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Canadianclucker

Canadianclucker

In the Brooder
Feb 12, 2016
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Hey, this is my first year with my ladies. Using the byc site made my first few weeks in the fall a lot easier and good tips for winter!

Thanks for posting great ideas!
 
Winter in ontario has been extremely mild this year....until tonight and tomorrow that is. -27 with a wind chill of -41. I can't help but worry for my ladies. But my sex link girls have been doing well so far so fingers crossed.
 
Hi and welcome to BYC - great to know that BYC has helped you - it certainly does me!
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As for cold weather - my step son shows me the Ottawa snow through his window on FaceTime, but thats as close i want to get to it!

All the best
CT
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. Just make sure that your coop is draft free, dry, and well ventilated to prevent moisture from building up inside it. Feathers are wonderful insulators and moisture is a much greater danger than cold. If you haven't done so already, definitely check out our Learning Center at https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center. There is lots of useful information there. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers.
 
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Thanks, I have tried to keep it as draft free and moisture free as possible but its never going to be %100. My ladies are very messy with their water, you would think they were ducks. I did add mylar panels in the coop and in the nesting boxes and its keeping it several degrees warmer in there which seems to be working well in -20 nights. I remove the panels on warmer days though. I actually have a question that I can't seem to find an answer for online, or a clear answer rather. I have 8 sexlink hens they vary from all red to a mix of red and a lot of black. I wanted to get a rooster to keep them in check (very sassy girls) and to fertilize eggs. I'm happy with my hens and i love their colours, what kind of rooster should I get? Since they're hybrids i'm not sure if i should keep an eye out for a similar rooster or a heritage rooster?
 
Canadianclucker said:
Thanks, I have tried to keep it as draft free and moisture free as possible but its never going to be %100. My ladies are very messy with their water, you would think they were ducks. I did add mylar panels in the coop and in the nesting boxes and its keeping it several degrees warmer in there which seems to be working well in -20 nights. I remove the panels on warmer days though. I actually have a question that I can't seem to find an answer for online, or a clear answer rather. I have 8 sexlink hens they vary from all red to a mix of red and a lot of black. I wanted to get a rooster to keep them in check (very sassy girls) and to fertilize eggs. I'm happy with my hens and i love their colours, what kind of rooster should I get? Since they're hybrids i'm not sure if i should keep an eye out for a similar rooster or a heritage rooster?
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You're welcome. I would suggest going with a rooster from one of the cold hardy, good laying breeds that has a well deserved reputation for being calm and gentle such as Australorps, Faverolles, Orpingtons, Sussex, or Brahmas as you don't want to breed aggression into your flock. Of course there can always be an exception with any breed. If high egg production is a priority, Australorps are the best layers on this list so an Australorp rooster would likely breed this laying ability into your flock. Whatever rooster breed you decide to get, good luck with your flock.
 
Thanks! I want to breed my biggest and best. Winters here are colddd. So far I still get 6-7 eggs a day from my 8 hens but some of my hens are small (the ones that are mostly red, the big ones are mostly black) if that means anything? My girls are sassy so yeah hoping for no added aggression. Other than a few weeks of quarantine to make sure he is healthy, is it as easy as putting him straight in or does it have to be more gradual?
 
Welcome to Backyard chickens. Maybe in warmer weather you can teach you girls to drink from the nipple waterers so there isn't such a mess. I think in winter tho, it would freeze up badly. Does it help if you raise you water container up on brick or something so they can't get their faces in it?
 

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