Backyard Chickens?

[Rits]

I love your chicken coop! Well thought-out, clean and works so well for the chickens AND you! Love the AstroTurf! Your chickens are so colorful! The chickens in the second picture in the first post and first one in your next post are just amazing. Such definition of color! Very pretty!

Thank you so much for the compliments! It's been a work in progress and an evolution over time as we found better ways to keep them happy and clean (as much as chickens can be ) The roosts were driving me nutters as I try to keep the flies down as much as possible! I've noticed hardly any flies now! We heard they don't like vanilla, or eucalyptus. So car air fresheners are recommended by other chicken folks...hah! Odoban has eucalyptus scent and is a great cleaning product we used when I worked at the vet. Clean the roosts with that. First Saturday Lime in the sand and under the bedding. PDZ in between. Scoop poop daily. Fly strips for the last remaining brave souls. My mom uses fly predators for her horse so I'm sure we see some benefit from that but the flies were bad last year even still!

 

[Ravenbird]

I love your set up! You have 2 roosters & 3 hens? The roosters are not with them all the time? I have 1 rooster and 16 hens, no way could they tolerate another roo. Mine free range so only poop cleaning is the overnight mess. They leave the coop as fast as it gets light in the morning and don't go back (except to lay) until dusk. Cross fingers, no loss for 2 years. I'll up load a video of the dogs & chickens later... Asha is totally trustworthy around them. But I had to add a funny caption to this still photo:

"Hey sister, ya hungry?"

 

[Rits]

You have 2 roosters & 3 hens? The roosters are not with them all the time? I have 1 rooster and 16 hens, no way could they tolerate another roo. Mine free range so only poop cleaning is the overnight mess.

Oh no. I have 1 rooster with 15 hens! I have 3 pet roosters on their own side bachelor side as I call it but... the 2 Ameraucanas jump over their fence every odd day, even with clipped wings. I always put them back but wanted to grab this cute moment before I did. They don't mate with the hens often, the head rooster won't allow it. Mine free range too, thank goodness! Only have to clean the poop trays daily and the bedding lasts months that way. So nice. When we move to our land we'll be building a covered run with multiple connected pens for the flock to have somewhere to exercise during the winter and a place to keep the pet roosters contained.

I'll probably be rehoming one rooster. I let him hatch last fall because I felt guilty to terminate a life, he was the only developing egg when I set some with Ameraucana eggs I tried to hatch from a beloved pullet I lost that just came into lay. Of course my Australorp has great fertilization and I didn't expect much from a young hen. So from that I then had a singleton chick and they don't do well on their own so that was an excuse to get a small handful of pretty chicks. I don't need another rooster and he's not an improvement on my main rooster. You wouldn't believe the number of people contacting me on my eggs for sale posts asking for chicks... all the farm stores have been sold out for weeks here.


Haha, they do look like they are thinking up trouble!

 

[GennyB]

Well will you look at that?, black and rust. A doberhen?

he kept purring to her

He liked her fuzzy butt. I love watching the powder puffs butts walking away.

 

[Rits]

Well will you look at that?, black and rust. A doberhen?

Haha! Thats clever! She is a pretty dark blue on the front! When I had an excuse to get a small handful of more chicks I knew right away what I wanted. My sister in law had some wyandottes and buff orpingtons and she said they were her favorite and the sweetest ever. So far that has been very true! My australorps are good hens, very feisty and great at free ranging but they aren't lap chickens lol.

 

[GennyB]

buff orpingtons

I have a couple and I really like 'em. BUT.......Lucy the leghorn is still my favorite. If you would have asked 10 years ago I probably would have never said Lucy was or would ever be my favorite. She is! She's a GREAT layer, very healthy and does a good job at the top of the pecking order. She is the first to run to me when I go out and just has an all around fantastic personality

My australorps are good hens

So you like them? I've heard more than one person say they don't. They aren't supposed to be real durable because they are big and clumsy, not true?

 

[Rits]

So you like them? I've heard more than one person say they don't. They aren't supposed to be real durable because they are big and clumsy, not true?

They've been my most durable chicken out of 5 breeds I've had so far! Granted they are hatchery quality so less consistency/quality and more about quantity from hatcheries. I've rarely had to tend to one in any way health wise. Only a few go broody and do break after a few days in the AC. They aren't dumb when free ranging and keep an eye to the sky. Best of all they aren't interested in leaving their poultry netting. They do all come running whenever we go out there and I have them all recall trained when I let them out of their electric fence to free range the entire property. I only have a few that are BIG most are probably in the 4-5lb range. My buff orpington is bigger than most of them, it's almost comical. Jersey giants are much bigger and look similar. All in all the Australorps have been hardy birds that I don't have to worry about.

I have a couple and I really like 'em. BUT.......Lucy the leghorn is still my favorite. If you would have asked 10 years ago I probably would have never said Lucy was or would ever be my favorite. She is! She's a GREAT layer, very healthy and does a good job at the top of the pecking order. She is the first to run to me when I go out and just has an all around fantastic personality

That's sweet! I've heard leghorns are flighty and fences don't exist for them. They are ofc exceptional egg layers! I love when mine all come running from one end of their pasture up to the coop when we come out. They expect food scraps and treats. For good reason . The blue laced red wyandotte is our tamest. She will jump on your shoulder, your lap etc to be near, it's so cute how close she wants to be. The Ameraucana were our favorite for their very sweet and personable personality, their fluffy cheeks were adorable and they lay pretty blue eggs...they just weren't hardy despite being from a well known breeder. We will try again another time with them and have them vaccinated before coming home.

 

[GennyB]

They've been my most durable chicken out of 5 breeds

You know what I think I got breeds mixed up. I saw the 'A' and it was like a shiny distraction for me.
I think it was the other 'A' bird that I was thinking of ....

The Ameraucana

they just weren't hardy despite being from a well known breeder.

I've heard leghorns are flighty and fences don't exist for them.

I haven't found that to be true at all with her. She follows me around like a little duckling. Hubs picked her out because of her laying potential, I mean that's why we have laying hens right? I remember thinking, plain white how boring. WRONG! She's got the most personality and is just down right fun to have around.

 

[Gelcoater]

You guys kinda suck

I try to avoid this thread because on one hand I’d really like some chickens.

On the other hand I need more mouths to feed about as much as I want the Shingles virus again.

Local feed and tack store has chicks on the regular. Saw about 4 dozen the other day picking up dog food.


I don’t think our yard is really large enough for the whole process plus 2 dogs that have some prey drive. And one of them has a real problem with self control.
Millie!

 

[Gelcoater]

Then there’s the neighbors. Lol.
I could probably appease the neighbors to either side of me with some fresh eggs.
The folks behind us..maybe not, lol.

 

[GennyB]

On the other hand I need more mouths to feed about as much as I want the Shingles virus again.

The good news is chickens are cheap to feed.

I don’t think our yard is really large enough for the whole process plus 2 dogs that have some prey drive. And one of them has a real problem with self control.

That's easier to work than you might think. Get the right breed and you might find chickens kicking some doberman butt.
Seriously research some coops with runs, with a little imagination you can put together something safe and inexpensive.

 

[Rits]

You could easily fit 3-4 chickens in that yard. You would get almost two dozen eggs a week. They don't all always lay every day but pretty close to it. Most of those prefab coops only fit 3-4 humanely anyways. Don't follow what the tag says, it's always overcrowded. General rule for a coop is 4sqft per bird and 10-15sqft per bird for their run. You could keep them safe if the coop had a run or you built one yourself. Think enclosed dog kennel with a roof. The dogs wouldn't be able to get to them.

 

[MyBuddy]

^^^^^^ Plus, you don't even have to worry about winter!

 

[JanS]

Local feed and tack store has chicks on the regular. Saw about 4 dozen the other day picking up dog food.

The chicks were picking up dog food? LOL

 

[Ravenbird]

Recent pictures of my chickens - a rogue free-range flock of 16 hens and 1 rooster. Recently getting 8 to 12 eggs per day, As soon as I decided I'd let a broody hatch some eggs there have been no broodies this summer. Go figure. Gretchen, the gold in the 2nd photo is the BEST mom ever. Crossing my fingers for her to go broody soon. Picture of Asha, just to show at 9 months, she is completely trustworthy around the chickens.

 

[Rits]

Beautiful Wyandotte rooster! Gretchen is a big girl! Almost as big as he is lol. I have some big girls too in my flock with sturdy legs like a rooster. Love seeing Asha with the chickens and being respectful and watchful. Paige comes out with us every day to shut the chickens in. She loves going for a romp out back. I had a loose chicken once (they free range but inside an electric fenced area) and the chicken was between me and Paige. I called Paige to me then said "easy" and she put her head down and slowly walked towards the chicken while staring it down. I was proud of her! Made my life easier. Opened the people door to the coop and the hen was GLAD to go inside.

I had a couple rounds of broodies already this year. Broke them in a few days because I didn't have room at the time for anymore with the other boys on one side of the coop. Well, I did re-home the Australorp rooster thats the son of my main rooster and he went to a GREAT home (more on that later). Re-homing him freed up a whole nother side to the coop and extra roosting space. Of course one of the broodies I broke earlier in the season went broody again so I decided to order some hatching eggs cause she was so determined to hatch some of her own. While I waited for the hatching eggs to come in, I gave her her own little private space and she did great for a few days. Then of course she decided she was done! Good thing I tested her and have an incubator for backup.

Eggo my young rooster is now living on a farm with other hens and goats. The lady makes angora socks and hats from the goats wool. She's open to the public for her store and teaches kids stuff about the animals there. She had a rooster but he would attack "little old ladies" from behind so she couldn't have any of that. Eggo has been the best boy and already fitting in so well! I omitted some things to protect people's privacy even though yes its on FB not sure they want to be shared here. But I couldn't be happier for him!! It was weird to re-home him, I felt sad but also glad. Never had to re-home an animal before. I told her if for any reason he didn't work out he still had a home with me. He would just do better having a flock of his own. Seeing him and hearing a week later that he was being great made my heart swell 100x.



Whit is a friend of mine from across the country. She doesn't have chickens of her own but she loves getting "peepdates" as she calls them and asks about her "nieces" and "nephews". I don't think the farm knew that Eggo had such a following!

 

[Ravenbird]

Great rooster story, @Rits! My rooster (Stuart) is sired by a Silver Lace Wyandotte out of a Gold Lace Hen egg, so he's actually half/half. His daddy was mean as a snake and attacked us constantly, so he finally had to go after spending nearly a year trying to re-hab his attacking. I told Stuart I would never give him even a 2nd chance, I'll never spend that kind of time & trouble trying to fix a mean rooster. Too many good ones out there. Stuart turns 3 this year and is good as gold. I decided every rooster I own will be named Stuart, and I will tell them it can easily be changed to Stew, for short.

 

[MyBuddy]

I decided every rooster I own will be named Stuart, and I will tell them it can easily be changed to Stew, for short.

 

[NeuValley]

Since leaving the suburbs to escape HOA over reach and moving back to the country, we gave some Tractor Supply chicks a shot to see how things would go. I set up a small temporary brooder for the 10 Barred Rock chicks.


After a month the chicks were feathered and the overnight Temps were warm enough for them to move outside. A chicken tractor was built with PVC pipe and hardware cloth to keep them safe. It is light enough to easily pull to a fresh spot every day.


After the second month, they were moved to a pasture beside the shop building with a large custom built coop.


We love the chicks so much we also picked up 34 Black Australorps and 3 Black Jersey Giants.

 

[Rits]

@NeuValley Chickens are addicting! We love them so much that we watch them every day as a peaceful end of the day thing. They all have their own personalities and quirks.