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

[mrsamplias]

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

I just did a tour of our local thrift stores; each had a shelf full of crock pots!!

 

[mmmchicken]

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.

Huh, go figure about my man. I will have to let him know he may know a thing or two!

Thanks again Bee! I feel much better about what I knew I wanted to do! I hear/read you loud and clear on all this. So glad we have someone we can go to for things like this. I do have gut feelings about a lot of things, just so good to know you all

have our backs! Now, to just train them not to lay eggs in the rafters of the barn!

Only one or two gals are doing that though. And finally I do believe at least one of my gals has finally figured out that the nesting boxes are not like art work to be admired!

 

[ronott1]

Quote:

.. Okay, I'm newer than a newbie. I don't even have any chickens yet, just beginning to plan and doing lots of reading while recuping from surgery. Although I spent time on my aunt and uncle's farm, mostly I'm a city girl with no experience so I really appreciate this thread. I've been looking at cute little yuppy still coops with attached runs until I started reading more here. Scrap that. Okay, so I need a real coop that's bigger than a breadbox. Maybe a shed.

We have 7 acres of mostly alfalfa and being not too brite I was also planning to put my little yuppy style coop with tiny attached run in the middle of the field where we already know the hawks hunt daily. So, scrap that idea too. I'm guessing I should put the coop on the other side of the property down by the stream where there are lots of trees for shade and places for chickens to hide? Do I need to worry about the chickens drowning in the stream? This brings me to the above quote. In terms of hawk shelter - the brush is very thick all along the stream so it seems it would be great for hiding, but do I need to worry that the chickens would get lost or stuck in the thick brush? Or am I still just applying wimpy city girl logic? Thanks!

This is a great place to learn about chickens!

Look into Tractor coops. That way you can move them around if the place you pick does not work out for you.

 

[JeffOeuf]

So, no one has a comment about my question in 12219?

 

[kathyinmo]

Or, get an emu to watch over them! (Actually, he is lowest in the pecking order.)





My dog is a mutt. He is great at watching over the flock.....
They have access to a pond, and no, they do not go in and drown. They hide in the thicket of the timber, if a rooster calls an alarm.

 

[rowerjen]

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.

Same here in NH. No matter what time of year, or the weather, the power goes out at least once a week. I've given up on resetting the clocks on every dang appliance I own. It's an endless project.

I've been doing like JeffOeuf - bringing the waterer in at night if it's going to get well below freezing and putting it out in the morning. If I leave it in the coop the water doesn't freeze unless it gets down to 25 degrees or so. We'll see how it goes if we get any real winter around these parts. Used to be you could count on good solid week or two of 10 to 20 below. We might have gotten there once last winter.

Not to say I like it that cold but it's supposed to be that way. I moved up here from Connecticut about 15 years ago and I like to say I knew I'd gone native when I started putting the words "only" and "5 below" together in the same sentence.

 

[Beekissed]

So, no one has a comment about my question in 12219?

Could you bump it? I didn't catch it...

Or, get an emu to watch over them! (Actually, he is lowest in the pecking order.)



My dog is a mutt. He is great at watching over the flock.....
They have access to a pond, and no, they do not go in and drown. They hide in the thicket of the timber, if a rooster calls an alarm.

Kathy, that is some beautiful land and a good setup! Funny...your mutt looks a lot like my mutt except a little younger?

Not to say I like it that cold but it's supposed to be that way. I moved up here from Connecticut about 15 years ago and I like to say I knew I'd gone native when I started putting the words "only" and "5 below" together in the same sentence.

 

[JeffOeuf]

Could you bump it? I didn't catch it...

Duplicate of 12219

Breeding question...

I notice that most serious breeders offer breeding trios, being two pullets and once cockerel. But, all the "conventional wisdom" says that you need 8 or 10 females to each rooster. Will a young cockerel in this situation demand too much from two pullets? Should there be other females around to garner some of his attention?

 

[Mountain Momma]

Or, get an emu to watch over them! (Actually, he is lowest in the pecking order.)


Oh I want one! How cool! Well tell us all about them, what do they eat? where do they come from? How do they ever find those cute heels?-L

 

[mkcolls]

Or, get an emu to watch over them! (Actually, he is lowest in the pecking order.)




That is one amazing bird. Our turkeys stop traffic on the road.If drivers saw this we would be calling 911 and pulling cars out of the ditch all day long.

Gorgeous!! Love the hat, love the scarf, love the skirt, love the heels, love them all!

Thanks for sharing.