Colorado

[coop410silkies]

did anyone found a frozen egg outside of the coop? not sure what to make of it unless one of the chickens lays outside of box...  (they have 4... plenty for 10 chickens and some still not laying age...) i keep finding eggs outside of the box... maybe i just keep them in coop for several days so they figure out where the eggs go again... same chicken seems to go 'brain dead' when it comes to laying eggs

Yes, I found two frozen eggs on the floor of the coop today. They were not from the same hen, though. Once one bird lays in a spot, others tend to follow suit, so I am not surprised. Also, the birds are sleeping on the edges of the nest boxes nowadays. My birds disconnected their water heater; the GFCI was tripped, and lots of water froze. GFCIs are the thing to have!

Things are starting to look scary here.

 

[suncatcher]

I am using FF all winter this year, first year I have been able to do it, but with so many chickens, is a must! The feed goes a lot further, at least it seems to!!!!

Hmmm, never have tried making homemade yogurt, interesting.

 

[colleneleigh]

There's a poultry show first Saturday and Sunday at SS.

Where is SS??

 

[coop410silkies]

Where is SS??

My question, too.

 

[Percheron chick]

Stock show. Correction. Poultry show 22-23. Same as draft horse show. You'd think I could remember that.

 

[Latestarter]

I have one group of hens who rarely if ever use the nest boxes... They are Buff Orps and they always make a little nest on the floor of the coop in the litter and lay there. My problem is they often cover them up with the litter (imagine turtles) and If I don't catch it, they might stay there for days.

 

[Latestarter]

If a meet can be set-up, scheduled, I'll come. I think we had/have some mountain folk and western slope folks, so down town-ish might be a bit too far for them... Don't know, just a guess. I'm NOT bringing any chickens though... just a smile and a greeting.

 

[COChix]

If a meet can be set-up, scheduled, I'll come. I think we had/have some mountain folk and western slope folks, so down town-ish might be a bit too far for them... Don't know, just a guess. I'm NOT bringing any chickens though... just a smile and a greeting.

Thanks for your reply and interest....guess it will just be you and I at the first meet and greet. Will keep ya posted.

 

[samsr]

I haven't started fermented feed - yet. When I was making yogurt - a long time ago - I simply stirred a bit of my favorite live culture into milk, poured it into pint jars, and set the jars in my gas oven. The pilot kept them at the right temperature, and the milk became yogurt almost overnight. (When I used raw goat milk adding a live culture was not necessary.) The point, though, is that if you have a gas oven, the warmth from the pilot may be enough to facilitate the fermentation. Oven is pretty small, though.

Another thing you can try is removing the thermostat and heating element from the glass tube of the aquarium heater and substituting a light bulb for the heating coils - sort of like an incubator set up. Takes a thermometer and a bit of doing, but you can heat almost any kind of an enclosure with it. I used old aquarium heaters to heat old aquariums for starting seeds this way, mostly because I could not find suitable cheap thermostats at the time. Nowadays I might use one of those cheap Chinese Arduino things to thermostatically regulate a light bulb in a tub, box, or cabinet, or whatever. Again, like an incubator.

What I've been doing - until I get committed to FF - is pouring milk into a container of Scratch, stirring well, and setting it in a warm place. A small light bulb in a cupboard would probably work well, especially if I monitored the temp until I found the best wattage to use, but I just haven't bothered. The Scratch absorbs the milk, and, after a couple days, begins to have a nice yeasty smell - even without the addition of a starter culture. My girls - and boys - love this stuff, and they eat it all up before it has a chance to freeze.

Well, I'm NOT advising milk-saturated-Scratch - at least not until I've done some experiments similar to your project; all I'm trying to say is that you might have success fermenting feed with other methods of regulating temperature. Your project sounds great, btw, and, if I can find a source of cheap milk, I could easily see myself doing the same thing with my Scratch Stuff. Yet another thing to tweak!

Blessings

You can add more on later. I soldered my extension wires on to the original wire just to have a very good connection. You can twist them together also. Just make sure the bare wires get taped up really good. More wire can be had on amazon. I ran my wire through small plastic electrical conduit under my drive so i wouldnt cut it with the rocks. I have use one of the rf transmitters before. But i found that just walking the line works well. The only places i have found breaks in the wire has been where it is not burried. I hope this helps. Mine is a petsafe version also. The dog hates it but i like it pretty well.

 

[Latestarter]

Happy New Years all. Best wishes for all in the coming year!