Montana

[Azriel]

Hope everyone is staying safe and warm during this winter storm. I stayed home from work today, got up at my normal 4am let the dog and saw the 2' drift around the front of the house and thought to heck with that and went beck to bed. I don't think I'll be opening the coop for the rest of the week, I went out about 10 and it was nice and warm in there, so why open the doors when they won't go out anyway.

 

[BadgerHill]

We seem to be having a "snow event" too. 8 inches and still falling. Chickens are happy tho, and I too am not opening the door for them. It will only let in drafts and colder air so I don't see any advantage. I do feel sorry for our cattle, first a drenching rain, then plunging temps and snow. My hubs is pouring the feed to em, and it seems my featherd girls are extra hungry too. It's gonna be a long week I think! Stay warm all.

 

[DuginMT]

Yep looks like a cold week! I only saw two of my 13 venture out of the coop today, so I put some food in there for them and checked their water in there. Still got six eggs today. Changed the 40W white light bulb out for a 75W heat bulb, so now have two of those in there, and have them on full time, along with the heated waterer. It is 10 outside now and 24 in the coop. Hope to see them start venturing out of the coop again soon, but glad they seem to be weathering their first Montana winter! Also feel lucky that none are molting or broody right now. Have a good week all - stay warm and safe!

 

[Azriel]

I did go a head and open the pop doors today. There was no wind and we even had a little sun, I did see a few of the girls out for a bit, but my coop is big enough that I can keep them locked up for several days without them feeling cramped. Tommorow and Fri I'm not going to open the coop, I leave for work at 5:15 am and its going to be way to cold at that time in the morning.
I ended up with about 18" of snow. We had to put hay out for the cows and horses and the snow was so deep that the tractor got stuck so we had to chain the truck up on all four tires to help the tractor get out of the snow. We put out enough hay to last about 2 weeks, so hopefully it will warm up by then.

 

[montanachicks]

brrrrr--- hope everyone is staying cozy during this awful cold snap!

My birds haven't been outside since Sunday.......... just keeping the pop door shut. My coop is also large enough that all of them have plenty of room so there is no worries there. I feel sorry for them, not getting any fresh, fresh air, but they seem content to stay in. So glad that I put out the money a few months ago to insulate the two outside walls & the ceiling of the coop. I'm running one heat lamp since it is so bitter out.

Got the drip system going a few weeks ago also and that's going well. They took to it right away.

My little one (who is not little anymore) that was hatched in July layed her first egg on Friday, skipped Saturday, and has layed each day since. Yea! She is 5-1/2 months old, so older than my LB hens when they started but that's okay. Looking forward to the three newest ones laying -- they were hatched Sept 16th so it'll be awhile for them.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving -- Christmas is way too close already!

 

[BadgerHill]

I did go a head and open the pop doors today. There was no wind and we even had a little sun, I did see a few of the girls out for a bit, but my coop is big enough that I can keep them locked up for several days without them feeling cramped. Tommorow and Fri I'm not going to open the coop, I leave for work at 5:15 am and its going to be way to cold at that time in the morning.
I ended up with about 18" of snow. We had to put hay out for the cows and horses and the snow was so deep that the tractor got stuck so we had to chain the truck up on all four tires to help the tractor get out of the snow. We put out enough hay to last about 2 weeks, so hopefully it will warm up by then.

 

[BadgerHill]

Wow 18 inches! We are a bit north of Billings and struggle with 12 inches. I hope it settles fast for you. It is tough on the livestock for
sure. My hubby is out till noon every day just getting feed to them all. Ain't Montana grand! At least we will go into spring with good moisture Stay safe everyone!

 

[CowGrrrl]

7 inches and still falling

 

[FlySammyJ]

The straw-bale coop stays pretty warm usually, but in this snap the thermometer read -2 this morning (it was about -10 outside). So we ran an extension cord from the house and put a heat lamp up, hopefully they'll be more comfortable tonight. Re-boiled some leftover soup, added kitchen scraps, water, and bacon grease then a few cups of rice to make "chicken porridge" to warm the girls up.

They hadn't been out since the storm hit, so hubs spread some straw outside the door. The little bit of insulation for their feet helped so much, they all ran outside and played in the sun all day on their "patio."

 

[Azriel]

My girls have been getting some treats the last few days also. I boiled up some old deer meat, a dozen of older eggs, some oatmeal, and mixed in a little left over calf milk replacer. I heat it up a little and take it out to them about an hour before the lights go out.
I don't heat my coop, but I did have to plug in the heated water buckets, they had a little ice on them this morning before I pluged them in, but it was -27 here when I left for work.