Minnesota!

[dipsychicks]

Fantastic!
Were they both hens? My SLW turned out to be a rooster, but so far he is really sweet and no crowing.

They are both hens. One is sweet and loves to sit in my lap and makes her special cooing sound. The other is a little less affectionate and likes to strut around and squawk ALOT.

 

[mnhomestead]

Is there anyone in Minnesota that has coronation Sussex? I saw an ad on craigslist for some up in the Brainerd area but I don't think my e-mails are going through! Please, if you know of someone with these birds let me know! I have had a lot of heartbreak and tears over this breed with failed eggs and dead chicks in the mail recently. I got really excited when I saw the ad and am now fretting over whether my e-mails are getting through to them

Update: I finally got in contact with the person that had the ad up and picked a pair up! So now with the lone coronation hen I had I will have a trio!

Beyond excited, and the roo is a beast!

It's been a good, happy week so far! I also got some chickens from coldupnorth this week: 3 Swedish flower hens (2 roo's, 1 hen) to go with a lone sfh I have and an Icelandic roo that will eventually go with the young ones I have growing up (pretty sure all female)

So now I finally have breeding trios+ of my favorite breeds! (favorites so far

)
Coronation Sussex
Swedish Flower Hens
Icelandics
Euskal Oiloa/Basque hens
Crested Cream Legbars
Blue Laced Red Wyandotte
Bantam Calico Cochin

Very happy this week and just wanted to share! My husband just rolls his eyes and doesn't really share in the chicken enthusiasm

Though he has been good with helping make coops/pens for everyone.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

Oooh, if you are selling any calico cochins in the spring, I am interested! Love those little guys.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Update: I finally got in contact with the person that had the ad up and picked a pair up! So now with the lone coronation hen I had I will have a trio!

Beyond excited, and the roo is a beast!

It's been a good, happy week so far! I also got some chickens from coldupnorth this week: 3 Swedish flower hens (2 roo's, 1 hen) to go with a lone sfh I have and an Icelandic roo that will eventually go with the young ones I have growing up (pretty sure all female)

So now I finally have breeding trios+ of my favorite breeds! (favorites so far

)
Coronation Sussex
Swedish Flower Hens
Icelandics
Euskal Oiloa/Basque hens
Crested Cream Legbars
Blue Laced Red Wyandotte
Bantam Calico Cochin

Very happy this week and just wanted to share! My husband just rolls his eyes and doesn't really share in the chicken enthusiasm

Though he has been good with helping make coops/pens for everyone.

I am glad you found some!! Post many pictures for us, they are a beautiful variety.

 

[mnhomestead]

I am glad you found some!! Post many pictures for us, they are a beautiful variety.

They are in the shed away from everyone else for quarantine so lighting wont be good, but I will get a few pics taken tomorrow!

By the way minniechickmama the barnevelder, wyandotte and welsummer chicks I got from you are getting closer to laying! I have had them in a room connected to the main coop and have started letting them have 'playtime' with the big girls and this morning a welsummer was so cute peeking in the nest boxes and watching very closely what the big girls were up too

Oooh, if you are selling any calico cochins in the spring, I am interested! Love those little guys.

Pm'd you

 

[BecomingCountry]

Hi, I was glad to see your post. I'm a new chicken "rancher" this year. I will be wintering over 6 Rhode Island Reds. We currently have an 8 x 12 chicken coop that I lined the walls inside with bales of straw that I purchased already for my strawbale garden for next summer. There is also Straw about 4' thick on the floor of the coop. We are talking about putting insulation on the ceiling also. I have a small chicken door that leads into a 8 x 12 run also. The run is covered with a tarp that will keep the snow out, and I can see by prior posts that I should wrap the west side of the run to cut the wind and put some staw in the run. Do you put a light in the coop to stimulate light for winter laying of eggs? Mine just started laying eggs two days ago, so I would like to keep them going. Are Rhode Island Reds winter hardy, or should I be heating the coop somehow?

 

[Minniechickmama]

Hi, I was glad to see your post. I'm a new chicken "rancher" this year. I will be wintering over 6 Rhode Island Reds. We currently have an 8 x 12 chicken coop that I lined the walls inside with bales of straw that I purchased already for my strawbale garden for next summer. There is also Straw about 4' thick on the floor of the coop. We are talking about putting insulation on the ceiling also. I have a small chicken door that leads into a 8 x 12 run also. The run is covered with a tarp that will keep the snow out, and I can see by prior posts that I should wrap the west side of the run to cut the wind and put some staw in the run. Do you put a light in the coop to stimulate light for winter laying of eggs? Mine just started laying eggs two days ago, so I would like to keep them going. Are Rhode Island Reds winter hardy, or should I be heating the coop somehow?

BC, the main thing you want to do is cut drafts if you cover walls. Otherwise, dry is key to keeping healthy birds through winter. Coop them up too much and they will have issues with moisture and condensation, respiratory issues and frostbite go hand in hand with those. Use a light to get them laying sooner in winter if that is what you are wanting. The ideally need 14 hours, but I think a little less gets some going, but you will have to figure out what is right for your ladies. Just gradually extend their light though.
Welcome to winter chicken keeping. The hardest thing is keep water from freezing but there are lots of options, the easiest I have is using heated dog water bowls.
Good luck!

 

[lalaland]

Has anyone tube fed a chicken?

I have a little banty who has been ailing, and I am being advised to tube feed her. Normally I would cull but she is a special one.

Been nursing her for 2 weeks now in a kennel in the house, and she is emaciated, eats but not a lot. Also will only eat groats and an occasional piece of crumble or fresh clover. Rejects egg (mashed, scrambled,raw), yogurt, cheese, cracked corn, mash dry or mash wet, apple, raisins, cottage cheese, liver, canned catfood, dry cat food, grits cooked, grits raw....

If I take her out of the kennel and toss feed, the sound attracts her and she will eat, but picks out the groats. maybe a sunflower seed once in a while, but picks out the groats. I am not home during the day, and she doesn't rouse herself to eat much during the day on her own.

She can't get enough nutrition from the oat groats. Whatever underlying issues got her in this state (near starvation) may still be there - she has been wormed, treated for cocci, and given an antibiotic.

I'm looking for someone who would teach me to tube her - I've watched the videos but she is sooo tiny, and I don't have a second pair of helping hands either.

 

[cochins1088]

Has anyone tube fed a chicken?

I have a little banty who has been ailing, and I am being advised to tube feed her. Normally I would cull but she is a special one.

Been nursing her for 2 weeks now in a kennel in the house, and she is emaciated, eats but not a lot. Also will only eat groats and an occasional piece of crumble or fresh clover. Rejects egg (mashed, scrambled,raw), yogurt, cheese, cracked corn, mash dry or mash wet, apple, raisins, cottage cheese, liver, canned catfood, dry cat food, grits cooked, grits raw....

If I take her out of the kennel and toss feed, the sound attracts her and she will eat, but picks out the groats. maybe a sunflower seed once in a while, but picks out the groats. I am not home during the day, and she doesn't rouse herself to eat much during the day on her own.

She can't get enough nutrition from the oat groats. Whatever underlying issues got her in this state (near starvation) may still be there - she has been wormed, treated for cocci, and given an antibiotic.

I'm looking for someone who would teach me to tube her - I've watched the videos but she is sooo tiny, and I don't have a second pair of helping hands either.

I did last spring. My rooster Alexander got into a bad fight and ended up with horrible beak injuries. He refused to drink and he wouldn't touch any of his favorite foods. I tube fed him for 2 weeks while his injury healed.

I live to far away to show you. My best advice is to have confidence. If the tube starts sliding down the wrong tube, it won't kill her. She'll gag and you'll remove it that instance and try again. If you get it down the correct tube, you will feel it slide all the way to the crop. The more you do it, the easier it'll get.

 

[mnhomestead]

Hi, I was glad to see your post. I'm a new chicken "rancher" this year. I will be wintering over 6 Rhode Island Reds. We currently have an 8 x 12 chicken coop that I lined the walls inside with bales of straw that I purchased already for my strawbale garden for next summer. There is also Straw about 4' thick on the floor of the coop. We are talking about putting insulation on the ceiling also. I have a small chicken door that leads into a 8 x 12 run also. The run is covered with a tarp that will keep the snow out, and I can see by prior posts that I should wrap the west side of the run to cut the wind and put some staw in the run. Do you put a light in the coop to stimulate light for winter laying of eggs? Mine just started laying eggs two days ago, so I would like to keep them going. Are Rhode Island Reds winter hardy, or should I be heating the coop somehow?

If you do add light to the coop it's best to add the extra light in the am instead of evening hours. You want them to go to roost at usual time. What I did was run a strand of Christmas lights in the coop and have them on a timer, gives off just enough light.
With 6 hens and straw lined walls I think they will be fine without heat. Adding a heat source more often than not can cause issues (fire hazard, power goes out and hens get cold since they are used to heat...) Keep it ventilated, but not drafty, plenty of bedding and roost boards wide enough that they can 'squat' and cover their feet and they will be fine.