Chickens 101, questions about chickens, start here!!! (Page 12 of 12)
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Originally Posted By Surf:
Originally Posted By CLICKBANGBANG:
I only had one day this weekend to work on the coop. Other chores took up my Saturday. Before I had even finished framing the chicken barn, kitchen 6 had decided to move it 25' and turn it 90*. So the new location was cleared and the truck pulled the coop to it. Made me glad I put it on skids and not concrete the post in. She was helping me hold boards up while framing (and now paint), so now she has an attachment to the barn and wants to be able to see it from the back porch. I have two coats of red over the grey primer on the chicken barn now. I'll get to the white trim this week. http://i48.tinypic.com/aylu0m.jpg We tossed some pine saw dust in, and transferred the chickens into their new home. Next to on project hen fruit is some fencing. The chickens are confined to the inside of the coop for the time being till the get acclimated to their new area. http://i45.tinypic.com/34irerd.jpg How many chickens are you planning on getting? Nice looking coop. I have 16 hens and 2 roosters. 18 total. |
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I'm finishing up my coop and pen and I'll be getting chickens very soon. I'm curious what everyone thinks about the different waterers. I've read reviews and studied up on them but I can't make a decision. It also seems like some people have had MAJOR problems with all of them. I want to get two waterers, one for inside the coop and one for the outside. I'd like to hang the waterers and if the handles can't take the weight, I'll probably hang them and put a brick under them. Here are my 3 options, which seem to be the most common waterers around. http://www.tractorsupply.com/harris-farms-poultry-drinker-3-5-gal-capacity-2167646 http://www.tractorsupply.com/harris-farms-double-wall-drinker-5-gal––2167191 http://www.tractorsupply.com/farm-tuff-top-fill-poultry-waterer-5-gal––2167442 Thoughts? |
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We are having the Middletown Grange Fair in Wrightstown, PA this week. My daughter's chickens won all sorts of ribbons! Silver Lace Polish - Best in Variety, Best in Breed White Silkie Rooster - Best in Variety, Best in Breed Buff Orpington - Best in Variety, Best in Breed Pekin Cochren - Best in Variety |
The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned. – Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, Section 21.
RIP shawnofthedead
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Funny chicken story.
Yesterday, the wife and I were in the yard working while the chickens were free grazing. I hear her scream and as I turned around, I see my Barred Rock rooster flipping through the air backwards with my wife all bowed up just standing there. The rooster lands and runs back at my wife only to receive another perfectly timed front snap kick to the waddle, once again sending the rooster on a nice backwards trajectory. The dumb rooster lands and flys right back at her again right into another Matrix fast snap kick that sent him cartwheeling for the third time. This time when he lands, I can see him thinking about it and that little brain of his said, "Fuck this" and he walked away. Funniest thing I've seen in a while. He started it by pecking her leg when she walked by. |
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Originally Posted By victor3ranger1: I need to know where to buy laying hens at this time of year.?? I am needing to get 10 or so Buffs or Barred Rocks. Any of you guys in Oklahoma that would sell a few hens?? This is the perfect time of year to be buying laying hens, as this past springs pullet chicks are starting to lay. Our Red Sex Links hatched April 2 are starting to pump out the eggs.  I see laying hens for sale on my local Craigs List all the time. The asking price seems to be around $15. Maybe you could work a volume discount by buying 10.  |
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This is our first year as chicken owners. We had 19 hens and 2 roosters,12 of which are laying right now 3 are still too young and a couple are being lazy I guess.
I was able to pick up 4 more layers this week off from CL for $4 each. So we built a "mini coup" to keep them seperate for a couple weeks, but they look fine. So 16 eggs (some blue and pink) a day currently. We were going to do meat chickens as well but the person who butchered our extra roosters had 900 grass feed chickens of his own to raise and sell. So instead of going thru the mess and expense we ordered 30 from him. They were smaller 3-4lbs each but were only about $6 each which is way cheaper then buying,feeding,paying to butcher them. |
I may have lucked out and found a person local that has too many hens. I sure hope so. Just a word to the wise, this year I thought we would raise a few pigs for butcher, little did I realize that the things are worse than dogs around chickens. If the chickens try to eat the spilled grain or left overs thru the pig pen the pigs will snatch them up and leave nothing but a few feathers.
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Originally Posted By victor3ranger1:
I may have lucked out and found a person local that has too many hens. I sure hope so. Just a word to the wise, this year I thought we would raise a few pigs for butcher, little did I realize that the things are worse than dogs around chickens. If the chickens try to eat the spilled grain or left overs thru the pig pen the pigs will snatch them up and leave nothing but a few feathers. When working at my uncles pig farm, one of my jobs used to be to go to the neighboring chicken farm. I'd load up the old, sick, mostly dead, roosters, and anything that clucked that they didn't want into a truck with a camper shell on it. That's when I learned you could get 240 chickens into a long bed... Back up to the pig pen and drop the tail gate. Don't fall into the pen. They'll eat you too. Looked like a blood feast. Savage beast pigs are. Feathers, legs, and all. 50 pigs would eat 240 live and some dead chickens in just a few minutes. |
Trapped by a hideous graknil, Spiff draws his trusty atomic napalm neutralizer. "Chew electric death, snarling cur!"
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I had 1 chick survive out of about 23 eggs. 2 eggs hatched, one chick died 3 days after being born. The other one, Oscar, a white silkie, was my daughter's favorite. Last week it was gone without a trace. The only way in to the enclosure was through a small gap at the top of the coop. Had to be a climbing predator. This morning I caught a racoon in my catch-em alive trap. Lesson learned: a .22LR to the back of the head doesn't make a clean kill on a racoon. I should have used a shovel. |
The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned. – Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, Section 21.
RIP shawnofthedead
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| How do you keep your nesting boxes clean, how do you keep them from "pooing" in there? |
Life is like a riddle wrapped in an enigma shrouded in mystery.
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
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Originally Posted By sterling18:
How do you keep your nesting boxes clean, how do you keep them from "pooing" in there? Make your nesting boxes removable and change the bedding often. If my girls are any example, there is NOTHING that can keep them from crapping in the nesting boxes. Of course, mine have gotten out of hte habit of laying in the boxes, now they scratch a bunch of bedding into the corner of the coop and make nests there everyday, and they all lay in the two corner nests. My chickens are stubborn like that. |
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Originally Posted By fundummy:
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/21674_402562626483180_519076676_n.jpg Lol. She looks really happy to be in the pic. |
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Originally Posted By PATCH5:
Originally Posted By sterling18:
How do you keep your nesting boxes clean, how do you keep them from "pooing" in there? Make your nesting boxes removable and change the bedding often. If my girls are any example, there is NOTHING that can keep them from crapping in the nesting boxes. Of course, mine have gotten out of hte habit of laying in the boxes, now they scratch a bunch of bedding into the corner of the coop and make nests there everyday, and they all lay in the two corner nests. My chickens are stubborn like that. I can clean them out no biggie, it's just interesting they like to roost on the ledge of them. |
Life is like a riddle wrapped in an enigma shrouded in mystery.
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
Buried Susie Derkins under the tire swing.
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Originally Posted By sterling18:
Originally Posted By PATCH5:
Originally Posted By sterling18:
How do you keep your nesting boxes clean, how do you keep them from "pooing" in there? Make your nesting boxes removable and change the bedding often. If my girls are any example, there is NOTHING that can keep them from crapping in the nesting boxes. Of course, mine have gotten out of hte habit of laying in the boxes, now they scratch a bunch of bedding into the corner of the coop and make nests there everyday, and they all lay in the two corner nests. My chickens are stubborn like that. I can clean them out no biggie, it's just interesting they like to roost on the ledge of them. Is there no place for them to roost in the coop beside the nesting boxes? Them perching on the nesting box makes a huge mess. And then they have to sit in droppings to lay which will slow their laying just because they don't want to. I had this problem once. I took all of the boxes out and put up new and more perch rods. They started using the perches and I reintroduced the nesting boxes but only a few at a time so there wasn't enough room for them all to sit on the boxes. It let them know where they needed to roost and then I put a golf in every other nest so they know where to lay. 
I'm getting ten eggs a day out of 16 hens right now. The laying has slowed for the winter. It has been to freezing temps each night for weeks now. They'll kick back up in the spring to 14+ eggs a day. |
Trapped by a hideous graknil, Spiff draws his trusty atomic napalm neutralizer. "Chew electric death, snarling cur!"
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Originally Posted By CLICKBANGBANG: Originally Posted By sterling18: Originally Posted By PATCH5: Originally Posted By sterling18: How do you keep your nesting boxes clean, how do you keep them from "pooing" in there? Make your nesting boxes removable and change the bedding often. If my girls are any example, there is NOTHING that can keep them from crapping in the nesting boxes. Of course, mine have gotten out of hte habit of laying in the boxes, now they scratch a bunch of bedding into the corner of the coop and make nests there everyday, and they all lay in the two corner nests. My chickens are stubborn like that. I can clean them out no biggie, it's just interesting they like to roost on the ledge of them. Is there no place for them to roost in the coop beside the nesting boxes? Them perching on the nesting box makes a huge mess. And then they have to sit in droppings to lay which will slow their laying just because they don't want to. I had this problem once. I took all of the boxes out and put up new and more perch rods. They started using the perches and I reintroduced the nesting boxes but only a few at a time so there wasn't enough room for them all to sit on the boxes. It let them know where they needed to roost and then I put a golf in every other nest so they know where to lay. I'm getting ten eggs a day out of 16 hens right now. The laying has slowed for the winter. It has been to freezing temps each night for weeks now. They'll kick back up in the spring to 14+ eggs a day. Yes, I have a ladder type roosting bars secured but leaning at an angle. The queen of the roost likes it, the others like the ledge. Is she being mean and keeping them away from her roosting bars? |
Life is like a riddle wrapped in an enigma shrouded in mystery.
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
| Found an interesting chicken feeder design on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJvqH7a78SA. Has anyone used anything like this? It looks like a pretty effective design. If you had more birds you could add more ports on the other sides of the container. |
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Spring bump!
I'm getting more chickens to add into our flock. I'll add Barnvelders and Speckled Sussex to the Barred Rocks, White Leghorns, Reds, Gold Sex Links, and Black Austrlorps that I already have. I'm hoping for hens but you know how that goes. I've kept a Black Austrlorp rooster, and he has turned out to be a great bird. I'll get a pic up later. I'm getting a dozen eggs a day out of 16 hens and a dozen eggs is bringing $3 here. They are doing a little better than paying for feed. |
Trapped by a hideous graknil, Spiff draws his trusty atomic napalm neutralizer. "Chew electric death, snarling cur!"
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I've got two americauna chicken who's giving me eggs every other day and one road island red who's give me eggs every day. I just brought home three chicks, another americauna, black australorp and silver laced wyandotte. They are between 3 weeks and 5 weeks old. |
Life is like a riddle wrapped in an enigma shrouded in mystery.
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
|
Originally Posted By JSmith88:
Getting ready to buy or build a coop this weekend. Looking for deals on Craigslist or I'm going to go ahead and build one. Just like the AR platform, do you want a custom design to your needs or do you want COTS? What are your requirements, how many chickens will you be hosting? |
Life is like a riddle wrapped in an enigma shrouded in mystery.
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
Buried Susie Derkins under the tire swing.
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Originally Posted By sterling18:
I've got two americauna chicken who's giving me eggs every other day and one road island red who's give me eggs every day. I just brought home three chicks, another americauna, black australorp and silver laced wyandotte. They are between 3 weeks and 5 weeks old. I've got a few black australorps and they are good layers. My only rooster is an australorp and he is a great one. Very friendly and he keeps a good eye out for the girls. Our tractor supply has silver laced wyandotte chicks. It was hard walking away from them. But I'm holding out for Speckled Sussex chicks. |
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Originally Posted By EightySecond:
Making a new coop inside my barn. Plan to have it completed in about a week or so. http://imageshack.us/a/img89/2043/photofeb18182726.jpg Coop? Screw that! What will you rent it to me for? 
Remember that they need tons of ventilation. Will they have outside access? |
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Originally Posted By EightySecond:
Making a new coop inside my barn. Plan to have it completed in about a week or so. http://imageshack.us/a/img89/2043/photofeb18182726.jpg What is your flooring? |
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Originally Posted By CLICKBANGBANG: Originally Posted By EightySecond: Making a new coop inside my barn. Plan to have it completed in about a week or so. http://imageshack.us/a/img89/2043/photofeb18182726.jpg Coop? Screw that! What will you rent it to me for? Remember that they need tons of ventilation. Will they have outside access? Right, they'll have windows, fans, heat, etc. and a door to let them out into the run. You may remember my other coop pics earlier in this thread, I know a little about chickens.  |
It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.
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Originally Posted By kallnojoy: It's concrete but will obviously be covered in pine shavings before they move in.Originally Posted By EightySecond: Making a new coop inside my barn. Plan to have it completed in about a week or so. http://imageshack.us/a/img89/2043/photofeb18182726.jpg What is your flooring? |
It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.
- Robert E. Lee -
- Robert E. Lee -
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Originally Posted By CLICKBANGBANG:
Originally Posted By sterling18:
I've got two americauna chicken who's giving me eggs every other day and one road island red who's give me eggs every day. I just brought home three chicks, another americauna, black australorp and silver laced wyandotte. They are between 3 weeks and 5 weeks old. I've got a few black australorps and they are good layers. My only rooster is an australorp and he is a great one. Very friendly and he keeps a good eye out for the girls. Our tractor supply has silver laced wyandotte chicks. It was hard walking away from them. But I'm holding out for Speckled Sussex chicks. I would love a Speckled Sussex chick. Very pretty looking bird. |
Life is like a riddle wrapped in an enigma shrouded in mystery.
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
|
Originally Posted By EightySecond:
Originally Posted By kallnojoy:
It's concrete but will obviously be covered in pine shavings before they move in.
Originally Posted By EightySecond:
Making a new coop inside my barn. Plan to have it completed in about a week or so. http://imageshack.us/a/img89/2043/photofeb18182726.jpg What is your flooring? Ah, ok. From the picture it almost looked like ply... was trying to make sense of that! I have a 40x60 barn same construction as yours (though dirt floor) and toyed with the idea of converting one of the unused horse stalls to a coop. Opted to go with a "tractor style" moveable coop instead (for now at least), but interested in how it works out for you. |
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Originally Posted By kallnojoy: Originally Posted By EightySecond: Originally Posted By kallnojoy: It's concrete but will obviously be covered in pine shavings before they move in.Originally Posted By EightySecond: Making a new coop inside my barn. Plan to have it completed in about a week or so. http://imageshack.us/a/img89/2043/photofeb18182726.jpg What is your flooring? Ah, ok. From the picture it almost looked like ply... was trying to make sense of that! I have a 40x60 barn same construction as yours (though dirt floor) and toyed with the idea of converting one of the unused horse stalls to a coop. Opted to go with a "tractor style" moveable coop instead (for now at least), but interested in how it works out for you. I hear ya, we will be running between 40 and 50 layers total so I needed to have a pretty big space. This coop is 12 X 20. |
It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.
- Robert E. Lee -
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That is going to be quite the coop!
Might be a non-issue depending on how clean you keep/want the rest of the barn, but any concern with the amount of dust/dander they will generate... I would expect it to be pretty significant. |
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Originally Posted By kallnojoy: That is going to be quite the coop! Might be a non-issue depending on how clean you keep/want the rest of the barn, but any concern with the amount of dust/dander they will generate... I would expect it to be pretty significant. Thanks! The barn is a pretty dusty place to begin with, it's one of those working barns where you need a shower after you go out to look for something in it. |
It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.
- Robert E. Lee -
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There are some updated pics of my coop progress in the build thread here if anyone is interested. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1443730_I_m_Making_a_Chicken_Coop_Inside_My_Barn___TONS_OF_PICS___Updated_2_27.html |
It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.
- Robert E. Lee -
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| Awesome coop! I hope to make one very similar one day. Only thing I would ask, is do you have a plan for cleaning? Looks like it may be difficult.... |
[somecallmeTim@localhost ~]$ sudo apt-get install holy-hand-grenade --thenumberofthycountingshallbethree
[somecallmeTim@localhost ~]$ killall evil_rabbit
[somecallmeTim@localhost ~]$ killall evil_rabbit
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Originally Posted By Dragynn: Awesome coop! I hope to make one very similar one day. Only thing I would ask, is do you have a plan for cleaning? Looks like it may be difficult.... Thanks man, out the door into a front-end loader and then to the garden. |
It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.
- Robert E. Lee -
- Robert E. Lee -
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my set up,,almost finished will be cutting in nest box doors,,entry door for the birds and a second door for cleaning etc. will make removable nest boxes and add roost bars as well. lighting we have a light outside that just gives enough light to that area to see. just a shelter more or less..im just debating if i should mesh in the whole thing or let it ride if we clip the birds wings. no birds yet,,not till the house is ready. size is 4ft wide,4ft high and 8ft long. open on the one 4ft side and half the roof(gets hot here)    give ya an idea ofthe pen...welded wire with cinder block base,,chain link swing gates(plane to weld wire and mesh the gaps,  any input is welcome im nervous about all this lmao. |
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We are nearing spring. So I'm bumping this thread.
I've got 18 chicks in the brood box now that we're hatched out of my incubator. They'll be replacing some of my older birds and birds that were killed off by preditors. The feed stores don't get theirs in till end of March or April. I wanted a good jump on those. |
Trapped by a hideous graknil, Spiff draws his trusty atomic napalm neutralizer. "Chew electric death, snarling cur!"
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Originally Posted By protus:
my set up,,almost finished will be cutting in nest box doors,,entry door for the birds and a second door for cleaning etc. will make removable nest boxes and add roost bars as well. lighting we have a light outside that just gives enough light to that area to see. just a shelter more or less..im just debating if i should mesh in the whole thing or let it ride if we clip the birds wings. no birds yet,,not till the house is ready. size is 4ft wide,4ft high and 8ft long. open on the one 4ft side and half the roof(gets hot here) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/protus/chick2013010_zpsc882ba8b.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/protus/chick2013011_zps315d8b5b.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/protus/chick2013012_zps72efd576.jpg give ya an idea ofthe pen...welded wire with cinder block base,,chain link swing gates(plane to weld wire and mesh the gaps, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/protus/chick2013014_zps1e05cd57.jpg any input is welcome im nervous about all this lmao. Use plastic netting between the fence and roof and take care of any point that a predator can get in. Your plan looks alot better than some of the fancier ones here. Ventilation is very important. |
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