Consolidated Kansas

[TaraBellaBirds]

That is the theory - that birds raised over the winter are hardier than those raised other times of the year. Personally I can't really tell a difference as my chicks that hatch in spring survive winter and summer and learn to forage about the same. I have one rooster who is coming up on a year old now. He hatched December of last year and his hatch day, the high was only 24. When he was 12 days old, it got down to 3 degrees. He never even seemed to feel the cold and if anything spent LESS time staying warm under his mama than chicks I've raised in warmer times of the year. I remember the morning it was 3 degrees, and I was so nervous to check on him and see how he was but he was just bustling around, glad to see me arriving with unfrozen water for him and though I stayed and watched him for awhile, he never did go back under his mama. In the end *I* got cold and went inside. Now that he is a year old he is a really fine looking Barred Rock rooster who is filling out nicely. I couldn't say he is healthier than the others because they're all healthy, but he didn't seem to have any issues with the heat this summer, despite being a winter baby.

@TaraBellaBirds your pumpkins look gorgeous. Are they a pie variety or for jack-o-lanterns?

My garden actually fared far better than I had feared. When I went up there that morning the leaves looked wet like they had frost melting on them and I was sure by the next day they'd be dead but yesterday they were mostly looking pretty good. We lost a few leaves on the zucchini plants and that seems to be about it. DH's theory is that the grass, being on the ground did not catch any breeze, so the frost was able to settle on it, but the veggies being just that little bit taller, caught enough breeze to prevent actual frost settling on the leaves. However it happened that we escaped losing it all, I'm thrilled, since the forecast will allow for quite a bit more to ripen and harvest before the next weather danger. I have a lot of red tomatoes out there today that I need to go and pick.

I agree my Winter chicks are tough little things. Thank you, they are howden pumpkins, so they can be used for both, but most of them will lend up as jack-o-lanterns. I need someone to make me some zucchini bread, I am not a cook. I grow it but someone else has to prepare it

. Glad your garden made it, I bet you just had a light frost, wasn't enough to penetrate and freeze the plants and fruit!

 

[chicken danz]

I have a hen that has problem walking. She was limping. I looked at her foot and I don't see anything wrong with it. So I'm hoping you guys can give me suggestion on what to look for. She is in a small dog kennel with food and water. She doesn't look bad at all but is definitely having difficulty walking.

There are several possibilities for what is wrong with your chicken. One if she is a laying age hen is that the boys could have been too rough on her and damaged her leg joints. In that case she needs to be separated and given a chance to heal or she will totally break down. If she is young...5-6 months old there is a chance she has Mereks. You can treat it but there is no cure and eventually she will die from being unable to get to food or water. About the only thing you can do is give St. John's wort which helps them stand the pain and seems to help them partially recover but with Mereks it will come back later.
I wanted to ask you your neighbor's name and their daughter's name. I am trying to tell my DIL who your neighbor is to see if she is in Medical classes with her.
I haven't done a thing yet today. I need to get busy and start working on my projects. I think I have turkey poults due to hatch today. I haven't checked the incubator yet.
We didn't get any frost damage here that I could find. I am thankful. That will give my sweet potatoes just a little longer to grow.

 

[zigzag45]

Catching up....

@chicken danz - building looks great. I hope you tell us how you are setting it upside. Your operation is way bigger, but I still suspect we can learn from how you're doing it.

One thing I plan to do differently is placing LED Christmas lights around the inside of the coop to provide pre-dawn light instead of the heat lamp I had in their previously. I don't think it provided much heat, and I was always concerned about it getting knocked off and weather it was a fire hazard.

My heated bucket/poultry nipple setup from last year was fine, but I'm trying to think of ways to improve it. I like easy and trouble-free for winter water solutions. Not quite found it yet.

@tweetybaby2005 - Thanks for the explanation. That's what I was thinking, but I assume I've just lived under a rock for too long and hadn't heard the term.

I'm looking for a chance to candle again and see how things look. I've found another source for eggs if I want to give her some more. But, I hate to do that if any of these hatch. I suspect it's bad to have eggs hatching 10 days apart.

If any of these hatch, I need chick starter to set out for them. Do I keep the layer feed out for the mamma as well, or just feed the group all chick starter?

 

[Trish44]

zigzag, I just use a regular light bulb in one of the heat lamp fixtures & put it on a timer to set for coming on pre-dawn in the winter. I don't give them any heat in the coop in winter. They don't seem to need it & are out in whatever weather other than they don't like getting out in the show much.

 

[chicken danz]

I normally use a low wattage bulb on a timer as well. But I have a porcelain light socket mounted to the roof and have it attached to a cord with a plug so I can plug it into the timer. Last year I didn't use bulbs and let the girls take the winter off. I only put two bulbs out on timers in early spring for pure bred birds I was trying to get laying for hatches. Not sure what I'm going to do in the big building this winter as far as providing extra light. Until I get my outdoor runs made it will be much darker in there and laying will probably come to a stand still. That's another idea in my head I am working on.
I thought your water system was awesome. In fact I tried to copy a version of it to make fermented feed and keep it from freezing. Mine didn't work however cause the heat tape wasn't powerful enough to heat the barrel. It was a big plastic 55 gallon barrel. I've been messing with a sink I intend to install. I have to retrofit all the drain pieces to use with my drain, and I have to build a supporting stand for it because I removed the one on it.
It hasn't really been a productive day at all. I cared for the birds and spent a lot of time looking for plumbing parts etc.

 

[zigzag45]

If my light fixture was mounted well, it would be great. However, it's one of those spring/clamp lights. Things seem to get pretty wild in the coop sometimes and I can see it getting knocked off. Since I have power in the coop, I actually could wire something to the ceiling, one of those cheap porcelain fixtures, might think about that....

Funny you would mention fermented feed.... I really want to try that. I'm trying again to grow wheat fodder as we have 40 lbs of "bad" wheat. It doesn't cook well, so it's going to the birds. Tried it three times and it goes moldy each time. Trying again.... I make kiefer frequently, whey is a byproduct of that so I know I would have some good culture for fermented feed.

 

[CHIKENROOKIE]

Catching up....

@chicken danz
 - building looks great. I hope you tell us how you are setting it upside. Your operation is way bigger, but I still suspect we can learn from how you're doing it.

One thing I plan to do differently is placing LED Christmas lights around the inside of the coop to provide pre-dawn light instead of the heat lamp I had in their previously. I don't think it provided much heat, and I was always concerned about it getting knocked off and weather it was a fire hazard.

My heated bucket/poultry nipple setup from last year was fine, but I'm trying to think of ways to improve it. I like easy  and trouble-free for winter water solutions. Not quite found it yet.

@tweetybaby2005
  - Thanks for the explanation. That's what I was thinking, but I assume I've just lived under a rock for too long and hadn't heard the term.

I'm looking for a chance to candle again and see how things look. I've found another source for eggs if I want to give her some more. But, I hate to do that if any of these hatch. I suspect it's bad to have eggs hatching 10 days apart.

If any of these hatch, I need chick starter to set out for them. Do I keep the layer feed out for the mamma as well, or just feed the group all chick starter? 

Zig, i have some of those rope lights that was going to try this year as well. I need some eggs!

 

[CHIKENROOKIE]

Bad news, had to go to Arkansas for work, this morning intense pain, just came out of emer surgery.

Good news ? On the way down here, dropped off my roo to a lovely little operation, they had 3 lav pullets and were ecstatic to get a " chickendanz" work of art.

I told them to stay in touch, as I need a lav and perhaps a couple of jubilee orps as well!

Now, need to get more meds! LOL

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

@CHIKENROOKIE I'm new to the thread but I sure hope everything is alright.

 

[HEChicken]

One thing I plan to do differently is placing LED Christmas lights around the inside of the coop ...

I like easy and trouble-free for winter water solutions. Not quite found it yet.

I suspect it's bad to have eggs hatching 10 days apart….

If any of these hatch, I need chick starter to set out for them. Do I keep the layer feed out for the mamma as well, or just feed the group all chick starter?

Your instincts on the heat lamp are spot on. Every year there are coop fires due to heat lamps falling and setting fire to the bedding. Chickens do not need heat at all - we had a couple nights last year that went below 0 and the birds did fine. Lighting for eggs is one of those personal preference things. I tend to feel that because egg-laying is a highly intensive process, they need a break each year to rebuild their health for the following year of laying. So I just let nature take its course and when they stop, they stop. Most years I still get a few eggs each day throughout the winter, as I almost always have new pullets laying who will lay throughout their first winter, and that gives the older birds a chance for some much-needed R&R.

I use heated dog water bowls for water. They work great for chickens and turkeys but are the reason I am getting out of ducks. The ducks liked to bathe and try to swim in them, sloshing out all the water I had just carried down for the others.

In short, the eggs won't hatch 10 days apart as the hen will not sit that long. Once the first batch has hatched, she'll leave the nest to care for them and leave the remaining eggs in the nest to die. Unfortunately with chickens it also doesn't work to incubate them yourself and then ask the hen to raise the ones 10-days younger. By the time the second batch hatches, she will be firmly bonded to the first batch and unwilling to accept any more.

You can either feed chick starter to the whole flock or set up a chick creeper such as this: http://selfsufficiencyandotherassortedhijinks.wordpress.com/2013/11/14/creeper-feeding-chicks/

I do the creeper because I have over 100 birds and its too expensive to feed chick starter to 100 birds just so that the few chicks can eat it. But if you have a small flock, it may be easier to just feed it to all of them and provide shell on the side for the layers.