Maine

[MEMama3]

Hi Lazy Gardener, Doms were my first choice too 5 years ago, but there were nice BLRW locally so I went with those instead. But I've been on the lookout for Dominiques ever since. I really enjoying breeding, so I'm trying to get the best stock I can get my hands on to start off. I've joined the breeders club and am just waiting to be approved so I can access their breeders directory. I do incubate and will probably end up hatching shipped eggs, but wanted to check for anyone local first.

This spring I'm working on my Blue/Black/Splash wyandottes, and those are the only pure color eggs I'll have since I only have one breeding pen. But if you're interested in mutt wyandottes, I'd be happy share some eggs or sell some chicks.

I may have to keep you in mind. I love wyandottes. What area of Maine are you in? We're a big state

On another note, how are you all doing with egg laying lately? My production rate went down the drain when my flock got sick and they still haven't come back from it (egg-wise, they have a clean bill of health now). I am starting to wonder if it's the cold though. I average 1 or 2 eggs a day, maxing at 3, out of 7 birds. They are on supplemental lighting. The killer is that I want my silkie to hatch out some eggs for me, but she's one of the four currently laying and I'm not sure I want to sacrifice the eggs for chicks.

 

[lazy gardener]

Do you really want to be raising chicks in the dead of winter??? The rest of your girls will come back into production when the days get longer. Then, you'll have plenty of eggs, and your silkie is more apt to be broody. Win - win situation! Personally, spring can't come soon enough. If I think about it even a little bit, I can feel the sun on my back, feel the gentle breeze, hear the birds twittering, and the rattle of the seed pakets in my pocket, and feel the cool soil between my fingers! Today, I went down to the garage, and packaged up the dahlia and glad bulbs that I had curing, salvaged a few bare root geraniums that I had yanked out of the ground. May plant the geraniums to see how well they will grow. My bag of dandelion roots is showing promise. (early source of greens for the girls, and perhaps some for me too!

 

[MEMama3]

Do you really want to be raising chicks in the dead of winter???  The rest of your girls will come back into production when the days get longer.  Then, you'll have plenty of eggs, and your silkie is more apt to be broody.  Win - win situation!   Personally, spring can't come soon enough.  If I think about it even a little bit, I can feel the sun on my back, feel the gentle breeze, hear the birds twittering, and the rattle of the seed pakets in my pocket, and feel the cool soil between my fingers!  Today, I went down to the garage, and packaged up the dahlia and glad bulbs that I had curing, salvaged a few bare root geraniums that I had yanked out of the ground.   May plant the geraniums to see how well they will grow.  My bag of dandelion roots is showing promise.  (early source of greens for the girls, and perhaps some for me too!

I just don't want to have to wait until fall for the new birds to start laying and considering my last "new POL pullet" nearly took out my flock, I only plan to add birds through chicks and hatching eggs. My January birds were laying in late June/early July.

 

[Widget]

Thanks. I have a neighbor/friend who has a DIL in Tennessee who raises Doms. This friend also has a private plane. Trying to talk her into getting her DIL to isolate her Doms this spring, then bring me a batch of eggs via private plane. I'll keep the BBS W in mind, will have to look up the info re: how those birds look. I'm really enamored with the looks of the BLRW, love rose combs, naked legs. My understanding is that they're not the most prolific layers, and tend to start laying late, but hold their own in the winter. (that's why I didn't initially choose them for my flock. Input?) I have one EE who is consistently providing me with eggs. Every other day or so. Love my EE!! Every one else is on vacation. And I don't blame them! Also rolling the idea of bee keeping around in my head. Live on 4 acres, surrounded by woods. Approx 3/4 acre open to west of house for chicken/garden/lawn. The only thing holding me back from the bee idea is the concern about bees in relation to my 7 y.o. child who uses that area, has insect bite allergies, and is NOT aware of her surroundings when playing.

Put up a small fence around the bee hive. Believe it or not bees will forage quite a ways away from the hive so where the hive is in the yard is not that important. Or how big a yard you have. Biggest issue in this area is how cold it gets in the winter. Having the hive where it can get winter sun is a consideration. With my hive I have the entrance pointed towards the steep hill that falls behind the house. I can go within a couple feet behind the hive and the bees do not get alarmed. I do avoid walking that close in front of the hive though.

 

[Widget]

I have already had it with the Arctic temperatures. Both outdoor faucets are unusable right now making it impossible to fill the water tanks by hose. Carrying out 70 gallons of water 2-4 gallons at a time is not pleasant. I have resorted to giving the horses 15- 20 gallons at a time 2-3 times a day. All depends on how much they drink and whether or not they tip over the smaller buckets. It does not help that I was diagnosed with pneumonia today so being out in this frigid cold does wonders for my lungs. On the positive side the strep throat test came back negative. But do not tell my throat that. Spent last night feeling like someone had poured gasoline down my throat and then lit it on fire.

I let the birds out to free range today so they could seek out the sunniest spots they could. Amazing the ducks still want to play in the water bucket. I half expect to go out this evening and find one with a foot frozen stuck in the bucket.


Have a lead on a goat. Was supposed to go Sunday to pick him up but with the storm will have to wait a few days.

 

[ggarratt]

I'm in the midcoast, near Rockland. I usually just meet people in Rockland to make life easy. I haven't had the best fertility with the Wyandottes, which seems to be a pretty regular occurrence with the breed, and a big part of the reason I'm looking to switch to Dominiques. Because of that I usually try to sell chicks rather than eggs so people get what they're paying for. They also do take a long time to start laying. Mine have definitely taken 6 months or more. But they're gorgeous and do great in this cold weather.

Right now we're in an egg slump too, pretty much everyone has stopped laying. But that happens every year when the days are short. It seems like once my pullets start up around this time each year, everybody else decides to join back in. So I'm hoping any day now a pullet will decide to get things moving. I like to give them their break though since I think it's natural for them to have a rest, so we don't do lights or anything in the coop. But we end up flooded with eggs in the winter once they do start back up.

As far as bees go, I agree with Widget, as long as you're not standing within a few feet in front of the hives, it makes no difference for the rest of the yard. Our hives are right by our chicken coop and I've never been stung except for when we've had the hives open.

Widget, you should see the water system my husband has rigged up to water the pigs. We've always lugged water from the kitchen sink during the winter, but last year when I was very pregnant and couldn't help was the final straw for him. He's been working on it all month, and there are at least 5 places both inside and out that you have to open and close in a specific order to have it all drain properly. I'll take a picture for you when I got out his evening. It will make you laugh.

Anyway, sorry for the long post! I forgot how much I have in common with all of you to chat about!


Raising kids

 

[anyasmifya]

I have already had it with the Arctic temperatures. Both outdoor faucets are unusable right now making it impossible to fill the water tanks by hose. Carrying out 70 gallons of water 2-4 gallons at a time is not pleasant. I have resorted to giving the horses 15- 20 gallons at a time 2-3 times a day. All depends on how much they drink and whether or not they tip over the smaller buckets. It does not help that I was diagnosed with pneumonia today so being out in this frigid cold does wonders for my lungs. On the positive side the strep throat test came back negative. But do not tell my throat that. Spent last night feeling like someone had poured gasoline down my throat and then lit it on fire.

I let the birds out to free range today so they could seek out the sunniest spots they could. Amazing the ducks still want to play in the water bucket. I half expect to go out this evening and find one with a foot frozen stuck in the bucket.


Have a lead on a goat. Was supposed to go Sunday to pick him up but with the storm will have to wait a few days.

Oh no Widget! That really sucks. I had to go out to collect eggs and give my chickens a gallon of water and some scratch this morning and I was seriously freezing my arse off! This weather sucks. If I still lived in liming ton I would stop over to help you out. Some of my roos have frostbite. Poor birdies. Overall they seem to be handling the cold pretty well. I can remember them panting in the summer! Oh, how quickly summer passes up here.

 

[lazy gardener]

My girls now have a cinder block with a 60W bulb inside, capped off with a ceramic tile. It doesn't put out much heat, is in their loft between the perches, closer to the nest boxes. It's a work in progress, I may step up to 100 W or replace cinder block with a clay pot. Several of the girls have decided that they prefer sleeping in the nest boxes, which leaves 2 girls huddled on the perch. I may cave in and give them a cardboard box full of straw or shavings for a group huddle. Got the wiring up and the pallet cut to set up the heated dog bowl. I'm toying with a milk jug in the middle to keep them from wading through it. It's about 6" deep... good for dogs, not so much for chickens! Girls are seriously skinny, not filling their crops well, just switched out to a new bag of 22% protein feed. Hoping that will help. Debating on with holding their BOSS and sprouts for a few days. ADVICE WELCOME!

Widgett, you have my deepest sympathies. My poor little fingers couldn't tolerate more than 15 - 20 minutes at a time while I was working outside today. You've almost got me convinced re: bees.

MeMama3: I've refused to add new birds to my flock, and hearing other folks woes, makes me so glad that I've withstood the temptation.

 

[Jazor]

LG,

In reference to the heat situation, and this is just opinion, but I wouldn't bother with heating the area. If you've got a small to medium coop, the birds themselves (depending on how many you've got) should be all the heat it needs. I've read that each bird can put out around 10w of heat on their own. If the coop isn't drafty, this should be sufficient for them to keep each other warm. My coop is large, seeing as how it's a portion of my barn. I don't put heat, and the birds have two camps. The camp of birds that all roost on the highest roost huddled up together; also, there is a group that packs into a huddle and sleeps on the floor. Couldn't say why they do what they do, but they are all happy healthy and funny.

In terms of feed, I use the multi-flock crumbles and they seem to eat it heavier now that it's cold. I also have a big 30 gal metal trash can (never used for trash, ofc) that I mixed my own organic feed in. Consists of corn, quinoa, seeds, peanuts, kelp, etc etc etc long story short they have plenty of food--and the extra food keeps them warmer. I have it on good authority that feeding corn during the bitter cold will keep them running hotter, but isn't necessarily a good food to sustain them on strictly.

I cook quite a bit. I save rendered fats, and mix in "woodpecker feed" that I steal from my fiancees bird feed collection. She likes to feed the wild birds in the yard, while I'm busy feeding the production birds that will (eventually) feed us. I mix the rendered fat, and woodpecker feed in square plastic that I lined with foil. Freeze it. Pull it out the next day, and you've got a homemade suet that the chickens seem to like quite a bit. It never lasts more than a couple hours.

 

[lazy gardener]

I wouldn't be concerned, but for some reason, my girls never seem to have a full crop, and 2 of them are in a pretty hard molt. Also with only 5 girls (in a 4 x 8 loft coop), they don't put out a lot of heat. Over all, they should be fine without heat, but they just don't seem to be eating as much as they were in the early fall, when at the end of the day, they all had a full crop. Some of my girls are now going to bed with empty crops. When I palpate them, their bodies don't seem to be as filled out as I would expect them to be. Their keels are very prominent. I don't think there's a parasite load. treated them with Ivermectin x 2 in August, and no signs of mites, never seen a worm. Poo looks normal though much smaller and dryer, again this associated with their decreased appetites. Your suet cake idea is good. I hesitate to give them a lot of fat, b/c of a warped sense that what's not good for me is not good for the chickens... need to get over that. I know that fat calories would be good for packing on the weight, I just need to get over myself about that! I have quite a bit of turkey fat. that I can skim today, and have been giving them occasional meat scraps, probably no where as much as they'd like to have. What's wood pecker feed? Thanks Jazor.