HELP! Two questions!

[GRAM49]

No, no rooster.

We have a friend that raised some chickens, but mostly quail, his opinion was boredom. They have been eating flock raiser but the next bag we have is layer formula. The have nothing extra to eat right now. They love going outside and have been begging (if you can imagine a chicken begging!) to go out. Hubby just cannot let them out, he thinks they will be "cold". We live in central IN, currently the temps have been pretty cold, teens and 20's, but also lots of wind. We are currently waiting on ice.

 

[MissPrissy]

Chickens know better than we do about what they can tolerate physically. Most people let their chickens out in the ice and snow. They know when to go back in.
They are well insulated and cooler temps are fine for them.

 

[the1much]

tell him chickens aint dumb as they look,,, if its TOO cold for them, and they can go in at their choice,, they will,,,,,,, and that many birds stuck inside all day,,, i cant believe they havent killed each other yet..... i would say THAT was your biggest problem,,, causing ALL the others.

 

[Sissy]

Gram49... I too had a pecking party, so I used a large bird cage for the victim, empty of course LOL
in the house put her in to it. for about 3 weeks and during
the dark, slipped her back to the coop on to the roost
and she was fine. ButI kept an eye on her for2-3 days just to be
sure she would be ok.

 

[Sissy]

gram 49, how goes the pecking party?
Ihope all is better.
I tossed mine apple pieces to keep them busy.

 

[GRAM49]

We checked the two victims the other day. One had a little more gone so applied the Blu Lotion again. The other did not seem to have any more damage. I bought one of those extra large suet cages and we hung it in the hen house. Put some cabbage chunks in and they really went after it. Will keep that up.

Had a fridged cold weekend here. Low single digits and very strong winds. Due to a very long day yesterday with Christmas dinner and church oblibations we did nto get to the hens until 5:30 pm (hubby was out there at 3 am) and the eggs were frozen. I noticed two cracked and opened them thinking I could use them right away. I opened another one and it was very thick. I put them in a carton by themselves and hope to still use them. Typically we would not have let that long at time go by without checking on them and gathering eggs, but like I said it was an unusual day. The hen house got much colder than we had hoped, it was 18 at 5:30 pm. We had a 100 watt bulb on and turned a red heat lamp on for the night. Hens seem OK, but hubby is stressing! Our first year with chickens and we are still learning.

Thanks for your interest - everyone.
Gram

 

[Sissy]

We too had it cold that our 125watt heat lamp didnt seem to do much water still froze so we lowered the lamp hopefully it will do better today. and our pecking party began again
as soon as the apple s were gone..
so hubby and I seperaterd again for good this time.. dont want any more of these late night brawls .
sister lives in Merrillville, we are all feeling the freeze.
Hope everything continues to go well.