Recent content by claudiabostic

I've been feeding my flock grower feed for 2 years now with no problems. The laying hens get a couple kinds of calcium supplements which the roosters ignore other than tidbitting them to the hens. Chicks get a starter feed for about 3 weeks and then transition to grower. It makes it much simpler...

I have roost bars both ways in some coops and the 2x4s with the skinny side up are the favorites. I've read that the 1.5 inches is just about perfect size for an adult chicken to grasp. I sand down the corners so they're a little rounded and put on a couple coats of paste wax or finishing wax...

When I first got chickens I only had hens and I fed them organic layer. When I got roosters I switched everybody to organic grower with oyster shell on the side, and I've fed them that way for about 2 years now. The molts are much shorter and the chickens are not nearly as miserable when molting.

I have plenty of roost space and still sometimes one will elect to sleep on the floor. As long as there isn't a draft it shouldn't be a problem. If the only available roost space would put a hen next to her enemy or next to a much higher dominance hen, then she won't want to stay there.

I'm thinking your coop needs more ventilation. My coldest winter temps are -5 F and the entire top 6 inches of my main coop under the roof is open and covered with hardware cloth. The area right beside where the chickens are on the roost is solid siding, but areas above and below that have...

Seems to me this is your alpha hen, top of the pecking order and she is trying to put you below her in the order. If you screech and back away when she does this, it makes her higher in dominance and you lower. You will have to dominate her, be pushy and crowd her, stare at her fixedly and don't...

If your temps have been well under 90, then I'd be more worried about the 90 degree day than the under 20. Sudden heat can kill more readily than sudden cold.

Probably an accident. Just keep an eye on the others to see if they are acting normally. As far as egg binding goes, lack of calcium is the usual cause. Do your hens have oyster shell to eat and are they actually eating it? I find mine eat more of it if I scatter it on the ground.

Since the heat plate only heats the area under it and not the entire brooder it's easy for the chicks to move away from it if they are too warm. I don't set it by thermometer, but by how warm it feels to my hand and by the chicks behavior. At first they spend a lot of time under it but after 2...

Your light timer should shut off the lights before it gets dark. If the coop lights are on and It's dark outside then the light will go off suddenly which can frighten the chickens. Best to have the artificial lights go off early in the evening so they get the natural twilight. It's ok to have...

Up until they are fully covered with actual feathers not down, which usually happens at about 6 weeks, chicks need extra heat consistently about 90 degrees. They also need to be able to get away from the heat if they need to cool down. I really love the heat plates, I've raised several batches...

Our typical July and August from half to 3/4 of the days are over 90 and high humidity is not unusual. The chickens adjust pretty well although they don't lay a lot. They stay in the shade in the heat of the day and dig down into the damp soil to cool off. Before this year, I've lost maybe one...

I have no interest in selling heaters of any brand. I just don't like to see a useful tool rejected completely.

Steady cold is not bad for chickens as long as they are not in a draft and they have plenty to eat. What a lot of commenters miss is how harmful temperature swings can be, especially if it goes back and forth between needing to heat up and needing to cool down. Depending on where in NC you are...

I've been using cozy coop heaters for several years. But not all the time. I use them to even out the changes in temp a bit. We can go from 80 or 90 degrees F for the high to 30 degrees F for the low in a couple of days. Or the other way around. The chickens don't get a chance to get used to the...