- Thread starter
- #81
Beautiful!
Kayla’s Flock!
- Thread starter HuffleClaw
- Start date
Welcome! As the old tale (and Chicken Math) goes ... There's ALWAYS room for one more ...
You'll love the Black Lorps. My sister has several and the sheen in their feathers is like a crow's - shiny black with iridescent greens and some purples when the sun hits them. They're gorgeous, they're super friendly and lay big, beautiful eggs!
Not a Dad-Blasted THING! And it's WONDERFUL!!!
- Thread starter
- #85
Yay!!
Chick Chick McGee
Crowing
They are beautiful birds! The little ones are sooo cute!
ClucksAndCombs
Free Ranging
It's a wonder that I haven't gotten black 'lorps yet, my friend has a million of those cute little birds and they are so sweet. They handle the cold very nicely, but those single combs get frostbitten and cold too often, I have to worry about my cinnamon queen (named Cinnamon- was feeling very creative) already.
As for chicken math, our coop is already too small for 12, at least for six flighty chooks flitting about. I'm planning on redoing the run, but the coop itself is still nice and very warm in the cold snowy winters.
How do you guys deal with winter and snow? For the chicken wire? Mine has been stretched to the limits for 8 winters, around +6 feet per winter and I'm afraid of it snapping.
- Thread starter
- #88
Downsizing is now 100% finished:
I ended up keeping...
2~ GLWs (Fay & Laura)
4~ red sex links (Maddie, opal, Poppy, & Olive)
1~Rooster named Boy
1~ Dominique
1~ BTB JB
3~ blue Orpington hens
1~ Nancy (see first post for breed)
1~ EE bantam Hallie
1~ EE LF Rose
I ended up keeping...
2~ GLWs (Fay & Laura)
4~ red sex links (Maddie, opal, Poppy, & Olive)
1~Rooster named Boy
1~ Dominique
1~ BTB JB
3~ blue Orpington hens
1~ Nancy (see first post for breed)
1~ EE bantam Hallie
1~ EE LF Rose
Winter. Ick. I REALLY don't like Winter! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the snow, but here in Maryland, we don't generally get too much snow. We get ice and freezing rain ... then snow on top, if we're lucky ...super dangerous! So, snow isn't generally an issue, but freezing temps that go on for weeks on end are a big problem. Last winter was REALLY hard on my roos' combs. Feisty (our single comb Nankin) spent most of the winter inside, recovering. Herman, a rescued hatchery Silkie roo, never went back outside. He is a permanent house pet. Yay.
My coop has only one very small window (12x12") on the North side and the north side of all three little runs are wooden, not wire. That keeps out the worst of the north winds. We're planning to put a layer of styrofoam insulation between the studs on that wall and line the inside of with some reclaimed shower paneling. I'm hoping that will help with the temps, this winter. We also use deep litter method inside the coop and bank slices of straw all along the base of the outer walls.
Feed changes, too. Instead of mixed scratch, the biddies all get cracked corn right before bedtime. That helps them keep their temps up at night. And we do warm oatmeal on really cold days. Oatmeal topped with mealworms is a tasty treat if you're a chicken, but can be a bit stomach turning to serve up when you're not feeling too well, yourself ... trust me on that one!
As far as chicken wire goes, we don't use it, anymore. As you've figured out, it stretches and distorts over time and constantly needs tightening. Chicken wire is really designed to keep chickens in, not to keep predators out, so we only use it up against the wooden slat fences of our back yard. We have foxes, coons & opossums, which are all capable of spreading the holes in chicken wire until they can fit through. With that in mind, we used 1/2" hardware cloth on the runs & windows. We only have one more run wall that needs to have the old chicken wire replaced and we're slowly upgrading the coop windows to 1/4 inch. Hopefully that will be done before winter - but definitely kitting season comes around again.
Have you tried using Vaseline on combs in the winter? When we know a particularly bad cold snap is coming, we put it on everybody. It's a messy process, but it works!
What do the rest of you do to prep for winter? Have you found any particularly good ways to protect your flock?
My coop has only one very small window (12x12") on the North side and the north side of all three little runs are wooden, not wire. That keeps out the worst of the north winds. We're planning to put a layer of styrofoam insulation between the studs on that wall and line the inside of with some reclaimed shower paneling. I'm hoping that will help with the temps, this winter. We also use deep litter method inside the coop and bank slices of straw all along the base of the outer walls.
Feed changes, too. Instead of mixed scratch, the biddies all get cracked corn right before bedtime. That helps them keep their temps up at night. And we do warm oatmeal on really cold days. Oatmeal topped with mealworms is a tasty treat if you're a chicken, but can be a bit stomach turning to serve up when you're not feeling too well, yourself ... trust me on that one!
As far as chicken wire goes, we don't use it, anymore. As you've figured out, it stretches and distorts over time and constantly needs tightening. Chicken wire is really designed to keep chickens in, not to keep predators out, so we only use it up against the wooden slat fences of our back yard. We have foxes, coons & opossums, which are all capable of spreading the holes in chicken wire until they can fit through. With that in mind, we used 1/2" hardware cloth on the runs & windows. We only have one more run wall that needs to have the old chicken wire replaced and we're slowly upgrading the coop windows to 1/4 inch. Hopefully that will be done before winter - but definitely kitting season comes around again.
Have you tried using Vaseline on combs in the winter? When we know a particularly bad cold snap is coming, we put it on everybody. It's a messy process, but it works!
What do the rest of you do to prep for winter? Have you found any particularly good ways to protect your flock?
You GO Girl!
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