March 7, 2012 - hatched - started them in brooding buckets in garage - Starter/Grower 20 % Mix Feed
March 15, 2012 - moved from 2 brooding buckets to 3
March 21, 2012 - moved the chickens into the chicken coop and out of the garage...the REDS on the left side in the front and the ROCKS on the right side.
April 9, 2012 - removed the boards that created a small brooding area for the White ROCKS....now they can roam most of the front area in the coop
April 13, 2012 - moved the REDS to the back room of the chicken coop, now the ROCKS have the entire front room of the coop
April 22, 2012 - opened the chicken coop door to see if the Rocks would come outside a few did!
April 29, 2012 - the Rocks come out everyday now....we are implementing the 14 hour light rule starting today, for the first 7 weeks we give them full light for development and to stay warm since it is still very chilly early mornings. Now the timer will turn the lights on at 4am and then off at 7am when the sun comes out.....this will ensure at least 16 hours of light a day. This doesn't matter for the Rocks...but the REDS (laying hens) need this to be consistent egg layers. Have been using the Starter/Grower 20% mix for everyone until today....started the ROCKS on 24%.....the REDS will stay on the 20% for a few more weeks and then they go to 16%.
May 4, 2012 - removed the big bulky lights in the coop and put christmas lights up on the ceiling.....we read this somewhere on the web and it makes perfect sense....not much wattage and just enough to let the REDS wake up slowly.
May 20, 2012 - turned the light timer off in the chicken coop for now....it gets light about 6am and dark about 9pm...so they are getting 15 hours of natural light a day...we will have to turn the lights back on in October.
July 6, 2012 - we have had a heatwave here for about 5 days and the White Rocks have turned on each other....the attacks are bad and I have been nursing 3 of them back to health...one of them died today....so we are down to 15.
July 7, 2012 - we took 15 White Rocks to be processed today...all went well....they were 4 months old
July 14, 2012 - cleaned out the coop, now that the white rocks are gone and in preparation for the reds to start laying
July 15, 2012 - the Red Chicken Mama's laid their first 2 eggs.....woohooo!!!
August 15, 2012 - the chicken mama's are laying a steady 15 - 20 eggs daily...the goal is 24 each day
August 29, 2012 - moved the chickens out of the fenced in area and into a secondary area in front of the greenhouse....trying to let the grass re-grow in the pen.....no consistent rain to bring the grass back...will try for a couple of weeks and see what this does.
September 7, 2012 - got 24 eggs for the first time.....wooohooo!!!
September 7, 2012 - couldn't wait any longer...had to put the chickens back in their pen.....the grass had 8 days to grow.....I think it looks better.....now if it would just rain!!!!
September 8, 2012 - cleaned out the coop
September 9, 2012 - interesting feedback coming from the folks that buy the Eggs....that many eggs out of each dozen are double-yokers......that typically happens right when the chicken start laying...but not the norm 2 months in.....all be it a wonderful thing!!!
September 22, 2012 - set the light timer in the coop.....they have to have at least 12 hours of light a day....I have the twinkle lights that are stapled to the ceiling coming on about 5:30 am and then off at 7:30am and then back on at 7:30pm and off at 9pm...so they can ease into the light in the morning and ease out of it at night....will see if the egg production changes.....still been between 18 - 22 daily
October 2, 2012 - the light timer is working great...I have it set for about 14 hours a day....this has always seemed to work the best....they have been laying 20+ each day
October 6, 2012 - put the storm windows up on the chicken coop
October 24, 2012 - cleaned out the coop
November 17, 2012 - cleaned out the coop
December 10, 2012 - added 2 more bales of straw to the coop
December 30, 2012 - cleaned out the coop
January 9, 2013 - cleaned the coop
January 31, 2013 - cleaned out the front part of the coop
February 2, 2013 - added some 60 watt lightbulbs for some more light and a bit of heat
February 9, 2013 - cleaned out the entire coop
March 30, 2013 - cleaned out the entire coop
