! If so how thick?

Q1: I use a large pedestal fan that I bought at Harbor Freight to keep my birds cool on really hot days when there is little or no breeze. Barrel fans also work, but they're kind of pricey. Old attic fans work great as long as you screen the fan blades with hardware cloth.

Q2: I always use bedding in the coops and pens. It's much easier to scoop out soiled pine shavings and straw than it is to scrape or scrub off dried chicken poop from a hard floor or surface. However, many folks with hardware-cloth on the bottom of their coops will forego bedding since they want the droppings to fall through to a pan or a cleaning area below.

 

[Tabasco Jack]

2 Questions...what does everyone do to keep their chickens cool on hot days??
And y'all with vinyl or linoleum floors do y'all put bedding down or leave it bare! If so how thick?

I use roll vinyl flooring in my brooders and put a couple inches of shavings over it. The vinyl itself is too slippery for them.

 

[Tabasco Jack]

Rabbit days produced 45 pounds of dressed meat. That's some good looking meat.

 

[katsdar]

Something amazing happened today. I stayed home and took a day and guess what I got eggs!!!! Amazing how that happens. Now I wish I had a guard dog to put out at night. I have dogs but not ones I would leave out side. The biggest is 120 pounds but he is a baby and would cry if he didn't get to come in for the night and he would think he is being punished. lol I know he would stay close or he would get sprayed by a skunk again.

 

[katsdar]

You know if they would ask for eggs I would gladly give them to em they don't have to steal them. That just peeves me to the max.

 

[brucifer]

You know if they would ask for eggs I would gladly give them to em they don't have to steal them. That just peeves me to the max.

Time to deploy the hidden game cam in the hen house.

 

[BantamBonzo]

Aaaaaaand introducing Gandalf. My new roo who thinkd he is a lap dog lol

 

[Flowerbh]

I set up my game camera ok as you all know I might have one or two hens and I'm going to have to buy eggs!!!! is that crazy or what, even the broody hen eggs are gone, so since everything is locked up tight at night someone or something has to be getting all my eggs any ideas, would a slithery or 4 legged thing take eggs and leave no trace but leave the birds alone? Or do you think it's a 2 legged thing

Yes! I had a snake go under a broody at night and eat her eggs!

 

[Flowerbh]

Something amazing happened today. I stayed home and took a day and guess what I got eggs!!!! Amazing how that happens. Now I wish I had a guard dog to put out at night. I have dogs but not ones I would leave out side. The biggest is 120 pounds but he is a baby and would cry if he didn't get to come in for the night and he would think he is being punished. lol I know he would stay close or he would get sprayed by a skunk again.

I think all dogs should be indoor dogs! LOL! They are like family here and usually end up sleeping in our bed! Dogs are really special......GOD spelled backwards is DOG. I think God made them special to be a reflection of his unwavering love for us!