Minnesota!

[KlopKlop]

In this case, I'm just being facetious haha my company is in the commercial insurance business, not personal auto or home. We pay out claims when some idiot decides to run a metal mill without safety glasses or when a shop tech is backing a customers car out of the shop and scrapes its mirror down a whole row of brand new Mercedes....

True stories both....

I can't help but share one more insurance thing... We insure lots of funeral home and have started to see a trend of losses. This stems from two other trends:
1) more people than ever are getting cremated.
2) Adult obesity is at an all time high

What do you get when you add those two things together? Funeral homes trying to cremate fat people which in turn burns the funeral home down!

Yes this is a real thing! And yes we have an active loss prevention program running right now to educate funeral home owners about this risk!

You literally can't make this stuff up....

 

[scandiafowl]

I can't help but share one more insurance thing... We insure lots of funeral home and have started to see a trend of losses. This stems from two other trends:
1) more people than ever are getting cremated.
2) Adult obesity is at an all time high

What do you get when you add those two things together? Funeral homes trying to cremate fat people which in turn burns the funeral home down!

Yes this is a real thing! And yes we have an active loss prevention program running right now to educate funeral home owners about this risk!

You literally can't make this stuff up....

Fire prevention strategies for funeral homes. I love it.

 

[scandiafowl]

Calling a funeral home a life celebration center, saw that yesterday. Made me giggle.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Thank you three! Can it actually hurt the chickens health to freeze the comb? How cold with humidity does it have to be for them to get frostbit? @duluthralphie I won't have to worry about my two hens either. One has absolutely no comb or wattles, and the other is young and is still growing them.

Humidity /Temperature fluctuations are damaging on a sliding scale. The more humidity that is in the air...like a rainy day. Just 30 degrees has potential to frostbite skin. So actually this rainy weather and then a wet bird put away in a coop with temps falling fast is actually not a great scenario. Luckily for us that is just a short time of year. And up here in Northern Minnesota we generally have a dry cold. So it depends on Relative humidity outside on whether you'll get frostbites. I also am a firm believer that extended periods of below zero weather is hard on combs and wattles. Cold is cold. So that's why I do have a supplemental flat panel heater for those long stretches. Last winter wasn't so bad ...but the two winters before were very very cold and long. 6 solid months in the coop and run and hardly a week's worth of days started above zero. Mostly -20's if I recall to start the day. woooook. Gives me the shivers just to think of it.

roosters usually get the most damage. Hens will tuck their heads under their wings on those really cold nights.

It doesnt really hurt them. They just dont look as pretty.

Ya. It hurts them. They are sensitive there. They just dont express pain because they are prey animals. Frozen combs and wattles can be messy business. Get infected and potentiall kill a bird. Just the swelling in the wattles from the freezing can inhibit them from eating and drinking. No good. I've dealt with it on our Single Comb New Hampshire.

That was a fun first winter. Not.

Oh good. And what about their feet, do chickens feet ever freeze?

Nathan: they do. Broken toes or feet are susceptible...So lower the roosts. Feet with bad bumble foot. Swollen and comprimised blood circulation. Feet that are in wet soupy messes all the time. Feet that do not have good wide roosts to wrap feathers around to rewarm.

I can't help but share one more insurance thing... We insure lots of funeral home and have started to see a trend of losses. This stems from two other trends:
1) more people than ever are getting cremated.
2) Adult obesity is at an all time high

What do you get when you add those two things together? Funeral homes trying to cremate fat people which in turn burns the funeral home down!

Yes this is a real thing! And yes we have an active loss prevention program running right now to educate funeral home owners about this risk!

You literally can't make this stuff up....

Reason #462 to lose weight.

So your not the cause of the funeral parlor going up into a blubbery hot fire.

Minnie: sorry about the insurance hassle. Is it progressive? They offer lower rates but our Auto Body guy says they haggle over every little plastic bolt or screw.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I got my fireplace ashes yesterday from my folks. I put some on the poo around my apple trees to help that chemically. And then the majority I put in the run in the dust bin. The chooks have been using it already with this rainy weather, I see. Blended it well with the sand the DE. Love taking care of the birdies.

Oh....the rain is coming down. Raining Cats and Dogs.

 

[KlopKlop]

I got my fireplace ashes yesterday from my folks. I put some on the poo around my apple trees to help that chemically. And then the majority I put in the run in the dust bin. The chooks have been using it already with this rainy weather, I see. Blended it well with the sand the DE. Love taking care of the birdies.

Oh....the rain is coming down. Raining Cats and Dogs.

I can't wait to fire the stove in my shop for the first time this year for this exact reason! I am loading up most of my woodworking tools and hauling them to my brother's place near Madison, WI for a boys weekend of woodworking Christmas projects. It will be the prefect time for me to spend some time cleaning and reorganizing in there to be ready for winter. I added new shelving but haven't put anything on it in fear of it turning into dumping grounds....

Then my kittens can move out there too! they are getting so big they are making a heck of a funk in my basement.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

It's nice to source something on your own that you know is good for your birds, isn't it? Like having the pumpkins or garden goodies that you're not going to eat. Etc... Just love it.

 

[lvie]

Plymouth Barred Rock Rooster and Hen OR Lemon Cuckoo Orpington Rooster and Hen?

Are all Roosters noisy? LOL - I am naive (or dumb)

My idea about getting a rooster is that the hens might be a little safer free ranging. Is this true?

HEY Fellow Chicken Addicts - I need some input on this. I started a new thread for Minnesota but I dunno - maybe I do it wrong as no
one replies. HELP

 

[NathanZee]

NO, do not expect your birds to live on water. That is not enough. If you had a stream or creek they drank from in winter for water, that would be okay, but not just snow.


I don't know for sure what the long term effects are on fertility and frostbite.

Do mean don't expect them to live on snow? I will give them water then.

I suggest you sign up for one of my upcoming "signature classes"......









Or just click on your name in the upper right hand corner.

Where is the sign up sheet?

When I click on my name, it takes me to my profile, what do I do then?

 

[duluthralphie]

Plymouth Barred Rock Rooster and Hen OR Lemon Cuckoo Orpington Rooster and Hen?

Are all Roosters noisy? LOL - I am naive (or dumb)

My idea about getting a rooster is that the hens might be a little safer free ranging. Is this true?

HEY Fellow Chicken Addicts - I need some input on this. I started a new thread for Minnesota but I dunno - maybe I do it wrong as no
one replies. HELP

Starting a new Minnesota thread would probably not work. There are a couple most are old and unused, I know myself I only go to this one and would disregard a new one even if I saw it.

I know where you can get a rooster to see how it goes and not cost you any cash!

If he does not work you could eat him.

It takes a rooster a while to become protective. Only the great Brutus picked it up early here, just to have his life smite in his prime.


Some roosters protect others just rape and pillage.