INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Faraday40]

Not all bantams have it bad in winter. Logically an LF will stay warmer longer than a bantam just because of size. Most bantams don't need special treatment winter. Minus a few breeds like sermas and modern game bantams. My Cochins and white rock bantams do great

Good to know. I have my 1st bantam - a black orpington. With all her fluff she looks almost the same size as my EEs. My guess is she'll be OK, b/c she usually nestles between the bigger chickens. My only worry is my roo & the 2 hens with thin pointy combs.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

Not all bantams have it bad in winter. Logically an LF will stay warmer longer than a bantam just because of size. Most bantams don't need special treatment winter. Minus a few breeds like sermas and modern game bantams. My Cochins and white rock bantams do great

yes, I worded that wrong by saying tiny bantams. my cochins did good as well.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

I also don't mess with frostbite. I also don't put anything on combs to prevent. I also use open waterers. I'm more afraid of them stepping in it during winter but again didn't gave any issues last year even in the extreme cold.

Thank you for that. I was starting to be really paranoid about my heated dog bowl sitting wide open in the coop.

 

[Faraday40]

Had the kids help out with the leaves yesterday. Then we got an extra "helper." Thankfully we got things cleared before the snow - even with all the extra help.

 

[bradselig]

Someone on here had a jubilee orp cockerel available. I cant remember who ot was but maybe interested in one. I habe a lone jubilee pullet and supposed to be getting atleast 2 more pullets. I eould like to get a too from different source.

Im also lookong for mottled orp cockerel for my 2 pullets. Let me know if anyone knows of any. Eould prefer local to shipping.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Someone on here had a jubilee orp cockerel available. I cant remember who ot was but maybe interested in one. I habe a lone jubilee pullet and supposed to be getting atleast 2 more pullets. I eould like to get a too from different source.

Im also lookong for mottled orp cockerel for my 2 pullets. Let me know if anyone knows of any. Eould prefer local to shipping.

It was kittydoc

 

[Leahs Mom]

Can you explain what your feeding setup is? You mention it, I see your pics of the waterer- is it similar to that? What was the "new" set-up that did not work? Also wondering if there is some way for the water to get out of the jar, or if the water in there is just to weigh it down.

The way I made the waterer is at this post: Works like the ones you turn upside down except that I put it in a heated dog bowl waterer. You can do it with any plastic container that has a tight lid on it by drilling it the same way if you don't want to use glass. You could do this in a larger heated bowl too with a larger container. The advantage is that you have it filling the bowl and you don't have to fill the bowls constantly....just like the upside down waterer. You can see how I made it here: http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2013/10/diy-glass-chicken-poultry-waterer.html

Different bowl under it.

On the wet feed, I use pyrex pie pans with an inverted pyrex leftover dish in the middle so they eat all around the edges. I don't have a good photo of it but you can see it in this photo:

That inverted bowl in the center is just enough to keep wattles out of the feed as they eat around the edges.

Quote: I've had several chicken friends that had their birds step in open waterers or buckets quite by accident when they get scuffling around in their quarters and lose parts of their feet and toes so I don't want to take the chance. But there are a lot of folks that do use open waterers.

I'd just say observe your birds that have larger wattles and see if they're hanging in the water while they drink. If they are you are sure to have frostbite on the wattles when it gets colder. But your birds may not have big enough wattles that it's an issue...especially if they're all hens. There's no way to safe-guard from stepping in one, however. Accidents happen.


Last year I just filled the HEATED dog bowls with grit and put water in the grit to conduct the heat. Then set the small waterers on those. I wanted something that holds more water, however, for this year.

Those looked like this:

There's a bed of grit w/water under the waterer. It's a 5 lb honey jar that holds about 1/2 gallon. Used those all last winter with great success.

Have you all seen the newer horizontal nipples? Some of us are trying them out experimentally to see how cold it can go and they still stay open with either an aquarium heater or a bird bath/stock tank heater. They look like this:



There is one guy in Michigan that swears that he used them all last year with the heater in it and they stayed thawed. They have springs in the necks that have the potential of freezing up in very cold weather. The jury is out for me but I'm trying an experimental one this year along with another water situation as well. We shall see.


Nice thing about them is that there's nothing on the bottom of the bucket or whatever other container you use so you can just carry and sit it down on some blocks like a regular bucket (unlike the vertical nipples). And they don't drop water all over the front of your birds like the vertical ones do...another possible frostbite issue.


If this works out, it would be a great solution for @bradselig if you have a heater to drop in your buckets. You can make them any size and just carry them out. Have to teach the birds to use them, of course..

There's a thread here about the horizontal water nipples if you want to learn more about them.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-vs-horizontal-spring-loaded-watering-nipples

 

[Leahs Mom]

Had the kids help out with the leaves yesterday. Then we got an extra "helper." Thankfully we got things cleared before the snow - even with all the extra help.

I LOVE those photos!

 

[ellymayRans]

Just candled my day 8 eggs...out of the 10 just pitched 2. One dud and the other blood ring.

 

[racinchickins]

Just candled my day 8 eggs...out of the 10 just pitched 2. One dud and the other blood ring.

This post makes me think fondly of the anticipation of hatching and watching the eggs as they are incubating. Mind you, not fondly enough for me to actually start hatching....

The stress of trying to get birds outside when it was still too cold to do so also still lingers in my head.

That leads me to ask...Other than people like ellymayRans who are currently/still/always hatching (by the way...her BCMs are lovely. I have four big plump girls from her that are just beautiful) When do you plan to start hatching again? Personally, I'm counting backwards from early April, which is probably the earliest I usually end up putting new chicks outside. That means mid February for hatching, which means mid Jan for setting eggs. Which means Breeding coops need to be set up and populated by the new year....yikes, gotta get busy planning my matings, so I will know who goes where!!!!