Chickens 101, questions about chickens, start here!!! (Page 11 of 12)
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Originally Posted By 1811guy:
We started our first flock this year - 12 birds a mix of Auracanas, Buffs, Reds, and Rocks. They are about 3 months old now and happy in their coop. I built the coop in my garage during the bad weather. I made modular panels that connect to a base so all I had to do was throw them up and screw them together outside - assembly took about 10 minutes. I will be adding external nesting boxes with access lids later this month. It has been a lot of fun so far, kids love them. Looking forward to getting the eggs. I have an ST22 with an Outback IID and a SF M600 for any predators. 
UPDATE: Egg production is in full swing now. I found that they do much better laying if I keep them in their yard until around 2:00 p.m. I will then let them free range the rest of the day until they head in the coop to roost. They didn't like it at first, but I have found chickens like routines and quickly adapt to one. Consistency is important. They have a constant supply of 16% layer feed and fresh water. They love to get their morning scratch and get agitated if it is late. We will also throw a squash and a couple tomatoes in for them to peck at. All 12 birds are big and healthy and produce about 8-10 eggs per day. My wife has been freezing them for cooking and baking (just scrable them, measure out in 1 cup portions, then add a little sugar or salt depending on what they will be used for - freeze and vacuum seal), and we have increased the number of eggs we eat, but we are still finding ourselves with more than we can use. Our neighbors have been enjoying the eggs in exchange for some of their produce. I plan on doubling the size of our layer flock next year (kids want to start selling eggs because the neighbors keep asking for them), and then we will move on to raising meat chickens in the spring and fall. Perhaps the most noticeable benefit from the chickens has been the amazing control of insects in the garden. We were grasshopper, beetle and caterpillar free all year. The free fertilizer, eggs and entertainment have been great. Here is my two year old with one of our Rocks (this one is her favorite and it will come up to her to be picked up). 
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Good stuff EightySecond!
Do you grow out your broilers in the shed the whole way? Or is that just where they go to roost? |
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Originally Posted By Bearsfan: Good stuff EightySecond! Do you grow out your broilers in the shed the whole way? Or is that just where they go to roost? We raised those 100% on organic feed, which got crazy expensive there towards the end. But if you look in the broiler pics in the back right corner of their coop there is a little door that I put in. I ran some 550 over to the main door where you can pull it from one hook down to another and the little door slides up. That allowed them to go out into the little run that is fenced in on the right of the coops. Didn't want them to run around too much to keep them tender and they aren't too quick when it comes to evading predators. Here they are today:   |
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Originally Posted By EightySecond:
Originally Posted By Bearsfan:
Good stuff EightySecond! Do you grow out your broilers in the shed the whole way? Or is that just where they go to roost? We raised those 100% on organic feed, which got crazy expensive there towards the end. But if you look in the broiler pics in the back right corner of their coop there is a little door that I put in. I ran some 550 over to the main door where you can pull it from one hook down to another and the little door slides up. That allowed them to go out into the little run that is fenced in on the right of the coops. Didn't want them to run around too much to keep them tender and they aren't too quick when it comes to evading predators. Here they are today:
http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/l576/EightySecondAbn/IMG-20111020-00175.jpg Looks good! |
Luk 6:45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
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Milling some lumber today with the chainsaw and my Alaskan Sawmill, using some felled trees to make a new coop. The sawdust became a chicken spa, as they luxuriated in my work site. Here are two of the ladies enjoying the afternoon at the spa.  |
"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good"-- George Washington
I finally got the coop together and out of the barn. It took a lot of convincing to get the wife to approve of hens but a really cute coop did the trick I am picking up six hens from a friend at work on thursday. Thought starting with some older birds would be easier this late in the year. I've got a light and heated water bowl in there. Going to pull the coop into my fenced in gardens and let them scrounge for all the leftovers.
I hooked a chain to the front of the coop and to my back blade. pulled the pin on the blade and it pivots with the coop and just pull it around. I just need to finish the ramp and hinges on the cage door. |
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First egg a few weeks ago. |
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Originally Posted By Surf: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff124/flytosail/DSC_3390.jpg First egg a few weeks ago. Very cool!  |
It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.
- Robert E. Lee -
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| After a few weeks of single digit temps in December, we put and IR lamp on a timer to help prevent our birds from getting frost bitten combs. It worked well - it was enough to take the edge off and the birds seem much happier. Egg production had dropped by 75%, but with the lamp, they are now back in full swing, and in fact, we will have 100% of the hens lay on the same day 2-3 times a week. |
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Originally Posted By CLICKBANGBANG: I thought I'd see more Rhode island red chickens in here. We are getting chicks in the spring so I'm about to start the coop. We had a ton of reds at one point but their survival instincts when it come to air and land predators seems to be lower than the rest of the breeds (they are the first to go). If you don't plan to free range then it's a non-issue obviously but that has been our experience. |
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 EightySecond:
Originally Posted By CLICKBANGBANG:
I thought I'd see more Rhode island red chickens in here. We are getting chicks in the spring so I'm about to start the coop. We had a ton of reds at one point but their survival instincts when it come to air and land predators seems to be lower than the rest of the breeds (they are the first to go). If you don't plan to free range then it's a non-issue obviously but that has been our experience. Interesting. We have lost a few reds to the neighbors dogs at my moms place, but mine wont be free range. I'm looking at doing a coop that will be built on the inside of a shed that I have, with the run fenced and covered outside. I need to get moving on it because spring is coming quickly and we'll be getting chicks then. |
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Originally Posted By CLICKBANGBANG:
Originally Posted By EightySecond:
Originally Posted By CLICKBANGBANG:
I thought I'd see more Rhode island red chickens in here. We are getting chicks in the spring so I'm about to start the coop. We had a ton of reds at one point but their survival instincts when it come to air and land predators seems to be lower than the rest of the breeds (they are the first to go). If you don't plan to free range then it's a non-issue obviously but that has been our experience. Interesting. We have lost a few reds to the neighbors dogs at my moms place, but mine wont be free range. I'm looking at doing a coop that will be built on the inside of a shed that I have, with the run fenced and covered outside. I need to get moving on it because spring is coming quickly and we'll be getting chicks then. You will be able to keep your chicks in a cardboard box with a heat lamp for about 6 weeks. That will buy you more time. We got our chicks mid april, had them in the coop in June. Eggs came at the end of the summer. |
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Bump.
Well, it's chick season. The tractor supply has the first batch in. I'm guessing this week I'll pick mine up. The kids (and I) am very exited.
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We lost another black silkie to a big freaking broad winged hawk. Really sucked because the daughter has been grooming her as a show bird and was supposed to do a show in April. She has a Silver laced Polish that she'll show instead, but it still sucks. |
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Yep, I have 26 coming in tommorow. If they all survive that would bring the flock total back up to around 46. Right now with the twenty, though one is a rooster, we are probably getting 6 eggs a day.
45 birds is too way, way too many eggs for the wife and I, but we give the extras to a church to use in their food bank and to give to it's members. I think the older ones particularly like it. In return they save egg cartons to give to us. This usually gets them a gross or more of eggs a week. This time we got some fun birds like silkies, and Polish. We alway keep some Americaunas just because we like to see the kids reaactions to the green/blue eggs. Truth is we just love having the chickens around! |
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Chickens inbound. The chicks come in on Wed (tomorrow) to the hardware store. The box is set up with the light on and is warming up. Only thing left is to just get the water to room temp.
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I got some more chicks. Neighbor boy wanted to raise some cute little chickies, When they aren't so cute, I get them. He's also my chicken babysitter.
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Chicks in! A dozen is what I decided on. We go through a ton of eggs at my house. I got egg layer pullets. Best I can guess I've got three Leghorns, four Reds of some sort and five chicks are golden in color so I'm not sure on breed. The wife and kids are very exited to have them home finally.
Here they are in the starter box. 
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Bump to say,
The weather is warmer here so the chicks are on the back porch now. They are in a bigger box and are growing like crazy. Also eating like crazy. I elevated their scratch feeder a little so they can't dig in it. But they still will peck a ton of the scratch out. That seems to be the biggest waste with them right now. |
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The chicks are here. Thread needs some fuzzy butt pics.    It was a tiring day, with all that travel and new surroundings.   |
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Originally Posted By Vly:
The chicks are here. Thread needs some fuzzy butt pics.
http://fototime.com/3B5D24398DBAF83/standard.jpg http://fototime.com/7600CECA38ABC84/standard.jpg http://fototime.com/64F5E8302EABBDA/standard.jpg It was a tiring day, with all that travel and new surroundings.
http://fototime.com/0C4BB7E93808B87/standard.jpg Those look like gold buffs and black australops. Nice looking chicks. |
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The "golden" colored chicks are a mix of Rhode Island Red and Red Sex Link chicks. ( mostly RIR ) The dark colored ones are Barred Rocks. Hard to tell breed at this stage. And they are healthy, good looking chicks. We ordered 25 chicks, and the hatchery shipped 27. We lost one last night, but the remaining 26 are looking very good. |
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Nice. I have 20 chicks that are about 7 weeks now. Rhode Islands, White leghorns, Gold Sex links, Barrel Plymouth Rocks, and Black Australops. The Australops and Rocks look close to the same as chicks. I don't see many people with Australops and thought I'd found another. 
The Australops are a gorgeous bird and a great layer. |
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With too many places wanting to sell you chicken coop plans, or charge a ton for tiny designer coops, I thought I'd share what I'm doing to inspire y'all to design your own. I started in construction at age 14 and have built over 20 homes from the ground up (customs and specs). I have also been the operating GC for some larger commercial buildings ($1-4.5 mil projects), but am in specialty demolition construction now. But this coop has been the most fun work I've done in a while.
I'll try to take as may pics throughout this as I can to show how I'm putting everything together. I'm calling it the "8x8 Chicken Barn." Think red with white trim. I'm try to make the most out of the wood and have little waste. I wanted a coop that would be simi permanent. Something between the "Chicken Tractors" and a concreted in building. So it would have to be able to be dragged to another location if needed. And with using the plywood for squaring everything up, it literally is a self squaring and leveling coop. With family in town, it forced me to sit so I actually sketched up my frame idea. This was done mostly to generate a material list and to show the wife to get the elevation ok. If you look, I've already changed a few things but this was a good starting spot. 
For now I'm not cutting all of the exterior penetrations. Only the doors that I'm sure will not move. The 2x4s are cut 7" short of 8' to make the plywood run over/ over on the 4x4s. I also put small 45* blocks in the corners to strengthen the 2x to 4x connection. You could use hangers but I just screwed the junk out of it and used the plywood to help attach. The pitch on the roof is a 6 and 12 for easy cutting. 
The 2x4 are both the large door jamb and the upper sheet braces. Just notched around the vertical 2x4 used to splice the upper and lower sheets. 
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Very cool CLICKBANGBANG
I threw a small piece of watermelon rind in with the chicks this morning. For about an hour they were terrified of it, and crowded into the far side of the bin. They're finally starting to pick at it a bit. |
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I'm going to start building my chicken house today.
Would it be a bad idea to put my Bee hive next to the chicken house, so that I could use it as a wind brake for the Bees? I'm not sure if they'd get along. The opening to the hive would face away from the house, along a wall with no openings. I suppose the chickens would love to eat any bee that wondered in to their pen, but would it be war? |
If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin. -Samuel Adams
We started ours in a couple of TP boxes 3 weeks ago
Then we built this last week 
Its a double decker, shoudl have built the sides up higher..due to the mess they make. They have gotten so big in the lst 3 weeks 
Our coup is almost done (raining today) then we need to build the run. Built ours will Amish wood. Very happy with it for our first building project 
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Had to post to show you what we found in the nest box this morning. Someone must be walking funny  .Three inches long and weighs 105 grams. That has got to hurt.  In the egg box for comparison. |
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Originally Posted By Vly:
Had to post to show you what we found in the nest box this morning. Someone must be walking funny .
Three inches long and weighs 105 grams. That has got to hurt. In the egg box for comparison.
http://fototime.com/0927F2751201227/standard.jpg That happens.. If there was no blood on it that it a good sign. Let us know how many yolks you get out of there.
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Luk 6:45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
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Trim is mostly done. I was going to buy a cheap piece of lino for the floor, but I found a bunch of FRP in my shop so I used it instead. I will probably do poop boards on top of this and a pine bedding. Primer is done outside. I'm leaving the inside the primer color. I just did one coat inside to help control soiling and pest. I'm cutting ply for the upper siding (between the wiggle metal roof sections), but being how we are already in our hot season, I'm leaving them off till winter for better ventilation.
Red and white paint inbound. 
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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.
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. 
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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. |
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The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke