Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[OneMountainAcres]

Hubby and I were outside looking at the coop today. It seems there will be an expansion project this spring the one side that we never put a door in (we just put plywood up to block it for the winter) is going to just be an opening into a second room. I'm guessing it'll be around a 6 or 7 ft x 12 ft addition under it were going to put in 2 seperation pens and extend the run by another 15 feet or so. I'm excited! We're going to add a turkey coop too.....lol

 

[BullChick]

For what it is worth: I have my rabbits in an unheated shed. They use nipples similar to those used for chickens, except brass and spring loaded. I have a 16 gallon heated tub from tsc ($70) I put a circulating pump in it to circulate the water through the PVC pipe the nipples are in. There is about 60 feet of pipe. It seems to be working. I like I just dump water in the tub and don't have to fill bottles for 16 cages and try to keep them thawed. The tub is plugged into a thermocube.


I suppose something similar could be done with a chicken water system.

Love this idea, we have our rabbits in the basement this winter, but they'll be moved outside permanently come Spring. Filling up water bottles for just two rabbits is a chore and I'm not even dealing with freezing, outside temps yet. Definitely using this idea when we move them outside and start breeding them in the Spring. Awesome that it is workable even in winter. I think I spoiled myself with a once a week water change for the chickens (did I tell you how much I love my bucket? lol). Filling up water bottles for the rabbits every day is annoying! haha.

I never knew about submersible deicers... I think that sounds perfect. I'd like to add a heat  lamp to the coop, but DH worries too much about fire hazards. I really need to get my butt in gear to properly seal up the drafts in the coop, the chickens seem just fine and the clear roof really helps to warm it up during the day, but I feel bad because it's so cold out there... I've never had outdoor 'pets' before so I feel weird leaving them out there.

We all hear you are not liking to leave animals outside. You will be much better about it next year. I think of it this way, I HATE wearing my leathers in the summer. They are much more doable at 60* and under. Chickens are like cows in that respect (picture of a chick in leathers here). They actually prefer cooler temps, and cope well in the cold. Unless....!!!!
If you heat up their coop, and you lose power YOU LOSE YOUR CHICKENS! They won't be able to handle the rapid drop in temperature. So no extra heat is recommended.

 

[wingstone]

I agree, goats are very entertaining. We recently got 4 of them and are enjoying them a lot. Perhaps when you're specifically set up to have goats it makes a difference on the ability to have them. We made sure we've got pens to hold them, but they are just modifed chicken coops (reinforced a bit all around).They are Kinder goats or in simpler terms they are often call Nigerian Dwarfs. We have 1 buck and 3 does.

Are they true kinderer? Nigerian dwarf buck, Nubian doe? If so, ummm, we might need to talk come spring.

X2 but I would be more interested n a whether or 2( auto correct insist they know what I want)

 

[Bettacreek]

For what it is worth: I have my rabbits in an unheated shed. They use nipples similar to those used for chickens, except brass and spring loaded. I have a 16 gallon heated tub from tsc ($70) I put a circulating pump in it to circulate the water through the PVC pipe the nipples are in. There is about 60 feet of pipe. It seems to be working. I like I just dump water in the tub and don't have to fill bottles for 16 cages and try to keep them thawed. The tub is plugged into a thermocube.

I suppose something similar could be done with a chicken water system.

Can you please get a picture of your setup? I've been him-hawing around on moving buns from the garage to their brand new warren because I wasn't sure if a heater could handle doing pipes.

Goats apparently also depend on the breed. A friend had nubians (same type my friend had here) and she didn't like them either, but she loves her Nigerian Dwarf goats. The nubians had a beautiful pasture here and it works GREAT for the sheep and everybody else... Those jerks were just horrible, HORRIBLE creatures. The neighbor has a junky little 3' fence with maybe 150 square feet of space for his fainters and they do just fine with that. Nubians are just ******** and need to have a basic shelter and fence with absolutely nothing else in there that you don't want to be absolutely destroyed. Jerks.

 

[chiques chicks]

Can you please get a picture of your setup? I've been him-hawing around on moving buns from the garage to their brand new warren because I wasn't sure if a heater could handle doing pipe.

I'll try to get some pictures this weekend. The it's really simplified it, my previous attempts at drilling and threading round pipe were failures.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

Hi!
I am in South-central PA, Perry County to be exact. This is my first time with chickens but this Arctic blast has me worried!

Sorry so late..
Hello & Welcome!

...Love Perry County!
Some great advice here for keeping chooks good to go even in this weather!

Another hi to everyone here ! For a year now I have my 4 bantams and thanks to the education I got here, they are doing wonderful in this cold blast.

..this is a great learning place!! SO great to hear your birds are doing well!!

It's a bit chilly in the cabin this morning. Pokey (bigger on left) & Spike have a skin of ice in their tank again. This is even sitting up on my dresser at the foot of my bed, closer to the woodstove than I am. Even with getting up every 2 hours to check the stove last night I had trouble keeping it burning well. It's going better now, but will take a while to get everything warmed up in here.

oh man...glad you are getting a better fire...i hope things continue to improve with that..got to have heat!!

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

Just remember, this will return

Of course, so will lots of other things that we do not look forward to......
Just saying.....it could be worse.....I can always put more clothing on, I can only take so much off before the law says otherwise....

you got this right!! It IS January..& this weather didn't start this stuff back in November..so , yes..we are lucky right now..no comment on the losing of clothing though

..

'Ello crazy chicken people! How have you been? Yes, I know cold. It is a shock to think of how warm it was Sunday.
I am home for a while. A month at least. I am not missing the joys of winter chicken keeping. My m-i-l did laugh at me today as I picked up some eggs at the store. Dh is too sick to drive for fresh eggs.

..glad you are back home if just for a little while...

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

How cute are these!!

My Bella has been asking to come in...now I know it's cold! The problem is, after 5 minutes, she's panting and over heated. I need to get her a better structure for outside, until then, she's in, then out, in then out... I'll put her in the basement tonight. It's a little cooler down there. I don't want her overheating and blowing her coat.

I was just talking to DH about your pup...yeah, got to be cold if she wants in..even for a minute.
We had a springer who spent 99.9% of the time outside..he would come in into the house in this weather only because I felt bad...we would get him from his house, (one of those square plastic houses, we would fill with straw & have straw bales all around in & have a rubber "door" flap to keep out the wind)....well, he would be sooo warm, like there was a heater in there with him..seriously! They work great, giving him the straw to burrow in really did the job!

We finally put the livestock tank deicer in and holy cow. In this freezing weather, it defrosted our large kiddie pool completely and melted snow a good 3-4 inches from the pool off of the ground.

awesome!

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

For what it is worth: I have my rabbits in an unheated shed. They use nipples similar to those used for chickens, except brass and spring loaded. I have a 16 gallon heated tub from tsc ($70) I put a circulating pump in it to circulate the water through the PVC pipe the nipples are in. There is about 60 feet of pipe. It seems to be working. I like I just dump water in the tub and don't have to fill bottles for 16 cages and try to keep them thawed. The tub is plugged into a thermocube.

I suppose something similar could be done with a chicken water system.

i would love to see this set-up..maybe drive by when it gets closer to spring?..

I Love my heated dog dish for water
I raise it up by putting it in a large pot ..the pot is weighted inside with stones.
This is last years ..I had to buy a new one this year .it is bigger it sets right on top of my pot .
They still get it dirty but not as bad as when it was on the floor .


This is my food dish folder I will probably make a single one in the summer..I really need 3 with 24 chickens

nice..i like the feed-bolw holders..I have one large pan ..only 7 birds right now.., they are always turning it over..

I've got goats, they can be horrible, they can also be amazing. They are very active as far as pasture animals go and that can be a problem when you are struggling to keep them enclosed. They also provide endless humor and entertainment because of their activity.

So, if perhaps you live in a household with a few too many personalities, schedules, opinions and NOISE, and you need a quiet activity to keep you amused and bring down your blood pressure, observing goats interacting is just the thing for you. Plus, they're awesome. Just sayin.

..now, who is this one???..

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

I agree, goats are very entertaining. We recently got 4 of them and are enjoying them a lot. Perhaps when you're specifically set up to have goats it makes a difference on the ability to have them. We made sure we've got pens to hold them, but they are just modifed chicken coops (reinforced a bit all around).They are Kinder goats or in simpler terms they are often call Nigerian Dwarfs. We have 1 buck and 3 does.

awesome!

Time to make the first water run of the day. The goats only at this point- they like their water warm, the spoiled divas. I'm going to wait until 9am before opening the coops and bringing water to the chickens. We don't keep their water heated, so I'll be back out there at noon.


I can't wait to see all the poultry at Farm Show. We'll be there for Poultry Showmanship on Saturday, and perhaps dairy goat showmanship on Thursday.

Have a great day Everyone, and keep warm!

oh..maybe we will see you Thursday!!...

...Have a great time Blarney & good luck to everyone!!