Maine

I seriously almost peed my pants when i went out to the coop this am. I was expecting to find very angry chickens since i wouldnt let them out yesterday. Instead i found 2 eggs!! 2 real honest to goodness eggs! I was so happy i could have kissed the chickens. But i think my wooping and yeehawing tipped them off because they all spread out to the far corners of the coop and gave me the evil eye. I skipped happily through knee deep snow back to the house and woke up the whole house to show them my treasures. The pre-teen girls were not impressed.

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I needed that!

Good thing you didn't pee or else it would have frozen in seconds and you would have been hopping back through the snow with those eggs! I was glad to give away a few dozen here... but then learned that if I just warm up my eggs slowly I can incubate them. Incubator? Incubator?
I think I am going to try the hatcher and incubator method... after a little more reading.

I went to check on my flocksicles and they were fine... well, a little frostbite again on the male, but I really need to hear stories like Buckas about how they manage.
 
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Hi everyone! I am sorry to hear some of you have lost good friends :(
I am happy to see good things happening too though!
I have had fun during the last two storms. I went out and was appalled to see a foot of snow on the roosts and the floor running the length of the main coop! I put up some foam insulation on the ceiling last winter, and didnt this year, apparently that insulation was catching the snow. That also explains why the sand along the walls was getting wet last winter, the snow was melting and running down the inside of the insulation, and dripping onto the floor. I figured it was the ducks! Anyway, the snow is blowing up the metal roof and under the ridge vent, and into the coop. On top of that my daughter was trying to help clean the snow off the solarium, but used a rock rake. She smashed holes in the roofing in a half dozen places. I have to replace 3 of the panels. I taped it up with some nice weatherproof tape, so it doesn't snow in the solarium, but when it gets warm and the snow on the roof starts to melt, it does drip a little. Since I am using hay in the Solarium, that is a problem. We sealed the roof under the ridge cap, so no more snow, and as long as I keep the roof cleaned off it should stay dry in the solarium. I may have to change the hay more frequently than I planned though. Minor problems though.
I got my first Faverolle egg christmas day :) Then today I got 3 whole eggs! Yay! I actually had to buy eggs at the grocery store :( Yuck. NOT anymore I hope.
I put a heat lamp in the solarium since there hasn't been much sun, and that was a hit! They have been basking under it, and thats where Footless has been sleeping at night.
I spent some time in the coop today observing everyone, and got some good pics!
 
Hi everyone! I am sorry to hear some of you have lost good friends :(
I am happy to see good things happening too though!
I have had fun during the last two storms. I went out and was appalled to see a foot of snow on the roosts and the floor running the length of the main coop! I put up some foam insulation on
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the ceiling last winter, and didnt this year, apparently that insulation was catching the snow. That also explains why the sand along the walls was getting wet last winter, the snow was melting and running down the inside of the insulation, and dripping onto the floor. I figured it was the ducks! Anyway, the snow is blowing up the metal roof and under the ridge vent, and into the coop. On top of that my daughter was trying to help clean the snow off the solarium, but used a rock rake. She smashed holes in the roofing in a half dozen places. I have to replace 3 of the panels. I taped it up with some nice weatherproof tape, so it doesn't snow in the solarium, but when it gets warm and the snow on the roof starts to melt, it does drip a little. Since I am using hay in the Solarium, that is a problem. We sealed the roof under the ridge cap, so no more snow, and as long as I keep the roof cleaned off it should stay dry in the solarium. I may have to change the hay more frequently than I planned though. Minor problems though.
I got my first Faverolle egg christmas day :) Then today I got 3 whole eggs! Yay! I actually had to buy eggs at the grocery store :( Yuck. NOT anymore I hope.
I put a heat lamp in the solarium since there hasn't been much sun, and that was a hit! They have been basking under it, and thats where Footless has been sleeping at night.
I spent some time in the coop today observing everyone, and got some good pics!
 
I seriously almost peed my pants when i went out to the coop this am. I was expecting to find very angry chickens since i wouldnt let them out yesterday. Instead i found 2 eggs!! 2 real honest to goodness eggs! I was so happy i could have kissed the chickens. But i think my wooping and yeehawing tipped them off because they all spread out to the far corners of the coop and gave me the evil eye. I skipped happily through knee deep snow back to the house and woke up the whole house to show them my treasures. The pre-teen girls were not impressed.


WAHOOO! Maybe chickens are celebrating new years eve...I got 7 eggs today- which is the most I have had in one day ever!
 
"I went to check on my flocksicles and they were fine... well, a little frostbite again on the male, but I really need to hear stories like Buckas about how they manage. "

Well, I may be telling hardiness stories, but today I cut up an old broken electric blanket and hung "curtains" on the ends of the hoop coop! The problem is, while the large vents way up high, and the roosts down low, the crazy chickens managed to make a roost out of the top of a 2x4 wall, way up in the ceiling, the same height as the large open vents. Most nights, I don't think it is an issue, but when it is windy, I think they could definitely catch a serious draft.

That snowstorm last Thursday was extremely windy, and while the snow only blew in near the edges it seems the chickens must have been hit by a good wind. I should really put chicken wire up that eliminates access to the high roost, but I can't stand the idea of watching them fly up repeatedly and smash back down to the ground.

The openings are about 8 feet by 18 inches on each end. I stapled the blanket to the sides of this "window", but the middle of the blanket is pulled away from the window and tied to the ceiling. The idea was to block the wind, but not eliminate all the ventilation. I think it will keep some of the snow out better too. I can't say it is terribly pretty. In fact, SCG might call it serious ghetto, but that's just my style. I'm hoping I didn't inadvertently cut the ventilation too much. I don't think so, but I'll have to keep an eye on it. Tomorrow night is supposed to be below zero and very windy and I think I will sleep better knowing the wind block is in place.
 
The openings are about 8 feet by 18 inches on each end. I stapled the blanket to the sides of this "window", but the middle of the blanket is pulled away from the window and tied to the ceiling. The idea was to block the wind, but not eliminate all the ventilation. I think it will keep some of the snow out better too. I can't say it is terribly pretty. In fact, SCG might call it serious ghetto, but that's just my style. I'm hoping I didn't inadvertently cut the ventilation too much. I don't think so, but I'll have to keep an eye on it. Tomorrow night is supposed to be below zero and very windy and I think I will sleep better knowing the wind block is in place.

You're at least in good company. Here's the SCG duck slums. They live on the wrong side of town. Yes, that's my wedding quilt.



I don't know if I posted this before, but we run an extension cord out to the coop. However, we don't want it on the ground. This was our solution:





This gets it high enough off the ground so that we can walk and drive/plow under it without having to mess with it. It's connected inside with a number of S hooks until it gets to the water base.
 
The SCG Duck Slum looks just like the one I put together for my birds except for the quilt. Just add a couple of the plastic pink flamingos and a statue with the ball on top and it will be perfect.
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