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[Peanut]

@txcatlady What's this with the sulfur? Haven't heard that in connection with snakes.

I do use golf balls though... I remember as a kid grandpa and I watching a chicken snake that had swallowed an egg climb a fence post then throw itself off a fence post repeatedly to crack the egg. Snakes can't pass a golf ball, causes a terminal case of constipation.

Edit to add... I did a little internet research into the sulfur thing. It's one of several things in chicken lore that is supposed to drive off snakes. I'd never heard of the sulfur thing but have heard that cedar branches or cedar saw dust will ward off snakes. I know cedar doesn't work.

I know people who swear by moth balls in the shrubs or flower beds around your house to ward off snakes. I've also seen mothballs not work.

 

[Peanut]

Night before last I went down to a neighbors house. She'd hatched out several dozen chicks this year and had roosters to spare. I needed a rooster. It had gotten dark and her chicks were the same age as mine.

It was hard to be sure I got a rooster instead of a hen but I think we got it right. His comb is bigger than my little hens, he's a little taller and my 2 old hens treat him differently than they do my young ones. They don't hesitate to exert dominance over the little hens but they leave the young rooster alone.

Anyway, here he is close to the camera with the black arrow.

 

[Peanut]

Its been 125 days since I brought the peeps home. I got my first egg today. I think they were about a week old when I bought them... That makes them 132 days or 18.8 weeks old. It'll be another month before they are all laying regularly. ISA browns will lay an egg every 22 hours at the start.

I need to make them new nest boxes, been mulling designs over in my head. Got to get on that today.

 

[Peanut]

Ha! they weren't done! When I shut the peeps up tonight I checked the nest box. Yet another first time egg. Two of the 12 laid their first eggs today. Beside it is an egg from one of the two old hens.

 

[Peanut]

My old 8 nest laying coop was modular. The top section could be lifted off and be used independently. The bottom section could also be used standalone. Its designed to use the plastic flats soda bottles come in as individual nests. When one gets dirty I simple replace it with a clean one.

I got another first time egg this morning so I had to get busy and rig up a new nesting arrangement. I put it in the sleeping coop. I moved the roosting poles from a V formation into 2 parallel poles and shortened them. The old arrangement was good for 25 or 30 hens. The new arrangement is plenty for the 14 hens and rooster I have now.

I rigged up 3 nest boxes in the top section of the old laying coop. I tie wrapped it to the outer wall of the sleeping coop. Even though it has a roof I added a second roof. It’s the tailgate section of an old bed liner. The angled bedliner will keep them from roosting on top of the nest coop. They can be persistent so I may have to add some chicken wire to the ends to make it roost proof.

Anywho… they now have plenty of fresh nest boxes for laying.

 

[Peanut]

As usual I went down about an hour after dark and shut the door to the coop. The peeps were dozing off on the new roosting pole arrangement. I just noticed tonight the young rooster I got from my neighbor is really starting to look like a rooster. He's second on the left. His comb is really filling out.

 

[joel]

I like Australorps, But would like to try ISA Browns, because they lay 300 eggs a year. One Australorps has layed 364 eggs in a year, but most lay 250-300 eggs a year. After removing stumps & sowing pasture grass, I hope to have a very small
moble chicken coop for 25-50 layers with roll away nest.

 

[Peanut]

@joel ISA Browns are as good as they get... They are a little smaller than a RR and eat a little less but still lay large eggs. The big plus... TSC has them every spring as pre-sexed hens. Every few years I need a few more hens. I just stop at TSC. I don't have to order them, pick them up at the post office... I can just get a dozen after I get groceries on the way home... Don't have to even think about it.

My main coop and laying coop... I built everything modular and moveable, more importantly they are easy to up scale for more hens or down scale for fewer hens. My main pen has a 10ft x 6ft chain link fence panel at a corner with a door entrance. In less than a minute I can open the whole panel and bring in a tractor for lifting the 10ft x 10ft main coop... grading the slope, clearing drainage on the lower side with the front end loader... trimming tree limbs from the bucket. I can service the pen and everything in it with power equipment if I wish.

We had chickens when I was a kid but I don't remember how my grandpa dealt with them. About 10 years ago before getting chickens I talked with several neighbors about their pens and coops. There was one common theme... I wish I had made things for more chickens or less chickens... The number of chickens fluctuate over time. In the last 10yrs I've had as many as 45 and as few as 3. Thats why I made everything scalable either up or down, most importantly, easy to repair or replace with stock materials from the lumber store, no special cutting or odd lengths. The main coop is square... 4-10ftx6ft chain link fence panels, even the roof peak is a 10ft chain link fence pole.

A single plastic tarp roof lasts about a year. If I leave the ratty old tarp in place and cover it with another tarp the new tarp will last over 3 years. I don' have a roof to repair... I just add another tarp when the old one starts leaking. Oh, the roof is covered with chicken wire to support the tarp as well as enclose the gable ends. Everything is stock sizes, easily found anywhere when I need to replace something.

 

[joel]

I want to a space for 50-75 hens, but will start with 25 & add as needed, top out at 50 when some of the older hen slow in laying or go to the chicken coop in the sky.
There is a theory that if a hen live to the fifth year & is still laying, you should put her with a rooster & sit her, because she has strong genes. She still has to be replaced in the laying pool. This theory is like a seed saver in the garden, only for chicken & your chicks will not breed true. You will need to build the best flock you can, so when TSHTF, you will have a the best flock with out new genes.
But that is 6-8 years away, so who know what will happen. By then I may be sleeping in the hen house to keep thing (Snuffy Smith)out of my hen house.

 

[Peanut]

Up to 7 eggs a day average now... 6 of my peeps are laying. Still laying under size eggs but of course the eggs get a little bigger every day.

Thinking of putting my old isa brown hen in the pot. She only lays 1 or 2 eggs a week now, 3+ yrs old.

Also thinking of selling 5 or 6 of my young hens. Money is tight these days. I can't sell a dozen eggs a day which they will be laying in a couple more weeks.

If I could get $15 or $20 each for the hens that would be several months of feed for the rest.

 

[Meerkat]

As usual I went down about an hour after dark and shut the door to the coop. The peeps were dozing off on the new roosting pole arrangement. I just noticed tonight the young rooster I got from my neighbor is really starting to look like a rooster. He's second on the left. His comb is really filling out.

View attachment 46569

He sure is starting to look like a rooster, he stands out.

 

[Peanut]

Ten eggs this morning! I'm already having trouble giving them away.

 

[Peanut]

My first double yoke from the peeps. After raising several clutches of ISA brown hens over the years I’ve noticed something about the eggs they lay.

Their eggs are about 1/2 the size of a normal egg when they first start laying. It takes about 5 weeks for their eggs to reach a normal size.

Between the 6th and 8th week they will sometimes lay a double yoke. Not every hen will lay a double yokes, only about 20 to 30% out of a dozen hens will sometimes lay a one.

If a hen does lay a double yoke she might lay 2 or 3 more over the next 6 weeks. After that, no more double yokes except very rarely… 1 or 2 a year. I’ve noticed double yoke eggs are more rare with RR’s.

What about other breeds? Anyone else noticed a pattern with the hens you raise?

 

[Meerkat]

Twins how cute Peanut!

 

[Peanut]

My egg cartons finally arrived (150). Delivered they were 43 cents each. More than I wanted to pay but that's the prices these days. Last time I bought cartons I got 400 foam cartons at 27 cents each. This time I got paper-pulp cartons w/egg view slits and without printing.

I have only 14 hens but the cartons will come in handy over the next 2 years. I learned back when I had 40 hens that people, no matter how well meaning, lose cartons even if they promise to return them to you when empty. 2) when I needed cartons no one seems to have any. Countless times I drove out of my way, even miles, for 1 or 2 empty cartons. 3) egg consumption by a family varies over time, completely normal. This makes it hard to plan sales.

At the end of the day it's nice to have cartons in reserve when I need them.

 

[Peanut]

I put this in another thread but it belongs here... Chicken snakes, I put golf balls in the next boxes to induce laying. They also kill chicken snakes. The snake swallows the ball but can't pass it.

I've caught lots of chicken snakes in my nest boxes but this is the first time I've seen one in the act of swallowing an egg. I found this one last week.

 

[Peanut]

Haven't posted here in a while... It was wing trimming time tonight. 3 of my hens have been flying out of the pen everyday. So this evening I waited until they went to roost then went to work.

Personally I trim on one wing so the chicken can only fly in a little circle. Sometimes when trimming both wings they'll still get airborne and fly straight over an 8ft fence.

 

[Amish Heart]

Got an incubator full of eggs due Sunday. We'll see what hatches from this new flock. We've got about 40 plus hens, maybe 50. So I'll give these to my cousin. His are getting older and need to meet the freezer fairy.

 

[Peanut]

My chickens have been getting out for a couple of weeks, annoying. A big angus bull got out of the pasture and bent a corner post of the chicken pen. Two sides of the pen were anchored to that metal post. It caused a half dozen places to escape and a low spot to fly over.

I can’t fix that one corner post until I’m ready to fix that section of pasture fence. So, I did temp fixes of these escape routes and trimmed the wings of all the hens.

Yet they got out again yesterday!!! Grrrrr!!! I left them shut up in the coop all day today but let them out for a bit after 6pm. I went back to get a bucket of water (already filled).

By the time I got back 2 hens were out!!! But they were still together by the fence so I knew where to look! There was a little ripple in the wire by the ground that hid a small hole. Fixed! I’ve walked by that spot a dozen times and didn’t see it, just a little ripple in the wire behind a cinderblock.

There was a sapling by the pen I cut last Tuesday that I wanted to make a staff from so I grabbed the chainsaw from the shop. I trimmed off the limbs then cut more brush.

I found a nest! In all the days the hens got out I’d see them around the barn, corral etc. In the evenings when I’d let them back in the pen there was always one more hen than I’d see during the day… Meaning, one hen was getting broody and laying a nest somewhere! She’d sit on it all day then come back to the pen in the evening. I looked for it several times to no avail. When I cut down more brush this evening I almost stepped on it.

 

[Amish Heart]

Four babies hatched so far. Little granddaughter was so excited to see them all when we came back home from dinner at my cousins. More cheeping coming from the incubator, so they'll be more in the morning.

 

[joel]

Everyone says that the profiled flooring is a budget material.

Never used it.

I went to a friends house to get another roaster for the farm, do not know what my brother is doing with them, but they seem happy with his hens.

 

[Peanut]

Maintenance time! My tarp roof wore out, had to put on a new one.

I use a 12x20ft tarp. For a month I monitored to WM's and a low es. No cheap tarps that size. Prices of the crappy tarps they did have was up $10-15 a tarp.

I went shopping on amerzit. Found a tarp the right size and twice as thick, only $25 more than the over priced cheap ones. I'll see how it holds up.

Bad weather coming so today was the day! And it was nice out, 65 degrees.

Dad came down and helped me a little, couldn't do much. 2yrs ago this month doctors told me dad would be dead by April. Two years later he's still trying to do farm work, turned 88 last week.

 

[Bacpacker]

Pop's is lookin good. Bet he was glad to get out and spend sometime with you

 

[Neb]

Maintenance time! My tarp roof wore out, had to put on a new one.

I use a 12x20ft tarp. For a month I monitored to WM's and a low es. No cheap tarps that size. Prices of the crappy tarps they did have was up $10-15 a tarp.

I went shopping on amerzit. Found a tarp the right size and twice as thick, only $25 more than the over priced cheap ones. I'll see how it holds up.

Bad weather coming so today was the day! And it was nice out, 65 degrees.

Dad came down and helped me a little, couldn't do much. 2yrs ago this month doctors told me dad would be dead by April. Two years later he's still trying to do farm work, turned 88 last week.

View attachment 79432View attachment 79433

My father was exempt from from work (as in in force through displacement) so he would run the video camera and share his concerns.

I miss his insight.

Ben

 

[Amish Heart]

You're dad's looking pretty chipper! Mom turned 89 a few months ago. Close in age

 

[Peanut]

Dad still likes to mess with the chickens. When we sold the herd a few years ago I knew dad would be at a loss without critters to see after. I was pretty busy at the time and let him take over the chickens. These days he's not even up for getting the eggs everyday.

I tried to conceal working today on the coop. But he'd come out and rode his lawn mower down to the highway to get the garbage can. He noticed the garden wagon was missing from the shop so he came looking for me.

I use wire from an electric fence spool to tie the tarp grommets to the coop frame. Sort of hard to feed the wire around the coop frame without going around the other side to feed it back... Anyway, dad was able to stand in the coop and help me with the wire and get the tarp secure.


Edit to add... been meaning to check prices of an 8ft roll of chicken wire. I need to rebuild the pen, fence wire is about 10yrs old and badly rusted at the bottom... Time for a new fence.

 

[Patchouli]

You are so fortunate he wants to get out there and help you. He's a fortunate man that he wants to get out there and has a son like you.

 

[Shawn Burkett]

Dad came down and helped me a little, couldn't do much. 2yrs ago this month doctors told me dad would be dead by April. Two years later he's still trying to do farm work, turned 88 last week.

My dad was put in hospice a couple years ago. Since then he's gone back home for the summers and then back to Arizona for the winters. Twice.

I'll be praying for your dad.

 

[Peanut]

It'll be about 3 years before I need to raise another clutch, if I can keep the critters out of the pen... post away with some pics. Lets see what you've come up with.

I quoted myself from apr of 2020. I knew i'd need more chickens this year! Year over year i lose about 3 to 4 hens a yr average. Whether natural causes or one gets out of the pen to become varmint dinner.

I got 5 hens yesterday, isa browns. They've been laying since May so still young. I could have gotten Australorps that hatched in apr, They are just now starting to lay.

Everyone has their preference but... i don't like australorps. I've had them before. They are average layers, gentle. OK as chickens go... but just average. Isa browns will lay every day, superb layers, best i've owned.

Anyway here's my new girls.... Just went down to the pen to check how they are getting along with my old hens... who are being bossy. I guess they are working out the pecking order, so to speak.

Chickens aren't very bright but they do recognize people. They know a stranger and will be shy. Not these... i sat down in the coop and one of my new hens walked over and hopped up on my knee. She sat there a finally started to nod off to sleep. My butt was going to sleep sitting on a board so I cut that short!

 

[Peanut]

Well, my 4 old hens have been sentenced to a night in the box! Went down this morning to see how they were getting along with the young hens. They weren’t!

While in the coop an oldy ran over and attacked a young one. A serious attack, not just a peck. Uh-oh, realized I had a problem. Wasn’t much I could do, no time. Had to get to town for chicken coop parts and a couple other things.

I get back… the old hens had almost killed the one hen that was the morning victim. All the young ones were cowering in a corner. And panting… meaning they hadn’t had water all day. Guess they were too afraid.

So, went and got the dog kennel and put the old ones in it. They can go a night without water or food. Give the youngsters a chance to drink and eat.

Now I have to build a temp pen by the coop… give them more space during the day. I can’t build permanently until I know where the corral is going to be.