Recent content by enrgizerbunny

I was finally able to look at her wounds yesterday and no I do not have any photos. Without trimming any feathers they look superficial with the top being worse than the one on her neck. The bird missing her tail feathers doesn't appear to have any open wounds just some irritated sin on her...

Recently I had a fox show up in broad daylight (twice) and carry off 6 birds, and I suspect a neighborhood dog was later involved with one that was missing hey tail feathers and a body in the yard. I do not think the dog was trying to kill them, but I don't hold it against him, he's still a...

They're supposed to lay blue eggs. Should be easy enough to tell unless you've got other breeds that lay funky colors.

The chicken standing front and center on the first picture looks exactly like my cream legbars.

Almost everything made of rubber that comes from China is high in lead.

Your local extension agent may also be a valuable resource to finding out the regulations, and may be even where the paperwork is. Having a tractor in some ways reduces your run requirement. If you build the coop elevated with run underneath, you could have a separate frame for the run. I’d...

Build with maintenance in mind. I designed around minimum daily maintenance. Just feeding daily. Nipple waterers are less mess. Think about your winter water. Will you have power for a heater or are you committing to changing water daily? I've found feeding your birds daily is a good way to...

Unpopular opinion: If your heat source is sufficient they'll be fine. I have 12 chicks that I got at 2-3 days old (2 batches a week apart) and I never brought them inside. I had lows down to 30 degrees and they've all been fine. They were in coop free of drafts with a heat lamp that had a 150W...

As far as I know, if they aren't huddling together or under the heat source they're comfortable with the temperature they're at. And the opposite being true, that constantly huddling chicks are too cold. Is this correct? I have a 100W ceramic emitter in a heat lamp pretty low in the "brooder"...

Had to snake proof this threshold before they get active. There was a 1" gap because of how the doors are mounted.

First time I've caught them exploring. Forgot to plug the heat lamp back in last night, but they weren't even huddling this morning (overnight low was in the upper 30s). Tail and wing feathers are coming in. They seem to be doing fine, but I've never raised chicks before so I don't know if this...

At a week old they're already starting to get some feathers. Here's a picture of the final configuration. They're up and moving when it's warm out. The 100w heat bulb will be swapped for a 250 so that the lamp can be raised to accommodate another 6 chicks.

Sounds like Goochland has standards very similar to Chesterfield/Henrico.

Picked up half the chicks yesterday. I have the coop divided for them and they're currently in a box that has a "door" that allows free exploration of the area when they get a little older and adventurous. Right now they're huddling under the heat for the most part, but they get out for food and...