Coffee's ready...

[oesdog]

Drat no pics and he didn;t come this year because DH was ill. We will have to do something nest year to get him back for last year.

I just had an awful scare with one of the girls.
I went outside to help DH do a few things and I happened to look over to where the girls had been digging and making sun beds earlier and there was a chiken laying there all alone. She looked lifeless and as the other girls had gone in because it was starting to get dark I thought OMG she is dead. I didn't run over because the body was so still. I simply thought she had died out there in the sun. If you recall one of the PRs has been ill on and off since she was rescued and I thought it was Dorothy (It was). Well when I got close I realised it was her and my goodness her whole head was jammed into the fence pannel. They had been digging under it and somehow she managed to pop her head under and lifted it up between the planks. I sooo thought she was dead. I dug round her head and managed to get my hands under her and I pushed the head down gently and released her. I really thought her neck was broken. But she started to move her neck and I just cuddled her into myself. I was so worried. I put her down after about 5 mins and she just stood and looked at me like "whats all the darn fuss over?" I went and got all the girls some mealworms and they ate those but Dorothy backed away into the pen. I guess she was a bit shocked. I went and did someother things and went to check on her later. Bertha was Mummying her so I thought that was good as Bertha is very good in a crises! I went inside and got them some bread for supper and tossed it out. Bertha came hobbling out ( remember she had a ligament injury) and little Dorothy came rushing out past her which was really funny and she screached to a hult grabbing a big bit of bread to make up for missing out on the mealworms! I think she will be ok. I filled in the sun whole they had worked so hard on which made me a bit sad and then I put bricks up the length of the fence so hopefully it wont happen again. At least she was sensible enough to realise she was cought and stay still and not struggle. Bless her she must have been there ages thinking - someone will get me, oooooh it's getting dark someone get me PLEASE SOMEONE GET ME!!!!!!

Oes

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers
Oes hope the chicken is ok! the coyotes took the rest of my flock.I'm fowless in my misery! I'll re tool up in march. With chickens ducks and geese.I'm IN misery about Lucy we all loved her so much.We are in a slight denial praying she found flight and escaped and will return.
Wish in one fill the other.
math, rngr, gargoyle,

keep the faith.
God Bless!

 

[Gargoyle]

Our two 1-1/2 year old hens went into molt mode in late Nov/Dec. and stopped laying. (It's also been pretty cold here, and very little daylight). The one who was really scrawny and sad looking emerged from molt as a beauty, ugly duckling to beautiful swan. Meantime, one of our two young pullets started laying just before new years, at the ripe old age of 33 weeks. She's been laying steadily one every other day since. The other young'un is about two weeks younger than her, so I'm hoping she takes the hint and starts in soon.

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers,
chickens rule for meat and food production.No other domesticated animal will have you into meat, eggs (food) sooner or longer then our faithful friends.Unfortunately coyotes owls,Foxes skunks,and opossums are as enthusiastic for the succor provided by them as we.
Gargoyle I'm glad your chickens are doing well.I can only wait patiently for the spring and the regeneration of my flock.On a good note"or not" I'm going home to pick my seven year old up and take him to school.Why?On the way I will explain to him that from now on I the mean one! will be the one helping with home work and if he does not wish to suffer through that he had better pay attention in school and get his work done."his only real home work are reading assignments everything else is just what he failed to do during class,And this is considerable.I hope this works,he makes his mothers life miserable with his complaining about his work and sits and fidgets rather than work to get the assignments done.
God Bless!

 

[Gargoyle]

Well, I've found the limits of my little do-it-yourself heated water dish. 10 degrees F (-12 c).
It got a glaze of ice over it last night, and the inside of the water bottle froze up. I rigged up a heat lamp with a 150W ceramic heater hanging above it, but that will probably only give me a couple of more degrees before it freezes. It's supposed to hit single digits next weekend, so I need to come up with something else by then.

It's only about 10 degrees warmer inside the coop, but perhaps if I move the waterer inside that will buy me a little time.

The chooks don't mind the temps at all, they're happier now than they were when it was in the 90's last summer... but I need to keep the water wet.

 

[karl E lutz]

good morning chicken wranglers,
Water in winter is always a challenge.i went through several plastic self heating waterers be for I just gave up and went metal and a metal heater.I even had a large tub with a tank heater in it for the ducks.Back when I had them.
Now days all I do is fill the four hundred gallon tank 3 times a week and fill the one ten gallon tank with it .Checking the heaters and tanks 2 times a day is helpful to prevent burnt up elements "from empty tanks" and froze up tanks "from circuit breaker fault out.
Winter is grand out on the farm.
God Bless!

 

[quercus21]

Morning people,
I use those 1 gallon plastic watering cans. Each morning I bring a filled one out to the coops, in the evening I remove it. It's stays pretty good like that if the outside temps are 20f and above. With the weather we have been having lately, it's been pretty good. I keep their larger waters outside for extra. It thaws with the warming of the days.

 

[rngrbill]

What I used was a 2.5 gallon bucket with 3 watering nipples in the bottom. I stuck a 7.5 watt pad type aquarium heater in it. it was in the coop and I had no problem with leakage or freezing.

I miss my girls maybe next year.

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers
I've been dealing with sub freezing temps all week.Saturday was 50 and then Sunday the bottom dropped out.
The cattle waterers are doing OK but you have to stay ahead of the weather one step at a time.I use a 400 gallon tank set up by the troughs with a heater in it and 2 troughs with a heater each.
Only problem is my boy taking care of it ,He is thirteen and only about half applying himself ,so once In a while well maybe 2 time in a while I have to thaw everything out.
God Bless!

 

[rngrbill]

I remember working for my fnl and having a welder stop by and hook up to our water lines in the barn to thaw out the water bowls by the stalls. one year we had 30 days in the teens and one of the underground lines froze in front of the barn door and we had to pick axe it out to thaw it. Cold weather, water and farming sure can be fun. Best of luck to ya!