Montana

[EnnisLakeFarm]

Hello Montanans!  Haven't posted for awhile.  I went to Big R today and saw that they have a nice selection of chicks in, mostly good layer breeds.  I don't plan to buy any chicks this year but am hoping one of the BA's goes broody again soon so we can put some eggs under her.

My bird's plumage condition is pretty bad this spring, I don't know if it is molting or feather pecking - likely a combination of both.  Half the chickens have significant feathers missing on their backs and butts, and one has almost no neck feathers.  After reading up on this site, I think I may have been giving them too high a percentage of scratch, and not enough protein, so this morning I cut their scratch in half and mixed in 22% protein meat bird feed with their 16% layer feed, 1:1 ratio, to give them a protein boost.  Also I sprayed the chickens and the coop with a solution of Permethrin in order to kill any mites that may have been bothering them.  Five still wear aprons, and I have been rotating the aprons as needed, and they seemed to have really helped.  My chickens may not look so great right now, but they seem healthy and happy and are giving me 8-10 eggs per day out of the 12 hens.  I can say "hens" now instead of "pullets" since they are officially over one year old since about five days ago!  Have a great week!

My girls are looking pretty good now. I didn't get light in their coop early enough and they had a massive group molt. I thought the poor things were going to freeze this winter. I'm feeding free choice layer pellets, about a half pound of fodder a day, and getting geared up to switch from pellets to fermented mixed grains. I've got six, two year old gals (Australorps) that are just starting to lay again. I'm getting 3 or 4 eggs a day. Going to attempt to hatch out some more (with the Easter hatch-a-long) Australorps and maybe add in some silver laced wyandottes.

 

[RoyalT]

Some pics from 3/17

Chicks/Keets are doing well


Hoping Dany calves soon...

Then Bullet will be a proud Daddy again.


It was pretty outside!


So I went to work.


Birds got to sample the new bag of scratch,


And cleaned out the coop, complete with herbs and baking soda


Scrubbed the nest boxes, too!

 

[3BirdGirlz]

Good job!

 

[RoyalT]

Yay! We're starting to get eggs again I didn't use lights this year, and I stacked my hay in a bad place- so it blocked the sun from reaching the coop this winter. Oops! Looking forward to more and more eggs!

 

[karlamaria]

Royal, is your coop made with a camper top? Love the babies, but that yak is hilarious ! He is so muddy lol. There very cool looking ! Glad your getting eggs, i could not imagine a winter with out fresh eggs lol, i added a string of lcd christmas lights to ours, and my chickens laid all winter. And the LCD lights saved me a ton on my power bill.

 

[3littlechicken]

I live in Clancy!! and is new too keeping chickens and I don't know how too keep them warm this winter because of the -30 degrees weather

 

[karlamaria]

Welcome three little chickens!
What have you got your chickens housed in now? As long as its insulated really well, with ventelation at the top of your coop, and plenty of good straw and shavings , things should be fine. A nice 2x4 for there feet to set on so they can set on there feet to keep them warm ( chickens do not perch like birds, but sit, so a 2x4 is great as they can sit comfortably keeing tere toes from being frost bitten. A nice window to look out during real cold snaps insure there happy and content indoors. I do not let my chickens out unless its above zero, but there have plenty to see out all three widows.

 

[3littlechicken]

They are just chicks now but thanks for the tips

 

[FlySammyJ]

Is anyone in the Billings area going to have chicks for sale in the next week or two? I've got a first-time broody that's been on the nest for four days now. The eggs she's on are "toss eggs" from our last round of wormer, and I don't want to let her hatch those in case of birth defects. So I'm trying to figure out what to sneak under her if she sticks it out. I've seen her get up to dust bathe for more than 20 minutes, so I don't think I'm ready to trust her with fertile eggs yet. (I did find a mite on an egg today, so everyone's getting dusted tonight) My plan is to wait another week and then slip some chicks under her at night. I'm especially thinking that Ameraucanas or Marans could add some market value to my eggs. So what's cooking in the incubators? I"ll go by Tractor Supply or Shipton's if y'all are back-listed, but I thought I'd try to buy local first.

 

[3BirdGirlz]

Eggs will be fine with hens off them for more than 20 minutes. My incubator has a cooling option for a minimum of 30 min to a max of over 60. Ducks are even off eggs for longer periods many times. Just so you don't worry too much