Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[bgmathteach]

Yup. Here too. The ladies all seem depressed. I couldn't even entice them with the feeder/grower/kefir mash that was such a success yesterday.
It has been colder in the coop than it is now but I think I will go out in an hour or so and turn on the oil heater. I examined Dotty for shivering but I don't think she is and she is sitting close to Minnie which may give some warmth.

Mine seem depressed today, too. They did like the sprouts I gave them (like you, @RoyalChick I let the sprouted grains get to be an inch or so long before giving). I think it is a combination of the cold, wind, and cloud cover/grayness. I suspect that they get afflicted with the gloomies just like we do on these blustery, cold, dreary, snowy days.

Here's a pic of a very unhappy looking chicken (not mine, thank goodness, the poor wet/cold boy!) as tax:

Even the snowman is unhappy!

Hey, wait, what is this at the end of my ramp? Abort, abort - return to the coop!

Eeeeeewwwwww.......what is this cold white stuff attacking my feet?????

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/how-to-help-your-chickens-beat-the-big-freeze

 

[BY Bob]

She is so adorable, Bob. And the water drinking is just too cute!

I love seeing her drink. It is hard to catch them doing so and I've been worried all along that she was getting access. I need to go change out the run waterer with fresh thawed water.

 

[BY Bob]

Mine seem depressed today, too. They did like the sprouts I gave them (like you, @RoyalChick I let the sprouted grains get to be an inch or so long before giving). I think it is a combination of the cold, wind, and cloud cover/grayness. I suspect that they get afflicted with the gloomies just like we do on these blustery, cold, dreary, snowy days.

Here's a pic of a very unhappy looking chicken (not mine, thank goodness, the poor wet/cold boy!) as tax:

Even the snowman is unhappy!

Hey, wait, what is this at the end of my ramp? Abort, abort - return to the coop!

Eeeeeewwwwww.......what is this cold white stuff attacking my feet?????

https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/how-to-help-your-chickens-beat-the-big-freeze

I know that Sansa was very effected by long term grey skies and snow cover. She was clearly depressed last year at the end of February.

 

[bgmathteach]

Betty gets Coop Time

Wow, perfect placement of the camera for gorgeous 'drinking shots' You get to see her eyes and everything

 

[bgmathteach]

The Cluckle hut is staying pretty toasty. The water I put out there this morning is still liquid in the coop while the water in the run is frozen solid. Between the sun and the heater it is almost 30°in the Cluckle Hut today!

View attachment 2976898

I envy you guys/gals that have electricity at the coop!

For water, I put warm out early, then just before I leave for work & as soon as I get home. Plus, I nuke some poweraide bottles filled with water so they are almost too hot to handle and put it in their big water dishes (I use rubber bowls in the winter.) This keeps at least a little water unfrozen near the bottles.

For overnight when it is super cold and/or windy & chilly, I do one of the following for each coop:
take a 4 or 5 gal. bucket with tight fitting lid, Wrap sides with corrugated cardboard (as insulator)and cut corrugated cardboard circle for lid, tape each on with duck tape. Fill bucket with heated water from pot on stove, Place lid on securely, and put in coop. Cover with old 'chicken towel'. (FYI: while water is never hot in the morning, it is NEVER frozen..not even skimmed over..in the bucket.)

Alternately, I use heavier gallon jugs, fill with 1/2 hot tap water & 1/2 boiling kettle water. (all boiling is too hot for the jugs.), tightly seal lid and put in corrugated cardboard box that I then put in coop, and cover either with hay or old towel.

I will sometimes put a hot water bottle (gallon) in a nest box in each coop overnight for extra warmth...and if the day is really cold, put a heated small bottle (12-16oz power ade type) buried in the straw in a nest box so there is a place for them to warm up if they need it.

That said, can't wait to get at least a little electricity out there - if even only enough to keep waterers from freezing. 6 coops is a lot of lugging!

 

[RoyalChick]

I envy you guys/gals that have electricity at the coop!

For water, I put warm out early, then just before I leave for work & as soon as I get home. Plus, I nuke some poweraide bottles filled with water so they are almost too hot to handle and put it in their big water dishes (I use rubber bowls in the winter.) This keeps at least a little water unfrozen near the bottles.

For overnight when it is super cold and/or windy & chilly, I do one of the following for each coop:
take a 4 or 5 gal. bucket with tight fitting lid, Wrap sides with corrugated cardboard (as insulator)and cut corrugated cardboard circle for lid, tape each on with duck tape. Fill bucket with heated water from pot on stove, Place lid on securely, and put in coop. Cover with old 'chicken towel'. (FYI: while water is never hot in the morning, it is NEVER frozen..not even skimmed over..in the bucket.)

Alternately, I use heavier gallon jugs, fill with 1/2 hot tap water & 1/2 boiling kettle water. (all boiling is too hot for the jugs.), tightly seal lid and put in corrugated cardboard box that I then put in coop, and cover either with hay or old towel.

I will sometimes put a hot water bottle (gallon) in a nest box in each coop overnight for extra warmth...and if the day is really cold, put a heated small bottle (12-16oz power ade type) buried in the straw in a nest box so there is a place for them to warm up if they need it.

That said, can't wait to get at least a little electricity out there - if even only enough to keep waterers from freezing. 6 coops is a lot of lugging!

You are made of sterner stuff than me. After one winter of lugging warm water out every few hours I realized I needed a heated waterer.
I built electric into the Chicken Palace because of wanting to be able to brood babies out in the coop. But turn out that heat for water is as important!
I am stressed about Dotty tonight.
My plan was to keep her out in the Chicken Palace with the oil-filled heater on and her roosted next to Minnie. This evening - right up to 10 minutes before sunset - she was just sitting on the ground not moving. She honestly looked unbelievably miserable like she didn't have the energy to even lift her head.
I imagined her just freezing on the spot. So I thought maybe I would put her in a nest box opposite Maggie (yes Maggie is back in a nest box but as it is so cold I am turning a blind eye) which would be close to the heater.
Then the more I watched her on camera the more convinced I became she was about to die so I decided to bring her in to the garage after all. I prepared her cozy cave (which needed some adjustment as I also had to fit the car in the garage) and went to get all geared up with boots and head lamp etc. only to find that she had got up and flown across the Palace to roost next to Minnie.
I wish she were the other side of Minnie as that is a bit closer to the heat, but it is what I had planned for so I have decided to leave her.
But I am stressed about it.
I can always check on the camera in the middle of the night and get up and bring her in.
Oh these ladies really do create worries!
I hope she is OK.

 

[Ponypoor]

That's a cute one

I have to flannel wash my lad same as my old dog . My cat purrs as it's done he loves it

That's great mine just quietly puts up with it

 

[goldenfingers]

It is very windy here. The temp and wind chill are dropping.

View attachment 2976737

Wind, when it's cold, turns the unpleasant into the miserable. Ugh!

 

[Ponypoor]

I envy you guys/gals that have electricity at the coop!

For water, I put warm out early, then just before I leave for work & as soon as I get home. Plus, I nuke some poweraide bottles filled with water so they are almost too hot to handle and put it in their big water dishes (I use rubber bowls in the winter.) This keeps at least a little water unfrozen near the bottles.

For overnight when it is super cold and/or windy & chilly, I do one of the following for each coop:
take a 4 or 5 gal. bucket with tight fitting lid, Wrap sides with corrugated cardboard (as insulator)and cut corrugated cardboard circle for lid, tape each on with duck tape. Fill bucket with heated water from pot on stove, Place lid on securely, and put in coop. Cover with old 'chicken towel'. (FYI: while water is never hot in the morning, it is NEVER frozen..not even skimmed over..in the bucket.)

Alternately, I use heavier gallon jugs, fill with 1/2 hot tap water & 1/2 boiling kettle water. (all boiling is too hot for the jugs.), tightly seal lid and put in corrugated cardboard box that I then put in coop, and cover either with hay or old towel.

I will sometimes put a hot water bottle (gallon) in a nest box in each coop overnight for extra warmth...and if the day is really cold, put a heated small bottle (12-16oz power ade type) buried in the straw in a nest box so there is a place for them to warm up if they need it.

That said, can't wait to get at least a little electricity out there - if even only enough to keep waterers from freezing. 6 coops is a lot of lugging!

How far is it from an outlet? You can run a heavy duty power cable so that you can at least plug in a heated waterer and a light... That is what I told my niece to do with her coop (of course it's MY heavy duty power cable she 'borrows'...).

 

[BY Bob]

I envy you guys/gals that have electricity at the coop!

For water, I put warm out early, then just before I leave for work & as soon as I get home. Plus, I nuke some poweraide bottles filled with water so they are almost too hot to handle and put it in their big water dishes (I use rubber bowls in the winter.) This keeps at least a little water unfrozen near the bottles.

For overnight when it is super cold and/or windy & chilly, I do one of the following for each coop:
take a 4 or 5 gal. bucket with tight fitting lid, Wrap sides with corrugated cardboard (as insulator)and cut corrugated cardboard circle for lid, tape each on with duck tape. Fill bucket with heated water from pot on stove, Place lid on securely, and put in coop. Cover with old 'chicken towel'. (FYI: while water is never hot in the morning, it is NEVER frozen..not even skimmed over..in the bucket.)

Alternately, I use heavier gallon jugs, fill with 1/2 hot tap water & 1/2 boiling kettle water. (all boiling is too hot for the jugs.), tightly seal lid and put in corrugated cardboard box that I then put in coop, and cover either with hay or old towel.

I will sometimes put a hot water bottle (gallon) in a nest box in each coop overnight for extra warmth...and if the day is really cold, put a heated small bottle (12-16oz power ade type) buried in the straw in a nest box so there is a place for them to warm up if they need it.

That said, can't wait to get at least a little electricity out there - if even only enough to keep waterers from freezing. 6 coops is a lot of lugging!

That is really some clever ways to help them in the winter.

I did not run electricity to the coop. I think now that was a mistake. I have an extension cord running from the pool pump. I am bumping up against its limitations right now but I will get through the winter ok.