Recent content by SnowdogHERA

Yes, feathers are about. We wondered about molting, but was thrown off by their not eating. Thanks for the suggestions. We will start working on those.

Here you go. They are about 3-4 years old. We haven't dewormed them. They just look skinnier, scraggly feathers, haven't been eating and haven't laid eggs in a couple of months. What do you think?

I could use some advice. They stopped laying about four months ago and their food consumption dropped off. I figured it was molting. After a few weeks, I bought some fresh feed, which helped a bit, but now the fresher feed doesn't seem to interest them at all. They free range a few times a week...

Thanks very helpful.

We decided to stop free ranging, mainly because of predators. What do I feed them beyond their standard feed and grit since now they are locked up all the time (though we may start giving them an hour or so of supervised ranging). We have just three birds. Is feed and grit enough with the...

I have decided on not doing the lightbulb method of heat (or any heat) as many here and in another forum have strongly suggested to me not to do. I will also not deprive the chickens of much needed darkness. This last part was what disturbed me the most. I really felt the same as most all of you...

Thanks for the suggestion.

Now that the temp is below 10 degrees (and regularly below 0), I have put a light in the coop for some heat. I keep it on from dusk to dawn. However, I worry about the chickens not having any darkness. So, the question is which is more important? warmth below 10 degrees or darkness (having a...

Yes, this was really great feedback. Thank you so much.

Ok, sorry. I have been having trouble labeling the different parts. From what I have understood in the past, and reading these forums, Coop is the area where the roosts and nests are, Pen could be the smaller outside but enclosed area while Run is a much larger outside area that is most times...

When you say better roosts, what do you mean? And if we continue this endeavor, we plan to make a larger coop/pen. I thought it was a little small myself. However, I had always planned to free range them. If we didn't, we would have made a larger run for sure.

Even though we free range them? I have been letting them out in the morning every day so they have about an acre to run around. I plan to snow blow areas during the winter so they have more room, kind of a run in the snow as it were. And to maybe clarify some things, it was the coop door I...

It's only the coop door I wasn't closing due to heat. The pen door we closed. However, I can certainly do that. And also keep them in the pen for a few days.

That's interesting about the alpha being the last. Ours is also the alpha that goes in last. One thing I forgot to mention before is I am concerned about the gaps around the access doors (by laying area and across from it) with regard to drafts. I tried towels as was suggested by someone up...

The entire coop/pen is 8'x4'. The coop is 4'x3'. The height is about 8', though I forgot to actually measure that. The three roosting poles are fairly thick and at angles and go roughly to the top. The light is a low to no heat bulb and on a timer, and I keep the door to the coop open at night...