oohhh great thread! We have 23 chooks, did have a duck but a nasty fox got her but she will be replaced soon, we are also getting geese and a turkey or 2. The joys of living on a farm lol
OK so I have discovered that the bloodied poop is something called Coccidiosis or something we have put some medication into their water, hopefully they will drink it.
I want to build a permanent chicken coop somthing that can house a few birds ....... any ideas? has anyoen got that book "building chicken coops for dummies"
Nae, that's what I was going to say the cocci thing, however it could also be worms - have they been wormed? You should worm every 3 months, and 2 weeks after the first time iygwim.
I have a great forum, which is not for profit with loads of info with all things chooky related that I used heaps when I was new to keeping chookies. It is called back yard poultry dot com if you are interested.
I currently have 1 rooster (George who was initially Mildred and was not meant to be a boy), 1 light sussex Bessie, 1 Coronation sussex Lizzy, 1 buff sussex Buffy and 4 cross breed girls, Mrs Sloakham (who is what they call blue in colour), Betty, Francis (who when I first got her always hid in the corner haha) and Gladys.
The sussex girls I hatched under one of my other girls who was broody year before last, I have also hatched 2 other broods of chicks who moved to new homes.
Chicken keeping is lots of fun and can be addictive!!
yay!! We are in the throes of getting chickens.
My DH is building a coup, have the holes dug already for the foundations. We will be getting 3 chickens, hopefully Australorps.
I can't wait!
I have just purchased Alanna Moore-Backyard Poultry Naturally. It has great tips on building coups and different breeds and keeping them.
Nae, once DH has built ours, I will post pictures up on FB, he has been very thorough with his design.
I have joined a forum called backyardchickens which I think is a USA thing but there are some excellent resources on there and its lead me to find a design in coop that I am REALLY interested in. Its a huge coop and the smallest I believe it should be made is something like 8'x12'.
Its the Woods design. I love it!! big and open and airy ... lots and lots and LOTS of fresh air for the birds which makes perfect sense.
It has two open windows at the front which NEVER closes so that allows plenty of fresh air in the coop all year round. Positioned correctly, then there would be little weather problems too.
Looking at the old coop here ont he farm I believe it would also be considered and "open air/fresh air coop" what a shame FIL keeps all his nuts and bolts in there its perfect.
The book was written in the 1920's and everything that I had read so far (thank you amazon) makes good logical sense. the people on the forums who use this design (while incredibly enthusiastic) have SNOW in their yards and all over the coop and the birds still seem to be happy and healthy.
OK so it won't be for all species of birds but if you think about it logically, Mother nature has provided the birds with the right equipment - feathers and downy feathers ...I sleep under a down doona and its so snuggly and warm ... the birds can and will sleep happily in trees too so an open air coop really (in my mind at least) makes good sense rather than the danky dark box they are currently in.
I am also looking into the deep litter method and using sand and woodshavings.
Its part of the grand scale plan but DH supports it providing I do most of not all of the hard work
first step - buy book - CHECK
Second step - Find corner post underneath 30 years of Ivy growth - FUN (not)
we have put some medication into their water, hopefully they will drink it.
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