Chicken Questions

[Dace]

I have a couple of questions and I prefer to ask you all over the BYC crowd

My coop is a playhouse, converted. The floor is dirt. There is currently wood chips down as that just happened to be what was the ground cover when we set up the playhouse.

Today I went to buy layer crumbles and the guy said I do not need oyster shell. I bought the Purina Layena brand...can any one confirm what he said?

Also I bought a bale of hay for the nesting boxes...should I toss some of that on the ground as flooring or should I use the same shavings I used when they were babies? I just want something on the ground that can absorb poo & oder that i can rake out every now and then.

lastly, the guy at the feed store says that my chickens won't lay (much) if the temp is not 90+ and that they should have a heat lamp in the coop year round. I am very new to chickens but I have done a bit of reading and have never heard that...keep in mind that my average winter temps are 40-60 and summer is 60-90.

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[hennypenny9]

My parents have had chickens for at least 20 years, and we never have a heat lamp unless the temperature gets below freezing. We have no problems with eggs.

We never buy oyster shells. I think they are to help the shell of the egg? So if you get soft eggs, then maybe think about the oyster shells. Of course, the first few eggs of a pullet may be soft, and that's fine. Oh, I just remembered, I think you can give them finely crushed egg shells if the shells are soft.

Um, we never like to use hay or straw because up here it will get damp and mold. If you are not in a damp climate, I'm sure it'll be fine. Heck, you can toss it in, and if you hate it, just rake it out and start with something else.

It's not an exact science, you'll be fine!

 

[Dace]

Thanks HennyPenny

 

[hennypenny9]

No problems! I can't say it over at BYC, but we never used thermometers to watch the temperature in the brooders. *gasp!* Just watched the chicks. If they huddled, it was too cold, if they panted, it was too hot. Never lost one (healthy) chick. I like BYC, but they tend to reply with "do a search, this has been asked 7575 times before" Way to scare someone away!

 

[Dace]

yeah, they kind of have a way of making you feel stupid....I like to lurk there because I pick up a lot of good info but, for a direct question...here is much more comfortable

Since I bought the straw I will use that and see how it goes. We are pretty dry here so it will probably be fine.

 

[farmerlor]

I like to lay some kind of deep litter on the floor and in the nesting boxes for my girlies. I use pine shavings or straw whichever is cheaper. You don't need to clean the coop out as often this way.
I use oyster shell or at least I have it in my three sectioned hopper. It's always available to them if they feel like they need it and it seems like they do as I do have to refill the oyster shell and grit parts of the hopper about every three months or so. We also use the Layenna brand pellets. I don't know, but we have shells on our eggs that are really strong and perfect.
As for the temp-pfffffftttttt! I live at 6800 feet. It's probably 90 degrees for about 3 hours on about 15 days out of the year here. The rest of the year it's cooler or even considerably cooler and we have amazing egg laying going on here.

 

[Blackbird]

Your supposed to have a thermometer in your brooders?
We always do just like Henny to determine heat. We don't usually feed oyster shells, maybe once every couple months.

To me, BYC is over-rated. I lurk once or twice every couple days, but I don't post a whole lot. A lot of people seem to think that if you don't agree with them, then your completely wrong, ticks me off :/



I think the guy at your feed store needs to do a bit more research, or he doesn't care and is just trying to get you to buy more from them.

 

[hennypenny9]

BYC is how I found SS. And there are so many more people over there, it's bound to be different. Many are breeders or show their birds, which is totally different from how I keep chickens. (Or will, when I get some!) But if I have a medical question or something like that, I'll ask.

And yes, you need a thermometer if you listen to most people over there. Keeping chickens is so easy, and I feel like some people make it more complicated than it is. Like the brooder temp thing. "Lower the temp one degree a day, etc" Like they'll DIE if you don't. Not to be mean, or anything. I just don't think exact square feet per chicken is important. Us around here favor common sense over MATH, right?

 

[Blackbird]

I detest math, so I favor anything over that.

I raise several animals for showing, I've done pretty well and its still not as complicated as some people make it.

But I don't think I should be ranting about BYC here so I'll stop posting.

 

[Dace]

Thanks everyone...I feel better. For a minute I had to think 'wow, am i really stupid' but I swear I had never heard of keeping a coop with laying chickens at 90 degrees!

farmerlor....maybe I will pick up some OS just to be safe, can't hurt!