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I'll admit, I just don't lock mine in at night now that they all know where to sleep. I prefer that they get a bit more ventilation from the open door and the extra light. There's no predator issues here and when I did lock them in at night, they instantly stopped laying for 2 months. Automatic doors are expensive, $200 is about what I'd expect. https://www.hensafe.net/ These are the ones that were recommended for my coop, at Ł140-Ł170 depending on shipping.
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Feb 20, 2022 10:27
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PerniciousKnid posted:As long as I'm here I might as well ask how people keep water from freezing. I used an electric heated dog bowl until I found one like this at the local farm supply, but any search for 'heated chicken waterer' will find others. API Heated Chicken or Bird Waterer Heated Poultry Waterer, 3 Gallon (Item No. HPW33) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078XNH249/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_QPT06804SGSTND3PQHAP
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Feb 20, 2022 12:58
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Nettle Soup posted:There's no predator issues here and when I did lock them in at night, they instantly stopped laying for 2 months. Must be nice! I'm in suburbs but next to woods so there's a lot going on here. I currently have a groundhog and an opossum with dens along my creek.
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Feb 20, 2022 15:38
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Yeah, if I was in the country it would be different, but my garden is... Basically in the middle of a block? For a fox or something to get in it would have to cross roads and then squeeze between the houses and then under back gates and through fences.
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Feb 20, 2022 15:52
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I use one of these to keep water from icing: https://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Chicken-Supplies/Perfect-Bucket-Heater-De-Icer-p2402.aspx It will keep the 2 gallon nipple waterer thawed down to below zero, but it will only keep the 5 gallon bucket thawed into the 20s. I got it because its only 80 watts and I run that and a heating panel (on a thermal plug that only goes on when the coop is under 35) off of a 200 foot extension cord, so I can't have high draw things. Also, an automatic door with a solar charger and a dawn/dusk open/close is life changing. Well worth the $200 to not have to worry about it.
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Feb 20, 2022 16:55
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My coop is inside of a run with ˝” hardware cloth around the perimeter and buried in. I don’t close the girls in unless it is freezing outside. No mice show up at all. No wild birds get to their food. This is why you see this sort of setup recommended on chicken care sites. They also have a roof. They are spoiled.
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Feb 21, 2022 05:15
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I’m more of the “give me liberty, or give me death!” kind of chicken keeper. I know mine face a lot more danger by free ranging but I prefer them to make their own choices as much as possible. Obviously I have the space and zoning that allows for all that and not everyone does. I’d be interested to know what you all think about that question. If you had the space and opportunity to free range, with some danger of predators and disease, would you keep your chickens confined or free range them?
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Feb 21, 2022 12:59
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I do free range them, but only when we are home with them. Have to put the dogs away, etc.
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Feb 21, 2022 14:18
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Joburg posted:I’d be interested to know what you all think about that question. If you had the space and opportunity to free range, with some danger of predators and disease, would you keep your chickens confined or free range them? We did let our ducks free range until the fall, when I walked out to find a coyote stalking them. We were all at home, just not in the yard. Since then they have a run they remain in and only go outside if we are out there with them. This hasn't been an issue as the snow is mostly too deep for them to waddle about. Come spring we'll definitely get them outside, just not unattended. I border a rather large national forest so I've got everything from grey wolves to fox to coyote to raptors.
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Feb 21, 2022 14:24
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We also don’t have any large predators in the yard because we have a full privacy fence, though I still watch for hawks and caught one once
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Feb 21, 2022 16:15
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I'd be more willing to free range ours if we had a rooster. Our old house didn't have predator issues so they had access to the whole backyard.
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Feb 21, 2022 16:29
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PerniciousKnid posted:As long as I'm here I might as well ask how people keep water from freezing. Heated birdbath. Works great as a chicken water bowl as well. Nettle Soup posted:Yeah, if I was in the country it would be different, but my garden is... Basically in the middle of a block? For a fox or something to get in it would have to cross roads and then squeeze between the houses and then under back gates and through fences. I mean, that's also the case for my backyard and that doesn't stop us from getting raccoons, foxes, owls, and hawks. And cats, although none of the local feral cats seem willing to mix it up with a chicken. Speaking of hawks, the chickens have been staying in the run (and mostly in the coop) either due to the memory of the hawk attack or due to the fact that it's been cold and snowy (and while they don't mind the cold so much they hate snow). Apparently in protest of this, the hawk landed on the backyard deck railing yesterday and just...screamed for an hour.
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Feb 21, 2022 16:40
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We let our chickens and ducks free range in the back yard, but we're lucky enough to only have raccoons as an issue, and only at night here. My partner had previously free-ranged animals on her family's farm, however, and it was just a predator buffet. When we were looking at having to move back there we were absolutely going to have to build the birds a freestanding run for their safety. For me then, it was a matter of square footage and individual space. I wanted an absolute minimum of 10sqft. per bird ('certified humane' free-range standards call for something shocking like 2sqft/bird) as well as enough space that any bird can get away from any/every other bird to be alone if they're getting hassled.
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Feb 21, 2022 17:32
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It doesn't take a large predator like a coyote to take out your chickens. We lost all three of ours two years ago to a raccoon. And we have a six foot privacy fence all around. They (and possums) can scamper up and down them like they were stairs. A fox could get under it with just a few minutes worth of digging. We're in an area that is miles from any significant woods or undeveloped site, and we have all three around. And distance isn't much for animals as you might think. A few years ago a bear around here made it from the Dismal Swamp almost to the beach front. That's a dozen or so miles across neighborhoods, shopping, offices and light industrial areas.
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Feb 21, 2022 18:25
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MrUnderbridge posted:It doesn't take a large predator like a coyote to take out your chickens. We lost all three of ours two years ago to a raccoon. And we have a six foot privacy fence all around. They (and possums) can scamper up and down them like they were stairs. We just visited friends to tour their coop, and it's currently empty due to a raccoon massacre. They neglected to lock the lid of the nest box, oops.
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Feb 22, 2022 04:57
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Predator talk always makes me thankful were live where we do. Metal fences on concrete foundations on most sides, dogs in yards in two of three surrounding neighbours. Metal cage with locks on every openable door. What little predator problems we've had is magpies getting snarky during mating season and swooping, but nothing connecting. I think the friendly crows and currawongs also help with chasing away some of the predatory birds that might normally hang around. Knock on wood.
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Feb 22, 2022 12:02
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Anybody know anything about potential toxicity from using treated wood in construction? Debate online seems split about whether weatherproof wood is potentially toxic in a way that can come back to the chickens or to people eating their eggs. Also that reminds me I have a big mouse population and I'm probably gonna have to stop poisoning them, which I guess I was thinking about doing anyway.
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Feb 22, 2022 15:14
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BHB posted:We let our chickens and ducks free range in the back yard, but we're lucky enough to only have raccoons as an issue, and only at night here. I let my hens run free in the backyard during the day for a year and a half, and the only issues were raccoons and bobcats, which only occasionally stalked the coop at night. Easy to mitigate with coop design and making sure the hens were put up. Then--just last month--I came home to one hen missing, and one "exploded" under a bush. And a fat hawk thumping away. Now the hawks stalk the yard and I can never let the hens out anymore. Not sure what I can do about that.
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Feb 22, 2022 16:18
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Pioneer42 posted:I let my hens run free in the backyard during the day for a year and a half, and the only issues were raccoons and bobcats, which only occasionally stalked the coop at night. Easy to mitigate with coop design and making sure the hens were put up. Then--just last month--I came home to one hen missing, and one "exploded" under a bush. And a fat hawk thumping away. Now the hawks stalk the yard and I can never let the hens out anymore. Not sure what I can do about that. I've worried about having exactly this scenario, though we're at 3+ years with no hawk strikes here. right now what I'm doing is adding more mid-height plants around the area to break sightlines and cut down on how easy it would be to swoop down and get at them. Mostly siberian peashrubs in pots right now, so the birds can get a tasty snack sometimes too I think I do have a few factors in my favor at least: we have crows which we've seen hassle birds larger than themselves, our backyard already isn't very open with a large tree in the center of their area, and we have the muscovy drakes, which are larger than a lot of hawks and will gladly attack anything that looks like a threat
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Feb 22, 2022 17:49
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Yeah, I'm not sure what to do about it, either. It is winter, so all the trees are bare, which may have contributed to the hawks starting to notice them. I am hoping that summer will provide enough cover and that food will be plentiful enough that they leave.
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Feb 22, 2022 19:21
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Thread, I only have two hens. What do I do when one of them dies? Can I keep a single hen? Do I need to keep her inside the house if I'm going to keep her at all? Is there any point in trying to adopt out an old hen, or will she just get bullied to death even if I can find someone to take her? As much as I'd like to just have a rolling population of pullets to replenish the flock, that's not going to happen. I don't know where we're going to be in five years, literally and metaphorically.
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Feb 22, 2022 19:31
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I'd say try and rehome her. It's tough, but they're flock animals.
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Feb 23, 2022 00:40
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Imagined fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Feb 23, 2022 |
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Feb 23, 2022 00:50
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Halloween Jack posted:Thread, I only have two hens. What do I do when one of them dies? Can I keep a single hen? Do I need to keep her inside the house if I'm going to keep her at all? Is there any point in trying to adopt out an old hen, or will she just get bullied to death even if I can find someone to take her? It would be easier to integrate the 2 hens into a new flock instead of waiting until there is only one. Safety in numbers and all that. As far as adopting her/them out, it will be hard but someone might want an older hen especially if there is something special about them. (Colored eggs, raised chicks, plays the xylophone…) I would not recommend trying to keep one hen alone, no matter what you decide to do. She will go crazy or have to be a house chicken, and I don’t think chicken diapers are really good for a chicken.
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Feb 23, 2022 03:44
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Chook thread, it is with great sadness that I report the passing of a great one. We raise our own meat, including chickens and turkeys. Almost 2 years ago, we did our standard order of Cornish cross meat birds, and among the chicks there was one who just failed to grow like the others. We added her to our egg laying chickens and carried on. As did she. She somehow was not afflicted by the endless hunger that Cornish cross usually experience, and she grew up a normal hen, if enormous. She earned the name Tank, because she was so massive that she would just bulldoze through everyone to get treats, and bulldoze through any obstacles in her path when she free ranged, and bulldoze through the roots of small trees while digging for grubs... Point is, her name fit her very well. We were really concerned about her in the heat of a SC summer, but the clever girl figured out that she could bathe in the water dish and stay cool. We were never able to get a picture of her in her own personal kiddie pool, because she was our alpha hen and we Were Not Allowed to catch her in any kind of position which could compromise her authority. She was even the rooster's favorite hen, somehow, given that she outweighed him by like 5lbs. She was struggling a bit in the past month, with her comb starting to get dark through lack of oxygen. We suspect heart issues, very common in the breed. She passed at the age of 22 months, about 6x the life expectancy of a Cornish cross. She left us some eggs, so we have started them in the incubator. Hopefully we will have a daughter to remember her by. Here is Tank, gone broody and furious, because gently caress your expectations. (She was too heavy and damaged the eggs, alas.) 
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Feb 23, 2022 03:51
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Real sorry to hear that, Celestriad.  Big respects to Tank! Sounds like one hell of a good chook.
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Feb 23, 2022 12:22
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Tank kicks rear end. I'm sorry for your loss.
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Feb 23, 2022 12:30
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Tank, you were amazing. Roost in Peace.
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Feb 23, 2022 15:44
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Joburg posted:It would be easier to integrate the 2 hens into a new flock instead of waiting until there is only one. Safety in numbers and all that. As far as adopting her/them out, it will be hard but someone might want an older hen especially if there is something special about them. (Colored eggs, raised chicks, plays the xylophone…) That's how we adopted Willow last July. Her two nest sisters were taken by predators and her owners didn't want any more chickens. She was also over 8 years old at that point. So I brought her home. She's a proper garden hen, not fazed by wind or rain, so to come here with ex-battery chickens that are basically spoiled wusses was a bit of a culture shock. She's settled in nicely now and sort of made a friend with Nova, our youngest (who will be celebrating one year of retirement in a few days) and they're often seen kicking around the garden together.
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Feb 23, 2022 15:49
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Chicken update: Bella finished all her medication on Friday and is already back to her normal self. Willow saw the vet yesterday for a check up. She's started breathing heavily when sitting. We think it's her egg system that's waking up again (she laid a tiny shell-less egg last August), but as she's over 9 years old now, we want to make sure it's all okay. Vet said there's some swelling around the vent area, so antibiotics and Metacam twice a day for the next two weeks.
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Feb 23, 2022 17:25
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spookygonk posted:That's how we adopted Willow last July. But does she play the xylophone?
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Feb 23, 2022 19:24
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Joburg posted:But does she play the xylophone? Will buy her one and find out. Ordered: 
spookygonk fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Feb 23, 2022 |
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Feb 23, 2022 21:16
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Yay! Also, Celestriad, Tank sounds like she was an amazing bird.
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Feb 23, 2022 23:34
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spookygonk posted:Chicken update: Celestriad posted:Chook thread, it is with great sadness that I report the passing of a great one. 
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Feb 24, 2022 01:05
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Tonight I did a workplace virtual hangout and paint thing, and I thought of Avshalom's paintings, so I did my own version of my birds. 
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Feb 25, 2022 00:44
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That’s lovely. 
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Feb 25, 2022 00:58
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Oh gosh that is a good painting
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Feb 25, 2022 03:52
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thank you 
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Feb 25, 2022 04:26
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my cat is norris posted:Tonight I did a workplace virtual hangout and paint thing, and I thought of Avshalom's paintings, so I did my own version of my birds. that is a perfect capture of them
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Feb 25, 2022 05:34
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There is a proposed rule change to the animal welfare act (USA) with new regulations for birds and the public comment period is open. I haven’t finished reading the whole thing so I don’t have any comments to make yet but have a looksee for yourself. I hope it has some better standards for the care of those poor Frankenstein chickens and industrial egg layers… https://www.federalregister.gov/doc...mal-welfare-act
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Feb 25, 2022 15:54
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