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I love my Silkies, they come running to see me when I open the door. I have to keep from stepping on they're toes when all crowd around my feet. Most of mine are Catdance.
My Barnevelders lay huge eggs, unfortunately I don't have rooster but I plan on getting a really nice one to breed to them

How do your Silkies do in the winter? My only Silkie decided that yesterday (-6 degrees) would be a great day to go broody
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me too!! My little Lily has been trying all through November. I gotta send her to broody breaking boot camp or something. Lol. She's been coming off the nest more now though so hopefully she'll leave it otherwise I'm gonna have too!
 
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I think it's the light, rather than the heat that helps your birds to lay. I didn't heat my coop at all last year, but did have a light source, and my birds laid regularly. I used to have a heat lamp over my water bowl, but have since gotten a heated dog dish. When I used to have the heat lamp over the bowl, I did have some cases of frostbit combs. None since I got the dog bowl.

As long as I'm here, I have a question: I'm considering getting some heritage breeds (or one breed) next spring. I'd like to have a dual-purpose flock for meat and egg production. Is there anyone out there near the west-central part of the state with heritage chickens? For those of you that have them (no matter where you are), what breed or breeds would you suggest? Thanks for any info you can give me.
 
A couple of my friends in the BCPPA have the standard Buckeyes and Australorps. Both are big meaty birds that also lay fairly well. They breed for the show ring, but always have a fair number of culls that would probably be sold cheaper. One of those guys is also getting a start in Icelandics too. If you want I can give you contact info for them. We are down here in southwestern MN. A great source would also be Duane Urch. He has a pretty big hatchery here in southern MN too. Some other suggestions on dual purpose breeds....orpingtons, rocks, wyndottes, sussex ?
 
Bobbi,
I purchased some heritage barred rock hatching eggs from a guy in Nebraska. He also ships chicks. They are about 6 months old now. Huge and beautiful and suppose to be excellant meat birds and layers. Friendly too. If you need contact info,let me know. Pam
 
Destiny - Thanks for the info! Would I be able to check the hatchery out online? My son lives in Estherville, IA and we go through southwestern MN to get there. Maybe we could check it out sometime when we're down there. I've got one buff orpington now, and two SLW's and have not been impressed by either of them. They're 1 1/2 yrs old now, and I think their peak laying time was about 5-6 months. These were also hatchery birds, so maybe that was the problem.

Pam - Thank you! I'd like to check into that. Does he have a website? I'd probably get chicks. I'm just not comfortable getting eggs that may or may not hatch.

Once again, thank you both. I appreciate the information.
 
Duane Urch doesn't have a website. His phone is (507) 451-6782 and he's from Owatonna. They deal more with the exhibition type birds but with larger scale numbers. I know he has an ad in the Poultry Press. You would probably have to call him for breeds, availability, and prices. I don't have his current list on hand.... He does ship and prices are reasonable for the quality of stock he has.
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Is it just me or do your chickens spill their food EVERYWHERE? I have a five gallon feeder and I seriously find about 1/3 of it on the floor when I clean the coop. WTH. Do your chickens do that???
 
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I have some plastic feeders like this one and a larger five gallon version. You can adjust the height of the plastic fins that allow the feed to fall into the tray. I screw it down as far as it will go, otherwise they use their beaks to push the feed over the edge and all over the floor.

http://www.amazon.com/Little-Giant-Plastic-Hanging-PHF11/dp/B000HHLGP4

Maybe I should ask for one of those for Christmas! I feel like I'm wasting so much money on food when i see it all over the coop floor.
Thanks for the help!
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