Montana

[DuginMT]

Got 12 eggs again today from my 12 pullets! Also the first large egg at 2.0 OZ, don't know who laid it. Rooster Booster has two good reviews on this site out of two reviews total, one drawback is that you are supposed to apply it daily and the bottle is small at about 4 oz and it costs about 8 bucks. I would like to know where to buy some aprons and how well they stay on the chicken and protect the tail and butt. It looks like I need about three or four of them right now. Your feedback is as always, appreciated!

Doug

 

[Danishennies]

I ordered some aprons 3 days ago. Im excited I need to get them as soon as possible. One of my girls is so sunburned she is burgundy on her butt!! Blu kote helps but it takes them playing in the dirt one day and its almost gone. One of my girls her wing is so swelled sunburned and it is cracked big enough that it looks like someone cut her with a knife in the wing! I sprayed her twice yesterday need my hubby to help me catch her today so I can spray her. Poor girl! The guy I got them from could have taken better care if them jack*** he said he was getting 4 eggs a day. I am getting 12. So maybe if you would take care of them then you would receive more. Ok I am done ranting. Oh only one more thing he had 12 hens and 4 roosters in a coop about 4x4. Umm yeah no wonder their wings are gone and my husband said there was no food in their no water! The ones that were fully feathered were in a 10x12 and my husband counted 10 with 1 rooster! They had a huge trough and fruits and veggies and feed in there!! But I got the coolest girls deff his loss!!! Ok now im done!! Sorry started on the rant because breaks my heart when my mag pie cries cuz she hurts.

 

[montanachicks]

I ordered some aprons 3 days ago. Im excited I need to get them as soon as possible. One of my girls is so sunburned she is burgundy on her butt!! Blu kote helps but it takes them playing in the dirt one day and its almost gone. One of my girls her wing is so swelled sunburned and it is cracked big enough that it looks like someone cut her with a knife in the wing! I sprayed her twice yesterday need my hubby to help me catch her today so I can spray her. Poor girl! The guy I got them from could have taken better care if them jack*** he said he was getting 4 eggs a day. I am getting 12. So maybe if you would take care of them then you would receive more. Ok I am done ranting. Oh only one more thing he had 12 hens and 4 roosters in a coop about 4x4. Umm yeah no wonder their wings are gone and my husband said there was no food in their no water! The ones that were fully feathered were in a 10x12 and my husband counted 10 with 1 rooster! They had a huge trough and fruits and veggies and feed in there!! But I got the coolest girls deff his loss!!! Ok now im done!! Sorry started on the rant because breaks my heart when my mag pie cries cuz she hurts.

I would report the a**hole. Sorry, hope I don't offend anyone.

 

[DuginMT]

I agree with MontanaChicks, except it would be hard to get proof since the chickens are in a much better place now! Ordered five chicken aprons from Louise's Closet tonight, they were only about 20 bucks for the five, including shipping. I re-treated with Rooster Booster this evening, the chickens had cleaned the first treatment off in less than 2 days, and I have noticed no improvement yet. I think they self-preen to remove the foreign substance. When I get the aprons, I will re-treat with rooster booster {it contains aloe}, then put on the aprons, so they cannot clean off the treatment. I only have three chickens now that are obviously pecked, with the one EE the worst, followed by a BR and a RIR. I thought the RIR's were supposed to be fierce, LOL! I also ordered three infrared bulbs, one 50W and two 75W, to put in my coop this fall and winter to calm the birds and also provide a small amount of heat. I only plan to use one bulb at a time, on a timer at night. So, my total heat will consist of one of the infrared bulbs, the white light bulb that comes on in the early morning to maintain their laying, and a heated waterer base (along with the body heat from the chickens). I estimate that my uninsulated coop will stay 10-15 degrees warmer than ambient in the winter

Got 10 nice little eggs today, also ate the 2 oz pecked egg from yesterday that turned out to be a double-yolker! Gave another dozen eggs to my neighbor today who allowed me to keep my rooster if they got eggs, and they almost didn't take the eggs because they had not ate the first 18 yet! I told them I would skip them for a couple weeks, and she reluctantly took my dozen eggs!

 

[Danishennies]

I am not very patiently waiting for my 8 aprons. I however today rubbed atraight aloe on them and took childrens sunblock and sprayed them I know sounds so strange but I could not stand by whe more poor babies were sunburned!! The look I got after I did all the was priceless but hey If it helps them I will do it! Also as far as that guy I did call animal control told them what we saw they came and looked at my girls. They are going to see what they were living in. Idk what will happen!! So today my rooster was coping and attitude so I told him to stop being a butt and I swear as God is ky witness he shook his butt at me!! Lol omg I love my babies they crack me up. Mag pie has learned to say moooooom mom mom mom hahaha
I know crazy chicken lady!!! Lol

 

[karlamaria]

Sounds like you guys and gals have some rough roosters. Some people pen them separately to give the girls a break. After all, there just fertilizing the eggs and it's pretty late in the season to let a broody hatch out fertile eggs. I use blu cote as one dum chicken plucks te other girls, watched her do it and then she walks away, like " I'm the queen pluck ! Pluck ! Blu cote wears off but works well for me. Just spray it on at night and twice a week. My girls are doing well, we rescued a EE a week ago but I can not post pics here, darn thing will not let me. I and several others can not seem to post pics here lately. " glitch " or something.

 

[Danishennies]

Blu kote is working for me I just wish it would last a bit longer my girls have to take dirt baths so of course it rubs off. My Rooster is not really rough he just thinks he is king and everyone must bow to him ha! He argues with me about this. My girls wouldn't be so rough looking if it wasn't for the jerk who pit them in with 4 roosters. The other mini coop is done so I will be putting 4 of my girls in there. My sweet calm birds are going in it. Today my NN was cowering by the water bowl when I went out to open the door for them. She was shaking "its not the Roo thats doing it) all the girls that are doing the Pecking crap is going after her because my Roo has been favoring her for some reason! This makes my rocks and Wyndottes a bit unhappy! They are the ones fighting for order. I will get their poor feathers in before winter. Poor girls

 

[montanachicks]

I agree with MontanaChicks, except it would be hard to get proof since the chickens are in a much better place now! Ordered five chicken aprons from Louise's Closet tonight, they were only about 20 bucks for the five, including shipping. I re-treated with Rooster Booster this evening, the chickens had cleaned the first treatment off in less than 2 days, and I have noticed no improvement yet. I think they self-preen to remove the foreign substance. When I get the aprons, I will re-treat with rooster booster {it contains aloe}, then put on the aprons, so they cannot clean off the treatment. I only have three chickens now that are obviously pecked, with the one EE the worst, followed by a BR and a RIR. I thought the RIR's were supposed to be fierce, LOL! I also ordered three infrared bulbs, one 50W and two 75W, to put in my coop this fall and winter to calm the birds and also provide a small amount of heat. I only plan to use one bulb at a time, on a timer at night. So, my total heat will consist of one of the infrared bulbs, the white light bulb that comes on in the early morning to maintain their laying, and a heated waterer base (along with the body heat from the chickens). I estimate that my uninsulated coop will stay 10-15 degrees warmer than ambient in the winter

Got 10 nice little eggs today, also ate the 2 oz pecked egg from yesterday that turned out to be a double-yolker! Gave another dozen eggs to my neighbor today who allowed me to keep my rooster if they got eggs, and they almost didn't take the eggs because they had not ate the first 18 yet! I told them I would skip them for a couple weeks, and she reluctantly took my dozen eggs!

If your coop is insulated, you shouldn't have any issues. Myself, unfortunately, I didn't insulate for last winter (but it's being done this fall!!) and have about three months worth of electric bills that went over $200. omg. On budget billing, so of course yesterday get a letter saying that due to my consumption of electric in the past 12 months, they are raising the monthly amount from $80.00 a month to $132.00 a month. ouch. Last winter was my first in Montana with chickens & I probably babied them a little too much cuz I didn't want them to get cold, but I know that they can tolerate it a lot more than what we think. So this year, the heat lamp isn't going to go on unless the temps are supposed to drop to 20 or below. That's my story & I'm sticking to it.

 

[DuginMT]

Montanachicks, thanks for the warning on the electric bill. I grew up in NE Montana where the weather was much windier and colder than here in Billings. Our chickens were in a large uninsulated unheated coop and would survive 40 below zero in there and I don't even remember any frostbitten ones. They were mainly RIR's. All of my breeds here are supposed to be cold-hardy. My coop is not insulated but my electrical load will only be about 100 watts, for nighttime only, and will drop to just the heated waterer base in the daylight hours. The chickens roost 18" from the ceiling so should be able to bask in their own heat somewhat. That is my plan anyway and I am sticking to it!

Just installed the second timer and IR bulb base today. The first timer will be used to kick on a 40W light bulb in the early morning hours to keep them laying. The second timer will be used to turn on the 50W or 75W red IR light bulb at night, both to provide some moderate heat and to reduce pecking. The heated waterer base has a built-in thermostat, I believe, but I have not picked it up yet. I did not insulate because after I read where you were supposed to have enormous amounts of open area for ventilation (I did not install that much open area), I figured the insulation would do little good. I'm sure one could find a happy balance between insulation and ventilation, as you most likely did! I have a temperature sensor at roost level in the coop so will be able to see how much warmer the coop stays compared to ambient. Looking forward to winter - tired of this heat!

 

[karlamaria]

Dug, what kind of water heater you getting? The tin can heaters work wonderful and cost very little. I made mine and it cost me a total of five bucks.
My coop is really insulated, and I have a vent cap put on the roof. We have never had any problems with frost bite but I still feel bad when it's below zero so I turn a heat lamp on when it gets super cold. The best part is if you wrap your coop and pen in heavy duty clear plastic it helps so much. We will be wrapping our coop up by the end of September , using slats of wood to secure it all on. No wind or cold hits the girls all winter, they stay dry and I believe the coop stays warmer . We use a piece of plywood to cover the door come spring so they can look out and feel the sun shine but during the real cold months we cover the door with plastic also. It's a good few hours of work to get it done right but well worth it ! We take all three waterers in the house at night and fill them in the morning with fresh water and cider with mother . I saw a gal puts wheat in hot water at night and warms it in the morning for there birds, I also want to do this. Maybe mix with oatmeal.
No light for eggs, first year girls usually produce very well in winter as they have in the past and I have 8 new girls so I'm pretty sure we will get enough eggs . Give the older girls a break .
Got some new screens for my mason jars so I can sprout wheat and barley again this winter and the only thing I need is to paint inside the coop now. It's time lol, have not done this and it's been built 3 years ago. Outside is nicely painted .
Can not wait to find out if my chicks are hens or roosters. Only have to wait another 8 weeks or so lol. Hoping for hens! This way I have new spring layers.