IA here

[mrandmrschicken]

Hope everybodys ready for a Merrily snowy Christmas! Okay maybe not Merrily. Be safe if your traveling. Up here the forecast is sleet first then a mix then 12-20" 's of the stuff by Friday with 35 mph winds that day!

Good Luck!

 

[pbjmaker]

Everyone is supposed to come to my house for Christmas - I told them all not to risk their lives. I am more worried about the freezing rain than snow. My daughter that moved out two weeks ago has been told to come over Christmas eve and stay put!

BTW - Bear loves to be put in the Christmas tree. We told her she looks like a partridge in a pear tree.

She is doing fine but is still a big weenie when it comes to not having any heat. We keep trying to take the heat off her for daytime (the house is plenty warm) but she just sits and shivers. At night she flies up to the edge of the cage to sleep right under the heat lamp.

 

[mrandmrschicken]

LOL about Bear in the tree! Try moving the heat lamp further away. Thats how I wean chicks from the heat. Another trick is to use a heat bulb instead of a light. Seramas can be little chickens, no pun intended, when it comes to some things. H/s should be fine.

 

[ChickBond 007]

I moved the 3 Wellies out to the coop on Sunday inside a large cage with the red lamp on top. All the other chooks are jealous of the heat lamp, but it's done an amazing job of heating up the whole coop. I also added a regular light bulb, hoping to get them back on the egg laying schedule. Production is almost nothing (unless I can't find the eggs again).
Anyway, those Wellie roosters that YOU wanted to get for Christmas are warm and ready. Just stop and pick them up.

 

[pbjmaker]

Quote:
We have moved the heat lamp further and further away - she just flies up and sleeps closer to it. Kind of stubborn. My daughters room is tiny also and it stays reaaaaalllly warm in there - the electric blanket and heat lamp heat the whole room.

I need to get you a picture or two. My neighbor keeps forgetting to look for a proper cage for her.

How is the other singleton you hatched?

 

[pbjmaker]

Quote:
I will only take them if you mean by "warm and ready" that they are in a crock pot.


Shall I drop off some flashlight batteries and a duck caller when I come?

My girls have had a light bulb in the coop for about a month now. I finally got a whole dozen eggs yesterday! I was getting two before I put the bulb in - today I got 6. And my EE started laying again after a 5 month reprieve - shes lucky!!!

 

[skyedobb]

I added a light on a timer to my coop a few weeks ago and went from 2-4/day to 12-16 - one day even got 18! Sold 15 dozen to a regular customer on Sunday - score! Course my egg fridge is in our garage and it got too cold out there and I eventually lost about a dozen b/c they froze in the fridge. Well, didn't lose them, just couldn't sell them. So now the egg fridge is in the basement.

Newbie question here: Two of my roos have what I can only assume is frostbite on their combs. I had the heatlamp on for just one night when it got really cold a couple weeks ago, but otherwise have kept it off. Do I do anything about the frostbite? They don't seem bothered by it at all, and keep on doing their thing. Just figured I'd ask y'all who know so much!

 

[pbjmaker]

I have some with frostbite this year too. My big beautiful black cooper roo gets his wattles wet when he drinks and I think they froze. I am not doing anything at this point but watching the frostbit areas - I know they can get infected. But most of the time I think the tips of the frostbit combs just turn black and fall off. If you go to the emergency diseases and cures section I am SURE you can find information.

Have a wonderful holiday!

 

[mrandmrschicken]

Hope your all still not buried in snow.......... We got snowed in up here! No mail for 4 days, even in town. Got 24" of snow and still blowing snow advisories. Power went out a couple times but not for long. Did not hurt the eggs in the bator. On the am of the 26th we left for WI to the shores of Lake MI, to p/u the bantam Buckeyes. A very looooong trip but to me, worth the hassle.

My Christmas gift to myself: http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt78/mrandmrschicken/WIexcursion014.jpg

A very nice 9 year old girl had already named them; Walnut, (the cockerel), Chocolate Cake, Coconut, and Shiska....! Chocolate cake being the biggest of the girls and descending in size from there. These birds are gentle and quiet and reasonably docile. And a few hours after being put in their own coop where they will remain for awhile, one of them gifted me with a small brown egg! They are all 5-'09 hatch.

Of course Walnut did have to show his tough-guy side to me by knocking over a feed jar I was holding and attempting to flog me. After a brief "come to Jesus", meeting, and carrying him around upside down for a bit, he settled right in and was gently taking bits of bread from my hand. Lets hope he was testing my resolve and this does not become an issue.

So, at the end of the day, if anyone is interested in raising some bantam Buckeyes, I could be your go to guy!

Happy New Year,
Eric

 

[skyedobb]

Sad day today...apparently the dogs have been bored with all the cold and snow and hunted down one of my hens yesterday. Discovered her today. They're free-range and I've only had 3 predator losses in a year which is great, but still sad.

On another note, I have a broody hen. We've been traveling with the holidays and all and kept collecting the eggs under her. We got back this weekend from holiday travels, so I need to set her up with a place to stay while she sits. I'm also considering incubating or ordering... I really don't want to mess with cockerels in an incubated hatch, but then they are free that way! Just can't decide...