Chicken/egg question

[Cindyd]

Yesterday morning I went back to chickens area and all were out loose. Larry left the door open night before. My son's great pyraneese dog (Layla) was out chasing them. I was able to get all back in the run area and one last hen was left out, kept running back into wooded area..the dog kept after her, actually ran her back toward pen...I was able to get in front and Layla behind the hen...she did finally pin the hen down and I was able to pick it up and put it in the run. Lost a few feathers but no harm. Layla has never been turned loose around the chickens, nor trained for this, so wasn't sure what to expect. Nice to know their natural herding instinct, gentle nature proved accurate. She actually helped me run all the chickens back in the run.

My border collies, even though herd dogs, kill the chickens. Amazing difference in breeds.

 

[user 7704]

My Lab is fine around the hen but Leon has never been free around them and chases them up and down the fence so I do not trust him.

He cant roam free since he is a Coon Hound and would run away chasing anything he smells.

 

[Cindyd]

Put eggs in incubator yesterday. Cannot get humidity adjusted within range suggested. I've got vent wide open, reduced water about down to none...the lowest I can get it is 60%. Prior to this it was staying on 65%. It's a beautiful day here today so I opened up the doors, let some breeze blow through house...humidity dropped to the 60% after i opened it up and suctioned some water out of resevoir. Temp is correct, but I'm at a loss on what else to do for humidity. Depending on what I read n where, the recommendations are all over the place. The book w incubator recommends 45- 55% is acceptable. Yes, I let it run several hours prior to adding eggs in. It's humid climate here, and in house, so outside of turning air on and keeping it on, not sure what to do. So far 60% is best I can get.

 

[EastenerWesterner]

Put eggs in incubator yesterday. Cannot get humidity adjusted within range suggested. I've got vent wide open, reduced water about down to none...the lowest I can get it is 60%. Prior to this it was staying on 65%. It's a beautiful day here today so I opened up the doors, let some breeze blow through house...humidity dropped to the 60% after i opened it up and suctioned some water out of resevoir. Temp is correct, but I'm at a loss on what else to do for humidity. Depending on what I read n where, the recommendations are all over the place. The book w incubator recommends 45- 55% is acceptable. Yes, I let it run several hours prior to adding eggs in. It's humid climate here, and in house, so outside of turning air on and keeping it on, not sure what to do. So far 60% is best I can get.

Maybe putting desiccants in? Somewhat controlled environment, you just got to lower the incoming humidity.

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

Yesterday morning I went back to chickens area and all were out loose. Larry left the door open night before. My son's great pyraneese dog (Layla) was out chasing them. I was able to get all back in the run area and one last hen was left out, kept running back into wooded area..the dog kept after her, actually ran her back toward pen...I was able to get in front and Layla behind the hen...she did finally pin the hen down and I was able to pick it up and put it in the run. Lost a few feathers but no harm. Layla has never been turned loose around the chickens, nor trained for this, so wasn't sure what to expect. Nice to know their natural herding instinct, gentle nature proved accurate. She actually helped me run all the chickens back in the run.

My border collies, even though herd dogs, kill the chickens. Amazing difference in breeds.

Good boy helping you round up the hens!! Pyrenees are so wonderful with animals. My sister is getting a Colorado Mountain dog which is a mix between a Pyrenees and something else. She’s thrilled!!

Here is a picture of that type of dog breed. I understand it is a rather new breed.

 

[user 7704]

The Lab I mentioned is actually Pyrenees/ Lab mix. He looks Lab

 

[Cindyd]

She is a great dog!

It's cooling down outside, so humidity dropped to 47 in incubator now..haa! But I had to close the doors in the house, getting too chilly with wind blowing through. Gonna dare larry to turn heat on, it's getting warm enough to do w/o it. But we'll see. I hadn't thought about dessicants! I'm learning a lot about revising and improvising lately! Attached is pic of little child playhouse I ordered for the chicks when they get big enough to put outside (assuming any hatch). No one around here able to build a coop right now. For $250 I actually ordered this. My son put it together in cple hrs or so. I've got small dowels n brackets to put up inside for roosts and replacing the plastic in windows with wire hardware cloth. It's cheap, easy, but I think it will suffice til chicks get old enough to put with the rest. Gonna put up petition far end of run for them. The plastic strip on top popped up..
Little bitty screws came with it...will fix that.

 

[Cindyd]

Oh yeah, I threw in pic of Layla too! Sorry!

 

[user 7704]

When my chicks are big enough they move to the apartment which was a large dog type house with a roof that lifts up. My son in law made it. He had two German Shepherds use it at the same time so it is over 2 times larger than a regular dog house.

I put up temp fence to keep them separated until they can join the flock.

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

Oh yeah, I threw in pic of Layla too! Sorry!

Layla is gorgeous!!! Your son does such great work!

 

[Cindyd]

My incubator is down to 1 day before it stops roosting the eggs...so, hopefully, by Tuesday I will have some chicks hatched. I was Ble to finally get the humidity under control after first few days. I did check them via candling cple days ago...some, I am thinking aren't gonna hatch, but I'm new at this and it was really hard to tell for sure, but I don't think I saw movement in a few of them. If I get one hatched, I'll be over the moon!

The ducks are 4 weeks old today, and I went ahead moved them fully, outside, in new section of the chicken run. They have the new little chick house to go in, and we put the light out there to beam through one of the side windows, since it's supposed to be 45 tonight. They have lots of feathers in, but not fully. Not enough room to run the light inside. We shall see how they do.

 

[GaRp58]

epending on what I read n where, the recommendations are all over the place. The book w incubator recommends 45- 55% is acceptable.

Place a small bowl in with several spoons of salt...that will absorb humidity. Rocksalt if possible.

 

[Cindyd]

BTW, I meant 1 day before stops rotating eggs, not "roosting"

 

[Cindyd]

Got first 2 chicks today! 2 more working their way out!

 

[user 7704]

The hen the predator got was one of my two Star Lighters that lay light green eggs.

 

[Psalm7]

The hen the predator got was one of my two Star Lighters that lay light green eggs.

Something got our last brown leghorn hen . She wouldn't go in the chicken house at night . The Bramahs are more cautious . They put themselves up and stay close to home . Also if something does get in their lot they are more likely to kill and eat it than vice-versa .

 

[Cindyd]

I ended up with 10 chicks hatching. The 2 left, Larry and my son say they've seen them move, but I've yet to. I candled them and still can't see movement and no chirpping from those 2. If they haven't hatched today I'm assuming they are duds and I'm very happy with the hatch rate I got first try. All 10 seem to be doing great so far.

 

[Cisco85]

I've done deep litter in my coops and wanted to do a deep clean but the weather didn't seem to cooperate until today. My chickens went to a temp fence and they were happy for awhile.
Everything came out, mirrors, bells (they like those 2), dirt bath, fans (should have pulled those months before), and all the shavings. I then came in with my shop vac and cleaned up as much as possible. I then brought in my power washer and went to town. I had taken the fans apart, cleaned, and dried them out.
Then I put the coop back together. After that was done I put everything away and then brought the chickens back in to a very very clean coop.
Total time spent 5 hours, yeah. Four tarp loads of debris dragged in back. My primary coop is 8'x8' and their living quarters (condo) is 4 ft off the base. The thought of trying to clean it with a squirt bottle and a scrub brush made me ill.
In the future can I do something to shorten the time spent? I don't know but I'm going to mull it over with a glass or 2 of wine.

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

Not sure I understand your setup, but thoroughly cleaning any coop takes time. We clean our run on a separate day from the coop. The run, I’ve gotten down to 1 1/2 hours by using sand in it and having the entire run covered with a metal roof. The coop takes a good 4 or more hours to clean properly. All the nesting boxes, feeder, waterer, and fan come out and are cleaned. The shavings are shoveled out a wide flip up door along one side into a trailer. Then I spray and use a big brush with a bucket/s of cleaning products. Windex the windows and spray the screens. It does feel great when done though! Oh, and my hubby replaces the roosting perches at that time too. Those just don’t clean well enough for me, so I put new ones in. We clean ours early spring and late fall. Works well for us.

 

[Proud Prepper]

I don't clean everything like the 2 examples above. I shovel the poop. Sweep out the shavinga n straw. Replace with new. Clean the water dispensers with CDS tablets. About 30- 40 minutes.

 

[user 7704]

I use a leaf blower on the rafters to get the cobwebs and occasional wasp nest. I havent done anything this year except keep nest clean and cleaning the poop

 

[Mountain trapper]

Got 1 more day of burning in the chicken run. This run is about 1/4 acre in size.

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

Using a blower for the rafters and our loft sounds like a great idea!! Will give that a try.


This looks like a good way to keep a lot of the bugs our of the garden without the hens destroying your plants.

 

[user 7704]

Using a blower for the rafters and our loft sounds like a great idea!! Will give that a try.


This looks like a good way to keep a lot of the bugs our of the garden without the hens destroying your plants.


View attachment 24614

I made a portable one of these and it was a disaster. Poor construction on my part. My chickens never go over the fence into the garden.

 

[GaRp58]

We will inherit my BIL 12 chickens (1 yr old) when he sells his house after the divorce...ours turned out to be 2 hens and 4 roosters....all 4 roosters will be given to neighbors and we will take his chickens into the flock. We'll have to see how the last 2 get along with the new ladies...

 

[Cindyd]

9 Of my chicks are 10 days old today, 1 is 9 days old...happy to report doing great! Ducks are 1 month and 7 days old, doing great! Appears we have way more male than female ducks.gonna have to get rid of all but 1 male (freezer meat)...I haven't taken time to sex the chicks yet...but will do by end of week.

 

[user 7704]

I decided to let the chickens out to free range all day because it has been a week. 10 minutes later the chickens are crazy and there is Mr. Fox in the back yard. I ran and got gun, but he was gone when I got back.

Now, I'm gonna have to be on high alert which isn't easy when you can't walk.

 

[Cindyd]

Not a chicken, but son put down a duck today. Broke it's leg severely several days ago. No idea how! Was barely getting around, by today other ducks were picking on it terrible. Was suffering pretty bad. Boo! But at least it's out of misery now. They are 7 weeks old now (down to 11 count now).

 

[user 7704]

9 Of my chicks are 10 days old today, 1 is 9 days old...happy to report doing great! Ducks are 1 month and 7 days old, doing great! Appears we have way more male than female ducks.gonna have to get rid of all but 1 male (freezer meat)...I haven't taken time to sex the chicks yet...but will do by end of week.

How do you sex yours when young? I don't know anyone that can.

 

[Cindyd]

Ive given up on that. Videos I've watched show too many different ways. I've been checking wings where they say hens have basically 2 layers with longer and shorter, roo's have even single layer. There several I've watched that show this method: