Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Windy Bay Farm]

I had six from nine today, so this cold snap is working in my favor...every time the temps drop, the egg production rises.  Warms up a little, the eggs drop off.  Crazy thing but others are reporting the same thing. 

It's 5* here right now with a windchill of -7 and supposed to just keep getting colder.  I can hear the wind picking up out there.  On these subzero nights I've been turning on a heat lamp in the coop just for kicks and giggles.  They don't seem to need it but it makes me feel like if they wanted they could roost on that warm spot.  My coop has so many open areas that it doesn't actually hold heat like other coops would, so that the only warmth the light generates is right in front of where it's located. 

It's something to be said for an open air coop that none of the chickens are showing any frost bite, even with the heated dog water dish in the coop...it's sitting right next to an open to the outside place in the coop. 

Exactly the same thing here, Bee. During the cold snap I got 13 one day from 13 girls. The last day or so warmed up and I was back to 7 out of 13 girls... So strange how that works. One would think it would be just the opposite.

 

[Beekissed]

Exactly the same thing here, Bee. During the cold snap I got 13 one day from 13 girls. The last day or so warmed up and I was back to 7 out of 13 girls... So strange how that works. One would think it would be just the opposite.

It usually is! Bodes well for everyone's egg production this year.

It may be cold but at least we gots eggs!

 

[armorfirelady]

Can you imagine if you were still dealing with that doll house coop?  What a nightmare!  I often wonder what folks are doing with those things in these temps and snows when the birds have to stay confined to those small spaces.  I feel sorry for mine in the space they are in right now and plan to expand in the spring....they each have 8 sq. ft. but that ain't much when you have to be in it all day long every day because of bad weather.  That's why we always tell newbies that the 4 sq. ft. rule goes out the window when chickens have to remain confined in that space for long periods. 

There is no way I could have 8 hens in that doll house coop!!! I am going to take it down this spring. It's rotting in a couple,spots & I want to repair it before it gets worse. Might make the one part into a permanent overhang for the hoop coop. I can easily put plastic on the sides for winter.

The old run will stay up. They like using that during the day & it increases their space on these arctic days.

 

[Loghousemom]

Hey all! I sure have missed all the great advice over on this thread.

Are any of you still able to run the FF with the fridgid temps? I have a heat source in each room of my coop, but it's more for the comfort of my head I think than anything. I don't think they actually help much. I find my FF frozen very soon after I put it outside. Especially in the goose/duck house. They just do not seem to enjoy it much in this weather. The chicken hens will gobble it up every time I put it out, but with the cold spell we've got again this week, I think I have to move it back inside. Sunday when I hung it for straining off the stuff froze. :/ The kiddos and hubs hate the smell, so I moved it back out when the weather warmed last week.

My FF mix now has some locally milled feed pellets mixed with local winter wheat, rolled corn, rolled oats and some alfalfa cubes. I can tell that no one really likes the local pellets, but they were free and darn it they will eat them so I don't have to go pay for a bag from the store.

My coop is an old building, and not insulated so I generally have a heat lamp hanging over their roost, and on the side where the kittens are there is an oil heater, but the cement keeps that room pretty cold. If I trusted those cats to keep using the litter box, I would fill that side full of straw bales to help hold the heat, but I am pretty sure they would just poo all over them.

Catch a all later!

 

[armorfirelady]

I use ff all year. It's in a heated dog bowl now. This morning it was frozen on the top. First time it's done that. It's in a dog crate with a tarp over it & never thought it would freeze. Of course it was -3 this morning so that was part of the problem. Lol

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I free range most of my birds, so I open the coop door and they decide where to go. On windy days they stay put. On very cold days they stay put. I guess today is voted to be warm at 15 degrees, as they are out standing in the sunny spots sucking up the heat.

Few or no eggs though. I"m ok with that as frozen eggs are wierd to cook with. THe yolk changes and solidifies and doesn't become luquidy even at room temp--WTH??

I use ff all year. It's in a heated dog bowl now. This morning it was frozen on the top. First time it's done that. It's in a dog crate with a tarp over it & never thought it would freeze. Of course it was -3 this morning so that was part of the problem. Lol

I"m woried February will be colder than January-- this is the coldest January I can remember.

 

[Arielle]

Bwteen the extreme cold in one large area and little water in CA, I"m feeling the panic of costly fruit and veg at the market this season.

Would love to know what i can plant and harvest in one season for fruits-- strawberries is the only one I know. Others??

 

[wingstone]

Bwteen the extreme cold in one large area and little water in CA, I"m feeling the panic of costly fruit and veg at the market this season.

Would love to know what i can plant and harvest in one season for fruits-- strawberries is the only one I know. Others??

I am thinking the same.....I have been looking for local people who have large gardens and fruit tree's........I always have the poultry for meat.....trying to set up some trades......

 

[Loghousemom]

Yeah, We grow a lot of our own things and then I store them for winter. Ive found that squash of all kinds seem to store fairly well in my root cellar. I have apples down there too, but the outsides are starting to get squishy-ish. the birds dont seem to mind them though. I let a lot of things freeze too, like pumpkins and such then toss them into the coops when it warms up.

The goose house is usually the same temp as outside, its small and not insulated, but it does give the birds a place out of the wind. I have a heat lamp there, but it doesnt help much. the water still freezes up in about 4 hours. The last few days our highs have been -10 to 0. This has been the coldest winter I can remember in a while as well. I would give about anything to go back to warmer winter with tons of snow than this! I hate this abrasive cold. ick.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

My FF is indoors and I only dish out what they'll eat before it freezes. I always have my coop door open and they have a second coop in their run too, but they all wanna bundle into one 4X4 coop and usually I have two birds in one nest box and six on a 4' roost bar. They always CAN go out... They just normally choose not to! I put their water dish just outside the coop door on the ramp because otherwise they wont come out for a drink, they will just eat the snow on their ramp and nothing else. Well... They are bird brains after all.