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You might want to change that plastic out for metal. That won't keep any animal that would eat a chicken out.
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Jun 27, 2011 15:00
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Alterian posted:You might want to change that plastic out for metal. That won't keep any animal that would eat a chicken out. Then why have a few people, both in this thread and elsewhere, recommended using poultry netting over chicken wire. You people need to get your stories straight. 
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Jun 27, 2011 15:03
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A flying piece of posted:Then why have a few people, both in this thread and elsewhere, recommended using poultry netting over chicken wire. You people need to get your stories straight. Did they? I don't remember seeing that. The thing people recommend (me included)is hardware mesh / hardware cloth
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Jun 27, 2011 15:21
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A flying piece of posted:Then why have a few people, both in this thread and elsewhere, recommended using poultry netting over chicken wire. You people need to get your stories straight. I think they mean to use the netting over (as in above - like a roof)to keep things from flying in, chickens from flying out.
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Jun 27, 2011 18:13
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Sorry for causing confusion. You want to put poultry netting over the *top* of the run, especially if you have a large run, to keep the chickens in and to keep smaller birds out. But for the sides of the run, and in a set up that small, even on the roof, you want to use hardware cloth.
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Jun 27, 2011 20:08
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Question for you good folks. This has never happened to me, as we've always gotten our chicks from friends who have chickens, so everything is done as nature intended. Two weeks ago my boyfriend's mother orders chickens (because the ones that were eaten weren't enough of a lesson for her). She gets 28 baby chicks waiting in the post office for her. Her son, my boyfriend, fetches them and puts them out of their little travel postal crate and into the wide open air wire enclosure. Gives them food, gives them water. Leave. We come back. Hell, the swarm trampled one little chick, and s/he's gone and drowned in the tiny dish of water. Ew. It is removed. We leave, and about 35 minutes into our driving trip else where, we get a text. It's from his sister: "Six of the chicks died." "What?" I text back," What happened?" "I don't know. I'm gonna throw them out once they stop twitching." What exactly happened here? It wasn't a drowning, like in the chick we first saw. It couldn't have been warmth issues. Why were there chick deaths ?? I ::never:: had that happen to me.
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Jun 28, 2011 22:36
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Its really hard to say, but the chick could have gotten into the water and then gotten chilled. It could have been overcrowded and gotten smothered. The chicks could also be sick, there are some illnesses that can be passed on via the egg from mother to chick. It could also be the result of trauma from the trip. It could be 'pasty butt', if you aren't already, you need to check their butts once a day to make sure that their vents aren't covered in poop.
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Jun 28, 2011 23:56
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Hey, I'm going to move this thread to Animal Farm. It is a good and healthy thread and as such will be a good addition to AF, which we are trying to open up more to non-pet animal threads (hence the name change). eta: OP doesn't have PM's, so I'll leave this here for another day before I move it. Just a heads up.
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Jun 29, 2011 13:49
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Did she have a heat lamp on the chicks or were they just outside?
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Jun 29, 2011 14:35
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Eggplant Wizard posted:Hey, I'm going to move this thread to Animal Farm. It is a good and healthy thread and as such will be a good addition to AF, which we are trying to open up more to non-pet animal threads (hence the name change). Moving & bumping!
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Jun 30, 2011 15:14
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Chickens are taking over the Animal Farm  A quick update, my broody hen gave up on the eggs a couple of days ago. I took them in and candled, and none of them were fertile. So its disappointing, but she must have somehow known that there was no development.
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Jun 30, 2011 18:51
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I'm considering trying to get a couple of laying hens when I move into my first house in a couple of weeks. As of right now, the town told me 'no livestock allowed', however I'm considering petitioning/fighting for me being able to keep 2-4 laying hens. the CITY allows people to keep laying hens, yet the town I am moving to 20 minutes away which is a lot less populated doesn't- it's stupid. So, if I happen to win my right to have a couple laying hens in my backyard..I want to know what to do in winter time? I'm in upstate NY, and our winters here are no walk in the park. Would I be able to get like a dog-heating pad to place in their coop to make sure they have a warm spot to go to? Or is that not necessary?
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Jun 30, 2011 19:16
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Greycious posted:I'm considering trying to get a couple of laying hens when I move into my first house in a couple of weeks. This has been posted in the thread already. It would be better to wait until next spring to get chickens unless you are getting full grown ones. The jury is out on heating for chickens. Some say that if it is consistently cold outside and warm in the coop, the chickens won't acclimate to the cold outside and can get sick. The one thing I read and already posted in this thread is to use a heating element meant to keep bowls of water for dogs unfrozen in the winter in the coop in a bowl of water. It won't heat up the coop extraordinarily, but it won't get bitter cold. Remember, chickens wear downy winter coats all year.
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Jun 30, 2011 19:32
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They will need some sort of shelter in winter to keep the wind & snow out. When it gets 20 degrees or below, I use a heated waterer - basically a heated dog bowl that the 1 gallon waterers sit in nicely. It's so nice not to have to bang ice out of the waterers every couple hours. Under 10 degrees I use a heater coop mat (third down on right) http://www.shopthecoop.com/chickens/He.html It also comes in handy for sick or injured birds. Choose a breed with a small comb and make sure they have a roost wide enough so they can sit on their feet to keep them warm. (Roost should be flat as well - they're not big parrots....curved roosts can cause foot problems.) I don't know how often it gets below zero in NY.....maybe someone further up north can answer.....
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Jun 30, 2011 19:39
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Cool thread! Hello fellow chicken Goons!  my darling feet, it could have been that the chicks got chilled from being in a drafty area--hatcheries ship day-old chicks, and chicks that fresh need not only warmth but protection from drafts until they lose their downy fluff and feather out properly. Drafts are actually more dangerous to chickens in general than straight cold is (unless temps are mild). I've got a chicken information site here, it's aimed more at the 'chickens in the back yard for eggs & pets' & new to chickens crowd than it is at production farming or meat birds. A lot of the questions asked here in this thread are answered there, and I've got a bunch of links to other chicken resources as well: http://jackshenhouse.com/ Growing up we had a mixed flock of chickens, turkeys and ducks on our ranchette as well as a vegetable garden and small orchard, these days we have a mixed flock of chickens in our suburban backyard but are soon moving farther out into the country where we'll have room for more and possibly a few peacocks. We also do the 'Chickam' thing every year where we webstream a live video w/sound broadcast of eggs hatching and then of the chicks growing up 24/7 over the following 8 weeks (details on my site at the link above), it's fun. I'm of the opinion that everyone would be one hell of a lot healthier if everyone had a small backyard vegetable garden and kept a few hens like people did in the old days. I'm happy to see the popularity of backyard chickens growing as they make the transition from 'easily replaced dumb generic bag of meat' to 'valued pet'. Chickens have a TON of individual personality and they are generally clever, friendly, curious and entertaining as Hell to watch. This surprises most people who never realize that pet chickens can be just like having a pet dog or cat. City officials these days need to be educated on the difference between 'livestock' and 'pet' when it comes to chickens and city codes modified to fit--they fear you are going to start a full-scale battery hen operation in your back yard or something. I'm happy to answer any chicken questions! 
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Jun 30, 2011 19:51
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Eggplant Wizard posted:Hey, I'm going to move this thread to Animal Farm. It is a good and healthy thread and as such will be a good addition to AF, which we are trying to open up more to non-pet animal threads (hence the name change).  But.. why, though? We already had a chicken keeping thread. And a chicken pictures thread. And bird crazies. I'm not bitching or anything, I'm just kinda confused.Question about ordering chicks in the mail. D'you think it's better to get them from the closest facility possible? Or does it really matter if the chicks are overnighted to you anyway?
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Jun 30, 2011 22:22
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Velvet Sparrow posted:We also do the 'Chickam' thing every year where we webstream a live video w/sound broadcast of eggs hatching and then of the chicks growing up 24/7 over the following 8 weeks (details on my site at the link above), it's fun. And also the gooniest chicks ever .
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Jul 1, 2011 01:49
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:Question about ordering chicks in the mail. D'you think it's better to get them from the closest facility possible? Or does it really matter if the chicks are overnighted to you anyway? In theory chicks will get to you faster if you order them from the closest hatchery. In practice, I think it matters more how close you are to a major shipping hub. I live in Phoenix, and have gotten chicks from Meyer, in Ohio, in 2 days. As a side note, I highly recommend Meyer Hatchery, healthy chicks and for a little bit extra they put Gro-gel in the box with the chicks, so they stay hydrated and fed.
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Jul 1, 2011 06:10
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Chicken thread! I maintained a backyard flock for years at my old house. I moved last year though, and my situation is no longer ideal for keeping chickens  I also have a husky with a strong prey drive towards birds, and at my last house it wasn't an issue; the chicken coop was far away from the fenced in portion of the yard for my husky. However, at my new house, there's only a single contiguous fenced perimeter around the house, so there's no safe way I can think of having coop + run and also keeping them safe from my dog.I hope to be able to keep them again in the future! In the meantime, I'll contribute to the thread with a few pics of my last flock! I mainly have a soft spot for Silkies  Silkies are a "fancy"/show breed. They're bantams, black-fleshed, have an extra toe, blue earlobes, vaulted skulls (no skullcap, giving them their crest), and their feathers lack barbs or quills, and as such they feel like very soft cats. They're pretty much only for the purpose of being pets. They're remarkably docile, and some of the broodiest chickens; silkie ROOSTERS will brood on occasion! I kept quite a few breeds though, these were just the pictures I could find right now.Note: I know chicken wire is bad now, but that pen was constructed years ago, and later reinforced once I knew better Partridge, white silkies  Splash silkie  White silkie  Barred Rock rooster joins the mix!    Also had a few Barred Rock roosters. (muddy comb!)  
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Jul 1, 2011 14:06
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What the hell are my hens doing? So I've had them now for a couple weeks and I have not seen this yet. We moved the coop/run to fresh ground last night after they went into the coop and it also rained. This morning I go outside to see the two larger hens in the corner of the run rolling around and clawing at the ground while they're on their sides. Are they cleaning themselves on the wet ground (and mud since they're clawing)? Are they trying to find worms?
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Jul 3, 2011 14:20
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e: ^^^^ omg Pretentious Owl those silky chicks are ADORABLE. Our next batch of chicks will definitely have some Crossposted from Chicken Sit-In since this thread seems to be more active. We have 5 chickens and 5 chicks. The chicks are maybe 3 months old? My question is, how do I integrate these chicks in with the flock? They were being kept in a large dog crate, and we've just now put them in a smaller pen inside the coop. Also, when we let the chickens free-range, we let the chicks have the run of the coop. Should we wait til they're the same size as the chickens before we integrate? Right now, if we let the chicks out while the chickens are in the pen, the chickens peck the chicks on the back and chase them around. It looks like normal pecking order behavior to me, but I love my chickies and I want to make sure I'm not gonna go out their one day to a bunch of dead chicks! I'm particularly concerned about Julius, my bantam. He's so little! And now for pictures, because chickens are cute : The chick's corner of the coop  The coop  More of the coop  One of the ladies laying! I don't know what kind of chicken she is.  The rest of the ladies. Sorry for such a terrible pic. There's 3 Americanas and 1 Buff Orpington.  The chicks! Julius is the bantam in the top left. He's the only one that was named. Then there's two Buff Orpingtons and 2 Plymouth Rocks.  Bonus: Goats! That space they're sticking their heads through isn't normally there, but we took the pen that was blocking it to use for the chicks. The black girl is Freelick and the brown boy is Rampop. He's turning into a little poo poo. We really need to get his balls cut.
awesomekittens fucked around with this message at 19:58 on Jul 3, 2011 |
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Jul 3, 2011 19:56
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You want to wait until the chicks are more or less the same size as the adults, but it also helps integration to do what you're doing and let them interact when the chicks are smaller, as long as they are big enough to fight back, and have enough space to get away.
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Jul 4, 2011 05:13
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Helps to make sure that there are places the smaller chicks can get to that the bigger ones cannot get to them in. Little hidey holes as it were. Lean and secure something leaning against the fence that they can get behind or in, or even a box of sorts. We had great success using small doghouses...the littler ones could get in and the big ones couldn't. Gives them a place to go when feeling threatened, and the big ones can't get them. As they get bigger and can hold their own, it won't be as needed. Least that is how we always did it.
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Jul 5, 2011 00:33
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My young rooster died... I have no idea what happened. There's no marks on him, he didn't/doesn't appear to be sickly.
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Jul 5, 2011 12:10
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A flying piece of posted:My young rooster died... I have no idea what happened. There's no marks on him, he didn't/doesn't appear to be sickly. Sometimes they drop dead I have had that happen once or twice...my vet said nothing was really wrong, he suspected heart attack.If you had heavy firworks/noise that might contribute too. If they have never heard it before he might literally have been scared to death. It's a possibility I am sorry for your loss...it's always hard when one dies. At least he was in a good place and had a good life with you while he was alive.
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Jul 5, 2011 13:25
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Amethyste posted:
Hah, I live right in a nexus of like 4 firework shows within a 5 mile radius, one of which is really close... and I think the neighbors were lighting off fireworks last night. I didn't even think about that.
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Jul 5, 2011 13:46
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A flying piece of posted:What the hell are my hens doing? They are dusting. Theyu kick up dirt under their feathers which cools them down and also dislodges any poultry lice that may be on them when they shake all the dirt out. Pretty scary when you first see it - looks like some kind of seizure doesn't it?
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Jul 5, 2011 14:02
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So another question... how often do you people clean the chicken areas? I just read a few forum posts, web pages and/or blogs elsewhere and I see people only changing the bedding every couple months. I changed the bedding in my small coop last week and it already looks gross. The whole coop/run was moved to a new patch of grass on Friday and is already looking equally gross. At what point does all the poo become unhealthy? I was planning to move the run to a new patch once a week, but the original patch from a couple weeks ago hasn't really started growing back in yet. Edit: Nevermind.. I read about the whole 'deep litter' thing. A flying piece of fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Jul 5, 2011 |
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Jul 5, 2011 15:35
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I don't do deep litter, but if you have a big enough coop, you can just take out the dirtiest bedding and then put in fresh once or twice a week, although every 2 or 3 months you have to clear out everything and do a through cleaning.
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Jul 5, 2011 22:08
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I wasn't sure which chicken thread to post in but here are some pictures of my little dinosaurs.   I would be scared of a chicken that weighed as much as a grown man.
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Jul 10, 2011 18:51
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We have like 3 or four different chicken threads going, it's a bit silly. Your birds are so pretty though!
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Jul 11, 2011 00:34
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My sister has been using my camera so much lately that I feel I need to ask for permission to borrow my camera  . Roostroyer is so big and fluffy now!
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Jul 11, 2011 01:05
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Chido posted:My sister has been using my camera so much lately that I feel I need to ask for permission to borrow my camera Has he been behaving himself around Rusty?
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Jul 11, 2011 01:28
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He stills pecks her at dusk when getting inside the coop, but it's much better now .
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Jul 11, 2011 01:33
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How do you guys feel about black australorps for a beginner?
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Jul 11, 2011 03:15
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http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/Australorp-B14.aspx According to that site the australorp is a docile breed, so I'd say go for it, but only if you get a rooster as fat and fluffy as the one in the first picture!
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Jul 11, 2011 16:49
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Chido posted:He stills pecks her at dusk when getting inside the coop, but it's much better now That's good. I was a bit worried. ...and I fully admit that I am a dork.
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Jul 11, 2011 20:25
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I raised 3 chicks from getting them at about 2-3 days old up until they were laying and it was an awesome experience. Unfortunately I had to move so I ended up giving them away on craigslist last week, though I believe they've got a good home now. It was pretty great; I learned a lot and it was fascinating watching them grow, plus extremely rewarding once I was getting daily eggs and had something to show for all of my work. It's opened my eyes a bit and I know that I'll definitely be getting more chickens in the future once I've got a long-term living arrangement with a place to keep them. Not only that but it motivates me to start a garden and anything else that will give me fresh food from home.
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Jul 11, 2011 20:48
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I just came back from the vet. Rusty's infection has pretty much cleared, only one bacteria was somewhat resistant to the treatment the vet gave me to start treating Rusty while the lab results came back. I was given today the new med, and that's it . Also in the two weeks in between the vet visits Rusty went from about 520grams to 700gm. That's a lot of weight gain ! Edit: a good example of chickens dust bathing 
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Jul 11, 2011 21:12
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:How do you guys feel about black australorps for a beginner? My Oprah and Beaker are the best birds Big happy girls with gorgeous black feathers that shine greenish in the sun, and inquisitive as all get out. They are very sweet, and if you hand raise them they are extremely friendly. For first birds, I highly recommend, Australorpes, Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, and Plymouths. All of them I have hand raised and had very lovey birds who even at older ages still loved to sit on my lap and get cuddled.
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Jul 11, 2011 22:35
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