I hope I have this in the right section, (sorry if its not).
This July my mom gave me 2 hens and 10 fertilized eggs. All the eggs belonged to the one hen (Hildegard). Hazel, the other hen, had her nest stolen by another hen whose eggs had all been eaten by a predator. All Hazel did all day was sit and stare at the hen who took over her nest. During the 2.5 hour trip home the eggs started peeping, and during the next 48 hours, 6 chicks hatched. All 8 chickens are doing great, the chicks are half grown and doing well. But neither hen has started laying eggs again.
I'm a farmgirl who grew up with lots of chickens, have a great Mom who knows everything about chickens, but its nice to have other people to ask too. I'm a newbie on this forum, and would also like to hear from others who raise chickens in cold climates, like North Dakota where I live. My hens are used to having no supplemental heat in the winter and are from South Dakota, pretty close to the same temp here. I feel the need to give them some heat though. They had a barn full of cows to live in at my mom's, here its just them in the barn. Do you think one heat lamp is enough for 8 chickens? It can get to -40F here in the winter, but -20F is more the usual for "really cold out". Plus I don't have a thousand hay bales for them to tunnel into either, like my mom does.
My chickens have a 14X10 ft space netted off in the barn (to keep the poop off the other things stored in there). Plus they have at least that much space in the loft. I have nesting boxes, but they are on the floor. Should I raise them? How far? They have plenty of roosting space too. They have a fenced in area outside (about 20x10ft) to keep them safe, it even has a netted covering to protect them from all the hawks and eagles! Good thing too, since the hawks sit on the 6.5 ft fence posts and stare at the chicks. I'm sure they look delicious.
I appreciate any advice or ideas you have!
Thanks--Jahlers
This July my mom gave me 2 hens and 10 fertilized eggs. All the eggs belonged to the one hen (Hildegard). Hazel, the other hen, had her nest stolen by another hen whose eggs had all been eaten by a predator. All Hazel did all day was sit and stare at the hen who took over her nest. During the 2.5 hour trip home the eggs started peeping, and during the next 48 hours, 6 chicks hatched. All 8 chickens are doing great, the chicks are half grown and doing well. But neither hen has started laying eggs again.
I'm a farmgirl who grew up with lots of chickens, have a great Mom who knows everything about chickens, but its nice to have other people to ask too. I'm a newbie on this forum, and would also like to hear from others who raise chickens in cold climates, like North Dakota where I live. My hens are used to having no supplemental heat in the winter and are from South Dakota, pretty close to the same temp here. I feel the need to give them some heat though. They had a barn full of cows to live in at my mom's, here its just them in the barn. Do you think one heat lamp is enough for 8 chickens? It can get to -40F here in the winter, but -20F is more the usual for "really cold out". Plus I don't have a thousand hay bales for them to tunnel into either, like my mom does.
My chickens have a 14X10 ft space netted off in the barn (to keep the poop off the other things stored in there). Plus they have at least that much space in the loft. I have nesting boxes, but they are on the floor. Should I raise them? How far? They have plenty of roosting space too. They have a fenced in area outside (about 20x10ft) to keep them safe, it even has a netted covering to protect them from all the hawks and eagles! Good thing too, since the hawks sit on the 6.5 ft fence posts and stare at the chicks. I'm sure they look delicious.
I appreciate any advice or ideas you have!
Thanks--Jahlers
