Colorado

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Hi. How did everyone do with this last blizzard? Here we got over a foot of snow, with drifts up to 2 1/2 feet tall! Took Hubby and I an hour to dig out the chickens and goats. Still, with our new buildings for all, nobody froze, got frostbite or even got sick. A little frozen water but that's all.

We ate our first chicken the other day .. from one we raised ourselves. A little garlic and seasoned salt ... delicious! Didn't realize that home-raised healthy chickens have more dark meat than white, and almost no fat! Wow!

If anyone's interested, I'm selling two of our bantam blue silkies: one girl, one boy. The boy has crooked toes but has a beautiful crow and does his rooster-duties well. She lays an egg about once a week... or every two weeks. Of course, that's normal for silkies. Beautiful creamy tan-white egg about the size of a small regular egg. Silkies are known for going broody so if you'd like to toss the incubator and have a real-life chicken-mom, here's your chance! Both were hatched Feb 2011. Will let them both go for just $10 ... must go together. E-Mail me if you're interested.

 

[Mommato5]

We only had 4" this time, but some single digit temps! The girls did GREAT even in the cold temps. I'm so thankful! My girls seem to like the snow. They pecked at it allllll day long! LOL They don't like walking in it, though, and after about a minute start squawking and fly to an area with no snow. I guess it's cold on those bare feet! We always make sure to shovel enough patio that they can get to the covered deck without having to walk in snow but sometimes they choose to do it anyways.

They LOVE warm oatmeal on these cold mornings! I had to put it out in 2 bowls this morning because they fight over it! The top chicken runs off the bottom chicken and won't let her have any otherwise!

Actually, the top chicken is really mean. When do you bump her down a notch by separating her for a few days? She doesn't peck or hurt anyone but she really doesn't like the bottom chicken. She runs her off from food and refuses to let her hang around! She refuses to roost next to her (another chicken is always between them) and will run her off the roost on warmer nights (thankfully she lets her roost with them on cold nights)! The other 2 chickens like the bottom girl just fine and are often seen running interference, putting themselves between the top girl and bottom girl. The top girl even snaps at the second to bottom girl quite frequently but doesn't dislike her as much.....

 

[ryan820]

Hard to tell how much we got here... the drifts are pretty deep and then nearly none at all in some places. But we have a hill that the snow collects behind near the driveway that is easily 6 plus feet deep! But I'm guessing we got about 14 or so inches. Funny, though, how every storm reveals a design flaw in my chickenary (its not a word, but I'm tired of writing coop and run). The peeps (they're chickens but I can't help it, it's funnier to call them peeps all the time) made it through fine. They seem really irritated with the weather. I shoveled a small area for them but it made no difference-- they had no desire to leave the coop. I gave them some scratch and made sure the aquarium heater was doing its job, which it had. I'm surprised how little food my chickens have consumed in the past few days since the storm. Is it because they've been so sedentary? They really haven't eaten much at all.

Wish the sun would get to work on melting the snow...there is SO much!

 

[bustermommy]

Wow, mine have been scarfing food like they're starving. They aren't going out to freerange (I guess they don't want to dig through the snow for weeds), so they've about doubled their feed intake.

Ryan, I'm curious. What design flaw did the storm reveal? Their water froze in my coop, and when I thawed my nipple waterer, it started leaking like crazy. Guess I have to do something else for winter. Maybe a galvanized waterer with an aquarium heater.

 

[wsmith]

I like it!

How's this for a definition:

Chickenary (noun)

The abode of domestic chickens; i.e. run and coop, or other variant therof.

Also see "Gallusary" from the Latin Gallus (fowl)

 

[ryan820]

Quote:
Thats the issue with water, isn't it? The expansion it has during freezing will destroy things-- roads, pipes, chicken waterers.

As for design flaws, it may not be a flaw but when we put up our privacy fence, we extended it far enough to block the north winds for the coop. Well, it worked, but it then created a snow drift that is unreasonably deep right by the run door! The coop itself got lots of snow on it, but not in it, and having it on it actually helps as a good insulator and limits drafts! Although I don't think my coop has many drafts.

I can't explain the lack of food consumption. Maybe they're eating the same and i'm just expecting them to eat more? Dunno... but I'll keep an eye on things and make sure food is readily available day or night.

 

[bustermommy]

Yeah, I have my people door on a different side than the chicken door. I've just been opening the people door since it gets more sun and the snow melts faster there. The chicken door is shaded by my fence and the snow stays forever.

Maybe they need a covered walkway there between the fence and the coop.

 

[Mommato5]

That's so funny! My crazy chickens love the snow! They peck through it allll day and made a little hole where they can get to the grass. They even come out when it is actively snowing, although they don't like to walk in the deep snow. I just make sure they can get from their coop to shelter and grass without walking on snow and they are happy campers! I did not expect them to actually like the snow! LOL

 

[hispoptart]

This is my first time with chickens and we haven't had any real snow to speak of, but they did not seem to like the frost and ice build up on the lawn. Just wondering if there is anyone near Rangely that might want to get together for a meet sometime?

 

[P-Funk]

The girls loved the snow last year, but this year there are some new ones. I nearly broke my back shoveling out the runs and then they stand at the door giving me the stank-eye. Ya, I said stank-eye. So I plowed the driveway and opened the run door. Penny, at the top of the 'order', bolted straight into snow literally over her head and proceeded to resurface with numerous amounts of goodies. Charles Darwin was on to something because the entire coop didn't take 5 seconds to follow. Don't you wish you were so easily amused?