PollyOR Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 We have chicks/chickens. The queen of avoidance (12yo) has found the perfect distraction. I fear our school days will never be the same. Chickens are educational. What we have learned so far: chickens poop ... a lot chicken coops are way more expensive than we ever imagined backyard chickens must be supervised when free ranging even inside a fenced yard cats are designed to catch birds wound care chickens are resilient (even after an attack by a neighborhood cat) you can become attached to chickens very quickly :001_wub: chickens seem to have a "witching hour" just before bed which makes me want to pull my hair out! (Me = Renfield at 8:30pm every evening) What we will be learning soon: how to compost with chicken poop how to build a chicken coop (math!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin'sMom Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 Oh, how so, so familiar. I had to dismantle my expensive incubators to keep myself from hatching any additional ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingHope Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 We have been learning to count with the 35 chicks that have hatched this month. The children stuffed eggs under three broody hens and have increased our flock by 100%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted May 16, 2014 Author Share Posted May 16, 2014 Oh, how so, so familiar. I had to dismantle my expensive incubators to keep myself from hatching any additional ones. We have been learning to count with the 35 chicks that have hatched this month. The children stuffed eggs under three broody hens and have increased our flock by 100%. Thankfully we are only allowed five chickens. This is way too expensive already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athomeontheprairie Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 A chicken coop doesn't need to be expensive. though they certainly can be in if must buy everything new. But you can get creative and build cheaply. Also, if you have them fenced in you can purchase poultry netting to cover the enclosure with. Keeps out cats and hawks... chickens are great! Have fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 My son too just got chicks. Another chick lesson: They are very good at getting out. They can squeeze through smaller spaces than you would think possible. Yellow ones stand out well against green. Dark grey ones do not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted May 17, 2014 Author Share Posted May 17, 2014 A chicken coop doesn't need to be expensive. though they certainly can be in if must buy everything new. But you can get creative and build cheaply. Also, if you have them fenced in you can purchase poultry netting to cover the enclosure with. Keeps out cats and hawks... chickens are great! Have fun You are right. I think the mistake we made was getting chicks before having plans for a coop. Now we are in emergency mode which means we don't have the time to find cheaper building materials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted May 17, 2014 Author Share Posted May 17, 2014 My son too just got chicks. Another chick lesson: They are very good at getting out. They can squeeze through smaller spaces than you would think possible. Yellow ones stand out well against green. Dark grey ones do not. Yep, amazing escape artists. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 You are right. I think the mistake we made was getting chicks before having plans for a coop. Now we are in emergency mode which means we don't have the time to find cheaper building materials. We also got chicks in advance of finishing their housing, but I had chickens in past and the hardest part of the hen house including the laying boxes with outside access door is still okay. And my son got involved in trying to rebuild it which is what led to getting the chicks. It still needs a back roof extension, back wall, and extra perches/roosts, a new door, and a few other things. It is mainly plywood, and has held up a long time. How many do you have and how old are they? If you need a temporary solution as you build, 4H had suggested 3 sheets of plywood attached in a triangle, so that you have one long sheet on the bottom flat, and two set to lean against each other to make an 8 foot long "house," and then close it in at each end with chick wire, with an opening hatch on one side for access, will do as starting summer housing in a pinch--some fruit boxes can work as temporary laying boxes, and of course they need a waterer and ideally a feeder, though some people just scatter their food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nd293 Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 Ana White has a simple looking plan for a chicken coop. Her plans are very easy to follow. http://ana-white.com/2012/05/plans/frame-chicken-coop We love our three chooks, although the West Australian summer was very hard on them. We lost one, and the remaining three got very thin and were generally grumpy and very noisy, which is not great in a residential area with close houses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aras Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 We have had chicks for 2 weeks now and we are in the process of building a coop. I'm not sure I'm going to survive this :rofl: My husband insists that he doesn't need plans, he can just "wing it." That joke has gotten old pretty quickly. But our neighbors are tearing down their privacy fence so we are using the slats the build the coop. Score for frugality! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted May 18, 2014 Author Share Posted May 18, 2014 Our five chickens are 6-7 weeks old. We've only had them a couple of weeks. My oldest daughter overbought and gifted us with "free" chickens. They are all different breeds (Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, Dominique, Sebright, and Sicilian Buttercup). DH started building a small mobile coop (garden ark) yesterday. It's too small for the number of chickens we have, but he wanted to practice before building the permanent coop. If we like it, DH plans to build the larger garden coop. I have to say I felt sorry for DH yesterday. He had a lot of spectators but not much help. We aren't the most handy lot. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arboreal TJ Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 We've had chicks for 4 weeks now. I built the Ana White A-frame coop, the design needed a fair amount of modification to improve strength and to make it weather tight. I love Ana but I can,t recommend her A-frame plans :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted May 23, 2014 Author Share Posted May 23, 2014 For anyone who is interested: http://www.hobbyfarms.com/livestock-and-pets/teach-kids-with-chickens.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted May 23, 2014 Author Share Posted May 23, 2014 http://www.apa-abayouthpoultryclub.org/educational_material.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Chicken permit in my city costs $50 for the first year and $40 each following year. That about cured my desire to have chickens. I grew up raising chickens for meat and eggs in my early childhood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kubiac Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 I found a large dog crate for $20 at a garage sale and wrapped it in hardware cloth (using cable ties) for another $80 or so. We found a wooden dowel in the garage and cut it to size and sawed notches at the ends for a roosting pole. A detergent pod box attached with more cable ties is serving as our grit container. Next expense will be nest boxes, but so far this has been affordable for us. You can see our setup here: http://instagram.com/p/oUBMWzhAr4/ I am trying to do as much of this as I can using recycled materials since we need to save our construction dollars for the people house! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 I would just like to saw how incredibly jealous I am of all of you!!! We are not allowed to have chickens because of our HOA. My number one must have with our next house is the ability to have chickens, and possibly a goat but I don't want to get ahead of myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berta Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 Oh, how so, so familiar. I had to dismantle my expensive incubators to keep myself from hatching any additional ones. I really need to dismantle my incubator. I have 21 eggs cooking in it right now. Is there a 12 step program for incubator addicts? When we moved to the country DH and I agreed on 4 chickens. I have about 50, they are hard to count so it could be more. That is down from over 60 before a dog attack took out several. I'm a little out of proportion with my roo to hen ratio, so that is why I am hatching more. I love my chickens, I get a basket full of beautiful eggs each day :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaichiki Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 Just a warning: Chickens are like potato chips. My kids love to thumb through the hatchery catalog and "window shop" for breeds we haven't tried yet! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cottonwood Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 I LOL and woke up the dog when I read your chicken/cat comments. :laugh: SO many of you are living my chicken dream. We had them growing up and now farm eggs are very important to me, but scarce. DH in the military and we move around......one day..... Oh and we have a bird dog.. guess we'll have to really plan this out. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Χά�ων Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 I am trying to do as much of this as I can using recycled materials since we need to save our construction dollars for the people house! :lol: I have already been shopping for decorations for DS's chicken house and my house is still not completely finished! The coop will house 50+ birds depending on the chicken-turkey ratio. DS has picked out the "theme" and how it will be decorated and what the color he wants to paint it and what color for the trim. DS is the poultry addict in the family. I enjoy the birds and we have one that is the character. She prances and runs around all over the place. We have some who came visit and others who seem to think that every time I exit my house I am bringing them treats. Our cat does not bother the full grown birds. Well, one cat batted at the feathers of one of the birds. Said bird is insane and ran screaming around in circles scaring the crap out of the cat. We free range the birds currently. We haven't lost any but DS's dog is a herding breed and we bring her out to round them up if the stray too far. We got lucky with the dog and I will hate to have to try replace her. I did not have to train her, she just knew what to do. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted May 25, 2014 Author Share Posted May 25, 2014 Chicken permit in my city costs $50 for the first year and $40 each following year. That about cured my desire to have chickens. I grew up raising chickens for meat and eggs in my early childhood. Well boo! :thumbdown: We had no intentions of getting chickens. We visited our oldest daughter and came home with some of her extras. We didn't realize that we were supposed to submit an application first. There are all kinds of rules about how many feet the coop can be from the street, the sidewalk, your neighbors, and your own dwelling. Plus, by signing the application you agree to let city employees on your property to inspect the coop. $10/year. The "big city" within five miles of ours has no such laws and there is no limit on the number of hens. We are limited to five. I understand having rules to protect the neighbors, but if the folks in the big city can handle it why can't we? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 We have thirteen, and I'm getting the itch for more chicks next year. Holding out strong so far. We've raised chicks twice now, and two batches of ducks, but despite the fun we had with the ducks, I've pretty much put my foot down on more duckies. They were for my MIL, and her new dog has eaten most of them. :sad: That's kind of hard on duckie-mom. My new neighbors have a peacock, so there's this wicked streak in me that wants to compete in the scream-wars. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted May 25, 2014 Author Share Posted May 25, 2014 My new neighbors have a peacock, so there's this wicked streak in me that wants to compete in the scream-wars. :tongue_smilie: Lol! I briefly lived at a KOA that had peacocks. Oh, what memories. Out of our group of chicks the Sebright is my least favorite because he/she has a really annoying call. It practically turns me into Renfield at roosting time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berta Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 We have thirteen, and I'm getting the itch for more chicks next year. Holding out strong so far. We've raised chicks twice now, and two batches of ducks, but despite the fun we had with the ducks, I've pretty much put my foot down on more duckies. They were for my MIL, and her new dog has eaten most of them. :sad: That's kind of hard on duckie-mom. My new neighbors have a peacock, so there's this wicked streak in me that wants to compete in the scream-wars. :tongue_smilie: I SO want an Emu! I think that would throw my DH over the edge though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 My adult daughter has Welsh Harlequin ducklings. They are so cute! It's a good thing we can't have them. I need to be content with my five chicks/girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 DH's blog post about building the coop (includes a video tour). I thought he would buy the lumber, put it together, and paint it. But, my DH is a maker. He tweaked it right off the bat and is still planning modifications. BTW, he did most of the painting. I'm always amazed by how crafty he is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 We've learned another lesson. Roosters are hard to get rid of. Out of our five chickens we ended up with two roosters which meant they couldn't stay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Χά�ων Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Roosters are fryers. Yummy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotherGoose Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 We've learned another lesson. Roosters are hard to get rid of. Out of our five chickens we ended up with two roosters which meant they couldn't stay.A friend had the same problem--3 out of 6 were roosters-- and she showed up at my house with rooster in hand. Now he's my rooster :) I had all hens before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 These were pets which made it stressful. A family member did end up butchering the Dominique. It was tough for them knowing this guy had been our pet. Seriously, he was our most friendly chicken. But, we all agreed it was the right thing at the time. The Sebright is an ornamental bantam so there wasn't enough meat on his little bones. Luckily we found someone who wanted him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 We have not figured out yet for sure which are roosters, but refer to 2 out of original 9 as "he"--with a third looking a bit suspicious as well. We will be able to keep one rooster, but not more, so if there are 2 or 3 that is going to cause a choice problem, at least for my son...a little for me too since the nicest one may not be the best at keeping the flock together, or the best father, but I think we would keep the nicest one. Here though, the feed and grain will usually take roosters and offer them for free to people who want one. If by some chance we have no roosters, we will hope to get someone's unwanted rooster. Anyone with excess rooster(s) might check country feed and grain stores to see if they too take roosters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aras Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Two or three roosters out of 9 is not so bad. We ended up with 5 out of 7. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Two or three roosters out of 9 is not so bad. We ended up with 5 out of 7. :glare: Straight run or ones that were supposed to be sexed? Ours were all supposed to be sexed, and 3 are sex-linked type chickens where it is supposed to be possible to tell by the color of the chicks. We have neighbors who get only sex-links so that they can be close to 100% all hens. I thought it was some sort of genetic engineered thing and was avoiding that until I realized that it is old-fashioned breeding, not some high tech weird DNA manipulation. When some time ago I had chicks from a hen, 3 out of 4 were roosters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Χά�ων Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Oh, how so, so familiar. I had to dismantle my expensive incubators to keep myself from hatching any additional ones. Soo what kind of incubator do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aras Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Straight run or ones that were supposed to be sexed? Ours were all supposed to be sexed, and 3 are sex-linked type chickens where it is supposed to be possible to tell by the color of the chicks. We have neighbors who get only sex-links so that they can be close to 100% all hens. I thought it was some sort of genetic engineered thing and was avoiding that until I realized that it is old-fashioned breeding, not some high tech weird DNA manipulation. When some time ago I had chicks from a hen, 3 out of 4 were roosters. They were hatched from eggs, the breed was a mystery. I received them from a friend who hatched them for her daycare children. I'm pretty sure they are Rhode Island Reds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjand6more Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 I am so jealous of all of you. We are currently wanting to move in order to have them(Well, and we have outgrown our house. :)). Our seriously small town will not allow ANY. Ridiculous. Dogs around here are more of a problem than chickens would ever be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 They were hatched from eggs, the breed was a mystery. I received them from a friend who hatched them for her daycare children. I'm pretty sure they are Rhode Island Reds. Ah. So basically a straight run situation. Then that is like my natural hatched ones where it was 3 out of 4. I had a rooster who had been hatched and raised in a kindergarten once. He was wonderful, my very favorite chicken ever. He thought he was human, I guess, sort of anyway. Actually he acted sort of dog like, and would cuddle up for petting, came to the back door when he wanted attention. He was also a very kind rooster with his hens and would offer them special foods in a very even way, like carefully giving one grape to each hen. He was the sire of the 4 mentioned above, and one of the rooster offspring who went to someone I know also turned out to be a very nice rooster. The breed was Auracana, not known for niceness, so I think the early human socialization in the school made a big difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGHEALTHYMOM Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Thanks for this thread.... I have had totally free rangers for 2 years... we have lost too many too ( cyotes) but now our puppy is a threat and eating eggs and constantly harrassing the chickens. I did find a recycled Play house on craiglist with a shingled roof and 2 levels so dh is working on it diligently. It took us a lot of work to clean up our junk pile on top of the old coop that was torn down. I have been going crazy with them eating my vegetables all over our land! I give them lots of veggies anyway, but our 3 new hens our neighbor gave us have been eating so much! They left the little plants alone and I was amazed. My square foot beds are demolished still so I have to wait for the coop to be finished and plan a way to keep them out of them when they are out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted July 12, 2014 Author Share Posted July 12, 2014 My square foot beds are demolished still so I have to wait for the coop to be finished and plan a way to keep them out of them when they are out. DH built a cover for the bed with strawberries. Unfortunately they loved the green bean plants in another bed. I'm thinking we may have to put the garden beds in the front yard next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovinmomma Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 I would just like to saw how incredibly jealous I am of all of you!!! We are not allowed to have chickens because of our HOA. My number one must have with our next house is the ability to have chickens, and possibly a goat but I don't want to get ahead of myself. ^^^^ THIS. I'm incredibly jealous, because we aren't allowed chickens. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 ^^^^ THIS. I'm incredibly jealous, because we aren't allowed chickens. :( I'm sorry. :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted September 1, 2014 Author Share Posted September 1, 2014 We had our first egg yesterday! I thought we had at least another month (the girls are five months old), but I guess our buff orpington was ready. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aras Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 We got rid of 4 of our 5 roosters and our hens started laying. I think they were receiving too much "attention" and they were stressed out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 We had our first successful egg yesterday--with ds watching! Now ds is outside watching as another hen is trying to lay one. However, day before yesterday we had an egg appear smushed in the laying box, and a hen, not necessarily the one who laid it, but perhaps, was dead. We are not sure what went wrong. There was no sign of trauma. I thought maybe she overheated while in the laying box, so we moved the coop to a shade spot. Anyone else have any ideas of what might lead to a dead hen (in laying box) as they are starting to lay? We checked vent area and there did not seem to be a stuck egg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arboreal TJ Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 It may have been the heat. We've been hot the last few days. I give my girls ice water and ooen the top doors of our coop. On really hot days I put a mister out and they seem to enjoy the mist. Sry for your loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JubilantNest Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 We had our first successful egg yesterday--with ds watching! Now ds is outside watching as another hen is trying to lay one. However, day before yesterday we had an egg appear smushed in the laying box, and a hen, not necessarily the one who laid it, but perhaps, was dead. We are not sure what went wrong. There was no sign of trauma. I thought maybe she overheated while in the laying box, so we moved the coop to a shade spot. Anyone else have any ideas of what might lead to a dead hen (in laying box) as they are starting to lay? We checked vent area and there did not seem to be a stuck egg. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to take a good look around and see that she wasn't bitten by something while sitting in her box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyOR Posted September 7, 2014 Author Share Posted September 7, 2014 We had our first successful egg yesterday--with ds watching! Now ds is outside watching as another hen is trying to lay one. However, day before yesterday we had an egg appear smushed in the laying box, and a hen, not necessarily the one who laid it, but perhaps, was dead. We are not sure what went wrong. There was no sign of trauma. I thought maybe she overheated while in the laying box, so we moved the coop to a shade spot. Anyone else have any ideas of what might lead to a dead hen (in laying box) as they are starting to lay? We checked vent area and there did not seem to be a stuck egg. Sorry to hear you lost one of your girls. Our chickens had a rough time at the beginning of the summer but seem to be doing better on hot days now. I've read that some chickens can fall off the roost when they are asleep and break their necks. But, if this was during the day, I would be baffled too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I really need to dismantle my incubator. I have 21 eggs cooking in it right now. Is there a 12 step program for incubator addicts? When we moved to the country DH and I agreed on 4 chickens. I have about 50, they are hard to count so it could be more. That is down from over 60 before a dog attack took out several. I'm a little out of proportion with my roo to hen ratio, so that is why I am hatching more. I love my chickens, I get a basket full of beautiful eggs each day :) What do you do with that many eggs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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