Maine

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Downcast/Coastal Acadia region, present! *waves*

Hubby and I share this account.

 

[lazy gardener]

Hi back at you Mr. and Mrs. Hancockchickens! Is Princess Pippa a Jr. Hancockchickens of the 2 legged minus the feathers version?

 

[ashandvine]

My girls discovered that outside the dryer vent when it's running is the place to be on a chilly day. They were all piled up under it.

This made me laugh! Thanks.

Downcast/Coastal Acadia region, present! *waves*
Hubby and I share this account.

Welcome.
Getting some of the things I said I would do done today-- not enough of them, but some. I am down to six Orloffs now. Four look great. One is awful and one has recovered well from its little infection. I had people slowing down, almost stopping, in front of the house today because I had a few young chickens and two Polish bantams out there pecking away. It was funny. So many people stare and stare at those birds. They have taken the place of leaf-peeping since this cold snap has shortened any real leaf viewing season. Pipes are frozen and the ducks and geese aren't happy about the ice.

Bucka I am so envious of you and your few cords burned in the winter. This house uses about 5. Its not small, I know, but by the end of last year I had learned how to get one of our stoves really hot for a long duration [had to go to the fabricators site to read up] and now that I can't use that one till this replacement stove pipe is cut to size [for the third time mind you] I have engineered a way to keep the whole house heated off just the kitchen wood cook stove. Its not as warm at one end as the other of course but its better than the cold we had without this new method.

 

[lazy gardener]

Here's a newbie question... My girls are molting, one of them has lost all of her tail feathers, and looks like she had a run in with a lawn mower, has lost all of her hackle feathers. I know chickens are supposed to be hardy, and not need supplemental heat, but, just how bad will a molt get in terms of a chicken being naked? I plan to do some winterizing this weekend, adding banking around bottom of coop, clear plastic over front open area, they don't want to stay inside anyways, so, I guess I'm asking for reassurance that my molting girls won't freeze!!! I'm guessing that if they molt now, it'll be super quick??? Should I give them extra protein? If so, suggestions?

 

[buckabucka]

Welcome Hancockchickens!

Lazy gardener, I've been worrying about my bald chickens in this weather as well. I feed mine a mix of layer pellets and flock raiser (for more protein), and last weekend I bought them a dozen commercial eggs. I scrambled them with a little milk and cubed bread with flock raiser and some chopped tomatoes. One of the bald chickens wolfed down this treat so fast I thought she might choke.

Ash, I am such a cold wimp! I'd be sleeping on your kitchen floor.

We checked the game cam set up by the 5 holes up in the field. Yesterday, there were 240 photos of nothing. It was very windy and weeds were setting off the motion detector. The night time photos were bleached out, because the camera was set too close to the ground. We moved the camera, and today there were no photos. DH thinks we may have a bunch of ground hogs that are hibernating. We're leaving the camera up there in hopes whatever it is will show up when the temperatures rise this weekend.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Here's a newbie question... My girls are molting, one of them has lost all of her tail feathers, and looks like she had a run in with a lawn mower, has lost all of her hackle feathers. I know chickens are supposed to be hardy, and not need supplemental heat, but, just how bad will a molt get in terms of a chicken being naked? I plan to do some winterizing this weekend, adding banking around bottom of coop, clear plastic over front open area, they don't want to stay inside anyways, so, I guess I'm asking for reassurance that my molting girls won't freeze!!! I'm guessing that if they molt now, it'll be super quick??? Should I give them extra protein? If so, suggestions?

You can up their protein to 22% if you want, and do black oil sunflower seeds twice a day, morning and night.

Don't worry too much about them "freezing." It's not near cold enough and they won't be naked enough.

Remember, I have a large flock of already half-naked chickens, that survive the winter just fine, and they're all molting right now, too:





Edited to add in case you aren't aware, naked neck chickens are not just naked on their necks. They have about 50% less feathers than a normal chicken. They are naked under their wings and also on their butt (mostly). The naked neck pictured directly above is in full molt right now and is amazingly naked. Her butt looks like the bear's butt in The Great Outdoors.

 

[quailtrail]

Oh my goodness! There were TWO pale blue eggs in the nest box about 30 minutes after I posted the photo above. Is it possible that my EE was a little backed up and laid two eggs at once? She has seemed uncomfortable for a few days now. One egg was a little wrinkled and dented but the other was perfect. They were still warm when I took them out of the nesting boxes. I have two EEs, but the other's comb is still pale and she isn't showing any signs that she is ready to lay.

congrats!!!!!!! Still waiting here. They are 24-25 wks

 

[buckabucka]

I did not know that naked necks have less feathers overall.

If I thought the photo was more recent, I might be sneaking by to swipe that piece of pie away from your bird!

 

[quailtrail]

All this talk of house temps sound like our house! I am sitting here in shorts and a t-shirt watching the hopefully last game of the World Series. DH is in sweats, sweat shirt and blanket! He hates that I hate a hot house. Lol!!!! I still had my a/c on and barely used my blanket.

But for my flock I do worry about them staying warm

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I did not know that naked necks have less feathers overall.

If I thought the photo was more recent, I might be sneaking by to swipe that piece of pie away from your bird!

That was a homemade hubbard squash custard pie. I gave the girls their own thanksgiving dinner last year and Marge really enjoyed the pie. The others were all about the potatoes and chicken carcass.

The NNs have the cutest bare bum. Makes their eggs nice and clean, too. I love my NNs.