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Lynza posted:Yes, I'm near PDX (in Banks). We should definitely get the ladies together! Rad! I'm in Cedar Mill now, but used to live up on Germantown and already miss the country life. Let's do this.  Lynza posted:What I'm thinking is that they will have a coop for nighttime (it's all wired in, we'll be putting a horse stall mat beneath it so nothing can tunnel in) <snip> Two thoughts: If these are the types of mats you can get from Wilco/Coastal, rats can push up the corners pretty trivially and sneak past them. Also, the weight of that sucker will make using an actual tractor to move the chicken tractor around almost a necessity. Velvet Sparrow posted:Oh God, your butchering story (the spoilered part) had me laughing my rear end off despite the subject. Poor obnoxious rooboy. In retrospect, the spoilered part is indeed hilarious. It took me a long time to get over the guilt of screwing it up (for the roo's sake), though. Live and learn! All five of my hens are just under 11mos old right now, and the weather has been alternating between dreary/soggy and HOLY poo poo SPRINGTIME. The rest of my girls started laying with a vengeance right when the springy weather first hit. We moved house smack in the middle of January - my two gals on the bottom of the pecking order started laying for the first time about a week after moving. Apparently those two appreciated the change! The nest box is four boxes, all divided by curtains and each with curtain flaps over the opening. I'll be getting some straw in the next week or so and will load the boxes up with it. The gals only like to use the one box in the corner, and oftentimes I'll have lots of bitchy whining in the morning when the Orpington has set up shop in it and won't leave.  It's definitely not their preferred lay spot, though - back at the old place when I didn't have the underside of the coop fenced off, they would constantly lay there instead of in the coop.The plan is to build a new coop once I have two seconds to scrape together, which is lighter and smaller and has a more protected run attached. Right now the girls don't get to leave the coop unless there's someone home keeping an eye on them (Today is the first day in months they've been home alone), as their fenced area has no roof.  The new coop will have some important redesigns - namely nicer nesting spots.The current coop was intended as a v.1.0 - testing the waters and seeing what does/doesn't work. I learned a lot from it, but its flaws have caused it to start falling apart already. The new one will mostly be made of fiberglass, tile, hardware cloth, and a window (over the cloth). This one was originally designed to hold up to 18 birds as I was planning to expand the flock - but I've learned that I don't really want any more ladies.
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Mar 9, 2013 06:42
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I actually just replaced the worn-out black landscape cloth curtains on the nest boxes today, the hens were ALL excited and couldn't wait to jump in, the roos were kept busy escorting them. 
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Lynza posted:We don't have big snakes, just garters, so that's not a big deal. While there can be mice, the cats have pretty much got that one licked. The kitten catches some poor little thing just about daily. We also have four dogs, so for the most part things like raccoons and coyotes don't ever come into the yard. OK, the main thing to worry about is that the girls are secure at night, which it looks like they will be.  Although make sure that things like nest box lids latch shut, and bottoms of the nests or nighttime coop cannot be lifted up. Someone here had that happen... As for Chickam naming, I thought I'd start the thread as soon as we saw eggs wiggling, and take name suggestions as things progressed. Last year the chicks were all OVER the damned place when it came to the amount of time between pipping & hatching--anywhere from 1 hour (Fries!) to 17 hours (Little Rose), most averaging about 10-12 hours. That should be plenty of time for people to find the thread and contribute their name suggestion. I'm currently running the incubators to test the living Hell outta them, as it doesn't look like 12_String will be able to construct his new incubator before the incubation start date of March 30th--we'll have to use the old ones, but with modifications to provide better ventilation, temperature control and humidity stability. I'm also relocating them back to my kitchen island which is much more stable than the table we used last year--we got a lot of false 'egg wiggles' due to vibration transfered from the floor. The kitchen island is a beast and NOTHING moves that thing. I also have to decide if I'll run both the forced-air & still-air as incubators, or use the forced-air as an incubator and the still-air as a hatcher. I've been reviewing the records and details of last year and have some things to plan out, although I HOPE this year, with high-altitude eggs from my flock and another local one, we'll naturally have a better hatch rate. Last year the forced-air hatched out early with 2 chicks going from pip to hatch in 1-2 hours, 3 others took 12+ hours--but all were healthy. The still air hatched out 2 days late, all 10+ hours pip/hatch and 3 had to be assisted--but all were healthy except Rose. The chickens are also getting spoiled with all kinds of healthy foods & vitamin/oil supplements so that they will be at their healthiest, and within a week at most (we're working to chainsaw out the nasty, overgrown, 40 year old juniper bushes and repair the fence they've wrecked) will be roaming the back yard, finally! That'll be the day to test the cam outside. For science and happy chickens, of course. 
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Mar 9, 2013 06:46
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Bantaras posted:Hey Alterian! I don't know when I'd have time to do it. I told my husband about it and he's all for it! He's an artist too haha. We're still thinking about what sort of design we'd want. Part of me wants to bust out my acrylics and do a sort of cheesy folk art painting and just scan it. He wants to design a logo like a WW2 animal cartoon mascot with its dukes up (think flying hellfish logo from the simpsons) of one of our chickens. We have a 3 month old, both work full time and my husband is in grad school so it might be a little while before we have time to sit down and design it.
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Mar 9, 2013 14:37
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Velvet Sparrow posted:As for Chickam naming No Roses, no Waffles. 
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Mar 9, 2013 14:49
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Oh, and Chickam returns on or about April 20th! ...How did you guess my birthday?
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Mar 9, 2013 15:00
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Nettle Soup posted:...How did you guess my birthday?
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Mar 9, 2013 16:36
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Nettle Soup posted:...How did you guess my birthday? I think you put good chicken karma out there NettleSoup! It was meant to be!
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Mar 9, 2013 17:58
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My girls and I got to enjoy some of the wonderful sunshine today: 
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Mar 9, 2013 18:50
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DUCK!
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Mar 9, 2013 19:05
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Alterian posted:I don't know when I'd have time to do it. I told my husband about it and he's all for it! He's an artist too haha. We're still thinking about what sort of design we'd want. Part of me wants to bust out my acrylics and do a sort of cheesy folk art painting and just scan it. He wants to design a logo like a WW2 animal cartoon mascot with its dukes up (think flying hellfish logo from the simpsons) of one of our chickens. Alterian, I'd love to make you a feeder for no charge (with your own design) if you could provide me with a few simple copyright free images I could use! How does that sound?
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Mar 9, 2013 21:13
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It has begun!! Edit: I will add some info. We got these little buggers this afternoon. They are week old Cuckoo Marans. The wife has named the Belinda, Henrietta and Prissy. They are already hysterical. I love their little cheeping noises. Henrietta had some vent blockage so we cleaned her off and will be watching them all closely over the next few weeks. The coop and run will be built next weekend, so it will be ready for them when they get old enough to live outside, We are really excited about our mini-flock. Errant Gin Monks fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Mar 11, 2013 |
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Mar 10, 2013 23:21
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Errant Gin Monks posted:It has begun!! Awwww thank you for sharing. They are adorable! Marans are the chickens that lay beautiful dark dark brown, almost black eggs I think.
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Mar 11, 2013 01:21
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Errant Gin Monks posted:It has begun!! Super cute chicks. When I was ordering last summer I really wanted to get some Marans but couldn't find any. I did manage to get pretty much every other color though. 
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Mar 11, 2013 02:52
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Aww, new peepers! They are so awesome. Be sure to rock their world with some mealworms. Holy poo poo, do they ever love those things. We got our chicken coop built this weekend! I say we, I mean "my husband," but I am now going over the areas where they put kinda flimsy hardware cloth and putting in 1/2" much tougher hardware cloth. I'm also going to do some non-toxic stain inside and out to treat the wood (it's cedar), and I've painted the tray they will be pooping onto. I'm also going to put some fine hardware cloth/mesh over the tray so they're not standing directly in it, but instead over it. I figure that'll make it easier to empty (it slides out the side) and nicer for them (not standing in poo).
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Mar 11, 2013 18:08
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Lynza posted:Aww, new peepers! They are so awesome. Be sure to rock their world with some mealworms. Holy poo poo, do they ever love those things. Take and post some photos when you get done! I enjoy looking at people's chicken coops, plus goons can suggest any extra security precautions to keep the chooks safe.
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Mar 11, 2013 19:38
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Here we go: The hole you see to the right is where the tray goes in (it's out being painted in the picture). You can see it a bit better here.  The Ladies are looking pretty ratty, what with their big girl feathers coming in.  
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Mar 12, 2013 03:59
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Lynza, just you wait--they haven't REALLY reached the awkward, gawky stage yet. Give 'em another couple weeks. After that their voices will start to change and they'll honk rather than peep....it gets worse.  Nice job on the coop/run, love to see that extended & bent outward wire to deter digging predators & vermin, yay! Our girls got a bunch of stink bugs we dug up today. They either love 'em or hate 'em, and it was very funny to see the stink bugs SPRINT for the hens that were disgusted by them. It was like a chicken horror movie, it freaked them right the gently caress OUT and they ran away. Some of our old ladies are soooo fussy.
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Mar 12, 2013 08:33
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Painting the metal-bottomed tray in my coop with Hammerite was the best thing I ever did. It makes it so much easier to clean its insane. I really wanna hatch chicks this year.  Anyone in the UK want some chickens?
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Mar 12, 2013 12:34
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So the chicks are doing good. We are handling them as much as possible to get them used to us. They already will just sit in our hands and snuggle down and cheep, but they dont run away from us anymore or try to hop off as soon as we open our hand. So thats god. I was also looking at chicken coop plans and the sizes are odd to me. Maybe im not getting perspective but I was going to make a 4 foot by 6 foot coop with a 10x6 run. This seems to be rated for like 12 chickens, I assume my 3 girls will use all that space and be happier for it. But a few questions. 2 nestboxes or just 1? How many watering thingies should i get? What about feeders? Are the big metal 2 gallon gavity feeders good enough? I was planning on buying 2. Plans say to bury the welded wire down 12 inches, is this enough? I was also going to line my run with painted cinderblocks on the outside and plant herbs and flowers in them so they could reach through and eat the little bits they can get to, is this a good idea? Aside from feeders and waterers what else does the run need? CHICKENS!! AARRRGH!!! edit: Also even with a 10x6 run I assume the girls will turn it into a blasted moonscape. Can anything survive them?
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Mar 12, 2013 17:13
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One of each thing is plenty for only three chickens. As far as the run goes...lol no it will turn to slop. My 7 girls have a really good size run at about 20ftx8ftx and they turned it from beautiful green grass to, well, slop! We put straw in there to keep it from getting too muddy. I would love to be able to put some sort of shrub or something in there but seriously doubt it would even have time to establish itself.
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Mar 12, 2013 17:24
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I love this duck so much. He's hilarious; every time I open the trough they're in, he'll hunker down behind some chickens and act like he's not twice their size.
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Mar 12, 2013 18:11
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unprofessional posted:I love this duck so much. He's hilarious; every time I open the trough they're in, he'll hunker down behind some chickens and act like he's not twice their size. Is the other duck doing okay? I know you mentioned it was a little lethargic... How many chicks do you plan on keeping? I know you said you had coworkers etc that wanted some.
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Mar 12, 2013 18:22
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The pekin didn't make it. It was the last casualty of the bunch. I'm gonna try to sneak home a couple of runners from TSC when I get the chance... All my little chicks are feathering out. It's so fun! Edit: keeping all of them for now. People that showed interest all bowed out, and I don't even care. I don't mind eating some roosters when the time comes. unprofessional fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Mar 12, 2013 |
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Mar 12, 2013 19:24
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Errant Gin Monks posted:So the chicks are doing good. We are handling them as much as possible to get them used to us. They already will just sit in our hands and snuggle down and cheep, but they dont run away from us anymore or try to hop off as soon as we open our hand. So thats god. I've got 4 hens and they have 2 nestboxes and it seems to be good. You could get by with 1 (and sometimes one of mine will wait for the preferred nestbox even if the other is open) but if it's not hard to add the second I don't see why not to. Mine do use both at the same time pretty often. quote:How many watering thingies should i get? We have one waterer with 4 nipples on it. This has been more than enough and the way we have it set up allows us to fill the water up from outside the run, which is awesome. I highly recommend looking into the chicken nipples. We still give ours an open bowl of water pretty often just because they like it but the nipple system is always there so we don't have to worry about them doing stupid crap like tipping over the bowl and not having water. quote:I was also going to line my run with painted cinderblocks on the outside and plant herbs and flowers in them so they could reach through and eat the little bits they can get to, is this a good idea? This actually sounds like a pretty cool idea and one of the only ways to keep them from destroying the plants immediately. I may do it once we move and get settled at the new place with them this summer. Keep in mind that it won't work if you are letting them free range at all as they'll just go after the plants then. quote:Aside from feeders and waterers what else does the run need? Our run is currently 12x4 feet (will be expanded this summer when we move and they need to be contained in it 24/7). It was a moonscape in no time even though the chickens were allowed to free range our backyard for about 80% of their time last summer. We've used various stuff as substrate for the run to keep it from getting too muddy and have found that there are a lot of things that work. I would just experiment with what is available locally for free or a reasonable price (we use pine straw from our yard in the fall for example, and mulch we can get cheaply during the winter). We also put a few large rocks and a big tree stump in there sometimes to give them a bit more variety in the terrain. I've also found putting the feeder up on a paving stone is helpful so they don't get bedding in it. Other stuff to think about : What is the weather like where you are? If it's cold (as in below freezing) during the winter your needs for the coop and run will be different than if it's warm year round. If it's super warm during the summer you'll need to worry a lot more about shade availability than someone where it's relatively mild. Etc.
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Mar 12, 2013 19:57
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Errant Gin Monks posted:I was also going to line my run with painted cinderblocks on the outside and plant herbs and flowers in them so they could reach through and eat the little bits they can get to, is this a good idea? I somehow missed this part- that does sound like a pretty good idea. I might have to try that out this spring too. 
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Mar 12, 2013 20:12
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Nettle Soup posted:
It IS pointless to resist, you know. Errant Gin Monks, the initial setup is kind of a pain, but once you get things done daily care is a breeze. I'd go with 2 nest boxes, hens are weird about picking their nest spot and will greatly enjoying having two to choose from--also it helps cut down on one hen hogging the nest and stressing out the others who need to lay NOW and can't get in. One large feeder for 3 hens should be plenty. Having two waterers that you can swap out so you always have a clean one is handy, but ony one in the coop at a time. Bury the welded wire but bend it outward from the coop to deter digging predators/vermin. They come up to the wire, dig down and are foiled. Yes to your suspicions that the run will become blasted earth. A deep dirt area for dustbathing is a must, they'll chose their favorite spot, just eliminate any rocks/roots/debri and maybe double dig the spot to give them soft dirt to bathe in and they'll be happy. Anything you plant for them to eat you need to make sure isn't toxic (this page is aimed at parrots but holds true for chickens): http://www.plannedparrothood.com/plants.html What kind of wire are you using if they can reach out to nibble plants...? *please say 1/4 inch hardware cloth*
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Mar 12, 2013 20:47
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Yes 1/4 in ch hardware cloth is what we are thinking. When I say reach out I mean as the plants grow into the run through the wire they can stick their little beaks through and rip off pieces.
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Mar 12, 2013 20:57
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Errant Gin Monks posted:Yes 1/4 in ch hardware cloth is what we are thinking. When I say reach out I mean as the plants grow into the run through the wire they can stick their little beaks through and rip off pieces. Or you can occasionally bend the plant stalks and push them through the wire openings for the chickens to discover later on. So many new chicks and chickens! So exciting! Everyone post more photos! Lynza: your new coop looks wonderful! I am sure the chickens will dirty it up in no time flat.
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Mar 12, 2013 21:32
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One of the neighbours I overlooked at first have a "chicken grotto" that backs onto our paddock, which is a chicken pen covered in passionfruit vines and whatnot. They have a whole bunch of different chickens of all sizes and breeds, but they never get to go out much. So I've been encouraging some of the nice grass, pigweed, and garden herbs that have drifted there to grow through the wire. Kali and Alecto don't eat it all because on our side it's right out in the open. In Kali and Alecto's pen they get a "nature section" around their feed bins, made of bigger garden bits. It usually starts out with a good amount of (dethorned) lime branches. These never last for long as the pony looks so sad trying to steal branches from outside the pen. He really likes limes. Also: I really like all these baby chickens! So cute!  I always like them when they're just starting to get their proper feathery feathers.
CROWS EVERYWHERE fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Mar 12, 2013 |
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Mar 12, 2013 23:15
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Sorry VS,dont think I can get you any eggs this year.Fertility has been a lot less so far this year even with me AI'ing and im betting its because of the weather going from 80 degrees to below freezing then back to 80 in the course of a week over and over. What im not hatching this year im giving to the guy who originally got me into Cochins since he wants to get back to working with the line. Maybe in time for next year ill have you some.
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Mar 12, 2013 23:41
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God I fucking love Diablo 3 gold, it even paid for this shitty title
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I gave them a few mealworms and they freaked out
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Mar 12, 2013 23:55
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Nettle Soup posted:
That depends, where abouts?
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Mar 13, 2013 01:49
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Yeah, do not underestimate the sheer magnitude of love a chick has for meal worms. It's ridiculous. I got my worms and crickets today, so the girls have had a worm fiesta. The crickets are nice. They've been chirping. I was hoping I'd have their new house delivered by now, but it hasn't come yet. I guess they have to stay in their packing box (which is actually really nice, considering) for a couple more days. I clipped the Ladies' wings today. Haven't done THAT in a long time! Last time was when I had a rescue parakeet (ironically, her name was Chicken). They've been getting cocky and flapping up onto the top of the tank or our arms when we don't immediately provide mealworms.
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Mar 13, 2013 01:54
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It's really amazing how much they do on hard wired instinct. They preen, clean feathers, dust bath, scratch, shake mealworms in half and scratch around without any nurture example. Pretty amazing things for being really really dumb,
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Mar 13, 2013 02:11
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Errant Gin Monks posted:Pretty amazing things for being really really dumb. You'd be surprised at how smart they can be when they need to .
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Mar 13, 2013 04:31
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Chido posted:You'd be surprised at how smart they can be when they need to Like instantly finding any hole in the fence as soon as it appears! Everyone I know who doesn't keep chickens is amazed that they will lay in a nesting box, hop onto a roost to sleep, or have a dust bath without having to be shown anything.
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Mar 13, 2013 06:30
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CROWS EVERYWHERE posted:Like instantly finding any hole in the fence as soon as it appears! It's like having the home version of Jurassic Park's raptors! They even gang up on you if they suspect you have food.
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Mar 13, 2013 07:16
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Tim the Enchanter posted:Sorry VS,dont think I can get you any eggs this year.Fertility has been a lot less so far this year even with me AI'ing and im betting its because of the weather going from 80 degrees to below freezing then back to 80 in the course of a week over and over. What im not hatching this year im giving to the guy who originally got me into Cochins since he wants to get back to working with the line. Maybe in time for next year ill have you some. Aw, it's OK, I was just giving you a hard time.  We've had weird weather fluctuations ourselves, snow one day, 66 degrees the next.
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Mar 13, 2013 09:29
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Raikiri posted:That depends, where abouts? St.Helens, ish, halfway between Liverpool and Manchester. :p
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Mar 13, 2013 11:06
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Nettle Soup posted:St.Helens, ish, halfway between Liverpool and Manchester. :p Shame, I'm all the way down in Brighton. Bah!
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Mar 13, 2013 19:30
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