Colorado

[Pozees]

ditto. i wouldnt worry about a little bit of fighting if theyre not injured more than some scratched on their combs and its not constant. it seems the combs are the first target in chicken spats, at least around here anyway.

Agree - about the only intervention I might make is to give them something to do - I read recently about making cakes for them to eat, from seed, grains, crumble, oatmeal, wheat germ, coconut oil, I'm sure you could add any number of things, but then you press it into an 8x8 pan (although at the time I thought it might work better to use muffin tins) - the writer mentioned putting a hole in it so it can be hung, but you might also bake in a piece of wire to attach to a run wall or roof. You bake it *I think* around 250 degrees for a couple hours and then cool. I'll have to see if I can find the recipe again.

Anyway, giving them something like that, or a cabbage head hung, or a turkey carcass, really anything they can work on for a while. Winter boredom leads siblings and flockmates alike to squabble.

 

[Chesterchook]

I read somewhere about hanging up some old CDs or DVDs, keep meaning to try it but haven't yet.

 

[P-Funk]

Howdy! Been a while. My house is stucco and these little %$##@$ Pigmy Nuthatches seem to think it's a chopping block. Some have actually moved into the walls and are raising families. I went to Big R, got some 'holographic scare tape' and put it around the holes in the walls outside. This stuff actually works!! No more banging on the walls at 5am.

 

[wsmith]

Howdy! Been a while. My house is stucco and these little %$##@$ Pigmy Nuthatches seem to think it's a chopping block. Some have actually moved into the walls and are raising families. I went to Big R, got some 'holographic scare tape' and put it around the holes in the walls outside. This stuff actually works!! No more banging on the walls at 5am.

Cool! Good to hear from you again!

 

[wsmith]

An interesting observation yesterday morning......

I have been following some of the threads regarding heating coops, my chickens are too cold, etc etc. Everyone has their own thoughts on the matter, and when it comes down to it, to each his or her own. Do what you feel you need to do, but don't criticize others whose methods may be different than yours either. Each method reaps its own rewards/results, and hopefully they chicken owners learn from their mistakes. .....My chickens, your chickens.......

Thus, my following observation......

Yesterday morning at my place is was about 30F in the shade. I had forgotten to plug in the extention cord for the waterer, so it was frozen solid inside the coop at about 9:30 AM. Stupid me. The over night low inside the coop was 15F. At 9:30 AM The sun was shining brilliantly and it was quite pleasant in the sun.

A couple of the hens were on the nests laying and the rest were out in the chicken yard.

In a corner.

All bunched up.

In the shade out of the sun........

I walked over and moved them around. Within 3 minutes they were all back in the shade again. Some just standing there, others dust bathing, some scratching around. In the shade. They would rather have been in the shade, where it was about 30F instead of being out in the sunshine, where it felt like it was in the 50F range.

My opinion? Chichens that are raised without supplemental heat do just fine, and can in fact be very happy and thrive in cooler weather / temperatures.

 

[Pozees]

An interesting observation yesterday morning......

I have been following some of the threads regarding heating coops, my chickens are too cold, etc etc. Everyone has their own thoughts on the matter, and when it comes down to it, to each his or her own. Do what you feel you need to do, but don't criticize others whose methods may be different than yours either. Each method reaps its own rewards/results, and hopefully they chicken owners learn from their mistakes. .....My chickens, your chickens.......

Thus, my following observation......

Yesterday morning at my place is was about 30F in the shade. I had forgotten to plug in the extention cord for the waterer, so it was frozen solid inside the coop at about 9:30 AM. Stupid me. The over night low inside the coop was 15F. At 9:30 AM The sun was shining brilliantly and it was quite pleasant in the sun.

A couple of the hens were on the nests laying and the rest were out in the chicken yard.

In a corner.

All bunched up.

In the shade out of the sun........

I walked over and moved them around. Within 3 minutes they were all back in the shade again. Some just standing there, others dust bathing, some scratching around. In the shade. They would rather have been in the shade, where it was about 30F instead of being out in the sunshine, where it felt like it was in the 50F range.

My opinion? Chichens that are raised without supplemental heat do just fine, and can in fact be very happy and thrive in cooler weather / temperatures.

Interesting! Do you think as long as exposure to ambient temp is natural they will adjust similarly to the heat this summer?

 

[Mtn Margie]

Well, up here in the sticks, it is supposed to get into the high thirties today, no wind and it hasn't been this nice since the weather decided to get cold (early Dec.) so I guess the girls will be breaking out the swimsuits. Nice change from the single digits and teens and wind! Oh, and to celebrate, I got two eggs this am. The old ladies are back in the saddle again!

 

[P-Funk]

Good question. My little bird brain thinks when temps hit single digits (and below) the girls can choose whether or not to sit under a lamp. Their coop is HUGE so they can make their own call. The RIR got frostbite on her comb last year but that was before the lamps. It got better...

 

[wsmith]

Interesting! Do you think as long as exposure to ambient temp is natural they will adjust similarly to the heat this summer?

That is what I think. Rapid and drastic changes can present potential stresses, but enerally speaking that's what I think. Just like humans. We spend most of our time indoors, in a heated enviroment. We can also adjust. In the heat of the summer, a 60F day seems very cold, but in the winter its a heat wave......

 

[Minchi]

I might have to remove my light, my girls are so stressed, or at least acting stressed about it. I can't get them to lay in the coop anymore and have to chase them in to it at night. It will be pick dark outside and the light to the coop is off and I still can't get them to go to bed. When I come to let them out in the morning they fall over each other to get out and the coop is a mess.