Alaska Chicken Lover's Soup for the Cold!!

[Wolfwoman]

What's the 'safe' date for chicks? A week? Two? And then after that there's other things to worry about...

 

[Ban seabhag]

I figure if the make 1-2 weeks they are on their way, but like you say, other things can happen.

 

[AllAlaskan]

hehe, Im a newb so forgive me....but what is BCM?

 

[Wolfwoman]

Black Copper Marans

There's a list of chicken abbreviations on here somewhere!

 

[alaskachick]

This will be my first time wintering my chickens.... I am wondering if its possible for 1year plus hens to start molting in cold winter months such as Dec Jan Feb? I would think that nature wouldn't want to let go of any feathers during that season, but I don't. Also... if those hens decide to go broody in the winter... would a hen be able to keep it warm enough to actually hatch out an egg? I hope none of these worries happen, but I want to be prepared.

 

[incubatingisfun]

hi alaska chick i was also wondering about the broodys abuility keep eggs warm in the winter

 

[AllAlaskan]

I was was wondering that too, something I want to try is after my chickens are laying if I have one go broady I really want to see if I can get them to lay till they hatch, but I do plan on making an incubator and a broader this winter cause no matter what I want to try it next spring.

 

[Mrs MIA]

If you have your broody in draft-free housing, she should be able to incubate and brood just fine.

All of my girls are molting right now. I just cleaned out the breeder pens, and I think there were more feathers than shavings!

If they do molt, feed extra protein so that they speed through the regrowth period. If they're too cold, and huddling (watch for it) then apply extra heat.

Bonnie, ~1pm on Sunday is when Carmen said to expect her. We will pack everyone up asap and hopefully she won't be home too late. It's about 2.5 hours to Anchorage from our house.

The girls are enduring 24F this morning... and my 8-10 week olds are hanging in there, too. Though there's enough of them to huddle for warmth. I'm going to have to move them over to the layer coop soon.

 

[Ban seabhag]

It wasn't quite as cold here this morning as yesterday. We've got a breeze. It's committed to winter now I think.
Anyone out there who is having chicks come by the Chicken Express from Tori's please let me know how to contact you for the meet at Fred's in Palmer. Aimee has given me info for that but I am not sure who else is coming or how to tell them when to be there. I am figuring roughly 4:30 to 5:00 at Carmen's and leaving there in 1/2 an hour but this is subject to how real time works for everybody transporting.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Donna, not that I'm coming to Palmer to meet you

But why not have everyone go into the Deli at Fred Meyer and sit and have a coffee til you arrive? That way no one is sitting in the cold OR in the wrong place in the parking lot.