Colorado

[Chick N Mama]

Is anyone near the Greeley/evans area on here? Im VERY new at this, and because its -13 right now, I fear I may lose them....I cant stop the water from freezing, so I brought them into my mudroom...which is not heated, but attached to my home, so its only about 40 in there....Which is better than -13. They are moving around now, and drinking the water i placed....I just fear I am stressing them out too much. I only have one laying, and hope they all start soon, and im also trying to buy eggs, because mine dont produce enough yet...Any ideas on cheap eggs? I looked on ebay, and yes they are cheap, but Im wanting 10-20 right now, and it adds up right before the holidays with shipping....I have a incubator so no worries there.

Hi

, this is my best source for good info! I live in Lvld and I understand your nervousness because I am also new and this is our first winter with chickens, too. I made a little water heater out of a cookie tin and light bulb - directions are on-line and costs about $10 . Keeps the water from freezing pretty well. I would also wait until spring for new chicks. They need such care which is difficult in these temperatures and there are so many places to choose from locally! You are going to get only female pullets that way. All the chicks show up in March, that is just 3 months away. Your birds may not want to begin laying now as they need 12-14 hours of light to produce. Do you have artificial light in your coop? Hang in there!

 

[ojoscafes15]

Hi Everyone!!

We have been in Colorado for almost a year. We are renting in Aurora right now but we are looking in Parker, CO. I was wondering if anyone lives or is knowledgable about Pinery Glen? I would really like to have a couple of chickens, been wanting some for years. We were in the military for 14 years and we are now laying down roots. We were hoping to live in more of the outskirts but because of my husbands jobs and my kids school and activities its just not working out.

 

[EHook518]

I gave in last night and put a heat lamp up, I nailed it up with U-nails so there is no chance of it falling down. I have 4 out of 6 that are molting, one is pretty bare, so I was really doing it for them. They hang out in front of the lamp so I think I did the right thing for them. I always leave the pop door open so there is plenty of ventilation (plus the other vents I have). My heated water bucket decided it was too cold for it to keep working, had to make some modifications and set up a heated dog bowl for them.
My two young nigerian dwarfs are pretty unhappy about this cold too, this is their first winter. I set up a heat lamp for them in their shed, also nailed it so there is no chance for it to fall. They come out for brief moments and then go back in. They look so cute with their hair all fluffed, I just want to squeeze them!
On another note, I saw some fox tracks all round the coop this morning, and on top of the nest box. Since the attack I have everything very secure after dark. I guess he thought he would come have a look just in case!
Stay warm!

 

[WendyGeisler]

You will go into the Turkey hotel, right now!

you can see the beloved turkey tree behind me

 

[trsturself]

I'm glad I put the warmer lamp out there. The water wasn't frozen when I got home tonight and one of our SLP was hanging out directly in front of the light. It looked like she was trying to thaw her crest which was hanging down all frozen. lol

We don't put a light inside the coop. This morning all the walls inside the coop were covered in frost. But the girls were fine. Just think of those wild birds out there that only have a nest!

Fox prints would freak me out!

On another note, my homemade incubator is complete and I'm getting it all dialed in. Can't wait to get some eggs in there!!!

 

[Pozees]

Wendy I love that picture LOL!

trsturself, your incubator looks good! What did you make it from?

 

[Pozees]

Oh - 2.1 degrees and falling here at 3:37 am

 

[Mtn Margie]

I'm glad I put the warmer lamp out there. The water wasn't frozen when I got home tonight and one of our SLP was hanging out directly in front of the light. It looked like she was trying to thaw her crest which was hanging down all frozen. lol

We don't put a light inside the coop. This morning all the walls inside the coop were covered in frost. But the girls were fine. Just think of those wild birds out there that only have a nest!

Fox prints would freak me out!

On another note, my homemade incubator is complete and I'm getting it all dialed in. Can't wait to get some eggs in there!!!

Nice looking incubator.

Frost on the inside of all of the walls my be a sign of too much humidity build up. That can cause frostbite even in warmer temps. Anyone else have an opinion on this? Or is my coop just frost free.....

-13 and holding. Kinda getting over the cold.

 

[DCchicken]

Oh - 2.1 degrees and falling here at 3:37 am

That is exactly why I moved from Boulder to Maryland. The subzero temps were fine when I was a drunk college student at CU. But now that I am older, I understand why people opt for heated seats in cars. I do miss the snow sometimes. Maryland gets this warm air from the Chesapeake Bay that pushes the cold air up to New York. They don't need to be warm in NYC, right?

Just thought I would share that it is 60 degrees right now.

 

[Pozees]

Mtn Margie I agree, I have not seen frost inside any of my coops, and it does indicate moisture is present, good catch! Sounds like more ventilation is in order, near the top of the coop or on the roof peak if there is one. On the shed coop we built last spring we left the eave open, which Bob still thinks is mean because they could be a little warmer, but I wanted it that way for ventilation. Not saying nothing can go wrong, it certainly can, but yesterday morning it was 5 degrees in there, all the birds were fine. I have a brooder with 5 chicks ranging in age from 2-4 weeks out there, they still have their heat lamp, and they stayed right under it most of the day yesterday, but they too are fine. Their waterer is about 18 inches from the heat lamp and it was frozen yesterday morning. We lowered the heat lamp an inch and a half last night because it was dipping below zero overnight (was -2 when I left at 5:15 this morning), waiting for the report from Bob on whether it froze again. I am so very happy he's home to keep an eye on them. If he wasn't I wouldn't have left chicks in the shed, I would have moved them under the house in the crawl space. They would not have been okay if he hadn't been there to see the water had frozen and replace it.

My first Colorado Mayahn chick hatched this morning I got a dozen eggs from coloradogal 3 weeks ago tomorrow, moved them to the hatcher last night and one was already pipped. Finished hatching this morning before I left. Bob is so used to seeing Silkie chicks, he saw this one and remarked how big it was!