Chickens ?????

[jeffinsgf]

...They are about 12 weeks old, which means they should start laying in about a month or so...

Closer to two months. 18 to 20 weeks is the early side of normal.

 

[BobsMassey]

well here it is the coop and pen, the coop made from old pallets from work, and well the chickens seem to like it !

 

[Clint S]

Coop looks good. We just got a call from a lady up the road that has too many chicks and she is going to drop off 20 chicks tomorrow she said they are a few weeks old. She does not have the space we were down to 3. Best thing is FREE. Hens will lay and the roosters will go in the freezer

 

[BobsMassey]

Coop looks good. We just got a call from a lady up the road that has too many chicks and she is going to drop off 20 chicks tomorrow she said they are a few weeks old. She does not have the space we were down to 3. Best thing is FREE. Hens will lay and the roosters will go in the freezer

. THANKS !!!! The rolled roof and door hardware is all it cost me to make, some screws and nails !!
If any of our 6 turn out to be roosters they will be in the freezer too !!

 

[Clint S]

We are going to break down and have the Amish build us a coop on skids that we will tow around the pasture and then up to next to the house in the winter. All of our chickens are free range so no fences. Most we have ever had was 5 or 6 so it will be an adventure if most of these live.

 

[BobsMassey]

This is our 1st time, we want the grand kids to get a feel for it ! They live with us along with there older sister and mom, she just got out of her marriage (dad is a drunk!) not fair to the kids at all !!

 

[Clint S]

Cool, nothing like waking up to a rooster crowing. We had them as kids and have had a few for the last couple of years. They really keep the bugs down when they are roaming. My brother raises them organically so he helps us out when we have issues, but he lives 3 hours away or he would be my source for chicks. He says he can get up to $30 per chicken (butchered) and all the eggs he can sell at $3.50 a dozen, if he NY city folks come up for the market. He free ranges his also so he has next to nothing for a feed bill in the summer.

 

[BobsMassey]

Cool, nothing like waking up to a rooster crowing. We had them as kids and have had a few for the last couple of years. They really keep the bugs down when they are roaming. My brother raises them organically so he helps us out when we have issues, but he lives 3 hours away or he would be my source for chicks. He says he can get up to $30 per chicken (butchered) and all the eggs he can sell at $3.50 a dozen, if he NY city folks come up for the market. He free ranges his also so he has next to nothing for a feed bill in the summer.

that's awesome ! The grand kids are 11and 7 they have fun! It's up to the 11 yo to really take care of them !

 

[dave1949]

For the grandkids, it would be great to get some broody hens that will set and hatch eggs. Some of the modern crosses don't do that very well apparently.

Let your chickens free range if you can, they will use up every blade of grass in the pen quickly. If you keep them in the coop/pen for awhile, they learn that's where home is and will come back at dusk on their own, then you close them up for the night.

When the hens are old enough to lay, you may have to confine them for a while to train them to use the nest boxes. IIRC my chickens did most of their egg laying at night anyways. They were free range, so I don't know if they waited until they were back to the nest box or what exactly was going on in their chicken heads. I seldom found eggs in the yard, if ever.

Some roosters get feisty when you get near their hens. No real danger, but you may have to teach the kids how to deal with it.

 

[GLyford]

We ran electric around the bottom of ours about 6" up, and nothing's dug/broken in so far. We did loose one to a hawk, so now there's deer netting over our pen. They're persistent, can't leave much of a gap.

 

[BobsMassey]

We ran electric around the bottom of ours about 6" up, and nothing's dug/broken in so far. We did loose one to a hawk, so now there's deer netting over our pen. They're persistent, can't leave much of a gap.

That seems to be the only real thing that can be bad at the moment, I thought about electric !!! It would be funny to watch a critter try and get thru that !!!

 

[6011Artist]

The coop is outside the bedroom window. Hmmmmm

When that rooster starts crowin' on Sunday morning when you're trying to catch 40 more winks, his days will be numbered and that freezer will be his new coop.

 

[BobsMassey]

The coop is outside the bedroom window. Hmmmmm

When that rooster starts crowin' on Sunday morning when you're trying to catch 40 more winks, his days will be numbered and that freezer will be his new coop.

Ha ha ha !!! Yeah he'll wish he slept in !!!