2018 Newbie Chat!

[Anna Ranieri]

My chicks turned three weeks yesterday! No pink in anyone's combs yet, fingers crossed that continues. Agatha is still my snuggly lap chicken. Blue and one of the Australorps enjoyed some lap snuggles as well. The girls have learn to come for treats when I call them. They're growing so fast!

Question: Ellie, one of the Buff Orps, pecks quite hard, and it hurts. The others will occasionally peck at the tattoo on my wrist, or freckles on my arms, but it's just a little peck. Ellie pecks a lot harder. I brushed her off my lap when she'd peck, or flicked at her beak to dissuade her. Anything else I can do to help her learn that my tattoo isn't food? View attachment 1549447 View attachment 1549448 View attachment 1549450 View attachment 1549451

I have no advice for you unfortunately but oh my gosh they grow even more gorgeous in every picture you post

 

[CannedMonster]

This is my new daily battle. Won’t be long before I have to put a lid on them! This one is going to be a trouble maker, I can already tell.
View attachment 1549423

Look at that cutie!!
It even looks like it’s daring you to do something about it lol!

 

[CannedMonster]

I decided to get some updated photos of the teenagers now that they’ve reached 3 months.
They’ve been slowly molting for a couple of weeks now.
I’m finding a lot of wing feathers lately.

First up is my sweet Charlotte. She’s my best cuddler and also enjoys preening my hair and trying to rid me of the buttons on my clothing.

This is Silver. She has more white on her head than Ivy. She also has more ‘tude.

Here’s Ivy.

I can’t really tell the Speckled Sussex apart in the photos.

I’m pretty sure this is Poppy. She has more white speckles on her back.

One of my EE, Skye, looks like a seagull to me lol.

My other EE, Taka. She wants nothing to do with me.

My two other Australorps, Sumi and Oliver. Sumi is usually always somewhere near him.

My girl Lucy, one of two Partridge Rocks.

This here is Paisley. Much like Taka, Sumi, Poppy, Silver and Oliver she wants nothing to do with me.

 

[Geranium]

@ChooksNQuilts they're gorgeous! And lol about the seagull.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

I decided to get some updated photos of the teenagers now that they’ve reached 3 months.
They’ve been slowly molting for a couple of weeks now.
I’m finding a lot of wing feathers lately.

First up is my sweet Charlotte. She’s my best cuddler and also enjoys preening my hair and trying to rid me of the buttons on my clothing.
View attachment 1549665

This is Silver. She has more white on her head than Ivy. She also has more ‘tude.
View attachment 1549682

Here’s Ivy.
View attachment 1549688

I can’t really tell the Speckled Sussex apart in the photos.
View attachment 1549697

I’m pretty sure this is Poppy. She has more white speckles on her back.
View attachment 1549700

View attachment 1549706

One of my EE, Skye, looks like a seagull to me lol.
View attachment 1549715
View attachment 1549719

My other EE, Taka. She wants nothing to do with me.
View attachment 1549721
View attachment 1549722

My two other Australorps, Sumi and Oliver. Sumi is usually always somewhere near him.
View attachment 1549723

My girl Lucy, one of two Partridge Rocks.
View attachment 1549724

This here is Paisley. Much like Taka, Sumi, Poppy, Silver and Oliver she wants nothing to do with me.
View attachment 1549725

They are gorgeous And growing so fast!

 

[llombardo]

11:30pm and Prince is crowing. Something is on the trees, the dog keeps looking at the trees. These sleepless nights are going to do me in. If I'm not worried about predators I'm worried about winter. I'm probably the worst person to have chickens and ducks. I fear losing any of them. I can't keep sleeping on the couch with the back door open. It's getting cold out there.

Call me crazy but I think that once it hits 0-10 degrees I'm bringing the chickens in for the winter. I have a large pen(about 50 square feet)that I'm going to attach to an extra large dog crate. I'm putting 2 nest boxes with some kind of curtain in the dog run--covering the floor with a tarp and coming up about a foot all the way around to contain bedding. They will have a couple roost bars too.

I'm pretty sure this is what I'm going to do. I won't have to worry about frostbite, water freezing, greens freezing,light, the cold, wind and snow, predators, gates freezing, slipping on ice and all that good stuff.

The ducks will be a little more tricky but I think I will incorporate them into the bathroom somehow so they can swim in the tub. I'm still trying to figure out a cost effective way to bring the rabbits in. Cages are not cheap.

I suck at this, I really do. My mind says one thing, heart says another and I sadly follow my heart more often then not. I just can not envision anything being out there in that cold. My dogs don't even stay out for more then 30 seconds.

 

[CannedMonster]

11:30pm and Prince is crowing. Something is on the trees, the dog keeps looking at the trees. These sleepless nights are going to do me in. If I'm not worried about predators I'm worried about winter. I'm probably the worst person to have chickens and ducks. I fear losing any of them. I can't keep sleeping on the couch with the back door open. It's getting cold out there.

Call me crazy but I think that once it hits 0-10 degrees I'm bringing the chickens in for the winter. I have a large pen(about 50 square feet)that I'm going to attach to an extra large dog crate. I'm putting 2 nest boxes with some kind of curtain in the dog run--covering the floor with a tarp and coming up about a foot all the way around to contain bedding. They will have a couple roost bars too.

I'm pretty sure this is what I'm going to do. I won't have to worry about frostbite, water freezing, greens freezing,light, the cold, wind and snow, predators, gates freezing, slipping on ice and all that good stuff.

The ducks will be a little more tricky but I think I will incorporate them into the bathroom somehow so they can swim in the tub. I'm still trying to figure out a cost effective way to bring the rabbits in. Cages are not cheap.

I suck at this, I really do. My mind says one thing, heart says another and I sadly follow my heart more often then not. I just can not envision anything being out there in that cold. My dogs don't even stay out for more then 30 seconds.

I walked my dog in the park when it was 12 degrees out.
No thermals on.
A long sleeve shirt, a flannel shirt, my coat and scarf, hat and boots.
I could only do that because I was finally truly healthy.
When I was ill I felt the cold as a bitter painful thing that was hard to tolerate.
I thought everyone felt the cold the same way I did.
Now I realize that they were fine and I wasn’t.
If an animal is healthy they have what they need to survive.
They’re not human children.
They don’t need all those things.
As for frostbite, it’s really only an issue for large combed roosters.
Yours has a rose comb.
As long as they can get out of wind and wet they’ll be fine.
Plywood makes a good windbreak.
My birds did fine in a prefab coop last winter.
Idaho winters may not be as bad as some but it’s not California lol.
You can do this!
They’re animals...they handle everything better than we do.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

11:30pm and Prince is crowing. Something is on the trees, the dog keeps looking at the trees. These sleepless nights are going to do me in. If I'm not worried about predators I'm worried about winter. I'm probably the worst person to have chickens and ducks. I fear losing any of them. I can't keep sleeping on the couch with the back door open. It's getting cold out there.

Call me crazy but I think that once it hits 0-10 degrees I'm bringing the chickens in for the winter. I have a large pen(about 50 square feet)that I'm going to attach to an extra large dog crate. I'm putting 2 nest boxes with some kind of curtain in the dog run--covering the floor with a tarp and coming up about a foot all the way around to contain bedding. They will have a couple roost bars too.

I'm pretty sure this is what I'm going to do. I won't have to worry about frostbite, water freezing, greens freezing,light, the cold, wind and snow, predators, gates freezing, slipping on ice and all that good stuff.

The ducks will be a little more tricky but I think I will incorporate them into the bathroom somehow so they can swim in the tub. I'm still trying to figure out a cost effective way to bring the rabbits in. Cages are not cheap.

I suck at this, I really do. My mind says one thing, heart says another and I sadly follow my heart more often then not. I just can not envision anything being out there in that cold. My dogs don't even stay out for more then 30 seconds.

When I start to worry about cold, I remind myself they have down coats on

 

[llombardo]

When I start to worry about cold, I remind myself they have down coats on

They don't have them on their feet. I keep envisioning them frozen in the ground because they stood still to long.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

They don't have them on their feet. I keep envisioning them frozen in the ground because they stood still to long.

Apparently putting vaseline (petroleum jelly) on combs prevents frost bite and wood chips on the floor prevents frostbitten feet for ducks and chickens. There are a lot of really informative videos on YouTube about wintering chickens and ducks and some are by people in Alaska where they hit -50 °F (−45 °C) might be worth your while to take a look?