Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Well Poop! No chickens at the post office. I finally gave up and called. I just hope they'll be okay.
HeChicken I just don't have that luxury. My DH is leaving at 5:00 AM and getting home about 7Pm every day. I have no one else to take care of things around here.
I'm thinking Friday when he is off I'll try to get him to go to Ottawa so I can buy some cattle panels so I can make a hoop house. I need a place to separate birds that I am selling in a couple weeks as well as a place to house my guineas eventually. I need to buy some more kennel panels but I only do that when they are on sale. They aren't right now. Maybe they will be in a few weeks.
I just keep buying more and more. They are just too handy. The advantage of the hoop house would be that I could enclose one end for a shelter as well.

 

[sarajoy]

Well, this morning both my buff brahma little ones were crowing - so that is why they are identical - they are BOTH roos.
I wouldn't mind keeping one, they are gorgeous, but I can't keep feeding two of them. It means I've been feeding FOUR roosters out of my nine chickens all winter. Sigh.... Does anyone else in SE Kansas have buff brahma? If I'm going to keep even one of the roosters I'll need to get him a hen or two. Does anyone need/want a 5 month (standard) buff brahma roo? Or maybe even better have a buff brahma hen or pullet chick or juvenile they might want to trade for one of my roos? Or have a couple of buff brahma hens or pullet chicks or juveniles they want to sell? I don't want to order chicks at a hatchery or wherever till after our move to Wilson County this spring, but could add a few buff brahma chicks to that order. Only problem with that is most of the hatchery places will only sell the rare breeds as straight run. I don't need any more roosters!! If someone has (standard) light brahma, one of my two light brahma juveniles is also a rooster, which I don't need since I have an adult roo, and I'd rather find a home for the little white roo too. Not for the stew pot - when I have more birds and am raising my own from chicks I'll have to adjust to that here, and will do it myself. But I've become close to each of my nine birds, and really want the little roos to have good homes. If no one on this list has need of especially one of the buff roos, I'll put them on the buy/trade forum once weather is consistently warm enough to allow shipping further. Sara

 

[Hawkeye95]

Danz, you really need to stop using that hand for a few days to let it start to heal. Are you even using it to type? Sorry for all the frustrations yesterday - hope the PO calls soon and your birds traveled well. At least they had mild weather for their trip so that is one less thing to worry about.

X2, Danz!! You need to lay off that hand for a few days!

Anyway, stretching a tendon causes a lot of pain and it takes a long time to heal. It's kind of like stretching a rubber bunge cord beyond it's limits. They don't give easy and it's harder to get them to go back to their original shape. I just have to live with the pain I guess. It does bother me it is getting worse but it's probably my own stupidity for refusing the splint.
I had quite the day yesterday. I decided to try to clean the brooder house and disinfect it thoroughly. And also to clean the chicken tractor and disinfect it to hold the Brahmas until I could get them some nice facilities done.
I had to remove everything in the brooder which is a load of stuff. Shovel out all the shavings. Spray it down and vacuum it all out, then I used nearly 2 gallons of activated oxine and let it soak for maybe 30 minutes. Then I sprayed it down again and vacuumed it all out to dry. It still smells like mouse pee. The stupid things have been crawling around behind the insulation in the walls and there is no way to fix that other than tear it all out and start over. Not on my list of things to do right now!!!
Then I was going to move the chicken tractor so I could clean, disinfect, and relocate it. I couldn't lift it so I got a bright idea to try to use the bucket on the tractor. I didn't have it centered and broke on of the supports at the end and tore the chicken wire. Just what I needed!
So... I spent a few hours trying to repair my damage. I couldn't use the battery drill so I got an electric drill thinking it would be easier to operate. Because my injury is affecting my thumb and index finger I couldn't control the speed with the trigger. So I ended up stripping out screws and some didn't go all the way in. I guess it will just have to look like crap. I cut and screwed a piece of OSB on the end to attach the broken support to. Then I took a piece of hardware cloth and stapled it onto one side over the chicken wire to fix the hole I put in the chicken wire. It should make it a little stronger any way than just chicken wire. If I'd had the time and another piece of hardware cloth the right length I would have put one on the other side as well, just because I like the idea of it being more predator proof. I had to use a putty knife inside the house part to get the floor clean. More washing down and more oxine and fresh shavings. It should be ready to go. I really need to move it again but for now it is going to have to stay where it is.
I still need to clean out a brooder bin in the house for the chicks and move some chicks inside to the brooder. I want to keep a close watch on these shipped Breda fowl chicks for a week or longer to make sure they don't get ill from the trip.
Hechicken when it comes to having to do that kind of work for a house to sell it makes you wonder why you didn't just do it for yourself, doesn't it? I keep thinking if I were going to sell this place I'd finally get all the junk out, get it clean and finish my million unfinished projects. I'd like to any way. Finding the time isn't easy when I'm working outside all the time.
Your mention of rototilling reminded me I need to take a section of fence down and get the garden all tilled soon as well. Of course just getting DH to put the tiller on the tractor will be a major factor in getting that done. The rest I can handle. I'd really like to put in some onions and potatoes at the right time of year for a change.
Speaking of outside have you seen the extended forecast? The weather is going downhill. They are talking colder on Sunday , snow on Monday and lows down in the lower teens and highs below freezing in the first part of the week. Is the stupid winter going to give up or not?
Well the phone hasn't rung. I may have to call the post office cause the suspense is killing me.

OMGosh, that picture of your x-ray gave me chills!!! It looks so utterly painful! This year I want to grow veggies that are expensive to buy. I cook with a lot of peppers and onions. Peppers are insanely expensive! I read up on how to store them... so I think I'll be chopping and freezing them as well as the onions. Onions are near as expensive, but with the price of things going up, it makes sense to try to grow it yourself and can it or freeze it and save some money! I'm not looking forward to the colder temps, but I'm glad it looks like we're getting some kind of moisture. Although, we probably won't get it out here. For some reason, we're in this section that never gets rain even when everyone around us is reporting it. Did your babies come in???

 

[sarajoy]

ChickenDanz - thanks for the responding. I have finally figured out they are BOTH roosters. Gorgeous, but I don't need two especially when I don't even have one buff brahma hen/pullet to breed it with. Sigh. So I'm looking for a home for at least one of them. I wish I were close enough to help you out fixing up a place for your new shipments. Actually, Waverly won't be horrendously far once I've made the move to Wilson County. But for now its quite a stretch. But I'm sorry its all happening NOW when you need to be just allowing your hand to heal. Sounds like you are someone who knows how to keep going and just somehow work something out with what you've got - regardless - but its not fun..... Sara

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hi Kansas folks.. I am in need of 1-2 chicks but the feed stores won't have any for weeks and I have a lonely single chick.. I am located about 15 minutes SE of Wichita.. any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hello and welcome to the Thread!!

It's really early for people to be hatching right now-- most people don't start until Spring, but we do have some hatch-a-holics on the thread here. Try this group-- this is our swap page for birds, you will need to ask permission to get into the group when you get to the page. http://www.facebook.com/groups/275183675880038/ Anyway, maybe someone who is crazy will have chicks! LOL I'm certainly not hatching until the weather warms up!

Well Poop! No chickens at the post office. I finally gave up and called. I just hope they'll be okay.
HeChicken I just don't have that luxury. My DH is leaving at 5:00 AM and getting home about 7Pm every day. I have no one else to take care of things around here.
I'm thinking Friday when he is off I'll try to get him to go to Ottawa so I can buy some cattle panels so I can make a hoop house. I need a place to separate birds that I am selling in a couple weeks as well as a place to house my guineas eventually. I need to buy some more kennel panels but I only do that when they are on sale. They aren't right now. Maybe they will be in a few weeks.
I just keep buying more and more. They are just too handy. The advantage of the hoop house would be that I could enclose one end for a shelter as well.

Uh oh! Maybe they will come in later today. Or they could be at the sorting center. I can find my birds quickly when I have them shipped in. They all come in to the Mid Continent airport here in Wichita, and they go straight to the sorting center. Then they usually hang out there an entire day and are picked up by local PO's the next morning. So since I have no idea which plane they are on, I just keep calling down to the sorting center at the airport and asking if my birds showed up. When I got my last rooster in, a few months back-- his plane came in at 7pm!!! I had called 3 or 4 times that day, and they said they'd call me back and took my number on the last call I made. And they did! So I drove down and picked up my boy at 8pm that night at the sorting center at the airport. Anyway, it's faster than waiting on your PO to call you. If you know which airport your chicks are coming in, you could call them?? Unless it's just too far away from you! I'm so lucky that the sorting center and airport are so close to me!

Well, this morning both my buff brahma little ones were crowing - so that is why they are identical - they are BOTH roos.
I wouldn't mind keeping one, they are gorgeous, but I can't keep feeding two of them. It means I've been feeding FOUR roosters out of my nine chickens all winter. Sigh.... Does anyone else in SE Kansas have buff brahma? If I'm going to keep even one of the roosters I'll need to get him a hen or two. Does anyone need/want a 5 month (standard) buff brahma roo? Or maybe even better have a buff brahma hen or pullet chick or juvenile they might want to trade for one of my roos? Or have a couple of buff brahma hens or pullet chicks or juveniles they want to sell? I don't want to order chicks at a hatchery or wherever till after our move to Wilson County this spring, but could add a few buff brahma chicks to that order. Only problem with that is most of the hatchery places will only sell the rare breeds as straight run. I don't need any more roosters!! If someone has (standard) light brahma, one of my two light brahma juveniles is also a rooster, which I don't need since I have an adult roo, and I'd rather find a home for the little white roo too. Not for the stew pot - when I have more birds and am raising my own from chicks I'll have to adjust to that here, and will do it myself. But I've become close to each of my nine birds, and really want the little roos to have good homes. If no one on this list has need of especially one of the buff roos, I'll put them on the buy/trade forum once weather is consistently warm enough to allow shipping further. Sara

oh no! Boys! That's a bummer. As far as trying to sell boys as pets or for breeding projects, you'll have to get thick skinned on that one. I got rid of 3 boys last summer that I'm pretty sure were going to be eaten. They were pet-quality boys. I sold two more as "breeder quality" boys and the price I sold them at alone is a guarantee that no-one is going to eat them! No one eats a $50 bird! LOL But I have two more pet quality boys to get rid of this year-- and I'm not hanging onto any hope that there might be a happy pet home for them. As pretty as they are, no one usually needs extra roosters hanging around unless they need them for a specific breeding project, and my two boys aren't the right quality for that and I would never encourage anyone to use them for breeding, either!

I do still have ONE beautiful breeder quality blue silkie cockerel for sale, though. Anyone???

 

[Hawkeye95]

Look, here he is!! I know you want him!!!!

Perfectly spaced extra toes!!




Nice type!


He was dancing for me-- but look at that beautiful wing fan! No obvious splits!!



hehehehe... I actually took these pictures yesterday for someone else to look at him and get first dibs but they didn't have any BBS colored hens and decided they didn't need him. He's too nice to put on the swap site, so I'm either going to offer to ship him or sell him at an up coming show.

 

[HEChicken]

With the last few days being so nice and some what warm, it really, really makes me want to hatch! If only I had EGGS! The girls are still not down with the laying idea yet. I get maybe 2 eggs a week from the silkie pen and my layers in the big coop have given up completely. I have a bumblefoot that needs attention on one of my Polish, but I've been letting it go for now, but it's getting to the point where it's looking bad. This is the same darned bird that gets it over and over and I don't think it ever goes away. I gave her two rounds of penicillin last year for it. It's going to the top of the foot. I was reading that someone said that once it goes to the top of the foot, it becomes much easier to get it out. I hope that is the case. I just hate to cut on her over and over again.

that is totally awesome they let you borrow the tiller!!! NICE! Ooooh, I can't wait for Spring and planting!!! I'm going to put in another raised garden! I already told my Dh that is what I'm doing and he shakes his head and tells me I am over committed as it is. Maybe... but I LOVE yard work, so it's more play than work for me.

That sucks that she still has the bumblefoot. I haven't had any luck getting rid of it either - I've operated on one of my birds twice now but I never can get it all out so it keeps regrowing. Sigh. At least I figured out why they were getting it and fixed it (the roosts were too high and they were jumping down on to a concrete floor with only a thin layer of bedding). Since I lowered my roosts and with the deep litter now 6-8" high, I haven't had any new cases of bumblefoot.

Oh, did I say BORROW the rototiller? Oh no, it was even better than that! They came over and did it for me. My neighbor's DH drove the thing over and said "where do you want your garden?" I showed him and he went to town, running over the spot multiple times to get it dug nice and deep for me. I gave them some eggs to take home with them but I think I came out ahead on that deal!

That is so funny that your big layer coop are taking a break NOW. Mine didn't lay for most of December, but now that the days are getting longer, they are really cranking them out. Yours were laying when mine weren't but now they're taking a break.

Well Poop! No chickens at the post office. I finally gave up and called. I just hope they'll be okay.
HeChicken I just don't have that luxury. My DH is leaving at 5:00 AM and getting home about 7Pm every day. I have no one else to take care of things around here.
I'm thinking Friday when he is off I'll try to get him to go to Ottawa so I can buy some cattle panels so I can make a hoop house. I need a place to separate birds that I am selling in a couple weeks as well as a place to house my guineas eventually. I need to buy some more kennel panels but I only do that when they are on sale. They aren't right now. Maybe they will be in a few weeks.
I just keep buying more and more. They are just too handy. The advantage of the hoop house would be that I could enclose one end for a shelter as well.

Sorry they didn't get here yet. I hope they'll be okay. Does your post office get an afternoon delivery? When I was getting chicks delivered and talked to them ahead of time, they told me most stuff comes in in the morning but if they didn't arrive in the morning there was still a chance they'd come in on the afternoon delivery, which is at least better than having to wait a whole 24 hours for them.

Well, this morning both my buff brahma little ones were crowing - so that is why they are identical - they are BOTH roos.

Sorry they both turned out to be roos. I've never had brahmas so I'm sorry I can't help you out with a hen.

This year I want to grow veggies that are expensive to buy. I cook with a lot of peppers and onions. Peppers are insanely expensive! I read up on how to store them... so I think I'll be chopping and freezing them as well as the onions. Onions are near as expensive, but with the price of things going up, it makes sense to try to grow it yourself and can it or freeze it and save some money! I'm not looking forward to the colder temps, but I'm glad it looks like we're getting some kind of moisture. Although, we probably won't get it out here. For some reason, we're in this section that never gets rain even when everyone around us is reporting it.

I need to start some serious garden planning. I've tried a lot of things in the past but I've settled into growing a few things that we consider "staples" . I used to grow corn but found it takes up quite a bit of space to end up with just two ears of corn from the plant - and right about the time it is ripe enough to eat, it is super cheap at the store anyway. I also grew lettuce and broccoli one year but although they did quite well, again, for the space, I got one harvest and they were done. So I switched to things that have multiple harvesting. Now I grow a lot of greens - kale, swiss chard, collards and mustard greens. Once they are mature, I can keep harvesting them throughout the summer and fall and they just keep right on growing. Also, they grow so well usually, that any leaves that don't look perfect, I pick and give to the birds. They get some extra greens and there are enough "perfect" leaves for our salads. (In summer we about live on salad and use the greens instead of lettuce.) I also like to grow tomatoes since they are so much better than what you get in the store and although one plant takes up quite a bit of space, we get multiple fruit from each plant and they keep setting new fruit throughout the season. This year I'd like to also do bush beans, since we eat a lot of those. And of course potatoes. I've never grown onions but I might this year. Someone also mentioned Jerusalem Artichokes recently and I need to look into those. Oh, and of course, peppers. I've had really good luck with peppers in the past and we use a ton of them on salad so will eat all I can grow. I don't think I'll have any trouble filling up the garden beds - I just need to plan them out well so the tall things are in back.

 

[Trish44]

Hi Kansas folks.. I am in need of 1-2 chicks but the feed stores won't have any for weeks and I have a lonely single chick.. I am located about 15 minutes SE of Wichita.. any help would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome CrazyChickens09! You might send a PM to Sunflowerparrot & see if you can get on her list for chicks, she just put another batch of eggs in the incubator, so it will be awhile. Also, if you get on the Kansas Poultry Swap on FaceBook, there is a guy named Ethan Neises who is in Oxford who is hatching chicks all the time also.

Crazychickens09. Welcome to our humble group. I'll bet SunflowerParrot has some chicks. She's been hatching a lot and she is fairly close. Might be some others down that way.
I read last night trying to get caught up but I'm too lazy to go back and read again this morning. I've been up at least an hour and a half hoping the phone will ring and say my birds are at the post office. I could use another day to get ready but I don't want them floating around in the mail system another day for their sake. I'm pretty excited and worried!
Checoukan they did exrays on my hand of course that was just to make sure I hadn't broken any bones. Tendons are pretty tender things to deal with. My original injury tore all the tendons across my wrist leaving me unable to use my fingers at all. They had to cut them off and pull them up and reattach them to my knuckles. My thumb was then pinned into my wrist and another pin was placed to hold the left side of my wrist secure. But then years of redamaging it and arthritis it finally became necessary to put the plates and screws in and fuse the rest of the wrist. Here is a picture of a scan of an exray done on my hand and wrist. Click to enlarge


Anyway, stretching a tendon causes a lot of pain and it takes a long time to heal. It's kind of like stretching a rubber bunge cord beyond it's limits. They don't give easy and it's harder to get them to go back to their original shape. I just have to live with the pain I guess. It does bother me it is getting worse but it's probably my own stupidity for refusing the splint.
I had quite the day yesterday. I decided to try to clean the brooder house and disinfect it thoroughly. And also to clean the chicken tractor and disinfect it to hold the Brahmas until I could get them some nice facilities done.
I had to remove everything in the brooder which is a load of stuff. Shovel out all the shavings. Spray it down and vacuum it all out, then I used nearly 2 gallons of activated oxine and let it soak for maybe 30 minutes. Then I sprayed it down again and vacuumed it all out to dry. It still smells like mouse pee. The stupid things have been crawling around behind the insulation in the walls and there is no way to fix that other than tear it all out and start over. Not on my list of things to do right now!!!
Then I was going to move the chicken tractor so I could clean, disinfect, and relocate it. I couldn't lift it so I got a bright idea to try to use the bucket on the tractor. I didn't have it centered and broke on of the supports at the end and tore the chicken wire. Just what I needed!
So... I spent a few hours trying to repair my damage. I couldn't use the battery drill so I got an electric drill thinking it would be easier to operate. Because my injury is affecting my thumb and index finger I couldn't control the speed with the trigger. So I ended up stripping out screws and some didn't go all the way in. I guess it will just have to look like crap. I cut and screwed a piece of OSB on the end to attach the broken support to. Then I took a piece of hardware cloth and stapled it onto one side over the chicken wire to fix the hole I put in the chicken wire. It should make it a little stronger any way than just chicken wire. If I'd had the time and another piece of hardware cloth the right length I would have put one on the other side as well, just because I like the idea of it being more predator proof. I had to use a putty knife inside the house part to get the floor clean. More washing down and more oxine and fresh shavings. It should be ready to go. I really need to move it again but for now it is going to have to stay where it is.
I still need to clean out a brooder bin in the house for the chicks and move some chicks inside to the brooder. I want to keep a close watch on these shipped Breda fowl chicks for a week or longer to make sure they don't get ill from the trip.
Hechicken when it comes to having to do that kind of work for a house to sell it makes you wonder why you didn't just do it for yourself, doesn't it? I keep thinking if I were going to sell this place I'd finally get all the junk out, get it clean and finish my million unfinished projects. I'd like to any way. Finding the time isn't easy when I'm working outside all the time.
Your mention of rototilling reminded me I need to take a section of fence down and get the garden all tilled soon as well. Of course just getting DH to put the tiller on the tractor will be a major factor in getting that done. The rest I can handle. I'd really like to put in some onions and potatoes at the right time of year for a change.
Speaking of outside have you seen the extended forecast? The weather is going downhill. They are talking colder on Sunday , snow on Monday and lows down in the lower teens and highs below freezing in the first part of the week. Is the stupid winter going to give up or not?
Well the phone hasn't rung. I may have to call the post office cause the suspense is killing me.

Ooooh, Danz, that wrist is a mess! I'll bet the splint would have helped you if you had gotten it, just to help immobilize it some. You really need to be careful with that.

Well I'm headed back out today to try to get the other two panels put together for my pens. I have them glued together, I just have to get the chicken wire on now. My DH came home last night & looked at my panel & actually gave me a compliment on it, wow. He did go over & drag all the windows over the fence from next door. Some of them are pretty nice & others have broken glass in them, but the smaller ones you might be able to combine & get a couple good windows. We just wanted to get them before someone else did. He said while he was over there that there are still windows on the old mobile home too & that we should get those before someone breaks them. I was surprised he was so willing to go get stuff because he's usually so negative about things like that. We also got a nice round plastic table with a hole in the middle for an umbrella, it will be nice for just out under the trees, it just needs some cleaning. These people just left evidently in a hurry & left all kinds of stuff in the travel trailer drawers & everything, it's all ruined now from the weather of course. My cats were having fun playing in there yesterday. It's a real mess over there, trash everywhere. After I get what I want from there I'm going to write a letter to the guy that enforces cleanup on these kind of places in the county & tell him how much of a mess it is because the owner of the land will never clean it up unless she gets fined. Our GPs keep bringing trash over from there so every day I have new presents in the yard, now we're having to haul off their junk.

Well everyone enjoy the day! I hate to hear that it's going to get colder again, I'm so done with this winter.

 

[chicken danz]

Sara Joy are your brahmas LF or bantams? Let me know and I'll keep my eyes open. You might try the Kansas Poultry Swap on facebook or craigslist. Are you moving to Yates Center or near there when you move? That is only about 30 miles or so from me. When are you supposed to move? I figure I had my boys about 15 years too early. If they were still home I'd have a work crew here. We lived in town when they were home but I used to get them to help me mix concrete and lots of heavy work. They're too far away and too busy to do farm work for sure. Not that they would want to for sure.
Well Josie was here and back on the road. She looks so cute! I've got to go to town a little later and take these boys in and pick up a prescription.
Pretty boy Hawkeye. I'm still all about the big birds other than my olandsk. I only have the d'uccle because people request them. I doubt I'll raise them over a year though. I tend to tire of some of these birds I don't really care about, especially when pen space is always short.
I agree Hechicken on the garden corn is a waste of space unless you can afford to plant a whole field of it. Last year we had several big rows of sweet corn at the edge of the field corn. It was a total waste. Not a single edible ear due to the drought. I've had a beautiful corn crop and had a pack of raccoons wipe it out in one night as well.
I like growing lots of tomatoes and freezing any leftovers for soup and stuff during the winter. Last year mine did nothing. More problems with the drought. I wish I could afford to change my plumbing and channel all my grey water to the garden. That would be so nice. I really really love home grown green beans. I am determined to have a decent crop this year.
I grew enough peppers last year to last for years I think. I have them chopped and frozen. I'll probably put a few more green peppers in just to have some to use fresh and to feed the birds the seeds. I think I even have some seeds I could start.
I plan to grow some more butternut squash this year. I love love love that stuff. And more sweet potatoes, and sugar pumpkins. I need to get some onions and potatoes planted early. I really should be thinking about getting this stuff done. Maybe I can get DH to attach the tiller to the tractor when he is off. It sure beats doing it by hand. Then the big garden spot which I hope to plant for the birds will be loaded with pumpkins, watermelon, squash, cucumbers etc. I'm still trying to figure out how I can keep them out of it, but allow the dogs in to keep wild life from coming in.
Hawkeye, that would be great but I'm 2 hours from the nearest airport. And from there they would go to a sorting facility. They only get mail once a day at our local post office unless it is something contracted with UPS or Fedex to bring in. If they don't get chilled they should be okay. I do worry about shipping stress. I have my chick saver and probiotics ready.
Well better get started on my list of things to get done.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I am really behind. I got cash for my bday and went shopping at my favorite herb shop and stocked up on herbs and oils. What a relief. That is medicine for us and the animals.
My last hatch had an issue of humidity. Does anyone have tips on controlling the humidity in the farm innvators pro series? Humidity is at 45% right now, I just set the eggs this morning. If it doesnt go over 50 is that going to be ok?
I made a 5 gal bucket of laundry soap and I love how it cleans. Here is my recipe I got from my grandmother
4- fels naptha laundry soap bars
1-borax 4lb box
2 baking soda 4 lb boxes
Grate the soap bars. Mix everything in a bucket. It only takes 2 tbsp per load. Cleans 288 loads
I doubled this for close to 600 loads. I also added lavender ess oil to scent it. It cleans wonderfully and my clothes are really soft.
I am working on fabric softening this week,
I have been selling a good amount of chicks and dog treats so if anyone is interested in either let me know.
I hope everyone is enjoying this weather. I am moving my 2 month old chicks out to the grow out pen. I hope they stay warm enough.