Help with chickens....

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

I bought 32 newborn chicks from rural king. I have kept them in the shed in a tub with heat lamps for last 7 weeks. They are buffs and bantams. The buffs are at least 7 inches tall or better. bantams maybe 5 inches. Here in west TN its suppoesed to stay 65+ during day and 50+ at night. I built a 10x10 completley closed in coop covered with tin and a 10x20 attached wire run. Are they old enough to go out now without heat lamps? I also covered coop floor with straw. Thanks

[RichardR]

Yea they should be fine as long as it doesn't drop below freezing.

[UncleJak]

We had chicks out at earlier ages than that before.  Like Richard said, as long as it is not freezing they should be good.  Chickens are awesome!

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

as long as they have their new feathers and they are out of the rain,wind ,freeze,snow,and sun they will be alright.They will snuggle and stay warm

we had chickens and guineas and turkeys,,

get some sevin dust..you will need it.

.Poli-visol(without IRON) at walmart..good to have on hand

dewormer is a good idea .just cant the eggs for awhile.

If you have all layers..get some extra calcium additive and mix in with scratch if you do not freerange them.Eggs can suffer if they do not get enough calcium.

be prepared  for some eggbound chickens..it will happen..

There is a great forum called Backyardchickens.com..Good idea to get info there..LOTS of people who know a boatload of info and are very helpful for a new chicken daddy..

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

Thanks for all the help. They will be free ranging. What is "cant the eggs" and "eggbound" mean. Thanks

[vontar]

I believe that is can't eat the eggs for a while after worming them.

 

Eggbound, I believe is when a chicken doesn't hatch.  I believe you are past that step. 

 

I haven't been part of raising chickens since I was a kid, so I am out of the loop on detailed care.

Edited April 15, 2013 by vontar

[RichardR]

Egg bound is when a hen has an egg "stuck" in her, best way to deal with this is to calmly put her on your lap, pet her like a kitten til she relaxes enough to start "purrring" then gently message her belly, slowly & gently moving the lump/egg into the correct position (small end of egg facing toward rear).

The trick is to keep the chicken relaxed & calm and eventually she'll lay that egg right in your hand while you're petting her.

The alternatives are take her to a vet or butcher her for supper. Edited April 16, 2013 by RichardR

[swim615]

I had a sick chicken with bumble foot and I could not find a vet in my area that would treat a chicken.

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

Sorry about the "typos"

As RichardR explained it..He is right :)

 

Bumblefoot can easly be doctored yourself..go on youtube and watch the videos to help the foot...

 

it looks bad but wiht the right antibiotics ,it will go away.

[swim615]

We finally did. She is still alive 2 years later but lost a toe on one foot.

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

Thanks everyone. My chicken coop "playboy mansion" will be finished tomorrow. Had a friend of mine design and build it. He is an older guy and an engineer. I asked him to build a coop (i was looking for an on ground 8x8 box lol), and now I have a closed in 12x12 coop with boxes and roosts with telephone poles set 2 ft in ground, and a 6 foot high and 12 ft by 28ft run. I was just looking for a box lol. He is an overbuilder ;) . But we are preppers and share so he wanted the hens happy. I figure that will be enough room as we let them free range during the day lol. Pics to come. Out of the 32 we bought as chicks I lost one early on. The rest are spunky and growing FAST and eating A LOT!

Edited April 17, 2013 by Southern Christian Armed

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

Now looking for advice on finding a hen to sit and hatch chicks. We have black austerlops, buffs, a few reds, and some bantams. I am pretty sure i have a bantam rooster and a buff rooster.

[RichardR]

You going to cull both the roo's? or just one?

You can never have too large a coop or too large a run, the more space they have the less stress they'll have, especially if you end up with a real fiesty roo or a real aggressive hen (hence the term "pecking order").

Anyway hens either will or they won't sit still long enough in order to hatch out a clutch of eggs, its really hard to say until it actually happens, some breeds are more broody than others & some hens are more broody (on an individual level) than others, no telling for certain which is why most folks use incubators.

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

"You going to cull both the roo's? or just one?"

 

HUH :shrug:

Edited April 17, 2013 by Southern Christian Armed

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

Also, I plan on putting them out tomorrow afternoon. I have cut the light off in the shed for the last few days to adjust them to temparatures but it has stayed 60+ at night. It is supposed to get 38 this weekend. I am putting straw and shavings for beds in the new coop outside. Coop is completely closed in on all sides but is outside with no heat. Majority are buffs and are 8-11 inches tall and 8 weeks old, but some are 4-7 inch tall bantams.Will they live?

Edited April 17, 2013 by Southern Christian Armed

[RichardR]

Cull = remove from the flock, if you don't cull one or both of them the larger buff rooster will eventually kill the smaller bantam roo.

Anyway yea they should be fine, but if you are that worried run an extention cord out to the coop & run your heat-lamp on really cold nights.

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

Thanks RichardR. I will cull one. Probably best to cull the bantam roo. ( this might sound stupid, but can any rooster fertilize any bread hen? or can they only fertilize their bread?) As I was thinking about getting a road island red roo. Is one roo enough for 29 hens? Or will it be ok with a RIR roo and a Buff roo as they are close in size. Thank you for all your help.

 

Also, I have had them under 250 watt lights. I would have to run 120ft of cord to coop. I am not sure it will hold 250 watt bulb without tripping breaker. Will lamp with maybe a 90 watt bulb produce enough heat for these few days while its cold? Again thanks for all your advice.

[RichardR]

Well a rooster will mount just about anything with feathers on it, so he'll certainly try to.

Most "bantam" breeds are not actually true bantams, they are standerd breeds that have been selectively bred over time to shrink them down, so those yea probably not going to be a problem since the genetics are the same as larger versions.

There are a handful of "true bantams" that the question becomes more murky with & I honestly do not know if they can be successfully interbred with standerd size breeds or not.

I know that this piece of advice is a bit late but I usually do not recommend keeping both standerd sized breeds & bantam breeds together, the much smaller bantams will undoubtedly be picked on & bullied by the larger birds, thankfully though you have a nice large coop & run, where they will have plenty of space to run/escape if need be.

And yes 1 roo for 29 hens is just fine, in fact that's a great ratio, the more hens you have per roo the better as roo's are horrid evil little sexual predators who often can & will "@#$%" a small number of hens literally to death, I kid you not.

Roo's are also extremely annoying, they never stop making noise, from sun up to sun down the little @#$%^'erds never shut-up and they are also just down-right mean, always stand your ground when dealing with an aggressive roo, never back down even if they dig their spurs in you hard enough that they draw blood.

If you back down their behavior will get twice as bad/aggressive & you'll have no choice but to cull them, so don't be afraid to smack them with a broom, kick them, whatever it takes to make them back off.

I personally take a more "hands on" approach which works really well but it is also a very good way to get yourself hurt if you don't know what your doing, so a thick long-sleeved jacket & gloves is mandatory until you get comfortable doing it.

Basically I will grab the roo, one hand holds their feet together & I raise their feet up toward the sky, the other hand holds their head down towards the ground, while I cradle their body (hold their wings against me) sort of like a baby in the crook of my arm.

I hold them like that until they relax/relent/submit then I turn them back upright and toss them a few feet away from me so I don't get spurred or pecked while letting them go.

Anyway yea 90 watt bulb would be fine, doubt you'd need it though, chickens huddle together for warmth & as long as its above freezing & there is no chance of frostbite on their featherless feet/colmbs they are old enough that they'll be fine.

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

Thanks for everyones help. I have never had problems with predators when we had chickens before as my dogs kept them away. Below is what I built them (excuse my son goofing off and looking crazy). Right now its only closed in on three sides and roof. Will that do them without a light when it gets down to 40 degrees this friday night? Plus i laid a bunch of straw down for them. My only issue now is my sons new border collie is trying to dig under the pen. She is going next.
 

 

 

Edited April 18, 2013 by Southern Christian Armed