Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[al6517]

Plastic waterers just don't work for me during the winter, with the threat of the plastic cracking and being unable to empty the ice from them. I am lucky in respect in that I don't have to hassle with letting them out in the am and putting them back up at night. With my deal they get to do whatever they want and I don't have to mess with anything but once a day, The agitation of the water by the birds during the day keeps the water from freezing too much.

 

[Mountain Momma]

Plastic waterers just don't work for me during the winter, with the threat of the plastic cracking and being unable to empty the ice from them. I am lucky in respect in that I don't have to hassle with letting them out in the am and putting them back up at night. With my deal they get to do whatever they want and I don't have to mess with anything but once a day, The agitation of the water by the birds during the day keeps the water from freezing too much.

Well, freezing water is an issue here in Co this winter. I tried a heated dog house matt...because I already had it and it did nothing. The bucket still froze solid. We have had very cold temps and I am hauling hot water from the house and it still freezes by early evening.
I'm rotating buckets in and out of the house and my rain barrel is still bone dry.
I'm probably gonna have to break down and get a heated dog water bowl. Out here they are over 30.00 bucks though and
I think its too high. Might swing by Goodwill and see if I can find an old crock pot first.

Also note that I'm doing deep litter and its been 10 degrees below every night since Sat and none of my birds have frost bite. Today its 20 and the chickens are acting like its spring! Went outside and everything.

FYI: for anyone you know with epilepsy or any kind of electrical brain issue the 21st is the moment when some kind of magnetic shift happens world wide. I have a friend who has micro siezures all the time and her DH will be home with her that whole day. I dont really know what the implications are if any but thought it was interesting.-L

 

[ChickenCanoe]

...
Also note that I'm doing deep litter and its been 10 degrees below every night since Sat and none of my birds have frost bite. Today its 20 and the chickens are acting like its spring! Went outside and everything.

...

Oh to be blessed with low humidity in the winter to ward off frostbite issues.

 

[Beekissed]

LOL call me old fashioned but when winter rears it's ugly head and the temps dip below freezing I employ a simpler approach. Rubber water tubs, those big black ones you can buy at the feed store, in the afternoon I just go out and dump the big ice blocks out and fill them with fresh water. I have a pasture tap right outside the chicken complex and it works so nice and easy, even though I do have tricity all over the coops and pens, I don't have to mess with crazy heated this or that, my chickens think everything is just hunky dorey.

This is what I did also when I had a larger flock. Now that's it's small and I had a heated bowl for my cat once, I've put it to good use.

Had this question on another~granola head~forum where folks don't have power from the grid and was wanting to know how they watered livestock 100 years ago. Everyone came up with all kinds of solar solutions that wouldn't work and other such nonsense about car batteries on a timer crap.

I told them how they did it 100 years ago. They watered the stock morning and evening...just what they would drink right then and no more. They also fed hot mash feeds to those relying on grains...and only fed enough for them to eat right then~morning and evening. They fed pumpkins, gourds and root crops from the cellar as supplements. All of these foods get moisture into the animal without them having to rely on reservoirs of water sitting around.

They worked it into their daily routine...got up early and tended animals before dark or even took a lantern with them to milk and feed. There was none of this nonsense about time...the animals were their livelihood and food source. You better believe they took the time in their busy daily routine to do these things.

 

[Beekissed]

Oh to be blessed with low humidity in the winter to ward off frostbite issues.

She lives in the mountains...high humidity. So do I. It's not about where you live and how high the humidity levels are outside, though it does contribute..it's about managing humidity levels in the coop environment and this is done with good ventilation and it is aided with the use of deep litter.

Not so much about being blessed or luck...it takes a little work to manage your bird's environment.

 

[al6517]

Quote:


Granola heads

now that's a good one. I love it when folks get all worked up on those conversations about doing without, the whole things is always about silly ineffective ways to try and bring the power back in their lives, instead of dealing without it LOL. It is so much easier and comforting doing it the way they did 100 years ago, but for those who prefer to worry and fret and are way to lazy to just think a little in advance and avoid all the stress, it just baffles me sometimes.............. well all the time LOL.

I actually like it when we lose power here during the winter, it's kind of neat to live in the moment of a simpler time. We here in Oklahoma have an infastrucure straight out of the stone age so along with the worst weather we lose power an awful lot. I never miss a beat.

 

[Beekissed]

We don't either, Al. Still living like we did when we homesteaded. We just snug in around the wood stove, cook on the gas stove, read by lantern light(don't watch TV anyway) and do our usual routines. Out in the boonies the old timey folks are always prepared...we can make our own bread, have home canned food supplies, heat with wood, have water supplies, chainsaws, guns, ammo and 4 wheel drive trucks, battery run clocks...what more could you need?

Heck, the electric goes off around here if someone sneezes too loud....lots and lots of trees falling all over electric lines here.

Could be mid summer on a sunny day and the electric goes off.

 

[al6517]

Same here and the beauty of it all is just how easy it is to do all that LOL. we live out in the country as well albeit not hillbilly style. big house all the ammenities and such, plenty of land and ponds, not many trees though, 20 miles from town but on hardball roads. but we are never stupid enough to believe someone else will take care of my family at all or as well as me when the runny poop hit's the fan LOL.

 

[mmmchicken]

Not to interupt your lovely thoughts of homesteading without all the fine luxuries (which I do love reading about

) , but I do have a question ... or maybe more of an approval or not. I have 3 acres of a hobby farm in a rural area surrounded by farm fields with a few houses on our country road, several of whom have chickens. I work, as does my husband. I, being the last one gone, leave at 8:30am and he gets home generally around 2:30pm give or take, but certainly no later then 4pm to meet our little ones off the bus. We have 2 outside older dogs whom we got back in April right around the time we got our chicks. They are collie mix. They are great with the chickens and pay them no mind. One really keeps a pretty good watch out for outside animals coming on to our property (the dog down the street has tried to come over, but Bear won't have any of that... good doggie. The other is basically just waiting out her final days to be honest. The husband has said he has seen when the chickens felt threatened for some reason, they go over by the dogs. I haven't really seen that myself and I think he is making it up, but I suppose that could happen.

I think they just rather roam around and sometimes end up by the dogs!

I tell you all this because I would really like to let the chickens out in the morning to free range, but am hesitant because no people will be around in the event of something happeneing. As it is now, they get out for maybe an hour or so before the sun sets and that just doesn't sit well with me.

We have 8 hens and one rooster. He is good with them (not so much with me, but that's another story) and a good overall protector I guess. There most certainly are plenty of places they can go to, one big one that they like is the big barn, so I am not concerned about that. Guess I just need some OT telling me that my thought process with all this is okay and to let my girls out to enjoy the range! Or not as it may be! Thoughts/Comments? Much appreciated, as always!

 

[Beekissed]

Not to interupt your lovely thoughts of homesteading without all the fine luxuries (which I do love reading about

) , but I do have a question ... or maybe more of an approval or not. I have 3 acres of a hobby farm in a rural area surrounded by farm fields with a few houses on our country road, several of whom have chickens. I work, as does my husband. I, being the last one gone, leave at 8:30am and he gets home generally around 2:30pm give or take, but certainly no later then 4pm to meet our little ones off the bus. We have 2 outside older dogs whom we got back in April right around the time we got our chicks. They are collie mix. They are great with the chickens and pay them no mind. One really keeps a pretty good watch out for outside animals coming on to our property (the dog down the street has tried to come over, but Bear won't have any of that... good doggie. The other is basically just waiting out her final days to be honest. The husband has said he has seen when the chickens felt threatened for some reason, they go over by the dogs. I haven't really seen that myself and I think he is making it up, but I suppose that could happen.

I think they just rather roam around and sometimes end up by the dogs!

I tell you all this because I would really like to let the chickens out in the morning to free range, but am hesitant because no people will be around in the event of something happeneing. As it is now, they get out for maybe an hour or so before the sun sets and that just doesn't sit well with me.

We have 8 hens and one rooster. He is good with them (not so much with me, but that's another story) and a good overall protector I guess. There most certainly are plenty of places they can go to, one big one that they like is the big barn, so I am not concerned about that. Guess I just need some OT telling me that my thought process with all this is okay and to let my girls out to enjoy the range! Or not as it may be! Thoughts/Comments? Much appreciated, as always!

Let 'em out. You have a good dog or two and your husband is spot on. My chickens like to be near the dog and it's not because they are best buddies...safety lies there. When they are at the far end of the range that the dog cannot reach, they like to be near the house...specifically on the stoop next to the window beside this chair in which I am currently sitting. They will dash madly through the open territory between these two point during what I call "hawk" hours...they seem to know them, I do not.

How I know there are certain times of the day they do this is through observation....and later? That same space which they will dash through in the late morning hours is the place on which they graze clover in the early morning and evening hours. They know when the hawks hunt, just like the hawks know when they are likely to get fed.

If you lose any on this system, those are the ones that didn't have survival skills....good riddance. At some point in time, you have to trust that the things you have in place will work and the only way you gain trust in them is by taking that gamble and seeing how it goes.