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So I have a question here. With something like this do you treat them as run chickens or do you let them out as free range when they get older? Just curious as I love the look of this setup
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Jun 5, 2013 00:48
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| # ? May 15, 2024 05:52 |
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Here is Ernie, Our Wheaten Marans Rooster. Whenever I let him out to free range he goes over to my son's coop full of Red Star hens and does this. If you're interested, here he is crowing.
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Jun 5, 2013 02:16
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We had no less than 5 silkies go broody in the last week, it was getting a bit out of hand. They were just a giant ball of fluff crammed into a single nesting box for days. We decided to get a few chicks to let them mother. It's a bit of an experiment since I've only raised chicks in a box under a heat lamp. Anyway, the mothers decided to take the chicks on their first trip outside the coop today. It was adorable watching them teach the babies how to scratch at things!  
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Jun 5, 2013 02:28
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rangergirl posted:We had no less than 5 silkies go broody in the last week, it was getting a bit out of hand. They were just a giant ball of fluff crammed into a single nesting box for days. We decided to get a few chicks to let them mother. It's a bit of an experiment since I've only raised chicks in a box under a heat lamp. D'aww :3 Are they raising the chicks as a single group or does every hen have her own chick?
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Jun 5, 2013 04:36
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Cheers guys for the pointers, I'll let you know what happens!  rangergirl posted:We had no less than 5 silkies go broody in the last week, it was getting a bit out of hand. They were just a giant ball of fluff crammed into a single nesting box for days. We decided to get a few chicks to let them mother. It's a bit of an experiment since I've only raised chicks in a box under a heat lamp. That's really cool.
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Jun 5, 2013 12:00
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Bantaras posted:Here is Ernie, Our Wheaten Marans Rooster. Whenever I let him out to free range he goes over to my son's coop full of Red Star hens and does this. Thank you for sharing the video, he is quite the rooster!
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Jun 5, 2013 13:01
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Tiny Chalupa posted:So I have a question here. With something like this do you treat them as run chickens or do you let them out as free range when they get older? Just curious as I love the look of this setup Well that's the run so the majority of their time they spend in there. But they come out every day for about an hour towards sunset and then if we are home on the weekends they are out for longer. The run isn't huge, but it's 10ft x 6ft so the 4 of them have space to dust bathe and run around. It needs to be raked out and new sand added very so often though since they are poo poo machines, but the maintenance is pretty easy.
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Jun 5, 2013 14:27
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AcetylCoA! posted:D'aww :3 Are they raising the chicks as a single group or does every hen have her own chick? Its like a giant fuzzy commune, I haven't noticed any particular hen having certain chicks. They all sleep in a huge pile and kind of migrate around in a chicken herd right now, plus one of the silkie roosters has assigned himself as the overseer of the whole thing and watches for trouble. I know we will probably lose a few since it's not as safe and controlled as when you raise them inside and everything, I just wanted to watch the process of the mothers raising the babies...and the chicks are thrilled with their foster moms.
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Jun 6, 2013 01:54
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rangergirl posted:I know we will probably lose a few since it's not as safe and controlled as when you raise them inside and everything, I just wanted to watch the process of the mothers raising the babies...and the chicks are thrilled with their foster moms. WIth FIVE broody mamas and one rooster, I would think those babies are pretty well protected. How many chicks did you get? And what kinds?
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Jun 6, 2013 02:43
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We just got some RI Reds and Barred Rocks since our laying hens are getting up there in age and they are both good reliable layers. We actually have 3 silkie roosters but the other two arent interested in babysitting chicks.
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Jun 6, 2013 23:34
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So here is my coop my fiance made me, as a surprise for my birthday It needs painted, of course, and I will need to build a slightly......better built one at some point but I am quite quite pleased with it. It is 2.5ftx3ft so not the ideal size but we are starting with 2 to 3 chickens TOPS. My city allows a max of 6 unless we got written permission from all of neighbors. My backyard is 36x24ft and I would LIKE to have them freerange but the problem is getting up the 6ft, plus some extra meshing on top, fence needed to keep them in and the stray cats out quickly enough to not have to wait an extended period of time. My front yard is fenced but is a 4 foot fence and my dogs like to run there and I plan to keep the chickens in back, dogs in the front. So i am very tempted to grab some stakes/poles and setup a makeshift fence(read run) around the coop and than some so I can get my chicks and let the fun begin!!! A few more questions though. Should I expect a few chickens to destroy all the grass I have? I've noticed a good amount of Coops with runs interconnected seem to have bark/sand down instead of them going through the grass and moving it around constantly. Is this to preserve the grass of your yard or is there some other benefit to this way? I assume you pay slightly more in feed as they aren't foraging through the grass Anything else I absolutely SHOULD know before getting the Chickens? I do plan to start with Pullets/hens and I would like eggs relatively quickly. edit: A local guy is selling: Barred Rock Gold Sexlink Black Maran Black Sex Link Buff Wyandotte Rhode Island Red Lavender Orpington Polish Cross Black Orpington Black Australorp I don't know a drat thing about some of these breeds I kinda want Easter Eggers just because the idea of different colour eggs amuse me to no end, Orpingtons are said to have a great great personality. I want Eggs. Egg egg eggs from my chicks chickens pullets and hens. Tiny Chalupa fucked around with this message at 08:00 on Jun 7, 2013 |
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Jun 7, 2013 07:44
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I always recommend Orpingtons. They're super fluffy and easy to handle.
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Jun 7, 2013 13:21
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Question: I've got two new chicks, and 4 older pullets (3 weeks and 4 months). When and how can I introduce them to each other? Should I wait until the little girls are bigger, or can I gradually get them near each other? I don't know how chickens react to babies.
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Jun 7, 2013 17:05
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Lynza posted:Question: Perhaps wait at least a month longer before putting the littlest chicks in with the older ones? Otherwise, you might end up with little chicks being chased constantly and possibly being hurt/killed by the older ones. And if one of the babies dies, then you're stuck with one lonely chick. Can you separate the two batches of chicks with wire so that they can get used to each other? Perhaps make a smaller, wired-off section for the two littler chicks?
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Jun 7, 2013 18:07
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Well, as per my usual MO (gently caress it, let's do this!), I brought the chicks outside in their tub and set it near the big girls. They all immediately converged to see what I had. Can they eat it? After they got bored, I brought the chicks out and put them in the run part, with the girls locked into the coop/small run. They DUG it. Eatin' grass, peckin' stuff, having a good old time. Then my husband came out and let our nicest hen (Daisy) out. Daisy came over, looked at the chicks, then started eating stuff. Did not care at all. The rest of the girls filtered out, and no one seemed to care much about the new babies. So I'm thinking we'll do this every day, where we bring the little ones in and let the big girls get used to them before we throw the babies to the wolves, as it were.
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Jun 7, 2013 20:49
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Lynza posted:Question: Eeeh, three weeks is a tad young for them to have any brains about cueing in on warning 'I'm gonna peck you' signals from the older birds, be careful and supervise. Here's how I do Meet & Greets (Scroll down to the bottom) : http://jackshenhouse.com/VSChickHensBroodiesChicks.htm Also here: http://jackshenhouse.com/VSChickIntroducingNewBirdsToFlock.htm Tiny Chalupa, yes they will decimate your grass. Learn to embrace dirt.  Australorps have a rep for being awesome, quiet, calm birds. Sex Links are energetic, comical, fun and great layers, plus friendly. Wyandottes fall somewhere in the middle, I loved mine. Orpingtons have a rep for being giant fluffy cuddle monsters, but mine is a semi-antisocial freak. So don't depend fully on breed characteristics, meet the birds and spend a few minutes sitting with them and petting them. All of the breeds you listed should get along fine, I'd say go, watch them for a few minutes and pick out the ones that you like. My chicken site here has lots of info, you can email me any questions if you want: http://jackshenhouse.com/index.htm
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Jun 7, 2013 21:26
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I am actually contemplating this very issue. Short introductions with the rest of the flock have been increasing in length every day. So far momma hen is doing much to protect her babies from any aggression. My question is, once I get them inside the main coop for good, how do I keep everyone out of the babies food? I know they would rather eat that then their laying crumbles and in a flash it would be gone. The only thing I can think of is to put the chicks feeder in a box of sorts with an opening too small for bigger birds to get in. I'm not sure that would work because they won't get very far from mom at this point. I doubt they would go into an enclosure alone. They will be 4 weeks old on the 12th.
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Jun 8, 2013 13:11
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Lost some of my coolest chickens to raccoons.  Bummer, but have the coop better secured now, and good plans for coop expansion. Also, 'coon scalped one of the chickens, taking a part of its skull off, as well as part of the beak,  Hangs out by the house now and won't go near the other chickens, but eats just fine and I can't find a reason to put it down while it's doing so well. Only worry is he/she's roosting somewhere outside and won't go to the barn, so something might get it at some point anyways.Chicken the Duck says hello!  The real ducks say hello, too. 
unprofessional fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Jun 11, 2013 |
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Jun 11, 2013 16:26
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unprofessional posted:Lost some of my coolest chickens to raccoons. Dude your chicken is missing part of its skull and beak and you think its doing well? There was a chicken back in the 30s that lost its whole beak and most of its head but the brain stema nd lived for years. Thats no kind of life being a headless or half headless chicken. I know its hard but it would be easier to finish the job and eat it then it would be to let the poor thing keep going.
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Jun 11, 2013 17:07
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Yeah, scratch that, anyways. Soon as I said that I went out and saw worms in the head. I put it down.
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Jun 11, 2013 17:26
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We're getting ready to build a real (well, a bigger) coop this weekend. I've got some plans "drawn up" if by "drawn" you mean "badly rendered in Sketchup." Basically, it'll be an 8x8x5 box, with 4 wheels so we can move it occasionally. On either end, there will be 2 doors that open out (think delivery truck style), the floor will be fine hardware mesh, and there will be roosts and nesting boxes on the sides. I figure we can go up high with a lot of roosting space. On the side doors, we'll be installing food and water, but that's my husband's area of interest, so how he's going to set it up, I don't know yet. We had good luck with a float valve for an automatic dog watering bowl and any old container for the water so far. He's hooked it up to a bucket that hangs on the existing coop. The girls seem to like it a lot better than the chicken nipple setup we have inside the coop, so we'll probably go that route when we're building.
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Jun 11, 2013 18:22
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Guys where did my cute chicks go? Definitely time to get them in the coop, which thankfully only needs a door because they are seriously outgrowing the box. Run's not finished yet so they'll just be inside the coop for the week it'll take to finish that, which is probably a good thing so they get nice and used to it. Changing the box is definitely an interesting task now that they feel they have to show me every which way they can fly. One tries to flap up the open lid, the other just goes for it and ends up in the litterbox... another managed to crash land in the recycling bin. Fun fun. At least the coop has a nice big log they can go and perch up on and have a little room to stretch their wings. Lyz fucked around with this message at 18:34 on Jun 11, 2013 |
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Jun 11, 2013 18:32
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Lyz posted:
Ah, the Flying, Yorping, Sparring Baby Butthead stage. Welcome to MY world. Mine got a severe wing trimming two days ago, it cured most of the 'jumping up/flying/crashing into things I value' thing. They can still run about on the floor and flap/jump like little maniacs, but can only get about a foot off the ground.
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Jun 11, 2013 20:11
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Lyz posted:Guys where did my cute chicks go? We're teenagers! gently caress youuuuuu! 
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Jun 11, 2013 20:15
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Lyz posted:Guys where did my cute chicks go? Ahahaha the awkward teenager stage! I thought they were hysterical when mine were that age. They did the same ballistic attack thing of insane flapping and smashing into things. Now they rarely leave the ground except to go into the coop. I have a nice big ramp and they just bypass the whole thing and fly directly up into the coop from the ground, same when they leave it. They get to the first rung of the ramp and just jump down the rest of the way.
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Jun 11, 2013 20:30
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Errant Gin Monks posted:Ahahaha the awkward teenager stage! I thought they were hysterical when mine were that age. They did the same ballistic attack thing of insane flapping and smashing into things. Yeah the only exasperating part about it is when they take off, hit the floor, and immediately poo poo on the rug. One of them dive bombed right in front of my big orange wuss of a cat, that was a pretty amusing stare down. Insta cat statue until he finally lost his nerve and ran away.
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Jun 11, 2013 20:50
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Lyz posted:Yeah the only exasperating part about it is when they take off, hit the floor, and immediately poo poo on the rug. One of ours landed in our bunny run. Then got charged by the fat rabbit, freaked out, and ended up smashing Into the bookshelf and landed on a stack of papers, which promptly slide down and deposited said chicken into an open box. The whole thing was amazing and took about 15 seconds. Ended with a chicken cheeping loudly stuck in a box and a very smug looking fat rabbit in chest out pose of victory.
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Jun 11, 2013 23:26
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I thought things were going to be rather boring without Roo in the backyard, but I was wrong. Half of my flock is broody, Rusty has learned the bad habit of pecking my legs when she wants something (just like broody Turkey does), and apparently 2 extra large nest boxes are not enough to contain all the angry broods and let the others lay their eggs there  Also, Pancake developed the same scabs Roo had under his feet. *sigh* Silly fat birds.
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Jun 12, 2013 01:35
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Chido posted:I thought things were going to be rather boring without Roo in the backyard, but I was wrong. Half of my flock is broody, Rusty has learned the bad habit of pecking my legs when she wants something (just like broody Turkey does), and apparently 2 extra large nest boxes are not enough to contain all the angry broods and let the others lay their eggs there Chido, are there a lot of stones in your yard, or is Pancake having to jump down from a roost with no padding beneath? Trauma to their feet can cause Bumblefoot in heavy breeds, even something as simple as jumping off a roost which is no problem for your other birds. I know I have to be really good about keeping a thick layer of hay or straw on my coop floor so in the morning when the fat asses jump down they don't damage their foot pads, and I'm constantly raking small stones out of the run. Also, I went out earlier and found Wiggles pretty much covered in blood. Apparantly she'd been in a squabble with someone, had gotten the left side of her facial muff feathers ripped out (she looks lopsided now) and had a sore area...then proceeded to scratch her face raw with her foot and get blood freakin' everywhere--her face, her chest, her foot...we had to bring her in and wash her just to find out where it was coming from.Of course, OF COURSE, right when I'm carrying a bloody, bleeding chicken into the house my prim little mother shows up unannounced to visit. Had to tell her what was going on and have her wait while 12_String and I washed Wiggles up and checked her over. Later when we were talking she kept staring at the chicken blood on my shirt. And she already thinks I'm nuts for keeping chickens. Naturally she couldn't have shown up two hours earlier when I was baking bread and things were calm and there wasn't chicken blood slewn about, no sir! 
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Jun 12, 2013 06:48
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The houseful of various stages of baby chickens and cameras pointed at them didnt help, I take it?
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Jun 12, 2013 07:02
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Chido, are there a lot of stones in your yard, or is Pancake having to jump down from a roost with no padding beneath? Trauma to their feet can cause Bumblefoot in heavy breeds, even something as simple as jumping off a roost which is no problem for your other birds. I know I have to be really good about keeping a thick layer of hay or straw on my coop floor so in the morning when the fat asses jump down they don't damage their foot pads, and I'm constantly raking small stones out of the run. Not really, most of the yard is covered in grass, and the run doesn't have stones, it is mostly pebbles. I've never had issues with the other hens, not even Godzilla and she's rather heavy, about 6-7 pounds. Only Roo and Pancake have had issues with scabs in their feet. Chido fucked around with this message at 07:11 on Jun 12, 2013 |
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Jun 12, 2013 07:06
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SynthOrange posted:The houseful of various stages of baby chickens and cameras pointed at them didnt help, I take it? I have such a hilarious mental picture of VS's mom primly sitting on the couch (with a horrified look on her face) and looking at the dining room full of gawky teenage chicks jumping, pooping, fighting, and yorping while a broody hen in a box RAWRS at everyone to KEEP AWAY from her peeping chicks, with Wiggles running around the living room, bleeding everywhere!  (Sorry, VS.)
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Jun 12, 2013 08:22
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Inveigle posted:I have such a hilarious mental picture of VS's mom primly sitting on the couch (with a horrified look on her face) and looking at the dining room full of gawky teenage chicks jumping, pooping, fighting, and yorping while a broody hen in a box RAWRS at everyone to KEEP AWAY from her peeping chicks, with Wiggles running around the living room, bleeding everywhere! Nailed it in one. Except for the part about Wiggles continuing to bleed, we got it stopped. Wiggles DID keep walking over to my mom's feet and standing there, asking for her to pick her up. Mom pointedly pretended not to see her, I doubt she wanted HER clothes smeared with chicken blood, too. It didn't help that the kid kept asking grandma if she wanted to play with the older chicks and was very helpfully going to let them out into the living room to do so. 
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Jun 12, 2013 11:08
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Wiggles is really friendly right?
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Jun 12, 2013 13:33
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Nailed it in one. Goddamn your house sounds awesome. I'd love to let my chicks roam the house and terrorize the cats but I couldn't abide the poo poo everywhere, I'm too much of a neat freak.
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Jun 12, 2013 13:50
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Yeah, Wiggles and the rest of the d'Uccles are super friendly and sweet, it's a breed trait. d'Uccles are positively OCD about their love for people.Lyz posted:Goddamn your house sounds awesome. I'd love to let my chicks roam the house and terrorize the cats but I couldn't abide the poo poo everywhere, I'm too much of a neat freak. Well they don't roam the entire house, they are confined to the dining room which has a scrubable floor which is in turn covered with old sheets that get changed every other day. We will be turning the older chicks out into the run with the adults either today or tomorrow...Sonic is having ongoing issues with them and just isn't getting the stick out of her rear end about them. Also, it's beyond time for them to go out! SparkleBob will be heartbroken though, she's a total spoiled pet baby and wants nothing more than to lie in your lap all day. There will be much yorping, especially once night starts to fall.
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Jun 12, 2013 22:44
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Velvet Sparrow posted:SparkleBob will be heartbroken though, she's a total spoiled pet baby and wants nothing more than to lie in your lap all day. There will be much yorping, especially once night starts to fall. I bet Sparklebob would love to be a permanent house chicken. You could get her chicken diapers in all different fabulous colors. 
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Jun 12, 2013 23:09
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More Wheaten Marans chicks born yesterday! Seven hatched out of ten. This matches the seven I hatched last month!  
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Jun 13, 2013 13:45
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Little cuties! I can hardly wait to see some of you chicks all grown up and with adult feathering!
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Jun 13, 2013 15:23
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| # ? May 15, 2024 05:52 |
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Beautiful chicks! Out of curiousity, how is your incubator working, any issues?
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Jun 13, 2013 18:49
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