INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[racinchickins]

I do actually have a question to post today. Have any of you ever fed pumpkin to your chickens? We have some left over pumpkins from Halloween. We always let the girls draw a face on them and after Halloween we cut them up and cook them down to pulp for pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread and such. (we don't like to waste food) We have enough pumpkin pulp in the freezer this year and I was thinking about just feeding them to the chickens. How would one prepare the pumpkins to be fed to the chickens?

Our chickens (And Turkeys) LOVE pumpkins. We cut them in half and just set the halves down. They eat them right down to the skin. We actually went to a local pumpkin patch right after Halloween. We got an entire truckload of pumpkins for $20. That will keep our birdies in treats for most of the winter!

 

[pginsber]

Does anybody know if there is anything you can put on polish's head crests to make them waterproof or water resistant? My polish keeps dipping her head in the water and then her feathers get water frozen on them. It wont be a problem when it warms up because I will go back to using the nipple waterers I have but while it is cold enough for water to freeze, I have to use bowls.

Ever thought of using automatic heating tape on your nipple waterers? We've done that this year and so far, it works great.

 

[Delawaremommy]

this is really cute.....
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?....300137270029540.68704.300127576697176&type=1

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Can you please show a photo and a link to the specific heat tape you're using?

Also - question. Does the heat tape put off any fumes?

Last year I got one of the "radiator/oil pan heaters" that are use for under the hood of the car and was going to try that for one thing in my coop that I wanted to heat. It put off such a strong odor that I returned it. Birds are very sensitive to chemical odors and I didn't want to take a chance after reading about the coating on the rough service light bulbs killing chickens.

So...anyhow...do they put off any fumes that you can smell?

 

[Leahs Mom]

this is really cute.....
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?....300137270029540.68704.300127576697176&type=1

Love it!

 

[CRSelvey]

Hello everyone,
Newbies here from the Bedford area with 10 hens. Wanted to stop by and say hello. We're having a blast in our new quest for raising some egg layers and glad that we stumbled upon BYC ;-)

Welcome TooSlow4U!!

What a week.

I'm sorry about that horrible week. I hope that your future weeks get better.

The poor girl sat on that lamp for a good 15 minutes before flying down, even after my DF threw scratch down for her.

She never showed signs of illness, so she could still be a carrier, but my DF feels that he can't cull her after our 23 bird culling. She is now truly our "Pet Chicken."

I'm with your DF. After she came back, there would be no way I could cull her. I hope she stays healthy for you.

It dawned on me this evening that these two pics of Rufus were the only photos I took over Thanksgiving when our three kids were home and other relatives were also here. Oops!

Ragdolls are truly beautiful. I can see why you were too distracted to take pics of the kids, lol.

Quote:

Hi Everyone. It is again busy around here. It started with my son telling me 5 minutes into my birthday that he was tired of it being my day and could we go back to it being kids day? Well, I don't know what to say about that. He's six, so I will let it go for now. Then we were off to Grandmas house for the holiday, but my dog went into heat the night before and could not be kenneled. So, my DH being the sweet guy he is, stayed home and kept the critters alive and in non-frozen water. He drove up to Grandma's for dinner and back home again while the kids and I stayed for a few more days.

We took Grandma up to Fort Wayne on a furniture shopping expedition and when we were out, you will never believe what we found. It was a full-sized Carousel inside the furniture store!!! They also had a basketball court, and if you got too tired while shopping, you could check into their hotel!!!!!!! I'm not kidding.





I realized while watching the chickens that they have no shelter other than the coop when predators are about. So, I got a couple of pallets and hooked them together and covered them with limbs from the trees our power company is trimming. My DH think's its crazy, but I think its sort of cute. It needs a few more branches though.



My rooster, Peanut Butter, is starting to get a bit mean and flying at people these days. I guess that's his job, but he's going to end up in a stew pot if he keeps flying at my little redhead.

On a high note, my Wyandotte (from Old Salt), just laid her first egg yesterday. I was so excited to find four eggs in the nesting box at one time.

I hope you have a good week everyone.

 

[PeacefulWalls]

SHOW & TELL TIME!

(Wake-up you slacking members -- LOL -- you'd think it was a busy holiday season or something as slow as this thread has been lately)

It was so nice and warm today, so I took some photos of Bonbon, my English Chocolate Bantam Orpington. If anyone is interested in the breed, these photos show her shape from a few different angles. She is approx. 7 months old. No eggs yet, but that's okay. Bonbon is a fun little pet.

Little chocolate Bonbon is definitely....eye candy!!

Sooo adorable!

I do actually have a question to post today. Have any of you ever fed pumpkin to your chickens? We have some left over pumpkins from Halloween. We always let the girls draw a face on them and after Halloween we cut them up and cook them down to pulp for pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread and such. (we don't like to waste food) We have enough pumpkin pulp in the freezer this year and I was thinking about just feeding them to the chickens. How would one prepare the pumpkins to be fed to the chickens?

We also do what Brad suggested. Our girls love pumpkin. I only give them pumpkins that I know haven't been sprayed. The orchard we live across from also grows pumpkins, and the field periodically gets drenched in pesticides/herbicides -- the air always stinks whenever they're out spraying their apples, cabbages, squash, etc. I try to never eat anything that comes from there! I've been tempted to ask for their leftover pumpkins lying in the field, but then don't because I don't want my girls eating those chemicals... I know it doesn't bother some people, but I just can't do it after seeing how frequently the sprayers are out (sometimes every other week during the growing season). Thankfully they try to spray when the wind is calm, otherwise I'd worry even more about chemical drift to my garden. Still wonder if that's what killed our bees....


My silly birds...yesterday I found a duck egg with membrane but no shell lying on the ground. There was a bit of membrane "tail" so I was holding the egg by its tail and was walking through the chicken area to give it to the dogs (they love eggs) when all of a sudden one of the girls just snatched it out of my hand -- egg feeding frenzy!! jeesh! Never saw her coming, but apparently she spotted that egg and knew what it was!

 

[pginsber]

Can you please show a photo and a link to the specific heat tape you're using?

Also - question. Does the heat tape put off any fumes?

Last year I got one of the "radiator/oil pan heaters" that are use for under the hood of the car and was going to try that for one thing in my coop that I wanted to heat. It put off such a strong odor that I returned it. Birds are very sensitive to chemical odors and I didn't want to take a chance after reading about the coating on the rough service light bulbs killing chickens.

So...anyhow...do they put off any fumes that you can smell?

I can take a picture of my installation tonight. In the interim, here's a picture of the tape I used, and a link to the item at the hardware store.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/100196...talogId=10053&productId=100196820&R=100196820


I attached the heat tape to the PVC pipe with black vinyl electrical tape for extreme temperatures. Nothing about this set-up produces any fumes. Not even the places where the vinyl electrical tape is on top of the heat tape. The heat tape only get to about 34 degrees, so it's not hot at all.

I was afraid the black tape on white PVC would draw the chicken's attention to it and they would peck at it, but so far, they don't bother it one bit.

I have a floating heater in my main water barrel that supplies the PVC pipes. Unfortunately, that was not sufficient to heat the water in the pipes, and it froze and burst. After that, I replaced the burst pipe and installed the heat tape on it. Much better results!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I realized while watching the chickens that they have no shelter other than the coop when predators are about. So, I got a couple of pallets and hooked them together and covered them with limbs from the trees our power company is trimming. My DH think's its crazy, but I think its sort of cute. It needs a few more branches though.

I like 'em. I'm going to cc your photo and show it (w/credits) in the natural chicken keeping thread
!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thanks, pg.