Recent content by woody1

You might also check out birdbath deicers. I use one submerged in an open 5 gallon bucket. Works for me. Water may get a skim of ice on it when it gets below 0 but doesn't happen too often here. Regards, Woody

I've sorta skipped quickly thru the 70 odd posts here so I may have missed discussion on lighting. IMO if you really want egg production in wintertime you should use additional lighting. I always recommend 14 hours of light minimum if you really expect good production from egg layers. My...

My (our) coop is 1/2 slightly raised wood floor and 1/2 ground elevation dirt floor. The roost and nesting boxes are in the wood floor part and I have external access to both the roost and nesting boxes. Piped water and treadle feeder are in the dirt floor portion. The girls also have outside...

IMHO doing anything now would be a waste of time. These holes aren't currently in use. Note the fresh vegetation growing in and around the holes and lack of tracks. I'm also seeing crusted soil around the hole from what I'd say was a recent rain. A hole being used would at a minimum have a...

Welcome to BYC. I don't post much but will chime in here. While corn will help color the yolk it has little of the nutritional value you need in a laying flock. It adds calories which your hens may or may not need. Mixing corn in the layer ration is like putting cake, ice cream and meat...

This looks like pretty good stuff. You need to convert grams to pounds. Personally I don't want my girls to mature too fast but I do move them outside to natural light at prob'ly 10 weeks or so. They get all they want to eat. http://www.hyline.com/userdocs/pages/TB_PULLET_MGMT_ENG.pdf

Favorite treat = any kind of meat especially if it's moving. Others = cottage cheese, clabbered milk

Are these layers and are they laying? Are they getting anything else? Frankly I'd be surprised if they're laying very well or at all with only 50# per month unless it's really hot stuff. My 9 layers (6 Rhodies and 3 easter eggers) + a banty rooster that has "adopted" they will go thru over...

I'm going to weigh in here one more time. This is not rocket science although some of the posts would seem to want to make it so. Your first listed feed is fine for 15-16 week old pullets. If it was me and I had your selection of feeds, I'd start switching them over to layer pellets pretty...

Late to this party but yes, I use one. I use a ceramic lamp base inside the block and control it with a thermo cube so it doesn't run constantly. More details if needed.........

In my opinion if your chickens are at 15 wks. they will be fine but they may start laying slightly later although I doubt it. Just make sure they've got grit and don't dilute the feed with scratch or table scraps. IMO if they need a little more protein, they'll just eat a little more but...

Thanks for the replies. Just unusual IME.

Most forums I visit don't allow one to view a profile unless you're logged in. I just viewed a profile w/o being logged in. Is that supposed to happen? Inquiring mind wants to know! Thanks and

Without knowing anything about your coop, it's hard to advise and equally difficult to know what critter it may be. That said, are there any holes, either existing or created by the critter, that are large enough for a cat to get thru? If so, it could be a fisher assuming you have them around...