Michigan

[chicken grandma]

Angela,
It is a difficult time of year to start chicks. You'll need to keep them fairly warm for a several months. Younger birds don't have the fat/muscling to handle the cold like the older hens.
My two Isa Browns are 3 months old but they can't take the cold as well as my 2.5 year old hen. My older hen has more fat.
Just a thought. I'm thinking your new chickens would be about 2 months old in January and 3 months old in February and that is still a tender age.

Today I raked the pine shavings out of the coop. Then I replaced it with small corn cob pellets.
The chickens are on the perch and refuse to touch the ground. Sigh......

 

[RBahmer]

Quote:
No it won't upload from my phone. I tried it. And I don't know anything about the others things you said. I am on Facebook but don't know how to do what you are saying lol.

Instagram is a free app. You can take pictures, run them through filters and upload them. Kind of a virtual photo album.

But if you're on facebook no need to join something else. There should be a share option on your pictures. I don't have an iPhone yet (we're on Sprint so they just became available) so I don't know the exact path. But probably, try opening up the picture you want to share and opening up your menu/options. In there it should give you an option to share to facebook.

Tried and apparently can't do it. Will have to get laptop out. Sigh

 

[AngelaB]

Quote:
They wouldn't be kept outside in the coop. I have an area with a heat lamp.

 

[theron]

Hello fellow michigan BYCers. I am hoping to get up to 150 likes on my facebook page. Looking to you friendly folks for the extra 30. Thanks
Here is a link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Therons-Fowl-Farm/207393602617007

 

[chicken grandma]

oh that sounds good!
I wish I had started some chicks last Spring. But since I got them in the Fall, I kept them in the house (dusty) and then moved them to the coop with heat lamp.
I am noticing that at 3 months, they are still sensitive to being out when it is in the 30's.
In Jan/Feb as you know, we can get to single digits! Guess I will be heat lamping all winter....

 

[Olive Hill]

IME it is no harder to raise chicks in winter than in summer. It is however, more input intensive. (Which is why I no longer do it.) I have never found them to need heat lamps any longer than birds raised in the summer. That is, they are capable of regulating their body temperature once they are fully feathered just the same as chicken raised during any other part of the year. Body composition of a juvenile bird is different from that of a mature bird, but all biological functions can be supported in a juvenile bird with extra feed and they will absolutely thrive. That said, it goes back to those inputs. It does require more feed to support them when they're in an active growth stage in the middle of winter and it does take more energy intensive heat lamps to heat them prior to the point at which they are feathered out -- for just a couple you would want one 250 watt heat lamp bulb and you would need to position it lower than you normally might. You do not however, have to keep them in the house. They do not need an ambient temperature of 90+ even when first hatched, they simply need a place where it is that warm to use as they would like to warm up. Ambient temperature below zero is fine as long as they have that warm up space readily available. When we used to raise them in the winter it was always amazing to see how long they would stay out, no where near the lights, running and flapping and hopping and exploring even when it was in the double digits negative in their coop.

 

[RBahmer]

Here is a picture of the young rooster I was asking about earlier. Can anyone tell me if it is a Barnvelder or a Wellsummers

Hope I did this right

 

[chicken grandma]

Good heavens Olive, you have hardy stock.
My girls loved their 95 degrees and lounged under the bulb for weeks!
Now they go out to play in the 30's but they do love to come in and lounge under that heat lamp again!

Here is the latest drama in my chicken coop. I replaced the pine shavings with corn cob bits for my own comfort.
I was really allergic to the pine. I feel much better now that corn cob is down.
HOWEVER, the chickens are trying not to touch the ground! Leaping from perch to perch.......

 

[RaZ]

Quote:
Nothing wrong with that. I have a heat lamp in the garage/coop that I turn on at night. I think it's more for my peace of mind than the chicks. I have yet to see them go anywhere near the lamp.

Just home from school and checked the coop for afternoon eggs. The temp is 32 degrees outside and 38 in the coop. None of the girls seem affected at all. The BLAs roost together and the 4 big girls roost about 6 feet away. The heat lamp is at the other end of the coop so it's probably useless except for directly under it. But it's there if they want to warm up. Again, it's probably a pacifer for me more than necessity for them.

 

[babigyrl22]

I've noticed that my girls like hanging out in the coop most of the day. They will neander in the run but mainly when I go and check on them they are goofing off in the coop.