trust chicks to find shiny objects if there is somthing shiny i a 10 metre radius of them they find it and peck it
brooder possibility what ya think
Oh for sure. When I get to town next week i am going to get them some toys from the dollar store. He he he that will be fun to watch.
oh.......................my........................god .........GET PICTURES THAT WILL BE HILARIOUS
Oh yea, Question here, how long do I need to keep the rocks in their water trays?
till they are to big to fall in... two weeks?
& if you can get electric out there, they could use a night light up to 6 weeks of age to learn to go into house at night...
i never get an atta boy, but today whenb he confirned something i asked if he could preface that with "you're right, dear!" not a chance LOL
your two story idea is great! have you seen my hen haven thread? lots of pics for ideas...
YES I have seen it, that is where I got the idea. DH is balking the idea right now, he dont want the coop to close to the house. I guess he dont want to get up with the chickens like I do. Yes I have electric in the brooder right now, it would be much to run the cord out to the coop where it is now. May have to rethink where the coop goes. He did like the idea of the "hen house" nesting area above the brooder area. So maybe we move the fence and the coop to the east a bit away from the house. I will make him run electric to the coop where ever it goes. I keep telling him we have about 3 or 4 more weeks to get the coop done. I am giving myself a little extra time, I know maybe about 6 weeks old. I dont know how big these critters get and there is about 70-80 in there right now. If they get to big they will need a new home. Next week and 60 more are on their way.
I did get you were so right hunny!!! And I was like the chick with the worm, strutting around like yea!!!!!!!!! Now to get him to put hinges on them boards. I am going to keep the boards on, its kinda hot there and they need that extra shade. Its on the east so they get sun untill about 2ish. Its noon and 89 degrees. Oh gosh its hot
hows the coup goin
OK,s o have you condiered wher you wil put this next batch, and anyfuture batches? if you convert the brooder to a henhouse on the coop, you will need another brooder...
how are those stalls at your mom's going?
tf
its funny everytime i used to get another batch of chicks evry one gets shifted to a new pen but it anoyed me so now i have just 2 pens one for all the mutts and one for my pure silkies
I wasn't going to convert the brooder I was going to attach the coop to the brooder with a hinged door to move them to the coop. Plus I was going to add a side compartment to the coop that would be on top of the boxed in part of the brooder. Hubby is still frowning at that. He doesn't want the coop close to the house. Where the brooder is right now it butts right up to my master bathroom, I cant hear the chicks tho. The stalls at my moms was for if we went out of town, its just too much work to get up there fight off all her dogs to get into the barn. Then I would not be able to just sit out side and talk and watch the chicks. I was hoping I could add the new batch to the ones that are already in there. What do you think.
mine are about 20 metres from my house behind my pool fence so u cant see them wich is a bummer but neighbours complained so i had to move them
very nice. Couldnt see anything but nice trees and yard. Do you free range yours? I probably wont be able to but I do plan to make them a very large day yard.
if you look closly behind the pool fence you can see there shelter and i let them out for about 6 hours every day
it is hard to find them if they wonder out of that padock because my whole property is surrounded by trees
Ok that I did see. I can bet it is hard to find them. I have woods on all 4 sides of me. I have 2 reasons why I cant or dont want to free range, My flower gardens and Crows, Hawks and owls. Have not seen any Hawks flying around until yes you guess yesterday. My babies are well protected from the air, just the things that are on the ground is the worry, so far so good. I guess that saying "build it they will come" is true with wildlife also. Just waiting on the snakes. My kitty is good at mouse patrol, but she is a bit busy right now, we kept hearing something crying yesterday thought one of the puppies got outside, nope Kitty had 7 kittys yesterday. i told my DH yesterday all we need is a couple goats pigs and cows and you could call us Farmer in the Dell. E I E I O.
well hawks would have a hard job finding my chickens but the foxes dont they have cleaned me out before i was so angry i got my brother to shot some of them he said why dont i do it i said i didnt want to be a mad farmer with a gun
josh
LOL, i can understand that. We do have foxes and coyotes. We have the 22 shotgun all ready, had to shoot 2 snapping turtles in the pond a few weeks ago. They were eating my baby channel cats so hubby aimed shot twice and killed em both and left them in the pond for the fish to eat on. We have 3 small dogs and the cat outside at night, plus 2 great Pyrenees dogs that roam the 45 acres.
i have on labrador itnk thats how ya spell it and i have 4 turtles 2 cats and 20 somthing chickens
Looks good to me. Now i wouldn't harm a box turtle, wont have them as a pet well I say that now, I have 6 grandsons and 1 granddaughter so who knows. Nanna will draw the line on this one, NO SNAKES. My youngest grandson found a frog this past spring and was loving on it and talking to it tell this frog that he was going to be his new daddy. He was so upset when he had to put it back in the pond and he had to go to bed.
it is realy hard to draw the line somtimes lol
When it comes to snakes, I wont have a problem saying NO NO NO. I will probably let them find a turtle and take care of it. The one I see the most will be 5 in september, so him and papa can go looking for one.
We have a community north of Sacramento, called Dunnigan. A lot of people with 1-2 acre lots and goats and chickens and horses. It is set in a big grove of gum trees (eucalyptus) and I always said it looked like the "bush" (which is a term we don't use here in the US). Your place looks so much like it, Josh! Only your place looks nicer. I would move to Dunnigan if it weren't 50 miles further from work. Just when our housing market crashes and I could afford some acreage, the price of gas triples and I can't move away from work. Bummer!
funny, i thought the same thing, that doens't look like Australia, that looks like a plot near the Sacto River where i kept my pony as a kid... it wasn't Dunnigan, it was Fair Oaks, but you get the picture...
L2G2 can't blame hubby, that is too close for the coop. should be 100 feet away. but it is just right for an outisde brooder. so just keep the two separate, or put the brooder on wheels?
i have seen pictures on here from the states that look lik they come from here weird isnt it lol
josh
Your brooder turned out really well Tia!! Looks like a lot of babies could fit in there!
Christy
I have 140 in there now and it is a bit crowded with the 12 day old ones flying around. I cant dare put the bantams in there. They will be in the house untill I can build a small brooder or get them older ones to the coop. If I dont stop the coop will be bigger than what I live in.
my older ones are in with the new also... there are two roosts in there, they love it...
You think 240 chicks give or take a couple, would fit in there. it just seems to me that is is getting a bit crowded in there, there is chicks everywhere. One starts squaking and they get to running and flying, its a race.
240!!!!! what? i was thinking 145.... build another one QUICK!
Yea the 100 bantams made 240. They will be in the house for a little bit they are tiny and can get thru the chicken wire.
Oh dang L2G.....I was worried about you not having enough room in there. Good move to not put the little bantams in there too. Even if the holes in the chicken wire were small enough to keep them in they would get run over. We overcrowded one time.....not good : (
Like tf said, sometimes it works to put the chicks before the housing....bet another brooder or coup pops up very soon! What's your DH gonna say about this new group? I must say, got lucky on yesterdays shipment! : )
Christy
Oh gosh yes I did, he will notice 100 extra. I will tell him IF he asks. Yea I will build something this afternoon or tomorrow, they are just so small, I am scared to put them outside just yet. They are eating and drinking real good. I dont have a light on them but I have the space heater on them. For me to put them outside I will have to get another light. Maybe I will go back to town today and get one. I do know I will need more feed before the weekend is up.
Will he be mad or just shake his head at his chicken slave DW? lol You didn't know you would be making so many trips to town, did you? How'd you come out on feed? Where you able to find some at a lower cost?
Christy
What are you paying? For All Purpose Poultry crumbles 16%, I pay about $10 for a forty pound bag. It's a little less for layer crumbles and a little more for gamebird crumbles.
Yes he just shakes his head, all his concern is they stay alive, remember the rain we had the other day, he asked me how many did you lose in that rain, I said NONE. You could have knocked him over with a feather. I was out int the rain putting the tarp on the coop then going out every now and then dipping the water off the tarp, going to get a new plan this weekend. I got my feed at 25 lb bag of medicated crumble from the farm and tractor supply store aka Atwoods for 12 95. I am sure I can get it from my local feed store for less. I just have to make sure of NO rain when I get it and Hubby will be home to get it out of the truck. Once they are 5 or 6 weeks old I will take them off medicated and go to non. So it will be a little more natural. I just want to make sure they live. Again I am known to every one who knows me as the chicken killer. Now I have you when I am in question so I will be the chicken whisperer now!!!!!!!!!
Going out to the brooder I found some plastic fencing in the closet I was looking for screening material. I am going to make a top for the brooder.
there ya go! i am airing my pens out today, with the tarps off, but expect rain agin tonight. so it is chicken slave day including running to buy chick starter. i checked the label on the game bride breeder and game bird starter. the starter is 28% from evergreen, too high, and the breeder is 18%, that is about right BUT the Calcium is WAY too high, and someone here siad that too much clacium in new chicks would cause leg problems, right? SC?
alsot he methionine was WAY higher, that must have something to do with breeding birds as opposed to starting babies... anyhow, they must eat, so i must be gone! of course, DH thinks it is such a waste for me to drive so far and only get one thing, so i have a list...
tf
What ya think Tam
here is a better side shot of the brown ones
i like the one with the cleopatra eyes up the back