Greetings,
New member from northern WI here. We started a flock in April, mainly for the benefit of our daughter, who was is Kindergarten at the time. We have a dog and she has a few fish, but it is a good learning experience for her to raise chickens. (And as a bonus, the eggs will be nice!) Then the flock slowly started growing...
We now have a mid-sized flock of 17 birds: 5 Indian Runner Ducks, 3 Rhode Island Red hens, 5 Barred Rock hens, and 4 mutts, whose pedigree or sex have yet to be determined. (The mutts were in a box at the local feed bin when I picked up feed, the others were all "planned" as ordered pullets.) The RIR are nearing 20 weeks, the BR about 4 weeks behind, and the mutts somewhere in between. The ducks are about 10 weeks old, but grew like weeds and outweigh the heavy girls. Too bad we had to order straight run on those, because we ended up with what seems to be 3 drakes and 2 quacking females. 2 of the drakes will be culled, as might 2 of the 3 mutts who's sex is not yet obvious.
My main concerns at the moment are how to prepare for the upcoming winter. I ran electricity to our coop this summer, but a water line is out of the question. My biggest worry revolves around the ducks, since everything that comes out of them is much wetter than the chickens. Ventilation seems to be answered here, so my lesser worry is whether I need to do more than a couple of heat lamps for heat during the nights. I live on the tip of Lake Superior, and it is not uncommon to go a month with overnights in the -20F's with windchill.
Gonna keep reading and researching. I see there are a few cheeseheads from close by, so hopefully I'll pick up some good tips. Other than that, I just wanted to say "hi".
New member from northern WI here. We started a flock in April, mainly for the benefit of our daughter, who was is Kindergarten at the time. We have a dog and she has a few fish, but it is a good learning experience for her to raise chickens. (And as a bonus, the eggs will be nice!) Then the flock slowly started growing...
We now have a mid-sized flock of 17 birds: 5 Indian Runner Ducks, 3 Rhode Island Red hens, 5 Barred Rock hens, and 4 mutts, whose pedigree or sex have yet to be determined. (The mutts were in a box at the local feed bin when I picked up feed, the others were all "planned" as ordered pullets.) The RIR are nearing 20 weeks, the BR about 4 weeks behind, and the mutts somewhere in between. The ducks are about 10 weeks old, but grew like weeds and outweigh the heavy girls. Too bad we had to order straight run on those, because we ended up with what seems to be 3 drakes and 2 quacking females. 2 of the drakes will be culled, as might 2 of the 3 mutts who's sex is not yet obvious.
My main concerns at the moment are how to prepare for the upcoming winter. I ran electricity to our coop this summer, but a water line is out of the question. My biggest worry revolves around the ducks, since everything that comes out of them is much wetter than the chickens. Ventilation seems to be answered here, so my lesser worry is whether I need to do more than a couple of heat lamps for heat during the nights. I live on the tip of Lake Superior, and it is not uncommon to go a month with overnights in the -20F's with windchill.
Gonna keep reading and researching. I see there are a few cheeseheads from close by, so hopefully I'll pick up some good tips. Other than that, I just wanted to say "hi".
Last edited:
