Recent content by lutherpug

That is going to be a cool coop when its all done! You'll love the automatic door-I have one and it the best thing we purchased. If it were me, I would cover the existing openings with hardware cloth and do the door as suggested above. As far as additional ventilation, why not just cut some...

Chickens do not need heat in the winter. The vast majority of us do not provide heat and this includes our friends in Michigan, Maine, Minnesota and other places that get much colder than Kansas or Nebraska. My chickens have been out scratching around and begging for treats in temperatures well...

I'm just south of you in Kansas so we have very similar weather. I worry about the hens far more in the summer than I do in the winter. They do winter just fine on their own as long as your coop isn't wet or drafty. They do not need supplemental heat. In the summer I try to provide plenty of...

I used Pour On Ivermectin for Cattle. I administered it directly to his skin at the base of his neck-similar to how you would give Frontline to a dog. I used a 1mL syringe (without the needle) I brought home from work and administered .5mL This was a 12-18 month old salmon favorelles. He...

The last time I integrated youngsters was when I had a much smaller setup than I currently enjoy. What really helped for me was building some vertical escapes out of scrap wood that I had laying around and putting a separate food and water station about 3 1/2 feet off the ground for the new...

I had a rooster with scaly leg mites and I gave him Ivermectin. 2 doses, 1 week apart. He was a new rooster and in quarantine so egg withdrawal wasn't an issue. The challenge I had is that it takes so long for them to look healed that you don't get the satisfaction of knowing whether or not what...

I have a Speckled Sussex about 2 weeks older than yours and it has been an obvious cockerel for several weeks. I think yours is a pullet.

Hybrid breed for egg production. Gold comet, production red, red sexlink, etc.

Interesting discussion....I adopted my first rooster earlier this year. A beautiful 1 year old salmon favorelles. He came from a flock with multiple roosters and I expect he was lower on the social ladder than most of the other roosters. He absolutely terrorized my hens. We gave it a month to...

Yup! This is what I do. With a rooster, youngsters, and ducks here I prefer to only buy one feed. They do just fine on Flock Raiser.

I have 8 healthy 7 week old ducks that need a new home. They are my first ducks and as much as I love them, they're a little too much work for us at the moment. 4 Ancona (2 sexed females, 2 unsexed hatchery extras) 1 female Cayuga 1 female Blue Swedish 2 female Silver Appleyards I would...

Agreed. I scoffed a little at spending $200 on an automatic coop door but I'll never not have one now. Best money we spent on the coop.

You guys made my day! Thanks!

I'm brooding 8 ducklings in my outbuilding currently. They're just over 2 weeks old. I would love to remove their heat plate as it is taking up precious real estate in their brooder. Temps outside are 70's and 80's during the daytime and in the 60's at night. Could I put the heat plate in at...

If you are not free ranging your chickens and have your run enclosed in HW cloth, how would the chickens come in contact with the fence? The electricity would be on the outside. FWIW, I've used poultry netting around my coop and run but am swapping out tomorrow for a 4 strand polywire fence...