Michigan

[Eggcellent]

Last night, my EEers (from miss_jayne) finally figured out it was warmer up on the roost than it is right in front of the pop door. Other than that the chickens were perfectly normal. I have no heat or insulation and everyone seems great. The banties and younger chickens seem to be a little more wary of the cold, but the RIRs could care less about the weather. The ducks won't even go into their shelter at night. Goofy animals.

 

[Bluemoon420]

Mine free range and normally go out no matter how cold it is, but today they said NO WAY. It's still VERY windy, and snowing here. Our chicken building ( it's a big building with a dirt floor) isn't insulated, but it's actually warmer in there than I thought it would be, and no drafts. They have plenty of room to wander around so I guess they just decided to stay inside. Maybe the deep litter helps.

Our one dog Brody loves this weather, and would stay outside til his toes fell off if I'd let him. I brought him in today, and he was not happy. He's been driving us all nuts all day.

As for me, I stayed inside the warm house, and knitted a little bit. Put more ornaments on our first christmas tree in 8 years, and wrapped some presents.

Hopefully, it will be less windy, and a little warmer tomorrow. I'd like to throw on my snowshoes, and explore the woods in the newly fallen snow.

Stay warm guys.

Bluemoon

 

[briana1975]

Again I am being a worry wart over my chickens.

Beside keeping water thawed for them to drink they were all outside most of the day. My husband says if they are to cold the will go in the coop. Smart guy.

 

[A2SciTeach]

Smart chickens know when to get out of the cold and wind. I had one of my cochins not get inside last night, she was a gigantic ball of feathers sitting in front of the pop door this morning. Poor thing!

I felt sooo bad. She's fine though, just shook her feathers out and went inside. They stayed in all day - ate an enormous amount of food to keep warm. It's 18 degrees in there right now. I'm glad I'm not a chicken!

 

[Kovalciks Chickens]

Okay I got out to the barn and took some pics can anyone tell me if this is frostbite?

these are my babies

these are the mature ones. They dont look like they have frost bite but I figured I'd ask. I'm more concerned about my babies.

 

[Hillbilly Rooster]

What a night. My buddy talked me into going hunting tonight. Man it was cold but that is ok the muzzleloader works better that way. He shot a huge doe about 175 to 185 lbs and a buck which had a half rack and the buck was smaller. I shot a doe at 75 yds heart shot and only had a pie plate shot what a wonder full night.

Everyone sleep tight it is going to get cold and snow is here to stay. Hope everyone is safe.

 

[Opa]

Morning has come and I don't even want to think about going outside. Think I'll sit here and drink coffee for an hour or two before venturing out.

 

[YakLady]

I'm already done with my chores this morning. I think this is a record. Normally, I wait until my son hops on the bus at 8:30. I had to get out there at 6:30 this morning, though. My husband needed me to catch the drakes that I had put into a separate stall. He had to get them dropped off at the processor at 7:30. I figured while I was at it I might as well just do the chores. Only 1 duck had laid at that point, though, so I'll have to go back out later to check again. I think I'm going to open the door to the coop and let them out if they want out. Jarhead started crowing inside the coop, over and over again. Man, is it loud when you're in there! I told him, "Jarhead! Dude! I haven't had my coffee yet!" And he said, "Errrr errr er er Eeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

 

[LoveMyChicklets]

I decided this morning to leave them cooped in the hen house for the day today. Butter, our Sicilian roo, had frostbite this morning as I'm sure some others did. When I got home from work last night all their waterers (heated) were frozen. I'll have to figure that out this weekend, in the mean time I took out water last night and again this morning before work. I realized last night when checking on them and seeing very minimal footprints in the pen that no one even ventured out of the house yesterday. Too windy and too cold for my babies. Normally I wouldn't worry but since I'm not at home and can't keep taking water out I figured they had a better chance of not having icicles to drink if I left them cooped up. They'll hate me by the end of the day though I'm sure

I've read a lot about people feeding oats, etc. as scratch grains in the winter. I feel 'tupid asking this but TSC sells horse feed and I'm sure they have bagged oats, etc. Would those be o.k. to give as treats to help fatten them up for the winter months???? Not that they don't get massive amounts of goodies from me already but it's nice to pamper them with a variety.

 

[Opa]

I think that feeding cracked corn might be a little for effective than the oats. Supposedly the corn helps create internal body temp. I know several of my eighty year old farmer relatives swear by it.