Colorado

[Double Kindness]

Well, as I approach hatching my own eggs, I anticipate much cock in need of eating eventually. . Lol

 

[Mtn Margie]

-13 for the low. Not as low as in November at least. Good day to burn slash!

 

[uzisuzuki]

Work from home day! Also, I'm ordering my first incubator as soon as my paycheck clears tonight & then getting started on my DIY brooder this weekend. The flock made it through the night despite the temps & what appears to be a stray cat stalking our barn. One more day/night of this cold snap to make it through!

Hope everyone else is doing well & stays warm!

 

[Ashdoes]

Work from home day! Also, I'm ordering my first incubator as soon as my paycheck clears tonight & then getting started on my DIY brooder this weekend. The flock made it through the night despite the temps & what appears to be a stray cat stalking our barn. One more day/night of this cold snap to make it through!

Hope everyone else is doing well & stays warm!

What incubator are you starting with? I remember researching for days and days, and still wasn't for sure which one I was going to get till the last minute.

Anyone doing top bar beehives? We're planning our deck to be like a large fruit garden right outside the back door, and I'm thinking we need more bees out here. I've been reading a lot about beehives, and a top bat seems easiest for a beginner.

 

[uzisuzuki]

What incubator are you starting with? I remember researching for days and days, and still wasn't for sure which one I was going to get till the last minute.

Anyone doing top bar beehives? We're planning our deck to be like a large fruit garden right outside the back door, and I'm thinking we need more bees out here. I've been reading a lot about beehives, and a top bat seems easiest for a beginner.

I'm going with the Brinsea Mini Advance since it's fully digital & small because I won't be able to hand turn & don't plan on hatching very many eggs at any given time.

 

[Latestarter]

Initial coop run for feeding was about 8am. Temp inside was 2 degrees, no visible frostbite on anyone. The wounded roo is doing well with no new blood from the damaged toenail quick. Collected 6 usable eggs and 1 frozen solid. That last one must have been laid as an afterthought just prior to roosting as it wasn't there when I did final checks late yesterday afternoon. Oh well... my dog gets another treat for/with her dinner. I'm still trying to stick with fermented feed, but have to limit the amount I give them so it doesn't have time to freeze solid. Seems they still aren't eating it fast enough as the troughs are filling with frozen feed. I guess for the next several days they'll just have to do with dry food.
Over the past several days, I have re-discovered the joys of hot chocolate with a little added french vanilla creamer and topped with whipped cream

So much better for warming the soul when it's this cold outside. Much better than my normal go-to which is hot tea. Of course not as good for my weight

speaking of weight, all the talk about desserts on another thread (various cheese cakes andthe like) got me drooling so I baked a spice cake this morning, to be topped with cream cheese frosting then devoured over the remainder of the week

Ahhh well... priorities

Hope everyone is doing well with this cold snap. The worst of it is supposed to be today and through tonight.

 

[Latestarter]

Hey there @AliKat2 !

and welcome to the Colorado thread! Please feel free to join in the (any) conversations that interest you

 

[Ashdoes]

I'm going with the Brinsea Mini Advance since it's fully digital & small because I won't be able to hand turn & don't plan on hatching very many eggs at any given time.

That was the one I had initially wanted, smaller size. its so easy to get out of hand hatching, because it's so much fun. I'm lucky I got the incubator put away at all this year, my husband loves hatching, mostly for the excitement I think. We also got the auto turner, I can't imagine where I'd get the time to turn eggs four times a day.

 

[COChix]

:/[S[/S]

I'm going with the Brinsea Mini Advance since it's fully digital & small because I won't be able to hand turn & don't plan on hatching very many eggs at any given time.

Nice, all this talk about bators is making me want to go dig ours out of then shed and look at them. Don't remember the kind as bought it from someone on here that was getting out of chickens. Our issue is where to brood and space. Since we have a second coop in the attached run, l am hoping we can let some broodies sit and hopefully hatch some eggs this spring. Dont want to risk any frozen chicks so have to be patient and wait until thise spring. In the meantime I will figure out the logistics of all of these things. So can you incubate eggs to hatching and then get give to a broody mom with other babies to help raise?

Initial coop run for feeding was about 8am. Temp inside was 2 degrees, no visible frostbite on anyone. The wounded roo is doing well with no new blood from the damaged toenail quick. Collected 6 usable eggs and 1 frozen solid. That last one must have been laid as an afterthought just prior to roosting as it wasn't there when I did final checks late yesterday afternoon. Oh well... my dog gets another treat for/with her dinner. I'm still trying to stick with fermented feed, but have to limit the amount I give them so it doesn't have time to freeze solid. Seems they still aren't eating it fast enough as the troughs are filling with frozen feed. I guess for the next several days they'll just have to do with dry food.
Over the past several days, I have re-discovered the joys of hot chocolate with a little added french vanilla creamer and topped with whipped cream   So much better for warming the soul when it's this cold outside.  Much better than my normal go-to which is hot tea. Of course not as good for my weight   Ahhh well... priorities

Hope everyone is doing well with this cold snap. The worst of it is supposed to be today and through tonight.

Late, thought about your boys this am as I went out in -2 temps to let the gang out for the day, this was at 8:30 (I slept in). I am glad your gang faired fine overnight, so did ours. Coop temp didn't dip below 18 last night and we held tight at 16% humidity so I was happy, no evidence of frost bite on any combs. Although the roo's had me concerned as they didn't rush out into the run when I opened the pop door, they stayed in the coop. My imagination got the better of me and iimagined one of them was injured or dead (my BF mom has had a couple chickens just keel over, thus my paranoia) since they didn't come out. Well I opened the coop and there they were, Bruno being the complete gentleman was sitting on a perch by one of the nest boxes and inside the nest was one of our RIR hens sitting on 4 eggs. Rocco was fine as well and went out into then run while I collected eggs. Phew! Added some more straw to run this am to give them something to scratch around.

Glad everyone faired ok overnight. Oh and did I say how excited I was for spring and hatching? I have a couple top broody girls I hope will be good flock mamas.

 

[uzisuzuki]

That was the one I had initially wanted, smaller size. its so easy to get out of hand hatching, because it's so much fun. I'm lucky I got the incubator put away at all this year, my husband loves hatching, mostly for the excitement I think. We also got the auto turner, I can't imagine where I'd get the time to turn eggs four times a day.

LOL That's what I'm worried about! If I save up to get a larger incubator, things will quickly get out of hand for what I can manage right now. Have to remind myself that I still have a shipment of chicks in May & hopefully a couple AC eggs/chicks from Double Kindness next year also (fingers crossed!), so I need to keep my hatching impulses under control. Or else buy a tiny house for all the bird!