Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

There's something about new snow that dogs love. Jake and Lucy used to dance, wrestle and run around like pups whenever we'd get a deep, fresh snow~I always thought they looked like those documentaries of wolves play fighting in the snow. Now Lucy is gone and poor ol' Jake is out there trying to get the cat to play in the snow. That's a big NO...with a side order of fresh..NO. The cat is healing up from tom catting fights, so this snow is like rubbing salt in his wounds.

Jake's is rolling around and rubbing his face all over the snow as I type this...there must be something cleansing and wonderful about snow that they love. Makes him frolic like a puppy all by his lonesome out there. Every dog we've ever had was like that with snow...must make them feel good.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

I can understand that!  The lower vent I had was vented into the broody coop next door, which had an open side of wire that allowed air to flow into that opening but not the wind.  It's that type of ventilation that folks need at the floor level...it lets in air but not a breeze or the elements.

My floor level venting right now has such a configuration that lots of air comes in for the winter months but no wind, rain or snow.  I think coop venting just needs some tweaking and it's such times as this that helps one get a handle on how the vents perform throughout the year.

Even if you have to nail up a feed sack or an old towel to flap down over that lower vent, I'd try it for keeping out the snow but allowing for air to intake.  It would be worth experimenting with it right now so you can see the differences between having it and not having it, while using your rooster's comb as a gauge. 

It has screening over it with baffle type things that are supposed to prevent actual wind from blowing in ... It looks like this:

I have two of those in the bottom of my coop and two at the very top with two windows that are also high up. I also use DL. I know yesterday during our strong winds and deep windchill that their pop door was open and the wind was howling right through it so I'm wondering of that's when he got the frostbite. Poor thing has black on every tip of his comb and even just below the tips of the main part of the comb Ouch !

 

[Beekissed]

Those are great! They should have prevented too much snow from blowing in....but didn't, huh? Not good. Let's hope he has no ill effects from his frosting...those little tips usually just fall off without too much fuss and damage.

 

[Kassaundra]

There's something about new snow that dogs love. Jake and Lucy used to dance, wrestle and run around like pups whenever we'd get a deep, fresh snow~I always thought they looked like those documentaries of wolves play fighting in the snow. Now Lucy is gone and poor ol' Jake is out there trying to get the cat to play in the snow. That's a big NO...with a side order of fresh..NO. The cat is healing up from tom catting fights, so this snow is like rubbing salt in his wounds.

Jake's is rolling around and rubbing his face all over the snow as I type this...there must be something cleansing and wonderful about snow that they love. Makes him frolic like a puppy all by his lonesome out there. Every dog we've ever had was like that with snow...must make them feel good.

My dog and I have the same reaction to snow, be it old or new



Can you hear him he is yelling NO SNOW!!!!!!

 

[armorfirelady]

Kassaundra while I understand not liking the cold it is fun if you know how to enjoy it. Bear had a blast rolling in it today

 

[Beekissed]

My dog and I have the same reaction to snow, be it old or new



Can you hear him he is yelling NO SNOW!!!!!!

I heard him!! I'll introduce him to my cat...he is equally disenchanted with the cold white stuff.

 

[TexasLisa]

Bee, you take beautiful pictures! I miss the snow.

I did a double-take on the picture above. I thought you had built some 'snow chickens'!!

Lisa

 

[Beekissed]

I did! I dumped garbage a good distance from their coop and they had to break trail to get to it...and....taa-da! Snow chickens!

I wish I could take pics like Aoxa does...she has a great camera and good timing, so all her pics turn out looking like they belong in a magazine. The problem with my chickens is they are always running away from me when I'm trying to take a pic and this cheapo camera has very little zoom.

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Those are great!  They should have prevented too much snow from blowing in....but didn't, huh?  Not good.  Let's hope he has no ill effects from his frosting...those little tips usually just fall off without too much fuss and damage. 

I hope he doesn't have any ill effects either but it looks like he got it pretty good unfortunately. It's black below the tips too so not sure what exactly will happen. He's such a beautiful roo, I hate that he is going to likely
lose the top part of his comb

I don't have any pics of him but if I had to compare, his comb looks somewhat like this one... He has that distinct black line running below the tips.

 

[Beekissed]

I hope he doesn't have any ill effects either but it looks like he got it pretty good unfortunately. It's black below the tips too so not sure what exactly will happen. He's such a beautiful roo, I hate that he is going to likely
lose the top part of his comb

I don't have any pics of him but if I had to compare, his comb looks somewhat like this one... He has that distinct black line running below the tips.

That's pretty bad. I know some folks on here just go ahead and trim those areas off before they become infected...I'd find it hard to do unless there was absolutely no blood supply left. How about you try massaging that comb lightly with some castor oil and see what becomes of it? Could be that just the outer layer of skin will slough off and the outer tips, but a good massage and the antibacterial properties of the castor oil might help to restore some of the circulation and prevent infection. The castor oil is also good for the skin and may help prevent any further damage.

That last pen of cheap meats was showing several blackened and shriveled tips on the combs when I go them...those that were the worst got a gentle massage of castor oil and they brightened right up in a few days. Later on when it was really wet and cold out I saw a few dark tips again but they were gone the next day and nothing came of it. All those leghorns and other large combed breeds came out of our weather down in the teens, in their very open air coop, without any true frost bite...nice, red combs all.

It's not that beautiful bird in your avatar, is it? If so, that's a real shame.