Maine

[lazy gardener]

Suz: Did you say you're leaving your light on over night? They need the hours of darkness for their hormone regulation, as do we. The goal would be to get them gradually up to 14 hours of light/day. Most folks start the light in the morning and let the girls go to bed with natural sunset. So, if it gets dark at 4:30 PM, you'd want your morning light to go on at 2:30 AM. Personally, I don't want my rooster to greet the day that early, so: My light goes on at 6:30 AM, off at 8:00 AM, on at 3:30 PM, off at 8:30 PM. The girls are always on the perch for the night before the light goes out. I'm now getting 9/15 eggs.

 

[suzMEchicks]

I had the light on this way all winter last year because it was a heat source. They have me 6/6 almost every day too so I thought I'd try again. I noticed they have turned their backs to the light now. I figured it's so the light isn't in their eyes. Well we'll see. Today is the first time in a long time I've gotten 2 eggs. I'll be glad when the leghorns start up again. They used to be so consistent before the molt.

 

[buckabucka]

I was on my way out to check on the girls this morning (without my ice cleats on) and fell and hit my head on the propane tank. UGH!  Not pretty and I felt so foolish. 

I have been getting 1-4 eggs/day with 10 girls. (Today was a 1.) I, too, am considering supplementing at least through the evening.  Pathetic, but I can't remember how much I supplemented last year. Here is is 3:30 and they are all roosted and it's practically dark. Come on, solstice!

Everyone be safe on the ice!

Yikes! Glad you are okay.
School was cancelled today, which surprised me at first, but it never broke freezing here and the road looks messy.

 

[Widget]

Definitely icey down here. Worked for three hours at the airport de-icing before going to my other job. We were using about 1500 gallons of fluid per plane and 45 minutes to get the ice off. On a normal day where there is just frost we use about 20 gallons and it takes maybe five minutes.

On a chicken related note there was a chicken wandering around our parking lot at my other job today. No idea where it came from since there are not any houses nearby just businesses. I found out about it too late and someone had already taken the bird to the animal shelter. Great idea. A place where they know nothing about birds. From the description it was probably a Polish or other fuzzy headed breed. The excuse was that it was not allowed in the building so they had to take it somewhere. Really? It is a warehouse. Nothing fancy and certainly not sparkling clean. I guess I should at least be happy they did take it somewhere instead of just leaving it outside.

 

[Marcy54]

One of my birds is kind of staying off by herself. Was by the coop door this morning, seemed okay today, but didn't go in with the others to roost at night. She was kind of passive when picked up to be put in the coop. As I sit here,I wonder if I should have brought her in to watch tonight.

 

[CoopChick719]

I was on my way out to check on the girls this morning (without my ice cleats on) and fell and hit my head on the propane tank. UGH!  Not pretty and I felt so foolish. 

Everyone be safe on the ice!

Oh no! I hope you're okay!! I slipped last winter on my way out the coop, fell on top of my octagonal waterer and cracked my ribs. I also fell on the way back in from the coop that same night! Talk about feeling foolish! I wasn't rushing or anything just walking normal. DH was working for a friend plowing AND sanding last year. The next day the driveway and path to coop were brown! Looked like a dirt road

I had the light on this way all winter last year because it was a heat source. They have me 6/6 almost every day too so I thought I'd try again. I noticed they have turned their backs to the light now. I figured it's so the light isn't in their eyes.

Suz I used a heat bulb last year. Normally used in reptile cages. They emit no light just heat. I had to stop using the red heat lamps. My girls wouldn't sleep. Every time the lamp came on with the timer, everyone was up & off the roost then caught on the floor in the dark when the lamp went off. I use deep litter so they had stuff to sleep on but I noticed grumpiness from lack of sleep.

 

[suzMEchicks]

Thats a great idea for the heat bulb I'm going to play with the timer on my light. So far I have had it on dusk to dawn because that's the only setting I have figured out that will turn on when I'm not home at the needed time: dusk. I think consistency is the most important thing with the amount of light. But you are all probably right about all night being to much . On a happier note, today I got 2 white eggs for the first time in maybe 2 months. That of course means both the leghorns are laying again.And I think it's funny that they did it together. They do everything together like they are twin chickens. They stopped laying the same time and molted the same time and resumed the same day.interesting.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have a timer that can be set for multiple cycles of 1/2 hour increments. All you need to do is plug the appliance into it. It has a circular dial with 48 tabs that correspond to the hours of the day. You push in the appropriate tabs, and set the dial to correspond to the actual time it is right now, turn it on, and it's good to go.

 

[lazy gardener]

I gave the coop guests FF and sprouts today. They weren't sure what to do with the FF, but they sure did know what to do with sprouts! Have moved the FF operation up to a 3 gal. bucket to accommodate the extra mouths.

 

[CoopChick719]

My timer is like that too. I did not turn it on tonight. Please tell me to stop worrying...it's 12 out & 34 in the coop.