What he said!

My coop is large and likely one of the most expensive around! We spared no expense, to critter proof the entire thing. The nesting area and roost are in the same "room" but on different sides. The nesting area is closest to the door, which is an open doorway, no actual door. The roost is on the back side of the room and totally enclosed. The wall on the front of this room does not go all the way to the top, we left a few inches for venting. I have electricity in there, so heating can be available if the need arises also, for light!

I have two different areas of the run, with one partially covered where I have the food, food cans and some water. Water is spread throughout the run and the nesting area. My only regret is that I did not cover more of the run area. When we have heavy rains, that run becomes treacherous for walking. I have busted my arse more than once slipping and slidding in the muck.

We've never had a breach by critters and I know several have tried. My neighbor had coons or something get in her coop a while back and they killed all her chickens - it was a bloody mess.

One of the hardest critters to get rid of is a dang chicken snake. They will get your eggs and your chicks, and are sometimes hard to get. Last one I had was eating eggs faster than I could pick them up. I ended up taking a couple of eggs and putting a small hole in the end and loading it up with big quilting pins and putting them back in the nest. It took a few days, but it killed that sucker.

GENIUS! Diabolical, but genius!

I have Marans, olive eggers, austrlops(sp?), Americanas. As you can tell I like the colored egg chickens.

I have 3 RIRs. Just added a Delaware, a Black Star and an Easter Egger to the flock.

One of my chickens has a wound on her leg(ankle area). I was treating it with neosporin and it was getting better. Today I go out there and she is laying on the ground. When I get her up she is covered in blood. I take her in, gave her a bath, doctored up the wound with neosporin and bandaged it up. Hopefully it will heal up. I assume something happened and the other one started pecking at it and once it started bleeding, it was game on

If there is a bloody spot they won't leave it alone. I've seen chickens that they pecked to death.

I have 7 amberlink and 7 golden comets I bought as chicks last year. They are laying good. I went to TSC the other day and came home with 17 more chicks. I got a mixture of leghorn, golden comet, amberlink, black star, barred rock, and a silkie for my wife just because they're different.

Yep. If one has a wound, the rest will home in on it like lasers. They're descended from velociraptors, so...

keep her seperate till it heals completely

Any suggestions on where to find young adult hens in thr Birmingham/Tuscaloosa area? Only need 4. I have a post on a chicken group on Facebook, but nothing close enough yet. Seems like Thrashers in Woodstock had critters one Saturday a month if I recall correctly.

The Thrashers events are not every month, maybe 5-6 a year

The wife and kids got to watch their 1st dust-bath today. Completely entertained. How many hens do you think could roost in a 5×8 coop? Got 6 now, and they free range daylight to dark.

I just ordered 7 Calico Princess pullets, 7 Sapphire Gem pullets and 1 Sapphire Gem rooster from Hoover's Hatchery in Iowa. They will arrive this coming Thursday.

Both are new breeds that was developed in the Chezk Republic.

Hens of both breeds weigh 4 pounds at adulthood, roosters weigh 5 pounds.

Both breeds are brown egg layers.

Can't wait till they get here.

Did your chicks come? Also, did they clip their beaks? Thanks.

Yes, Maggie, I picked them up at the PO that Thursday, 4/19/2018.

Had them here a week this past Thursday.

Have not lost a single chick.

They are doing great.

I have 16 chicks as they sent me an extra free "mystery" chick of an unknown breed to me.

I only want 10 hens and a rooster so I'm going to part ways with 5 of them a little later on.

All my chicks were vaccinated with the Coccidiosis Vaccination and the Marek's Vaccination.

Not sure about beaks clipped.

If I had to guess, I'd say not.

Have had no problems yet with pecking/picking at one another.

I'll try to post up some PICS soon.

Glad they are all doing well. I asked about the beaks because I once order some from a hatchery and they came with their beaks clipped. Good luck with them!!

Speaking of clipped beaks, I have a game hen that is about a year old. Her beak is too long, it curls under some. I guess I could take a dog toe nail clip and nip it off, but I don't know how far I could cut before it affected the nasal area. Any of ya'll had a similar thing with a overgrown curved beak before?

Finally getting a little production as the hens get comfortable. Going to have my most expensive breakfast ever tomorrow morning.

They'll settle in and turn it up in no time. We've got 8 hens, and get 6-8 eggs a day.