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Stop trying to steal his babies, you monster! Thanks, everyone! We have some nesting boxes set up outside the existing coop. The girls switch between. When we were working on the coop yesterday, my husband told me that he thought Rose was inside the coop laying. I was standing by it when I heard a soft "thunk" (the bottom tray is sheet metal). Yep! That was the sound of an egg.  We're going to build the nesting boxes into the wall of the coop. I also need to think about how we'll build roosts for them, as well. The roof is tall, so we can go pretty high vertically. Any suggestions on how best to arrange them? Is there a "too high?" E: adding some coop pictures A comparison - old coop on the right  Side view - you can see the roof support 
Lynza fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Jul 29, 2013 |
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Jul 29, 2013 17:21
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I had a mille fleur roost in barn rafters - no such thing as too high, as long as there are some low options. What I've found is a lot of chickens will take "steps" from one height to another, to try to get as high as they can.
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Jul 29, 2013 19:29
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unprofessional posted:I had a mille fleur roost in barn rafters - no such thing as too high, as long as there are some low options. What I've found is a lot of chickens will take "steps" from one height to another, to try to get as high as they can. This is super helpful, thanks. Do you think we need steps, or if we just space them appropriately will they be able to hop up as high as they want to go? I'd love it if we didn't have to take up a lot of space for ladders if we don't need to. Our girls currently love to roost on the roof of their coop. They all pile up there at night, so we go out when it's darkish and put them all "to bed" inside the coop. I think once they have high spots to roost in they'll stop staying out at night so much. Now we have to figure out windows.
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Jul 29, 2013 19:53
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Lynza posted:This is super helpful, thanks. Do you think we need steps, or if we just space them appropriately will they be able to hop up as high as they want to go? I'd love it if we didn't have to take up a lot of space for ladders if we don't need to. Depends on the breeds you will have now and in the future. I never have roosts any higher than 2-3 feet off the ground, and the chickens have a little ladder they can walk up to the roosts. I also make my roosts a single level of 4-5 roosts spaced about 6 inches apart (so it looks kinda like a slat bench) and make the roosts out of 2x2's, sanded slightly and edges rounded to eliminate splinters and painful edges that may cause foot problems. The single level of roosts eliminates any fighting over the 'high' roost and encourages cuddling on cold winter nights. This is so as the chickens get older or get an injury and have trouble flying/jumping up to a roost they can still roost. It also allows for youngsters to be able to roost easily. I've never had my chickens refuse to use the roosts and they all go right to them at night. Just make YOUR roosts are the BEST place to roost.  A nice layer of straw or hay on the coop floor where they jump down + low roosts also make it FAR less likely that big hens and roos will injure their footpads jumping down off the roost and developing Bumblefoot. Especially the big fatass roos I love so much.  Of course, the BEST roost of all for young chicks is a big, soft rooboy.  Good boy, Jack. 
Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Jul 29, 2013 |
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Jul 29, 2013 23:05
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Speaking of nests, one time we realized we were coming up short on eggs, and realized that the little stinkers were 'laying away' and had a hidden nest somewhere. Usually it's the bantams that start this nonsense, the clever little buttheads. Well we looked and looked, and couldn't find the damned thing. Then one day it got loaded with eggs and big enough for us to find.  It's a nest about a foot off the ground, suspended in the branches of a large sage plant in my herb garden.  They got points for creativity on that one.
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Jul 29, 2013 23:22
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It's winter here! Which means it is chicken moulting season. I also realised I had taken no chicken pictures in quite a while (mostly to do with study and human dramas), so have a small selection of my half a gigabyte of chicken photos from the other day. It started to rain halfway through the shoot so the later pictures are taken inside their pen. Here is Alecto, by the pony buckets, having a stare.  Here is Alecto showing me her moulty neck. Her new neck feathers are coming in with a slightly different pattern of red/gold and black. The kids who live behind us got a lesson on chickens moulting earlier in the week and also got to pat her feet.  This is their favourite summer dustbath crater. As it's filled with rain and has two chickens for size comparison, you can see how large they've managed to make it. It's near the gate to the pony's pen and he has learnt where it is and not to step in it, as have his visitors.  The local happyjacks like to use this dustbathing spot, as does Alecto when she's torn between waiting for Kali to finish laying an egg and wanting to have a dustbath. She doesn't sit on the eggs for hours any more but she does still like to sit on them for a couple of minutes after they've been laid, as well as making her egg-guarding squawks whenever Kali is sitting on the nest. The jug there is filled with water and used to prop their door open during heavy wind. Currently Kali and Alecto are heading back inside as it has just started to rain again, as you can probably see in the puddle.  A beautiful Kali!  An alert Kali's neck. The red on her neck has, since her moult (she started a little earlier than Alecto and didn't moult as heavily) intensified in colour somewhat and spread beyond the fairly uniform triangular shape it took before. She also didn't have as many of the red-shafted black feathers before her moult (these make up most of Alecto's chest).  Our neighbour who keeps the butch red hens and tiny old English game bantams looked after our two chickens for a few days while we were away in Brisbane for family drama and they were apparently very well behaved. They didn't get to free range (our neighbour was worried that she might forget to lock them up at night and they'd get eaten by local cats or foxes) but they got giant piles of grass clippings and even more garden vegetables than usual. The neighbours who own/ed half a dozen of Kali and Alecto's relatives (as well as two retired working Border Collies) have been throwing tomatoes and unpoisoned snails over the fence for them. These neighbours also own the town's famed flock of homing pigeons and I am proud to say that our chickens are no longer scared of the pigeons' ominous cooing. As a bonus, have a picture of my father's big white dog and the remains of the pony's pet willy wagtail's dinner.  
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Jul 30, 2013 02:42
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That dog is lovely  I was out helping my husband with the coop. I was leaning on it (it's about 3 feet above the ground) and Dahlia was having none of that. She got up to help.  And Rose followed right behind. 
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Jul 30, 2013 03:03
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All projects MUST, by law, be under direct chicken supervision and assistance at all times.
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Jul 30, 2013 06:02
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So, I'm stumped. One of my friends emailed me and reports their chicken is trembling and shaking like a "person with Parkinson's" can't perch and won't eat, no other symptoms at all (they are new to chickens so they could be missing something I guess). They did lose a pullet yesterday, did not notice any symptoms at all. Birds are 6 months old. All I can think of is some sort of toxin. Any suggestions?
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Jul 30, 2013 07:12
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Sounds like Avian Encephalomyelitis. There's not much you can do to treat AE, you just have to wait it out.
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Jul 30, 2013 07:33
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Dammit. I think you're right. I thought of that at first but everywhere mentions the three week old thing and I misread that as max age that a bird can be infected. Edit: seems to be conflicting information on what symptoms are notes in birds over three weeks of age. Nevhix fucked around with this message at 07:45 on Jul 30, 2013 |
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Jul 30, 2013 07:42
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Okay so two of my hens just started squatting for the first time. One of our older Marans sat down in front of me with her butt in the air and I gave her a good hard scratch. The younger Australorp saw this and came zooming over, slid to a stop in front of me butt up demanding to be "serviced" as well. Afterwards two puffy fluffed up hens were strutting around bawking up a storm. I feel so used Also the two older Marans have been in the nest boxes making all kinds of noise and pretending to lay eggs. Hopefully I get some soon! Hahahhahahhahaha I went outside because suddenly there was a giant ruckus.  First egg laid by all the hens was..... prissy! The sick one. It's small, but it is definitely an egg! Errant Gin Monks fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Jul 30, 2013 |
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Jul 30, 2013 18:06
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Welp, Waffle's beard is gone again. I think I'm gonna have to buy blue kote to make Godzilla leave her beard alone.
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Jul 30, 2013 21:44
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Errant Gin Monks posted:Okay so two of my hens just started squatting for the first time. One of our older Marans sat down in front of me with her butt in the air and I gave her a good hard scratch. The younger Australorp saw this and came zooming over, slid to a stop in front of me butt up demanding to be "serviced" as well. Afterwards two puffy fluffed up hens were strutting around bawking up a storm. You love it. If you didn't want it, you wouldn't dress like that. I remember when the girls started doing that to my husband. He didn't grasp all of the ... implications at first.Congrats on the first egg! Hey, at least yours was hard. Two of ours were soft.
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Jul 30, 2013 22:08
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Lynza posted:You love it. If you didn't want it, you wouldn't dress like that. Waffle really takes it rather far. Whenever one of us try to catch her, after running away she stops and opens her wings for us to sit on her, and both my nieces usually say something like: "no waffle stop doing that I just wanna grab you and love you don't do that it feels wrong  "
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Jul 30, 2013 22:13
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Chido posted:Waffle really takes it rather far. Whenever one of us try to catch her, after running away she stops and opens her wings for us to sit on her, and both my nieces usually say something like: "no waffle stop doing that I just wanna grab you and love you don't do that it feels wrong Chiko: VS needs to bring a cock down to you, asap! LOL. Your poor "unloved" hens. Errant Gin Monks: that is the tiniest, most precious chicken egg I have ever seen!
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Jul 30, 2013 22:38
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Lincoln tried to cluck today. Still sounded pathetic. I anticipate the first egg sometime in late August-September. She was hatched around April 29/30 so that makes her 13 weeks. Audrey and Bubbles (finally, the black Australorp has a name!) are two weeks younger but are breeds that aren't specifically made to be egg machines like sex links are so I don't anticipate them to start laying until a little later. I'm going to blow out the first egg and keep it. I finally got my coop pieces over to the house, so tomorrow will be painting everything again, and starting to assemble it so my girls can get out of the doghouse they live in. I love these dumb birds.
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Jul 30, 2013 23:23
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Inveigle posted:Errant Gin Monks: that is the tiniest, most precious chicken egg I have ever seen! it really is super tiny. Half the size of a store bought egg. The look on her face when she laid it was hysterical. I went and opened the Eggbox and she was still in it and would look at the egg, then look at me and back to the egg over and over like "what the hell is that?!?!"
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Jul 31, 2013 01:53
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Errant Gin Monks posted:it really is super tiny. Half the size of a store bought egg. The look on her face when she laid it was hysterical. I went and opened the Eggbox and she was still in it and would look at the egg, then look at me and back to the egg over and over like "what the hell is that?!?!" You should put a pin hole in that egg, drain it and rinse it out and keep it. It's cute and funny. I've seen some nice, framed shadow boxes that people have made, featuring special eggs.
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Jul 31, 2013 01:55
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We went to one of the local county fairs and walked through the chicken cages, and one of the hens had laid an egg in her cage. She seemed very proud of it and was burbling at us I snapped a photo, but my phone has decided not to send it and I can't find my data cable. I'll post it later!
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Jul 31, 2013 02:53
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RazorBunny posted:We went to one of the local county fairs and walked through the chicken cages, and one of the hens had laid an egg in her cage. She seemed very proud of it and was burbling at us I hope you praised that hen and told her what a lovely egg she laid. Yes! Please post the photo! VVV Haha! That's great! She looks quite smug about her accomplishment! Nice looking hen, too.
Inveigle fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Jul 31, 2013 |
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Jul 31, 2013 03:24
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Here you go! She's just so proud.
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Jul 31, 2013 04:00
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That photo is great. I got another little egg today, just slightly bigger than the first one. These pullet eggs are hysterical.
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Jul 31, 2013 23:59
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Errant Gin Monks posted:That photo is great. I still say you need to pinhole all these little eggs and then make a shadow box, showing the eggs getting bigger and bigger.
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Aug 1, 2013 00:43
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 Why couldn't you have had this amazing idea sooner? Like, say, when MY chickens were first laying? I did break open that monster egg we had - it was a double-yolker. We also had one of the tiny white eggs with a double yolk. We're putting the roof boards on the coop this week, so I think our coop will be done by this weekend, if our renter drama doesn't require too much time.
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Aug 1, 2013 01:55
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Lynza posted:
Get a few new chicks and the egg laying process starts anew! 
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Aug 1, 2013 02:07
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Inveigle posted:Get a few new chicks and the egg laying process starts anew! Inveigle really IS evil incarnate. The 'chicken' version.
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Aug 1, 2013 07:55
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Early hatch pullets are starting to lay! Time to turn the incubators back on, Dorkings and Campines and Langshans oh my!
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Aug 1, 2013 08:32
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Think I'm going to try to get a group of Saipans and develop the breed.
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Aug 1, 2013 12:12
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Question: There's a lady locally who breeds Ameraucanas. She has offered to give me a roo, which I am thrilled about. So, how would I, if I wanted to, keep my Ameraucanas "pure" as it were? Will it take a lot of separation and effort, or is it relatively easy, even if I have different breeds? For reference, I have two golden sexlinks, a blue Andalusian, and a Faverolles. Also two Ameraucana youngsters.
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Aug 1, 2013 16:54
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Separate cage for the ameraucanas, don't let them freerange when the other birds are out. It's the only way to be sure.
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Aug 1, 2013 17:18
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Lynza posted:Question: If he is your only roo and you can ID the Americaunas eggs from your two girls, they should all be able to be together. Otherwise it's a seperate pen for the three Americaunas gang.
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Aug 1, 2013 18:25
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I'm thinking we're pretty good at IDing whose egg is whose. I may be wrong, of course. But maybe I'll give it a shot. The other option is a Faverolles rooster, if I can find one. I love how they look.
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Aug 1, 2013 19:16
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Americauanas are my favorite. I need so many more bearded ladies in my life. Anyone local want to supply me with hatching eggs in trade for chicks?
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Aug 1, 2013 23:50
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Pardalis - unless you need them immediately, I'd be happy to do it. Otherwise, I can PM you the lady's information who has eggs right now.
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Aug 2, 2013 06:12
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Lynza posted:I'm thinking we're pretty good at IDing whose egg is whose. I may be wrong, of course. But maybe I'll give it a shot. The other option is a Faverolles rooster, if I can find one. I love how they look. Shouldn't that be really easy since they are the only ones laying blue/green eggs?
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Aug 2, 2013 18:15
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QuailCam2.0 is up and running! Nine babies out of their eggs so far, 100 to go. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/quailcam2-0 Lynza, I would love to get eggs from you whenever you are ready, no rush.
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Aug 2, 2013 21:30
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Man, fall asleep early and pay the price. One Yokohama and Polka dead. Only one muscovy left, too, but can't do much about that, since they're basically feral. Chicken the Duck thrives, though! Totally getting some saipans. Gotta find the right breeder, though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XhVzviHgMI
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Aug 2, 2013 21:54
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English Comp class decided that we had to do a visual argument for our last assignment. So. Well. This happened. (I'm terrible with photoshop.)
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Aug 2, 2013 22:01
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unprofessional posted:Man, fall asleep early and pay the price. One Yokohama and Polka dead. Only one muscovy left, too, but can't do much about that, since they're basically feral. Chicken the Duck thrives, though! Oh no! At least chicken the duck is alive. Hey hey! The wife reported that our Australorp started laying, Two chickens out of 4. The other two need to catch up. Errant Gin Monks fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Aug 2, 2013 |
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Aug 2, 2013 22:45
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