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Things my chickens will eat: chicken feed pellets, scratch, bugs, seeds, dirt Things they will not eat: basically anything else, including cooked chicken, noodles, or watermelon, all things that every previous chicken I or my partner have known has gone nuts over. Are our chickens defective?
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Apr 18, 2020 21:15
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ToxicFrog posted:Things my chickens will eat: chicken feed pellets, scratch, bugs, seeds, dirt Nope, we've had hens that love a particular food, while others look upon it as the worst thing you could possibly have offered. Our original three loved porage, in fact it was the only thing that stopped them shouting at the kitchen door every morning (they'd scoff it down, sit and preen then all fall asleep)/ Nine hens later and none of them care for porage. Piper would eat green leafy lettuce, while Pip would only accept the crunchy stem. Every chicken's likes / dislikes are different.
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Apr 19, 2020 12:51
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My brother in law's chickens were bought 2 days before mine from the same store, and are highly likely all broodmates. Regardless of that, his chickens have their own food idiosyncracies. They like yogurt and scratch grains more than oatmeal oats; meanwhile mine disdain yogurt and are very meh about scratch grains, but as previously mentioned are just bonkers for oatmeal oats.
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Apr 19, 2020 21:50
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My old flock would go bananas for cooked shrimp shells.
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Apr 19, 2020 22:46
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All of mine love rice, it's funny watching them wiping their beaks to get the sticky ones off. Same with yogurt too lol but they're more lukewarm about that
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Apr 20, 2020 00:38
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Since quarantine kicked in my wife's been making a lot more rice dishes, and the chickens just brawl over the leftovers.
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Apr 20, 2020 14:45
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They get big so fast!  We had 3 buff orps which were some of the smallest of the litter we got. One of them is definitely still much smaller than the others. Sleeping a lot and pooping and eating, but overall just seems pretty lethargic and is a lot smaller than the other orp chicks and the rest of the flock in general. Are there usually pretty pronounced runts like that? Coop is coming along nicely. Nestbox done, 2 boxes inside, middle partition is removable for easy cleanup.  Mocked up, need to hang the doors on hinges tomorrow once the new coat of paint dries up fully.  All that's left is to add in some concrete around the base bricks (they're sitting on a buried leveled ring of bricks which work as a wall against burrowers. Then I have to install some perches across the coop and poop boards under them. Last thing is make some frames for the plexiglass I have and install the windows over the hardware cloth openings. Looking at different coop plans / videos etc, I've seen all kinds of different roosting perches inside the coop, people using branches, dowels, sandpaper coated dowels / planks, etc. Is there any consensus on what to use there? I hadn't read up on it yet.
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Apr 21, 2020 01:44
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That Works posted:
Don't know about consensus, but I'm using regular 2x3's and have had no complaints in 8 years. Also, your coop/run strikes me as small for 10 chickens, no? Our coop alone is nearly as big as your run, for six chickens, and the run is 4-5 times the size.
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Apr 21, 2020 03:26
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Lawson posted:Don't know about consensus, but I'm using regular 2x3's and have had no complaints in 8 years. Goal is 5-6 hens. We bought 10 unsexed chicks. Coop and run area is 10x5 ft
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Apr 21, 2020 10:26
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I have a 2x4 and a regular branch as roosts in my coop and they seem to have no particular preference. The run may be a little snug for 5-6 full grown hens - may want to add some roosts and stumps and things to the run to let them use some of the vertical space, and you might consider adding onto the run at some point. More space is always better. Mozi fucked around with this message at 13:56 on Apr 21, 2020 |
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Apr 21, 2020 13:52
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Are you burying the wire around the perimeter of the run? Your foundation looks really nice but a critter would be able to dig under it and get at your hens pretty quickly if you're not adding anything there (or maybe you have and I'm not seeing it.) Also I use 2x4s wide side up for roosts and no complaints at all here.
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Apr 21, 2020 13:58
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It's been a month, and names have been settled on: Nugget and Marley. I called them little poofy nuggets when I first got them, and the name just stuck for one of them. My wife was calling the other one Peep, but that isn't going to work. Foremost, she won't be peeping for much longer, and second and perhaps most critically, I'm not having anything in my sphere of influence named after a disgusting Easter confection. Nugget's curiosity and mobility is insatiable, meanwhile her sister is much more chill. When I have both of them out on my lap, Marley has always been more inclined to just settle down and enjoy the pooled body heat. Since she's a mellow bird, I named her for a mellow musician. They absolutely love lap time. Nugget is on the left, Marley is on the right.   Marley is definitely a daddy's girl. If my son handles them, they're content enough, but if I'm anywhere around, Marley tries keeping up with me.
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Apr 27, 2020 20:12
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Source4Leko posted:Are you burying the wire around the perimeter of the run? Your foundation looks really nice but a critter would be able to dig under it and get at your hens pretty quickly if you're not adding anything there (or maybe you have and I'm not seeing it.) Underneath the obvious bricks up top there's another 8 inches of brick buried. The bricks up top have now been concreted around and I'm burying them up to the bottom wood beam so it should be about 10-12" of concrete all the way round beneath the coop walls. Mozi posted:I have a 2x4 and a regular branch as roosts in my coop and they seem to have no particular preference. Yep I am adding some bars, perches and other stuff for them to climb / sit on in the run as well as mounting a dust bath in one of the corners slightly above ground. Also once they are living in the coop permanently I'll be building another 4'x8' run area that I can butt directly into a not yet built hatch off to one side. This will just be chicken wire and will be a daytime only run for them to expand into. Was debating just making this a small tractor instead and I could kinda run them around different places in the yard too, haven't decided but I could bang out something like that in 1 weekend without much fuss. We also will let them free range around the backyard if it seems like they are chill enough for it. Thanks for all the suggestions! I put in 2x4s into the coop area and finished up the coop windows. Built a ramp as well out of some crap scrap wood, maybe I'll build a nicer looking one, probably not.  I put about 3 coats of spar down on the bottom to waterproof the wood as much as I can. This is for eventual hosing out of the coop on cleaning. Not easy to see there is a 2" drain hole with grating. I have a rubber plug to fit into it when not cleaning.  There's some solar motion activated lights around it hopefully might dissuade some nocturnal predators, will see.   We brought them all out and had a "Race" for a Zoom talent / variety show some of our friends put on. It was fun, everyone loved the chicks. They are super hard to photograph but have been awesome so far.
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Apr 27, 2020 21:40
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That Works posted:They are super hard to photograph but have been awesome so far... That exact condition is never going to change. The coop looks marvellous! Oh, and today marks the anniversary of my joining the backyard chicken keeping club.
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Apr 27, 2020 22:10
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I'd maybe be wary of those windows being weak points? Might wanna put some proper locks on them... Here is the ridiculous thing my grandma bought me for my birthday (next to their old house/run, which I hadn't yet moved). It's gonna outlive me, and when I die I'll will it to the council as social housing. Plastic so it won't rot, nowhere for mites to live, roof is easy to take off. It's the dream.  Currently, the chickens still refuse to sleep inside it. I have to take them all off the roof/out of the trees at night and chuck them inside.
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Apr 27, 2020 22:19
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That Works posted:Underneath the obvious bricks up top there's another 8 inches of brick buried. The bricks up top have now been concreted around and I'm burying them up to the bottom wood beam so it should be about 10-12" of concrete all the way round beneath the coop walls. That is a drat good looking coop.
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Apr 27, 2020 22:50
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Nettle Soup posted:I'd maybe be wary of those windows being weak points? Might wanna put some proper locks on them... I am no master of chicken psychology, but is it possible it's too low to the ground for their preference?
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Apr 28, 2020 00:17
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I guess I could find more bricks... Shouldn't really be an issue though, most cheap hen houses I looked at are pretty low to the ground. The one I had before this (not the one in the picture, that's my quarantine/baby house) was completely flat on the ground, and they still used to go in there at night and sleep. I think it's just too dark in there, and they don't like that. Anyone recommend a cheap solar panel with like 5 leds connected up to it? One of the chicks is blind in one eye, and she does go there at night on her own. She can't jump at all though, even getting off the perches inside is too scary for her.
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Apr 28, 2020 00:28
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Nettle Soup posted:I'd maybe be wary of those windows being weak points? Might wanna put some proper locks on them... The windows sit outside the hardware cloth which is secured by the outer trim panels. I hope that's enough?  tell me if not, tried pretty hard to read up / build a fairly secure setup. Thanks for the compliments all.
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Apr 28, 2020 00:51
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Ah I thought the cloth was part of the windows, my bad! It looks really good!
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Apr 28, 2020 01:03
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5er posted:I am no master of chicken psychology This should be the thread title
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Apr 28, 2020 02:41
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So it’s been years but I finally decided to get back into chickens. This time around I’m doing meat birds instead of layers, so I will focus less on the chickens themselves and more on their digs. I built a modern inspired coop to house my chooks while they grow out. I have been furloughed or about a week now and worked on this for 5 solid days. I’m happy with how it turned out. 
Errant Gin Monks fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Apr 28, 2020 |
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Apr 28, 2020 05:29
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Errant Gin Monks posted:So it’s been years but I finally decided to get back into chickens. This time around I’m doing meat birds instead of layers, so I will focus less on the chickens themselves and more on their digs. I built a modern inspired coop to house my chooks while they grow out. I have been furloughed or about a week now and worked on this for 5 solid days. I’m happy with how it turned out. Where does their Peloton go
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Apr 28, 2020 06:39
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Errant Gin Monks posted:So it’s been years but I finally decided to get back into chickens. This time around I’m doing meat birds instead of layers, so I will focus less on the chickens themselves and more on their digs. I built a modern inspired coop to house my chooks while they grow out. I have been furloughed or about a week now and worked on this for 5 solid days. I’m happy with how it turned out. That's awesome
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Apr 28, 2020 10:42
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Jesus I think those chickens are going to live better than I do.
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Apr 28, 2020 19:40
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That sure is some classy backyard hentrification there.
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Apr 28, 2020 19:51
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Are you gonna get RGB chickens for that coop
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Apr 28, 2020 22:16
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meanwhile, this is what i was until now proud of having accomplished this weekend:  our girls got a feed shelter built out of scrap lumber and a 4x8 foot asphalt fiberglass roofing panel, and the chicken yard is completely enclosed in bird netting to discourage flight attempts, and today they moved out! now we're trying to get them to figure out that the coop is where they're supposed to roost, but they don't even want to go in there with the aid of birdseed and breadcrumbs. perhaps it's too early. if they don't figure it out, we'll wait for them to fall asleep wherever and then put them in there, i guess oh, and one of our girls has taken to crowing most mornings 
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Apr 28, 2020 22:40
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Excellent work, Dustcat.
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Apr 29, 2020 10:50
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Errant Gin Monks posted:So it’s been years but I finally decided to get back into chickens. This time around I’m doing meat birds instead of layers, so I will focus less on the chickens themselves and more on their digs. I built a modern inspired coop to house my chooks while they grow out. I have been furloughed or about a week now and worked on this for 5 solid days. I’m happy with how it turned out. This is a sexy build
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Apr 29, 2020 16:00
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Lots of great goon chicken building happening lately 
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Apr 29, 2020 16:39
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Thanks for the kind words goons. This is my first time raising meat birds and they are REALLY different from layers. We are raising freedom rangers instead of Cornish X because those are mutants. They are huge compared to the layers. So big that even with almost full feathers they can barely get 24 inches off the ground. Our layers were actually flying up to 5 foot bookshelves by now. They are extremely aggressive about food. It’s like a riot whenever the feeders go into the brooder. On the plus side they really are much more friendly. They will run up when we put our hands in the brooder and just lean against us and get scratches. They will happily snuggle against you if you pick them up. Too bad they are so delicious.
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Apr 29, 2020 23:48
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These idiots are outside now with their brooder. Should be good to go!
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May 2, 2020 22:25
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Errant Gin Monks posted:These idiots are outside now with their brooder. Should be good to go! you're gonna get so many wings
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May 3, 2020 00:53
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Dustcat posted:you're gonna get so many wings Hopefully 108.
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May 3, 2020 01:11
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 Except for this one, who decided to be different. 
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May 4, 2020 15:56
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I expect all my chickens to be dead by the end of the week. There is a hover brooder in the coop with a 150 watt heating element in it to keep them warm when it’s cold and they all sleep in a giant ball as far away from it as they can possibly be. They are idiots.
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May 5, 2020 05:50
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Errant Gin Monks posted:So it’s been years but I finally decided to get back into chickens. This time around I’m doing meat birds instead of layers, so I will focus less on the chickens themselves and more on their digs. I built a modern inspired coop to house my chooks while they grow out. I have been furloughed or about a week now and worked on this for 5 solid days. I’m happy with how it turned out. I missed the post of just the coop but drat this is a nice coop.
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May 5, 2020 06:00
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 So since these idiots refused to sleep under the hover brooder and wanted to die I constructed a house around the brooder and now they all pile in there and hang out under the hover brooder. It has the slots at the top to allow for air and moisture to escape but with the “double box” it keeps the wind down to basically nothing inside. I’m not 100% sure why meat birds are so fuckin stupid but man they are dumb. The weather is going to get freakishly cold this weekend (down into the high 20s) so I’m taking extra precautions to keep these idiots alive.
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May 5, 2020 23:42
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Living through quarantine has been weird enough; it feels like more weird poo poo just finds me because weird enough isn't weird enough. In the first or second week of April, our next door neighbors let us know they are finally hopping on the baby chicken bandwagon, and they got some chicks inside their house. They were, of course, thoroughly inspired by our success last year with our four big girls. We figure this should be neat. I have some concerns that if chickens see other chickens on the side of the fence they're not supposed to be on, they might get it in their little reptilian brains that they belong on that side too, and might put more effort into fence hopping. We'll cope with that whenever if ever it happens. Earlier last week, I ask them how many bird they have. They said eleven. ELEVEN fuckin birds that literally haven't seen daylight yet, and are at five weeks of age, because the run they're building isn't ready yet. My neighbor's wife's mother had died two weeks back, and it utterly halted progress on everything for that time period. And, one of them is apparently a rooster. They know full well roosters are not allowed by ordinance. Neighbor then tells me they only plan on keeping six of the birds, and are hoping to drop off the other half with someone else that wants to get a flock going, or just take em for any reason, when they're old enough. He tells me the Tractor Supply he bought from, only sells in minimum of ten, so he rolled with it. Tractor Supply employees are poo poo at math apparently, and they got one extra on accident. edit: apparently nature decided to help them out a bit. On Monday night their dogs busted into the bathroom that they're using as a triage nursery, and killed two of the birds, bringing them down to nine. One of the losses was the rooster, and both of us morbidly agreed that perhaps that was a silver lining for them. I start checking around for them with our friends who have nuanced at getting chickens over the year, and so far all of them either changed their minds about it, or just aren't up for that kind of commitment. My wife says to me yesterday, 'you know our coop and our yard per ordinance can support eight.' I told her, six is our hard cap. An hour ago I plunked in one of my neighbor's Rhode Island Reds with my buff orp babies, because seven is my new hard cap. I'll post pictures tomorrow. I love her colors. The flock is going to be neat looking as all hell this time next year. double-edit: for those who may have concerns about integration problems, the red is only about one week younger. Our orps are so goddamn fluffy, that's where most of their volume comes from, but the new bird is about the same height and very close to the same size. I figure she ought to be big enough to avoid getting picked on much. 5er fucked around with this message at 02:25 on May 6, 2020 |
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May 6, 2020 02:16
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