May 9 Chicken Coop Building Workshop

Hi All --  I live in Seattle and am exploring the world of chickens.  I'm hosting a workshop as a way to share my learning.  I'm getting great ideas all over the place and all over this site!  Thanks for sharing all of it -- your expertise and inexperience alike.  Fabulous info on this topic as usual, Paul.  I will post here again with chicken info as I learn and experience.

Workshop Details:  Time: May 9, 2009, 10am - all day
Location: North Green Lake, Seattle - details when you register
Learn how to integrate chickens into your yard. Help build a coop designed with the whole garden in mind. Taught and led by Brad Halm of the Seattle Urban Farm Co. and morning talk given by Ingela Wanerstrand of Sustainable Ballard.  We will be focusing on a coop design that dynamically integrates chickens with the garden: composting manure, managing insect and plant pests, use of coop walls and needs of chickens solved through gardening strategies.  Participants may choose to stay and help and/or observe throughout the day. A project of Sustainable Green Lake. Address in Green Lake given upon registration. $15 - $45 instructor fee. Free egg when hens start to lay!  Reply for more info and to register.

A question:  I've got 2 week old chicks indoors in a box with a light bulb to keep 'em warm (according to directions).  Anyone have thoughts on this.  They seem healthy and zestful, but am bothered that they don't have a nighttime.  They're like teens -- get rambunctious before bed, drop off late (10 - 11 ish (our time) -- wake up kinda late, (when we do - 8ish) eat and talk and run around -- drop off to sleep again for a couple of hours late morning.  Is this a healthy routine?  (For chicks).

Also, when do you take them OFF the light at night?

I have always removed any supplemental light once they are basically fully feathered.  it doesn't get terribly cold here though. if they have a draft free area to huddle together and have their real feathers then they will probably be fine.

I once bought a contraption that went into a light socket that was a ceramic heater.  All the heat of a light bulb without the light!

I got it from a pet store for - I think it was for pet lizards.

Hmmm.  That sounds cool and good to know.  I already bought a heat lamp bulb.  I turn off the "day" light bulb at night and they calm right down.  Clearly, the incandescent has a significantly different effect on them -- everyone in the family notices.  The chick voices get softer and they settle right down with the red light. 

I've been reading a little of "Animals in Translation" by Temple Grandin where she draws parallels between being autistic and animal consciousness.  It's very interesting.

From the University of Minnesota Extension Service:

"The 1st week, keep the temperature at the level of the chicks at 90-95° F. Reduce the temperature about 5 degrees per week until room temperature is reached. It is best to use a thermometer to measure the temperature, but the actions of the chicks can also be a guide. When the chicks are cold, they bunch up and give a distressed "cheep." When they are too warm, they stand apart with their beaks open, and their throats may have a pulsating or panting motion."

I have been meaning to find out if changing an incandescent lightbulb from a regular bulb (white) to a red one at night would calm them down.  It works with heat lamps, so why not with regular lights? 

Sue