Minnesota!

[ejb3810]

Minnesota Nice - very appropriate for this thread. Welcome aboard!
Minnie, I too would like to know how your peaches do over the winter. I know the cold can be hard on them.
Ralphie, poor Ole has really caused some damage to himself with his fascination for the girls, but I have seen that happen to many a young lad. It will be interesting what you may hatch out around there, as it seems that he has no qualms about procreating with any?

 

[duluthralphie]

Minnie I have wanted peaches too, but am afraid to try them because of the cold, but I did see they have some zone 4 peaches now. Being in the tropical part of the state you should do well.

EJB Ole operates as if every minute is 5 minutes before bar closing time. I have not had room to hatch any EE yet, so I doubt I will have any of his young'uns.

I have the incubators full of Turkey, Guinea and Creamette eggs. I hardly have room for Bert's toad eggs. I need more incubators! DW disagrees.


PS> ED I just remembered I had some EE the first hatches I had, but I sold them all. So there could be a Ole Jr out there somewhere.


And a PSS> Rhetts I put my hummingbird feeder out after you said you saw some, I got my first one this morning at the feeder.

 

[coldupnorth]

Welcome Minnesotanice! This is a great thread, even if you just want to stop by and listen. I found this thread when I first joined BYC 4 years ago and up until this last year, could go months before there was a post in. I am certainly glad that others have found it and have decided to stay. It is good to feel connected to others in the same area and community - it makes answers to questions a bit more revelant.

PS - About hummingbird feeders - I would love to put one up again, however it just invites the bears for a snack. I'll just have to wait until I have many blooming flowers.

 

[holm25]

If all goes as planned we will have 5 Muscovy's from Tripelell!! Does anyone know what colors she has??

 

[duluthralphie]

Welcome Minnesotanice! This is a great thread, even if you just want to stop by and listen. I found this thread when I first joined BYC 4 years ago and up until this last year, could go months before there was a post in. I am certainly glad that others have found it and have decided to stay. It is good to feel connected to others in the same area and community - it makes answers to questions a bit more revelant.

PS - About hummingbird feeders - I would love to put one up again, however it just invites the bears for a snack. I'll just have to wait until I have many blooming flowers.

Nothing a 12 ga slug won't cure.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

Getting the moisture out without being overly drafty is the biggest winter problem to me.

What do you do to help keep the moisture out? Do you keep your vents/windows open in the winter as long as they're not drafty? I'm finding this to be my biggest hang up so far. We all know how cold it can get in MN, so I'm trying to find the most efficient solution. We're just starting to convert our old ice fishing house a.k.a. temporary shed to a coop. It has one window that doesn't open, so we're going to add hinged vents to the coop. It's 9x12.




Yup, lots of junk to get rid of first! Lol

 

[duluthralphie]

I have vents on my roof and on the top of the gable ends. I leave an opening on the floor directly under the vent in the gable end so the air flows in and out on the same side and the other side is not drafty.

However, I had not enough air flow or too many chickens in it as I got frozen combs.


Your "coop" looks fairly easy to vent. I would put a door/vent on the bottom in the center of the tall side (attached to a covered run) then I would put a vent right above it at the top of the wall. (screen it so nothing can get in, like an owl.

The chickens like to go outside even on the coldest days a run allows this.

 

[The BlanchRanch]

I still am having problems with my chickens. I have 5 chickens at 7 mos old and I still only get zero to two eggs a day. Today I got another with no shell. I feed them a organic high protein grower food with extra oyster shell in the food and plain oyster shell on the side too. Any Ideas?

 

[jbenson]

I still am having problems with my chickens. I have 5 chickens at 7 mos old and I still only get zero to two eggs a day. Today I got another with no shell. I feed them a organic high protein grower food with extra oyster shell in the food and plain oyster shell on the side too. Any Ideas?

I am having low egg production right now as well. I attribute some of it to changes in flock organization, however, I think there are other factors. I am trying a light on in the coop since it has been cloudy and my only window is on the north side. I may give them a pumpkin seed treat this week for natural worming just in case that is part of the problem. Most of my hens are only a year or two old ( four of them are 3 years old, but they still lay) and they really do whatever they want in the egg department without a lot of complaining by me, however, seems I should get more than 4-5 a day from 17 hens. They buy their own feed when a friend of ours buys the eggs we can't eat, so they might want to pick up the pace if they don't want the feed bin to run empty (j/k of course. We would never let our little winged pigs go hungry).

 

[MinnesotaNice]

I have vents on my roof and on the top of the gable ends. I leave an opening on the floor directly under the vent in the gable end so the air flows in and out on the same side and the other side is not drafty.

However, I had not enough air flow or too many chickens in it as I got frozen combs.


Your "coop" looks fairly easy to vent. I would put a door/vent on the bottom in the center of the tall side (attached to a covered run) then I would put a vent right above it at the top of the wall. (screen it so nothing can get in, like an owl.

The chickens like to go outside even on the coldest days a run allows this.

Thanks for the info! How large to you recommend the vents to be? I'm guessing I'll have 8-10 hens once I can tell the sex of all my chicks.