What Are Your Plans For 2021?

[Wolfie2]

Retirement! Officially starts 1/1/21 but I have been on vacation since 12/9/20. I have tons of stuff on my To-Do list and Mrs Lobo has her own list. The only thing chicken related on my list is to rehab the run. I rebuilt it earlier this year predator, proof, now have a list of refinements I want to do. Wish me luck!

 

[eaking]

Trying to forget 2020.

 

[featherhead007]

I too, will attempt to recover from 2020!

 

[Konokou]

I have a lot planned. Most important will be finishing the duck coop's run and getting the Cemani coop converted and run built asap. Then there's extending the main coop and adding new roosting bars, extending the main coop's run both out and up, converting an old coop into a tool shed, building a feed storage box, finish the duck pond, build a new door for the chicken church, etc etc... I'm sure the list will only grow from there haha

 

[briteday]

I only have a few more years to work (I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!) and we are now permanently working from home. So now that I can be here all day I have decided to re-start my chicken addiction, um hobby, now rather than wait until I retire officially.

I stopped doing the chickens because the wooden coop had become a never ending maintenance and cleaning issue. Going out to the coop multiple times a day is sometimes not doable around here and having someone else do that if we wanted to go on vacation (remember how we all traveled pre-COVID?) was a problem. I don't mind going out in the morning to collect eggs, feed/water, check on the girls and I can usually get someone to do that if we are not home. But the opening and closing the doors is the difficult part for us and also if we want to go out of town.

So this time we are opting for a pre-fab coop with a solar self-closing door. I'm opting for layers of protection having had losses in the past, mainly from coyotes and raccoons. Hawks are also a common predator here. So I will be going back to the chain link panels lined with hardware cloth that I saved when we tore the chicken shed down. We are downsizing the run so I'll be able to cover the run with chain link panels overhead as well. The self-closing door will solve the morning/night problem.

Older and wiser, I will choose the right breed for us, set up a reasonably easy brooder in the garage and be prepared ahead of time for the day when they need to move outside. The coop is ready now, just waiting for the right time to order the chicks after the first of the year. I have all of the feeders and nipple buckets that have worked for us in the past.

 

[wolfinator]

All my chickens from 2019 and back all share 1 coop now but I'm not happy with my roosting set up. So after the cold weather is over and they're spending time mostly outside, I'm redoing roosting bars. I just redid all their nesting boxes using cat litter buckets my daughter gives me.

I also bought 16 chicks back in August/Sept and only 6 are pullets. That left me with 10 cockerels. I've managed to only rehome 3 and had to put 1 down (badly injured). I also got 4 guineas and so far my bad luck still is over me. It seems I only have 1 hen so far. These 2020 chickens and guineas are all housed in a second coop away from my main flock currently. I'm keeping only 1 of the cockerels, the rest have to be rehomed.

 

[BDutch]

Over 6 months. At the beginning of summer (26June) when all the older persons in our family are vaccinated we wil have a family midsummer party. (And eat chicken eggs and other wonderful things).

 

[leslielbk]

I'm still planning on getting 6 more chickens next spring but winter always gets me so depressed and now I'm doubting myself. I started work on a coop and lost motivation completely...it's only when I come on here that I feel a spark of interest again My main problem is that I would like to get bantams but I'm pretty sure my other customers wouldn't buy the eggs...so I'd have a freeloading flock and I'm not sure I have finances to do that.

No! Don't quit! Write down your goals and review them And how realistic they are and tweak the list. Don't overdo it because that can be discouraging too. Do what you want that will be fun for you. Bantom eggs don't sell so forget those. They're cute to have running around though. Don't overthink it. You'll get lost in the dust bunnies. I know from experience . Have some fun and take a gander at some of the different breeds. Try something new. That's what I did last time. I've enjoyed that experience very much and found a few breeds I really like. I'm trying to be encouraging so if you sit down and get out a catalog or to get online write down some fun things you want to do it'll help you get through to spring. There will even be some things that you can do during winter to get ready.

 

[BDutch]

Eggs from small bantams can sell as a gag / for easter.. The price of ½ an egg should work. Bantams eat ½ the food and much smaller coops too.
Don’t try to sell a much of them.

 

[ackie]

I have all the plans haha.

Upgrade water to be more hands-off (currently gravity waterers).
Fix my hanging feeders.
Actually predator-proof things that currently arent.
Add WTB and WTG to flock.
Figure out some type of breeding pen situation so I dont hatch mixed eggs.
ACTUALLY HAVE PEACHICKS THIS YEAR OMG. I hatched 0 last year and had to buy some haha.
Continue dreaming of other bird species that I will never get & also a dairy cow that I definitely will never get.
Put a new roof on brooder.
Clean out the storage pen so that it can be a chicken pen again.

Solid maybes:
Add more run to side coop.
Upgrade main coop to allow in more sunlight and have an attached run.
Build a new coop for the WTG/WTB.