ALABAMA!!

[ohb]

Hey Wisher

I agree, this is where we have our roots.
I really committed to this thread when I participated in the Easter Hatch A Long. I had dropped in every now and then, but didn't really use BYC much except for research and occasional questions. Even though I had been raising chickens for a while, just didn't feel like I could contribute much except encouragement here and there on various forums.

But, when it got time for those eggs to go into lockdown, I thought I better find something to do with my hands and mind than fool with that incubator!

So nervous, anxious, excited. . .

Then I saw where Razadia was on the hatch a long, and from AL. I decided to read up on the posting and get an idea of other local folks and points of interest and concerns. Well, then I made it a point to stay in touch. Many folks with ideas/answers/recommendations for coops, treatment/protection/predator/safety issues for chickens, feeding, worming, etc. were posting from a central or northern point of view.

Here in the South, those issues and recommendations can or need to be done a little differently due to our weather (humidity/heat/rain/hurricanes/tornadoes/our winters, etc). I found other BYC members in FL, MS, LA, TX who were more in line with what we deal with here in AL. So, I'm learning from the majority of BYC posters, but making sure I remember to make it applicable to AL. (Especially worming protocols)

Thank you and others for your committment to this thread over the years and hope it continues to grow. Love knowing there are folks around AL that I can touch base with every now and then and just say, Hello. . .

Oh, and by the way, coming from Fairhope, AL via Valley/Lanett AL, I am Orange, through and Blue!!

Welcome. The thing I'm trying to prepare for this week is the heat that's coming. This morning I cut four more 12x12 holes in the back of the coop to aid in cross-ventilation. I stapled hardware cloth over the openings and the holes are 5 1/2 feet off the ground. Hopefully, that's too high for any night critters to bother with. Pretty soon I'll have to secure the dog kennel that serves as my run. I want to tie the chain link fence to the bottom cross bars with some bailing wire. With 29 birds now I may have to expand the run to give them room to meander around. Evry season has it's own set of chicken chores.

 

[chirpingcricket]

Orange and blue! War eagle!

Yoohoo! Me and you, that makes 2!!!

 

[chirpingcricket]

Welcome. The thing I'm trying to prepare for this week is the heat that's coming. This morning I cut four more 12x12 holes in the back of the coop to aid in cross-ventilation. I stapled hardware cloth over the openings and the holes are 5 1/2 feet off the ground. Hopefully, that's too high for any night critters to bother with. Pretty soon I'll have to secure the dog kennel that serves as my run. I want to tie the chain link fence to the bottom cross bars with some bailing wire. With 29 birds now I may have to expand the run to give them room to meander around. Evry season has it's own set of chicken chores.

So true, so true.
Between securing the top of the coops/run from hawks and 'opossum and the underneath/bottom from coons, seems endless. Also secure doors/windows/locks.
We mostly have open air for sides (fenced with chicken wire and lots of hardware cloth. Use tarps or wood panels for sides due to inclimate weather. Tin roofs. Everything under trees as much as possible for shading. Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation here on the Gulf Coast due to heat and humidity.
Last year even had to put a big circulating fan in the coop area to move the air around, between the pens, just so I could tolerate working out there with the birds etc.

 

[Jeanna Marie]

Question... does anyone here use open air coops. As in no solid walls...just a wire fencing sort of pen with roosts and nest boxes with a roof of some sort. I ask because I saw a pic of one on another forum and I think my birds would like it in the summer.

 

[chirpingcricket]

Question... does anyone here use open air coops. As in no solid walls...just a wire fencing sort of pen with roosts and nest boxes with a roof of some sort. I ask because I saw a pic of one on another forum and I think my birds would like it in the summer.

Hey, see my posts above. I do.

 

[chickadoodles]

Welcome. The thing I'm trying to prepare for this week is the heat that's coming. This morning I cut four more 12x12 holes in the back of the coop to aid in cross-ventilation. I stapled hardware cloth over the openings and the holes are 5 1/2 feet off the ground. Hopefully, that's too high for any night critters to bother with. Pretty soon I'll have to secure the dog kennel that serves as my run. I want to tie the chain link fence to the bottom cross bars with some bailing wire. With 29 birds now I may have to expand the run to give them room to meander around. Evry season has it's own set of chicken chores.

Hi ohb, I just saw that you are from Hope Hull. I lived in Fleta and Pintlala for ever! I loved it out there. Now I live in Perry Co.
I am building my first chicken coop and hope to have it done this weekend to get my chicks in it!

 

[chirpingcricket]

Question... does anyone here use open air coops. As in no solid walls...just a wire fencing sort of pen with roosts and nest boxes with a roof of some sort. I ask because I saw a pic of one on another forum and I think my birds would like it in the summer.

I'm going to see if I can upload a few pics, may take a little while. They are not fancy, just functional.

 

[guarinogardener]

Okay, so I have question regarding worming here in the South...How and When? I've already COMPLETELY creeped out

by the mite/lice reading I did when the no-see-ums started to come out and I wasn't sure if the chickens had mites or I had no-see-ums ( I know, DUH, right? ) Parasites just make me want to take a boiling bleach bath when I think about them too much so...would REALLY like to avoid them if possible (ok and I want my babies nice and healthy too!)

 

[Jeanna Marie]

Hey, see my posts above.  I do.

Your post is what prompted me to ask. Do u have pictures? I'm not sure of the specs on building open air coops.

 

[chirpingcricket]

Your post is what prompted me to ask. Do u have pictures? I'm not sure of the specs on building open air coops.

Working on that, get them posted asap.