Michigan

[wyliefarms]

Good Morning!

Glad to see you Larry! Sounds like fun restroring a car during the winter months. Keeps ya busy then

OK- Rachel wants a zip line to the coop now!!!!!!!

Funny Opa on the interpetation! Emily thought that might be the breed.

Need to get rolling......

Sarah

 

[ChikeeMomma]

Afternoon! Youngest DD seems to be doing great today. Yay! My aunt wanted to have the girls over this afternoon and evening, so hubby and myself might as well take the opportunity to go out. Don't do that enough!

 

[thepremo1]

Hi im getting chickens for the first time, and as you all know michigan winters can be, well, fun? nasty? festive? white! snowy? however you choose to word it.
but one thing about them is that they are most certanly cold.
how do you heat your coops in the winter, and how much does it cost you by the time spring roles around?
trying to see what im in for.
thanx

 

[ChikeeMomma]

Quote:
Welcome premo! I do not heat my coop in the winter. I just keep lots of straw on the floor. It is warmer in their coop (due to their body heat) than outside.

This winter seems to be more mild than the past few. I've actually enjoyed February! I think spring is a comin'.

Seems like the wild birds are happier, too. I've noticed that I've heard them a lot this past week.

 

[briana1975]

Good afternoon all. Sure didn't get much of that house work done yesterday. Thought I could finish it up after Brody's Dr. appt, but no, he sent him in for chest x-rays. He actually seemed to be worse. Good news is Dr. actually took the time to call me today from home. X-rays weren't great but it is not pneumonia. Could just be complications from his mild asthma and a virus. Which would explain why antibiotics haven't worked. The steroid they put him on seems to be getting this somewhere. A lot less coughing and now the cough is working everything out of his lungs. He sure has perked up too. Hopefully back to school on Monday. With the snow day on Monday he only went to school 1 day last week.

We actually get to go out to dinner tonight for free...... the fire dept is paying for a dinner for all the firemen and their wives. Grandma and Grandpa will get the boys for a bit tonight.

My husband, who wasn't big on the idea of the chickens to start with, has been going down to the basement to watch the mamma hen and the chicks. He has now said we can't get rid of any of these chicks because they were our first chicks that we had hatch. I also caught him watching videos on you tube about the incubator I ordered. I think he is getting chicken fever.

 

[Mr_Jeff]

Quote:
You dont. Unless you have juice in the coop for a heated waterer of some kind. I have two waterers. I switch them out day to day if it is so cold that the water freezes before it is refilled.

 

[A2SciTeach]

Quote:
We have power to the coop and have an heated waterer base that comes on at 32 degrees, keeps the water just above freezing and is very inexpensive to run. To answer your question on the snow, seems like chickens are like people - some like the snow and some don't. I shovel a path for them so they can get under the coop (ours is up on stilts, sort of like a walkout concept built into a hill). Most go out unless it is snowing hard or raining, but I have one cochin who just doesn't like to get her feathery feet wet. Can't say as I blame her!

 

[briana1975]

thepremo1 we have electricity in the coop. I was switching waterers out if one freezes, and using 1 gal icecream buckets but I was sick of them knocking it over and scooping wet bedding out everyother day.

So we took advantage of having outlets in the ceiling and plugged in a heat lamp with at first a 125 watt bulb over it, which wasn't doing a great job on subzero days to a 250watt red bulb which keeps it from freezing and lets them sleep if it is a night. I watch the high and low temps and only turn it on if it is gonna drop below 20 at night. Otherwise the coop stays above freezing on it's own. invest in a tub of bag balm if you have roos with big combs and wattles and keep them in with the windchills are gonna be below zero. Otherwise mine get to come out every day if they want. Like everyone else said some go outside and some don't. Our coop is also doubled walled wood osb board on the inside, insulation, them we built with steel siding for the outside.

 

[ChikeeMomma]

premo - you can do as Briana said -- hang heat lamp over metal waterer. I haven't done anything for the past two winters. I swore that if this winter was anything like last, I'd hang a heat lamp over it. But this winter has been fine, so I just fill it up. When it was colder out, I'd switch out waterers. I'd bring the frozen one in the garage to unthaw. And I also keep milk jugs around to fill up and take out to water the chickens, dog, and cats. We don't use the outside spigots in the winter until it warms up a bit -- like right now. I've probably been using it for the past week.

 

[Mom 2em All]

Im suffering from single-chick syndrome....I have four chicks that hatched out thirteen days ago---maybe twelve. THEN yesterday, I only had two Polish eggs to make it to hatch day, and one pipped and died, and the other hatched. You know what that means- PEEEP PEEP PEEEP PEEEP PEEEP PEEEP...it doesnt want to be all alone. It is not happy with the stuffed duck i put in its cage- It is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY smaller than the other chicks, I had no idea how fast they had grown....

I dont know what to do with it.