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

[Beekissed]

Yeah...that freezing and thawing over time seemed to be the only way I could get the chickens real enthused in pumpkins..and the sheep as well. When all the water seeped out and it's flattened and deflated looking. For some reason it becomes like crack cocaine at that point...maybe it's the time of year when they haven't had anything in the way of veggies and fresh forage for a few months, so the pumpkin is particularly needed for it's nutrients then. Not sure....I just know they don't like it fresh, barely ate it when cooked but finally finished it, and seem to be ravenously enjoying it after it's deflated, pale and with a sprinkling of mold. Go figure.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Ohio Nationals - this weekend

Secret shopper en route

Won't know anything until tomorrow

 

[armorfirelady]

Ohio Nationals - this weekend

Secret shopper en route

Won't know anything until tomorrow

Hope Santa gets you what you want

 

[kathyinmo]

Ohio Nationals - this weekend

Secret shopper en route

Won't know anything until tomorrow

Take pictures!

 

[just me]

Take pictures!

Yes, please take pictures!

 

[Beekissed]

Yes!!! Lots of pics!

 

[just me]

Big score!! DH stopped by the neignborhood store and noticed a guy with a tuck load of white oak that wasn't "cut to length". DH asked where he was going. GET THIS, he was going to the land fill. DH explains that he would save a ton of money if he just brought it by the house and dumped it in the yard!! Now, all we have to do is cut it to length and split it....almost an entire pick up truck load of wood in less than 10 minutes!! YEAH BABY!!

 

[Beekissed]

That's called being in the right place at the right time!!! Blessed providence! Serendipity! Great score!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Freeze Update on the cup waterers.

I've only had a couple nights that got into the 20's so far so this is an "early report". Keep in mind that I have a bird bath heater in the bucket so the water in the bucket is between 40 - 60 degrees at any given time. My concern for freezing has been the water inside the little necks leading into the cup.


The nights that it got that cold, on cup B (see photo below), the mechanism froze. It's the one with the little metal spring in there and I'm thinking that metal spring is what was freezing up. I pushed on it and tried to get the water flow open and was eventually able to but I know that the chicken beak wouldn't have been able to get it flowing. Now that was after only a few hours at 25 degrees so I imagine if it gets down and stays in the 20's that one won't work very well.

Cup A did not freeze.

I had the same results on both freezing nights. Of course, if there is any water pooled in the cups that will freeze also, but these are designed to only let water down when the beak toggles the "nipple" and there is usually very little water in the cup at any given time.


Today I removed cup B and replaced it with another "cup A". I'll update again after we've had a longer cold-spell.

***********************************************************************************

Cup type A. (So far I like this one best. It is the less expensive at $1.70 ea.)

Cup type B ($3.00 ea. Mechanism is replaceable inside when the internal sealing ring goes bad.)

 

[just me]

That's called being in the right place at the right time!!! Blessed providence! Serendipity! Great score!

Yeah, I was puzzled when a truck I didn't recognize was coming down the driveway (usually, if I don't recognize the vehicle, somebody's lost you have to really look for my house). Then I saw DH's car. When DH told me what was going on, my first thought was "Well dang, Bekissed would be proud of you, old man. Envoius(sp), but proud!"