North Dakota

[Loghousemom]

I got 25 Rhode Island Red girls and 25 Light Brahma boys this year on April 27. Hens are laying an average of 20 eggs a day and the most I got was 22 for five days straight. Still have a few that are just starting, eggs are tiny. I kind of missed the mark for North Dakota, was hoping to have the boys butchered before the snow flew but they weren't ready to butcher, really slow. Hoping they can be butchered before chicks arrive in the spring. They all look beautiful, though I don't think I will get the Rhode Island Reds again, they get bored easy and pick on each other when it gets cold.

Hmm, good to know. Where is York?

 

[royturkcross]

Since there is a few of us North Dakota poultry raisers we need to share how we get through the winters and different housing, feeding, and watering designs!!! Glad to see that even in North Dakota there are backyard chicken fans!!!

 

[marvun22]

I'm going to have to figure something else out, just went to steffans and they've upped their price to $12.50..... just after I go and tell everyone what a great deal theirs was lol. I'll have to visit the elevator in Gladstone and see what I can come up with. I plan on having a big garden this year, so i'll take your advice and plant some squash and other veggies just for the girls.

even at $12.50, that's better then Runnings still.

 

[maverick7wi]

I ordered 15 chickens (10 egg layers, 5 meat) and they arrived just over a week ago. Unfortunately, 2 meat and 1 egg layer died in transit but at least I was credited for them. The others seem to be doing quite well. I would like to get a couple turkey's that will be ready for Thanksgiving, but I definitely don't want to order 5. It would be great to find someone local to buy poults from, so will have to see what happens. I am also ready for some sun...enough rain! At least a week of sun would be awesome!

 

[kodster]

I have thought about it, but I don't have any kids showing birds yet, nor do I sell too many.

Anybody else currently hatching? I have about 50 or so eggs to hatch in June.

I've been hatching since mid-January... and have hatched probably close to 70 chickens. I've sold ALL of them, except for two that I wanted to keep for myself (purebred White Jersey Giant pullet to replace the one I culled last fall due to pecking, and an Ameraucana pullet, to add to my numbers in that breed). I have people that are in line for the next two hatches (first one is due this coming week... staggered for a week, with close to a 100 eggs in the incubator, including 6 Bourbon Red turkey eggs). Folks want mostly pullets... this hatch, 2 people want 20 pullets each, and 1 person wants 9 Ameraucana pullets and an Ameraucana cockerel... so to make sure that I get enough of a percentage of pullets, I had to put that many eggs in. I figured I'd caponize the extra cockerels, for meat birds, and lo and behold, the guy that was my first sale, contacted me last week... he'd bought 5 day-old pullets... he'd lost all his meat birds due to a predator that got into their pen... wanted to know if I had any for sale. Told him my plans for the capons, and he said put him down for a dozen! Then folks have been hitting me up for MORE birds! So, I'm getting my hatching addiction satisfied, and making some petty cash while I'm at it... $3/chick, $4/caponized cockerel. Have made a couple hundred dollars already, and more on the way!

 

[Zone3Dakota]

okay, we are only thirty miles from the Canada/USA border, so we get some serious cold weather. For my pigeons, we ended up using water bucket heaters, just drop them in the bucket. This keeps the water from freezing from bottom to top. The bucket was put into an insulated 'box'. The front of the box was partially open, so that they could drink. The top had an insulated cover so that they wouldn't bathe in it. We put concrete block for them to reach the top. On one of the insulated boxes, we got the height too short, so we just notched out a little of the bucket. This winter was an experiment, but now that we know that the bucket heaters are dependable, even down to -30(f) or however cold it got here, this winter, we will do a more permanent version for next winter.

We found these bucket heaters in Minot... North Country Mercantile at 2000 20th Ave SE, Minot, ND 58701
(701) 838-0081 (Love this store...)

At first, we tried a bucket with a heated bottom, but that didn't put out enough to keep the top of the water from freezing.

 

[stryker]

Mine have laid from 20-26 on average. About 20 eggs a day most of the time.This was with light all winter..... Currently since daylight savings time, I turn off the light and it has been 12-13 a day.. I might have to turn the light back on since they are not going to be free loaders.

 

[stryker]

Have you thought about speedee delivery shipping your birds? I believe it is only one day shipping and cheap.

 

[Tuhmu]

So I wonder how long it will be before we can start taking poultry to auctions.....I doubt we will be able to in the fall, but next spring would be nice. I personally have a lot of birds that I'd like to unload, got a bit carried away with incubating and letting broodies "win".

 

[I Love Layers]

Hi fellow North Dakotan's!

I just joined and am looking forwarding to meeting some folks from our fine state.  Especially in the NE corner.  I live in the Grafton area.  I didn't read this entire thread, but in the last few pages, it seems like most folks are central or west?  Regardless, I'm happy to meet you all.

I don't have chickens yet, but I am busy planning.  We just bought our farmstead in November, so we still have work to do.  I'm busy planning the coop and have a few questions.  I know there's a huge coop forum, but I am hoping to get some advice from folks who know what cold really is.  I laugh when I see someone from down south brag how their coop design protected their chickens from one night at 20 above zero.

Anyway, as some background, here's the decisions I have made so far about my future chickens and their coop:

1. I am raising Buckeyes.  I've read they are one of the most cold hardy breeds.  There are many other attributes about Buckeyes I like, but this is the #1 criteria I was looking for.
2. I am going to use the deep litter method.  Mainly for the extra "insulation" as well as the heating effect the composting litter provides.
3. I will not be heating my coop.  In my opinion, the cons outweigh the pros.  Not looking to start an argument here...just sayin'

#3 is why I made choices #1 and #2.  And it's why I am asking for help/advice.  I want to be sure I can find the balance between "good circulation" and "not drafty".  While I am sure I will have many more questions to follow, right now this is my #1 concern; designing the coop to stay "warm" while keeping the air clean.  I'd love to hear from others who have unheated coops and know what it's like to not get above -10 for a week...or two.

Oh, and if there are any other Buckeye folks here, I'd love to get to know you and get your opinions of the best place to get chicks.  I'm leaning heavily towards Duane Urch, but I need to be sure my coop is all ready to go before I get serious about buying chicks.


Thanks,
Mike

So first off everyone is going to say something different, but i would look into getting various breeds, Plymouth Rocks, Ameracaunas, and Wyandottes are coldy hardy breeds, and I adore mine.

If you are not going to have at least a heat lamp turned on at night, With a timer, i recommend either building slats and stuffing that with straw, or putting insulation in between the studs. If you want ventilation, I've heard of people putting a PVC pipe in the middle of their coop, they have a few inches sticking out the roof, and then they drill holes in the PVC pipe, this helps to circulate the air, and of it is goikg to rain or snow they put a cover on.

My chicken coop is an old grainery, i will get pictures of it tomorrow, it doesn't have any insulation what so ever, one electrical outlet, and a lightbulb, that we installed this year. I also have 2 windows.
When i get the pictures i will explain everything in full depth, to show you that you don't need a fancy coop to keep your birds warm at subzero temperatures