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Chicken keepers!


Sal
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On 4/21/2022 at 2:43 PM, Brandon p said:

You should get a bantam Cochin. They go broody all the time and the there is an easy humane way to stop it if you don’t want them broody. Me boys would order fertile egg for and size chickens for seabrights up to Brahma’s. The bantam o chins are great mothers and raise these of the chickens no matter the size And teaches them to Properly act. If they are broody and you need or want them to produce eggs I can tel you how to safely do this with out doing crazy stuff like dipping them in frezeing water.

I’m planning to get hatching eggs for any broody hens we get. We have a lot of farms around here and one of my friends would gladly take any Roos or extra chicks off my hands that we don’t have space for.

(EDIT) Actually @Brandon p we did get a dog crate to use in case we need a hospital for a hen or for 'breaking' broodies if we absolutely have to. Is this the method you would recommend -- raised off the ground wire bottom crate for a day or two with food and water -- or is there a gentler method? I've been reading my options so I'm prepared. I know Australorps and Speckled Sussex are two breeds that can go broody!

Edited by laritheloud
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On 4/21/2022 at 2:44 PM, Sal said:

SO cute!!  I love seeing their little feathers coming in!  I hear they will go wild for crumbled egg.  😍

Unfortunately, we can only keep 6 hens max where we live, so I wont be looking to add more babies regularly, but this is a great tip for anyone who can keep a large flock!  

We could have 8 some the kids hide the chicks until they figured out which ones would show best or they just like. The kids would sell them or give them to kids that did show at there country fair. The Roos if you could guess where free. The kot at least 2 bantam Cochins. Which my son found out that the judge sold bantam Cochins so he had a leg up. Then they would decide what was showed a lot and trying asking friends. So the had different kings of chickens. 

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On 4/21/2022 at 3:15 PM, laritheloud said:

I’m planning to get hatching eggs for any broody hens we get. We have a lot of farms around here and one of my friends would gladly take any Roos or extra chicks off my hands that we don’t have space for.

(EDIT) Actually @Brandon p we did get a dog crate to use in case we need a hospital for a hen or for 'breaking' broodies if we absolutely have to. Is this the method you would recommend -- raised off the ground wire bottom crate for a day or two with food and water -- or is there a gentler method? I've been reading my options so I'm prepared. I know Australorps and Speckled Sussex are two breeds that can go broody!

Yes. It keeps there underside cooler and works fast if they have stater to pull there feathers. We used a wire cage on cinder blocks. So the corner  was just holding it up.we would as run a fan across the bottom of the cage on low.  That way the the bantam Cochins would stop fast it, seemed like the brahmas took for every and they are not the greatest parents. They tend to step all over the babies. After have bramhas which were sweet but I can see how they say chickens are related to dinosaurs. We chose to use only the bantam Cochins  because they never left eggs or gave up half way through. Once we gave the eggs we moved them to a med size dog carrier. They were taken out four times a day. Sometimes they do want to leave the eggs but that keep them from pooping in the crate. The boys would watch to may sure they did there business, because they wanted back so bad. Also this would give us time to chech the eggs to make sure she was not on a bad egg but not necessary. A bantam Cochin can sit on 12-14 regular eggs or 14-18 bantam eggs. The other reason we used to dog crates was it kept them in the dark and there was not fighting for the others chickens from adding eggs to the broody girl. It worked way better than the incubator. Use would have them hatch quail and peasants for us as well. 

Edited by Brandon p
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On 4/22/2022 at 7:21 PM, Hobbit said:

I’m glad you approve of the dog crate method. It’s the only thing that’s worked for me in the past.

@laritheloud they look like they’re turning out gorgeous!!the internet has all types software crazy ideas. I gave owas to put the chickens underside in ice water I hope that one is not running around the forums . Seems cruel to me.  

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On 4/21/2022 at 3:15 PM, laritheloud said:

I’m planning to get hatching eggs for any broody hens we get. We have a lot of farms around here and one of my friends would gladly take any Roos or extra chicks off my hands that we don’t have space for.

(EDIT) Actually @Brandon p we did get a dog crate to use in case we need a hospital for a hen or for 'breaking' broodies if we absolutely have to. Is this the method you would recommend -- raised off the ground wire bottom crate for a day or two with food and water -- or is there a gentler method? I've been reading my options so I'm prepared. I know Australorps and Speckled Sussex are two breeds that can go broody!

What has worked good for us to break a  Broody is simply taking them off the nest once a day and putting them out to free range with the others. Doing this for a couple days seems to make them forget. Once they are in the yard they decide to peck around and don’t go back to the nest. I had silkies for years, who are notorious for being broody and this worked great. 

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On 4/23/2022 at 8:28 PM, Kurt Brutting said:

We use to hatch silkies and sell the chicks and eggs, there was a big market for those birds. Now we have Polish chickens. We have a dog house inside of a kennel for one of our runs. 

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Oh my goodness!  Silkies & Polish are the FUNNIEST!  They are so cute with their fluffy heads!!  😂

I have heard that its not a real flock until you have one or the other (silkies or polish) so, I feel it's inevitable.  

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What got done today:

Soffits are done.  Trim is done.  Roof is about 98% done (just a few more shingles to attach over the ridge vent.)

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While husband finished up those items, I finished the second coat of paint on the interior (forgot to take a pic, but will soon) and also got all of the run posts, legs, and trusses stained.

(No, the trusses are not on upside down, we just have them resting there.) 😂

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I also set up chicken cams, we are testing them out tonight to see how the night vision looks.  Overkill?  Yup.  But 10000% necessary for this gadget-loving gal?  YUP.  😂  And picked up a bluetooth hygrometer and thermometer that I will keep in the coop to monitor temp & humidity.   I can't help myself when it comes to fun gadgets!  

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Love the silkies and pod lush a there own chickens. Not so smart but have personality 

Do you have to put up a net for a run. We had a fence and a bigger co-op. We also had heavy hegdes around the fence so if a hawk flew over they would run to the hedged To hide. 

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On 4/25/2022 at 3:37 AM, Brandon p said:

Love the silkies and pod lush a there own chickens. Not so smart but have personality 

Do you have to put up a net for a run. We had a fence and a bigger co-op. We also had heavy hegdes around the fence so if a hawk flew over they would run to the hedged To hide. 

It never got cold enough here to worry. It did get a few days of low 30’s and 20’s, but we did toss in a couple extra bales of alfalfa. We didn’t use hay. The eggs were better with the alfalfa and the seemed to like to eat it And nest better in it. On the cold days they would bury themselves.

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On 4/22/2022 at 4:24 PM, Brandon p said:

Yes. It keeps there underside cooler and works fast if they have stater to pull there feathers. We used a wire cage on cinder blocks. So the corner  was just holding it up.we would as run a fan across the bottom of the cage on low.  That way the the bantam Cochins would stop fast it, seemed like the brahmas took for every and they are not the greatest parents. They tend to step all over the babies. After have bramhas which were sweet but I can see how they say chickens are related to dinosaurs. We chose to use only the bantam Cochins  because they never left eggs or gave up half way through. Once we gave the eggs we moved them to a med size dog carrier. They were taken out four times a day. Sometimes they do want to leave the eggs but that keep them from pooping in the crate. The boys would watch to may sure they did there business, because they wanted back so bad. Also this would give us time to chech the eggs to make sure she was not on a bad egg but not necessary. A bantam Cochin can sit on 12-14 regular eggs or 14-18 bantam eggs. The other reason we used to dog crates was it kept them in the dark and there was not fighting for the others chickens from adding eggs to the broody girl. It worked way better than the incubator. Use would have them hatch quail and peasants for us as well. 

 

I agree that bantam cochins are great for hatching eggs.  Decades ago when I was keeping chickens I'd use them to hatch guinea eggs, which take a week longer than chicken eggs.  The cochins didn't care.  They'd stay on them and hatch them out just fine.

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On 5/6/2022 at 9:40 AM, JettsPapa said:

 

I agree that bantam cochins are great for hatching eggs.  Decades ago when I was keeping chickens I'd use them to hatch guinea eggs, which take a week longer than chicken eggs.  The cochins didn't care.  They'd stay on them and hatch them out just fine.

Some times as soon as the boys noticed one was broody they would make there calls to have the eggs shipped. Most of the time they would get 2 or 3 kinds of chickens and quail. It was funny to look under this small chicken and see 4 or 5 different size eggs from quarter size to almost palm size. The only thing is if you hatch quail or Pheasants once hatch you can’t leave them with the Cochin. They fly well and will act like wild quail and pheasants. There is nothing like chasing quail through a neighborhood 

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On 5/6/2022 at 11:07 AM, Brandon p said:

Some times as soon as the boys noticed one was broody they would make there calls to have the eggs shipped. Most of the time they would get 2 or 3 kinds of chickens and quail. It was funny to look under this small chicken and see 4 or 5 different size eggs from quarter size to almost palm size. The only thing is if you hatch quail or Pheasants once hatch you can’t leave them with the Cochin. They fly well and will act like wild quail and pheasants. There is nothing like chasing quail through a neighborhood 

The trick is to but the cochin in the quail run, so the quail start out hatching where they belong.

Another interesting interaction is hatching peafowl under cochins😆

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So fun @laritheloud they're in their awkward teenager stage!!  😂  What is the little tent that you are using?  I can see that my girls are going to outgrow their 60 gallon tub pretty quickly!  I want to have a back up plan just in case its not warm enough to put them out in the coop.  

We had a good weekend with them.  They are all doing well, there is one that is just a little less active than the other 5 and she is spending more time under the heater plate than her sisters - but she is eating/drinking/pooing, and does not appear to have any trouble that I can see... So I am hoping she turns a corner and starts to get more active!  I did put a small dish of food under the heater in case she was just wanting snacks in bed.

Made a lot of progress on the coop and run this weekend though!  Drainage system and dry well are done.  Hardware cloth is up, and roof is in progress.  Hubby acquiesced and hung my window boxes as a mother's day gift.  😂 I'll snag some pics soon!

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On 5/9/2022 at 10:44 AM, Sal said:

So fun @laritheloud they're in their awkward teenager stage!!  😂  What is the little tent that you are using?  I can see that my girls are going to outgrow their 60 gallon tub pretty quickly!  I want to have a back up plan just in case its not warm enough to put them out in the coop.  

It's basically a dog pen branded as a chicken pen. The bottom has a waterproof coating. It's not... the only part of the brooder. We spoiled these little chicks, and they started out in a cardboard setup and I basically added-on with the pet pen. At 4.5 weeks they are starting to roost for sleeping at night and they rarely use the heat plate anymore!

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Coop is looking great! The one we built is similar size and we built for 10, but it could easily sleep 5-6 more, probably even more than that if they all like each other. Our has 3 roost bars and the low hen in the order often sleeps on her own bar because the others won't let her on the "best" two. Pecking order is real! 

The only real change I would make now is to make my run a lot bigger - but it is chicken fort knox as designed with hardware cloth that goes 18" into the ground and a metal roof. two years in and nothing besides a really tiny field mouse has ever gotten in... and it didn't last long.

Here's my bunch when they were six weeks old and experiencing outside for the first time. Nine hens gave me 7 eggs today, and I usually average 6 - they turned two last month. I used the basement bathtub as our brooder, which worked out fine and was pretty funny to visit them in there. Really enjoy them and each one has a distinctive personality and sounds.saffron2.jpg.4954338c7d1cfca3b14f467de30f42b4.jpg

I know you are going to really enjoy them when they arrive next month - we sure have! 

Edited by Jawjagrrl
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Well, a little bit of a sad update here...  The one girl who had started to be a little less active over the weekend took a turn for the worse yesterday, and was basically not walking and not eating or drinking.  I attempted to syringe feed her a little bit of egg yolk and electrolytes as I had read could help, but she didn't want much.  I decided to let her snuggle on my neck for the rest of her sweet life and I cooed at her softly.   She passed about 30 minutes later.  So yeah - I cried my eyeballs out over a chicken I knew for 4 days, but I am a lover of animals at my very core, and my animals will always be loved right to the very end, no matter how hard it is.  😢  

As far as I could tell, she wasn't sick.  She was eating and pooping until she just suddenly wasnt.  No wheezing, no bloody poops, her crop felt normal... I think she was just failing to thrive.

Just like with fish keeping, ya cant give up.  Because the sweet girl who passed was my only Ameraucana, and I really want the blue eggs in my flock, I decided just to see if the farm store where we got her had any left so that a new chick could be added to the existing flock without getting picked on.  They were happy to give me another, and when I went down to pick her up there were only 2 chicks left in the Ameraucana tub...  So...  You know how that story ends.  😉

One sweet life moves on, and 2 return in her place.  So far the new girls have been welcomed and snuggled right in with the flock.

So yeah - we got off to a rough start, but its all part of the learning process I guess.  Fingers crossed that the rest of the brooding goes better than these first few days...  Thanks for letting me share.

 

Edited by Sal
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@Jawjagrrl your flock is so cute!!  It will be so interesting to watch the pecking order unfold.  I already have one who is way more curious and vocal than the others, I am hopeful she's not a rooster.  😂. Learning their personalities is going to be so fun!

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