Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

I agree with Danz, I couldn't tell you how many times on BYC the question is asked about providing heat to birds, but wild birds survive just fine without supplemental heat. The down layer of their feathers keeps them warm and makes them far more cold hardy than heat hardy. What they really need is fresh air. More coop fires are started every year by well-intentioned people running heat to their coops when it wasn't needed in the first place.

I don't heat my coop at all. I have year round ventilation via the vaulted roof and open soffits. My windows face east and west since the prevailing KS winds are almost always from the north and south. I put storm windows in the two window openings but never close them all the way. I have never lost a bird to cold and the only time I see them looking unhappy with a low temperatures is when it is in the single digits. Today was just "business as usual" for them (even though I was being a wimp and really feeling the cold today).

As for the difference between drafts and ventilation. I see drafts as being air flow that places air blowing directly over the birds, whereas ventilation is allowing for free air flow, to allow the ammonia to be vented out and replaced by fresh air.

I like your description HEChicken of drafts vs ventilation.

Speaking of bird health I found this "recipe" on one of the sites on FB & thought I would share it. It has a lot of ingredients, but I thought it was interesting.
My mineral mix for chickens

brewers yeast :

Brewer's yeast is used for diarrhea, the common cold and other upper respiratory tract infections, influenza, loss of appetite, It has also been used as a source of B vitamins, chromium, and protein.

Garlic granules: Packed with antioxidants, immune system could benefit if you give it a constant boost of powerful garlic in daily recipes. Proven anti inflammatory
Anti fungal properties
Natural fly repellant

Dried Mint: very palatable

Limestone flour: rich source of calcium

Oyster grit: helps hens to form good shells by extra calcium & also aiding in the digestion

Seaweed meal: used as a trace mineral supplement ( only need about 1 teaspoon per batch of 1.5kg as can cause iodine toxicity)

Phosphorus in the form of soy bean :
healthy bones, better digestion & excretion, more energy, fertility, proper cell reproduction, mental health
Potassium: Potassium is a mineral that's crucial for life. Potassium is necessary for the heart, kidneys, and other organs to work normally.
1 tea spoon should treat 15 birds food for the day

 

[OkieQueenBee]

Hi Ya! ChirpChicks1, those are some great looking chickens and eggs. I got 3 eggs today and (drum roll, please) BlueRoo, the little EE pullet laid her first egg! So now I have a blue egg to add to my basket.
Oh dear, Danz, there are those days and I have plenty of them myself. But I am still amazed at everything you do get accomplished. I spend too much time looking for stuff and it's either because I didn't put it away when I was done with it, or because I did put it away. Organization is not one of my stronger points.
Thanks everyone for the input on the little cockerel. He is back to his old self so I put him back with his brooder group. Just to go,over some of the input, that group was wormed, with Ivermec in the water, back when Danz mentioned that the peachicks needed to be wormed. So that should eliminate worms and lice and other creepy crawlies, right? I use a 23% medicated chick starter that I ferment, there are 19 chicks and 3 peachicks in this pen. Only 1 of these developed the limp neck symptom. On another thread it was mentioned about all the chicks piling on top of each other causing health problems. I have caught these laying on top of one another. But then I got to thinking about maybe a sour croup or whatever that is called. I do put a little scratch grain in with the ferment and these babies don't really have access to dirt. But, yet we didn't notice him having an enlarged croup. And if it was the feed, why only one? Then today I noticed another one looking like he was straining to poo and the sick one did have a big wad of poo stuck on his butt. So I cooked them up some applesauce with molasses today. I hate it when I don't know how to take care of things.
Trish, you and Danz got me thinking about ventilating our new coop. It is pretty tight, with just a little ventilation around the doors. Guess we will need to get some strong screen to put on the windows and leave them cracked. Most every bird goes inside before the door closes, including the turkeys and guineas. A few sleep outside, but not nearly enough according to the chickens.
Caught a possum in the trap last night.
Hi LizzyGSR, how are you and the little one doing?

 

[Ralph Moyer]

With the now freezing weather I use a portable air tank to clear my water hoses. I have a short hose with a threaded male hose fitting on one end and an air chuck fitting to quick connect to my air tank. A little added chore but better than not being able to use the hose, without waiting for it to thaw. My turkeys also prefer to roost outside on top of the pens. All except my hen and her young ones and my one legged turkey. He can not fly with only one leg, so he roost on the ground in the corner of a shed.

 

[chicken danz]

All this talk of winterizing, so.. I moved the two geese and the one duck together into the swingset coop that we made back in July. My thought was to put straw in the bottom and then close it off around the ends with just an opening for them to go thru, they have a bigger "yard" that we let them out into during the day. I gues they have pretty good down coats , any thing else I need to consider ?

Thanks Thish44. I'll check email and give them a call.
Danz- when it rains it pours, sorry about your day.

I wouldn't close it off for geese or ducks if you want them to use it. Just make sure they have a break from the north wind.

Hi Ya! ChirpChicks1, those are some great looking chickens and eggs. I got 3 eggs today and (drum roll, please) BlueRoo, the little EE pullet laid her first egg! So now I have a blue egg to add to my basket.

Oh dear, Danz, there are those days and I have plenty of them myself. But I am still amazed at everything you do get accomplished. I spend too much time looking for stuff and it's either because I didn't put it away when I was done with it, or because I did put it away. Organization is not one of my stronger points.
Thanks everyone for the input on the little cockerel. He is back to his old self so I put him back with his brooder group. Just to go,over some of the input, that group was wormed, with Ivermec in the water, back when Danz mentioned that the peachicks needed to be wormed. So that should eliminate worms and lice and other creepy crawlies, right? I use a 23% medicated chick starter that I ferment, there are 19 chicks and 3 peachicks in this pen. Only 1 of these developed the limp neck symptom. On another thread it was mentioned about all the chicks piling on top of each other causing health problems. I have caught these laying on top of one another. But then I got to thinking about maybe a sour croup or whatever that is called. I do put a little scratch grain in with the ferment and these babies don't really have access to dirt. But, yet we didn't notice him having an enlarged croup. And if it was the feed, why only one? Then today I noticed another one looking like he was straining to poo and the sick one did have a big wad of poo stuck on his butt. So I cooked them up some applesauce with molasses today. I hate it when I don't know how to take care of things.
Trish, you and Danz got me thinking about ventilating our new coop. It is pretty tight, with just a little ventilation around the doors. Guess we will need to get some strong screen to put on the windows and leave them cracked. Most every bird goes inside before the door closes, including the turkeys and guineas. A few sleep outside, but not nearly enough according to the chickens.

Caught a possum in the trap last night.
Hi LizzyGSR, how are you and the little one doing?

I think you found your own problem. Actually I can see a couple. Ventilation...or lack of could have caused the problem with the chick. They can build up so many toxins if they don't have some ventilation going on. If you have pasty butt that is usually a sign of stress. Stress can be caused in chicks by environmental factors (i.e. lack of ventilation, not enough heat, etc.) or by moving them to a new location. I really need to change my brooder house myself. When we built it we bought small storm windows for it. My intent was to mount them upside down so I could vent at the top of them, but they wouldn't work that way. So I need to add some closeable vents toward the top. The problem with this coop is that the ends I could ventilate are oriented north and south. To get a decent cross flow that would leave me letting in some north wind. I tried to explain that to DH when we moved it into place but he said we could relocate it later if it didn't work.. Hence 2 years have gone by and it hasn't budged! I keep thinking I'll remember to check out some vents when I am out and about shopping but I always forget.
Queen Bee organization is my bane. When I put things up I want them out of sight. But then I do such a good job I can never find them again.
When DH puts things up its such a rare event I can never find them. I swear I can't ever understand why he does what he does. There is no rhyme or reason to how he stores things. I am always telling him not to make another time capsule. I swear everything goes in a bin and none of it goes together. So we have hundreds of time capsules every where and you can never find what you are looking for. I have tried hundreds of times to go through these things and sort and organize but new time capsules keep getting formed and the organized ones end up with all the contents moved.
He was complaining about tripping over all the stuff in the yard the other day. I said, "Yeah, and I haven't been complaining about it forever??" If I tried to pick up after him I would have no time to take care of my own business.
Ralph I do the same thing. I use a manifold with different water outlets on it. I leave one outlet open. Open all the valves and use an air nozzle to blow all the moisture out of the hoses. Once in a while if a hose is laying over something and raised up though I fail to get the water out of it. Then I have problems. I also have some hoses joined together to make really long lengths. They seem to like to freeze at the fittings. We actually have an air compressor in the basement and have a hose that runs out of the house. It's very convenient for working on things. I just keep the hose by the outside faucet with an air nozzle on it in winter. I need to eliminate down to two hoses. I have 5 of them hooked up right now. I need at least one for each side of the yard. One day I swear I will have water lines so I can water from a spigot on each side of the yard. I have one pen I have to carry a bucket to but I can deal with that. I wanted to move it over with the other pens but DH thinks it should stay where it is at because we plug the tractor heater in over there so the birds have electricity to a heated bowl. (He doesn't have to carry a bucket of splashing water so he doesn't see the necessity.)
That wind is really blowing out there today. I'm afraid that even though the temp is supposed to be warmer that it might feel a lot colder today.

 

[Trish44]

It's supposed to be warmer today but still only in the 40s but this weekend it's predicted to be back to the 70s both days for here, I can handle that. It will get a bit cooler than that after the weekend, probably back to more seasonable temps. It's just teasing us this weekend.

Well now that my son finally announced it I can tell all of you, a couple already know but we're going to have a new grandson in February. He's due around Valentine's Day. I sure hope everything goes OK, this is a high risk pregnancy. That's why they waited so long to announce it to everyone. They have been buying baby stuff of all kinds & we ordered them a high chair after I found out their color scheme. I've been excited but cautious about it at the same time. Those of you who are new here don't know that my son's fiancee had thyroid cancer awhile back. She has had two surgeries & radioactive iodine. This pregnancy was a surprise because she had been told it wasn't even a possibility.

Well it's going to be another busy day, so I better get moving.

 

[OkieQueenBee]

Congratulations, Trish! Very exciting and blessed news. Will keep them in my prayers. Thanks for posting the mineral recipe, knowing me I'll have to give it a try.
Going to look at how to get more ventilation in the coop today. When it is completed it will be 4 separate areas, 2 with windows that can open, but using just poultry netting for the inside dividing walls, so it should cross-ventilate ok. The brooder area is enclosed with plastic put up on the divider wall, except for one corner where it fell down. So that is the one that needs some extra ventilation, I'm sure.
Question for those of you that do the FF, what age of chick do you start feeding the FF? I'm pretty sure that I have ask the question before but my "sometimers" and "CRS" is acting up these days.
Well, I guess I need to just bundle up and go do the chores but that wind is howling out there. Beautiful sunshine, but....

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Maiden--i would use the girl in the top photo, she is more type-ey (when you look at her you see the "round" shape-this is what you want--you should also see "round" when you look directly down on her also) than the other two (bunny tail and the other that head was turned appears to have more of a straight stiff feather tail going on), you must have yellow feet and most colors must have yellow legs with the exceptions of the blacks which can have a swarthy/dusty yellow color to legs but must be solid yellow on the bottoms of the feet, watch your toe count--cochins have 4, if you have darker legs on a color other than black make sure you dont have 5 toes which would most likely be a silky mix bringing the color over, outside and middle toe should be feathered all the way to the end of the toe

Thanks for the input. Should I keep and use the black mottled cockerel there? And the black mottled pullet?

I agree on ventilation as well. I keep everything open just like I would in summer.

 

[22qZoo]

Congratulations!,Trish44 will keep my fingers crossed.
Ventilation it is then, it boggles my mind how some of the little tweety birds can survive in the wild. When Igrew up in No. Minnesota -40* was not unusual at least once or twice a winter and those little chickadees didn't seem to mind. I get that they are wearing a down coats but those little stick legs seemed like they should just go "chink" and fall off.

 

[Trish44]

Congratulations!,Trish44 will keep my fingers crossed.
Ventilation it is then, it boggles my mind how some of the little tweety birds can survive in the wild. When Igrew up in No. Minnesota -40* was not unusual at least once or twice a winter and those little chickadees didn't seem to mind. I get that they are wearing a down coats but those little stick legs seemed like they should just go "chink" and fall off.

I don't know about the wild birds, but the chickens do sit on their feet to keep them warm while on the roost, so they have all of that down from the feathers around their feet.

That wind is darned cold out there today, I went out to do chores & came in with red cheeks & they're still red. I had frozen water bowls today too & they were frozen harder than the day before. It's now 46 here so hopefully they are thawing out. It's supposed to gradually warm up each day & tonight is supposed to be 32.

We have had a fire in the woodstove the last two nights since it has been so cold. Our heat pump has a hard time keeping up when it's that cold & it will just run continuously if we don't have the woodstove running. My DH has been out there splitting wood lately that he cut last year but didn't bring up yet, so we have a cord of wood already out there. That new splitter sure makes it easy for him to do that.

Thanks for the well wishes on the baby, keep them all in your prayers because it's kind of scary. So far everything has gone OK, I hope it continues that way.

 

[chicken danz]

Congratulations, Trish! Very exciting and blessed news. Will keep them in my prayers. Thanks for posting the mineral recipe, knowing me I'll have to give it a try.
Going to look at how to get more ventilation in the coop today. When it is completed it will be 4 separate areas, 2 with windows that can open, but using just poultry netting for the inside dividing walls, so it should cross-ventilate ok. The brooder area is enclosed with plastic put up on the divider wall, except for one corner where it fell down. So that is the one that needs some extra ventilation, I'm sure.
Question for those of you that do the FF, what age of chick do you start feeding the FF? I'm pretty sure that I have ask the question before but my "sometimers" and "CRS" is acting up these days.
Well, I guess I need to just bundle up and go do the chores but that wind is howling out there. Beautiful sunshine, but....

I have actually used fermented chick starter from day one. My problem though, came in when it got super hot this summer and I ended up getting some sour feed...not fermented feed. I had to throw it out. I do give the older chicks in the brooder fermented regular feed along with some chick starter. I have to supplement some way because I end up with some over sized birds in there.
Anyway the problem with starting with FF was the at the chicks would walk in it and smash it down then not seem to realize it was feed any more. Plus then I had to wash out the feeders every day from the caked on stuff. When they get a little older they eat like pigs so you don't have that problem so much.

Congratulations!,Trish44 will keep my fingers crossed.
Ventilation it is then, it boggles my mind how some of the little tweety birds can survive in the wild. When Igrew up in No. Minnesota -40* was not unusual at least once or twice a winter and those little chickadees didn't seem to mind. I get that they are wearing a down coats but those little stick legs seemed like they should just go "chink" and fall off.

I've often wondered about those little bird legs myself, but I see the silly chickens walking through ice water and not seeming bothered a bit by it.
Maidenwolf that is what I understood as the best option.
Trish you know you have my best wishes.
I have been out raking leaves and putting them in the pens. Obviously I am thinking that I should just drive to town and pick up bags of leaves on the curb because this is killing my back! The birds are enjoying them though. I've also been breaking up frozen pumpkins and feeding the groups of birds. Between picking on the pumpkin and digging on the leaves they seem very entertained. I still have a lot to do but at least some of them are happy.
I got a fitting put in and readjusted my water system so after another hour or two I'm going to charge up my new water line and see if it leaks and works.
I had to come in to thaw out my frozen pumpkin smelling hands. I guess I'd better get back out there.