Maine

[IZZYBELLA]

My flock refused to stay inside the coop even during the coldest temps but they won't come out when it's actually snowing; they pull the whole "the sky is falling!" bit. They did however decide to nestle down on the stacked wood right under my living room window and keep an eye on the happenings in the house. I felt so guilty with them out there peering in and having the dog and cat inside, all toasty warm by the fire. Their coop gets pretty warm though, even unheated. I converted an ice fishing shanty into their henhouse and obviously those things are built for extreme weather. The south side has windows at roost level that stretch the full width of the house so they get to spy on the neighbors and sun themselves at the same time during these cold days. They love it and the neighbors are amused by their watchful eyes.

My oldest two girls are currently the only two laying. They're 4 & 5 years old and I've gotten at least one egg each day since 1/1. Happy New Year! I do give my girls the winter off and don't provide artificial lighting so I'm very pleased that these two girls are such troopers and always have been. I was also very pleased to see my Hamburg pullet who is lowest in the flock sharing the nest with my top hen this morning. She's not as spacey as the rest of the pullets and even though she's excluded from their shenanigans, the elders have taken a liking to her which makes them even more endearing to me.

What breed are your 4&5 year olds? What good girls.

I got a cracked egg yesterday... first this year. I fed it back to the flock, which they loved.

My dad came yesterday and helped me fix the coop door so that it closes again without the use of bungee cords. <3 Most of mine don't venture out into the snow or the cold. I kept the pop door closed yesterday, but it's open today, even though it's snowing. I was so excited to see such warm temps this AM! A whopping 22 degrees!

 

[islandgirl82]

What breed are your 4&5 year olds? What good girls.

I got a cracked egg yesterday... first this year. I fed it back to the flock, which they loved.

My dad came yesterday and helped me fix the coop door so that it closes again without the use of bungee cords. <3 Most of mine don't venture out into the snow or the cold. I kept the pop door closed yesterday, but it's open today, even though it's snowing. I was so excited to see such warm temps this AM! A whopping 22 degrees!

My top hen is a clean faced Easter Egger and sole survivor of my original flock. My second hen was a rescue and she's a Silver Laced Wyandotte.



Glad you got their door fixed! Mine don't seem to like not at least having the option to venture out.

It is nice to see the temperature up a bit. It was funny to look at the hourly forecast during the night and see it go from 7* yesterday afternoon up to 23* at about 2am...or something like that.

 

[CoopChick719]

I still have a girl in the garage. It seems to be just a bad molt. She's eating & pooping normal. Still too skinny for my liking. Not sure she's drinking enough. She is getting a little picky about her feed since I've been scrambling her an egg w/coconut oil, garlic, water & a few drops of Nutridrench for breakfast. I think she could probably go back to the coop but I'm a little worried about her eating & drinking enough and the temps.

On a bright note, I was not chosen for jury duty after 2 long days sitting on those oh so comfy benches with a lovely chair rail that hit right in the middle of your back at the courthouse!

 

[Cknldy]

We decided to take a 1 1/2 hr trip to a butcher shop that ran an ad in a paper the other day when dh was off work due to the freezing temps. We figured great, 300 pounds of beef could stay frozen on the back of the truck;-) Yeah well, we were prepared to bring home a year's worth of beef but not prepared for this "USDA" butcher shop. Tiny barely squeezed in "shop" amongst 4 tobacco stores. The "butchers" were pushing hard for us to finance beef when we wanted to just pay cash. What kind of local family business 'doing this for 44 yrs' doesn't want cash? Old raw meat on the saw table, a pool of old blood under a cooler, old bloody plastic in a box and way too warm in there for a butcher shop! Not to mention those 2 men that we had to wait to get there (the young daughter was the 'Secretary ' that knew nothing of the business and was in pajamas with slippers) made me feel really uncomfortable. When they said we had to wait another hour to hour and a half for the meat truck to get there I had already made up my mind. A quick google and 10 minutes down the road I spoke with a true sanitary USDA butcher. When I mentioned the name of the place I just came from his quick intake of breath told me it was bad news! The only beef we came home with that day was the steaks in our bellies from a steakhouse Just cuz you're prepared to buy and drove all that way doesn't mean you HAVE to get swindled. We made it into a family day of time spent together with beautiful views of country we hadn't seen before. Stay safe everyone.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I still have a girl in the garage. It seems to be just a bad molt. She's eating & pooping normal. Still too skinny for my liking. Not sure she's drinking enough. She is getting a little picky about her feed since I've been scrambling her an egg w/coconut oil, garlic, water & a few drops of Nutridrench for breakfast. I think she could probably go back to the coop but I'm a little worried about her eating & drinking enough and the temps.

On a bright note, I was not chosen for jury duty after 2 long days sitting on those oh so comfy benches with a lovely chair rail that hit right in the middle of your back at the courthouse!

Have you checked her for impacted crop?

As far as the butcher goes, hope you reported him.

 

[lazy gardener]

Every now and then, I have someone in an unmarked pick up truck show up in my yard, looking to sell me some fresh beef. NO THANKS!!!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

That is so odd! I am glad I live out in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately we still get religious people trying to tell me about their god.

I'd trade that for the beef quack.

 

[islandgirl82]

Good call Cknldy! and agreed...I hope you reported them.

LG...what could possibly go wrong in that scenario??

 

[buckabucka]

We're fairly rural and we get both religious people AND beef quacks in pick-up trucks!

I'm wondering if I might have the flu. I thought it was just a cold, but my fever will not go away (it's only been two days, but I am sick of it) and I only want to sleep. Not sure if it is too late for tamiflu, but I may go to express care and see what they say....

 

[superchemicalgirl]

We're fairly rural and we get both religious people AND beef quacks in pick-up trucks!

I'm wondering if I might have the flu. I thought it was just a cold, but my fever will not go away (it's only been two days, but I am sick of it) and I only want to sleep. Not sure if it is too late for tamiflu, but I may go to express care and see what they say....

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