North Carolina

[MaryRuthLangdon]

We had only one loss... our bantam splash modern game roo didn't make it... the cold was too much for him.

His little hen was standing by his body this morning... she is now in the pen with the birchen modern game pair.

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Mary, sorry you lost your roo, but glad you didn't lose more. That cold was rough!

I've spent today getting a chick apartment complex built in my workroom.

. Better than what I had, especially since I will need to continue to brood indoors if I'm going to set small hatches. So a couple guinea pig cages with deep trays, smaller heat lamps and pine pellets to try for bedding. Two cages right now, stacked on a pair of TV trays, so they are up where I can reach them. And towels over all to hold heat in. Youngest ones up higher. I looked at the reptile heating pads to make a hover, but they are outrageously expensive so we'll stick to lamps for the moment. I neglected to get red bulbs though, so we'll listen to them cheeping all night.

. We'll see how it all works out, anyway.

 

[JadedPhoenix]

I've seen so many posts about everyone carrying water out to their chickens in this freezing weather. Doesn't anyone use heated waterers???? I think they are totally wonderful. We have them for the horses, dogs and chickens! It sure would save ya'll a lot of work and hurt...tractor Supply sells them and they are also on eBay! You just plug them in and keep them filled

As was said, that's hard to do when you need power for it. I have several extention cords together for the light that I have out for the chickens but I just can't run even more out to the coop which is about half the length of a football field away from the house. If I had the coop close to the house, that might would be an option.

 

[doubleatraining]

Who is going to the WCA tomorrow?? I'll be there around 12:30-1. I don't have anything to sell but I have a friend that asked me to bid on some hens for him.

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

When I canceled my trip to Georgia, I planned on coming. Then they changed my club meeting from Friday night to tomorrow afternoon. I need to do that, so can't come.

 

[atmaclean]

Got to have electricity in the buildings to use them, though. Um...and you still have to provide water. If my hoses are frozen, that means I carry it.

Yes, you would definitely need electricity to your flock housing - lol - I just figured most folks would at least have power for a light in their flock housing. In the winter it gets dark so early I have to have some type of lighting so I can check on the girls if I get home after dark. We drain our hoses after using them so that there is not enough water in them to freeze and block the line. Years ago I left the hose attached and it broke the pipes! What a mess. So, now we always unhook and drain all hoses after watering horses, chickens or whatever. I do have one pen that I run a long, heavy duty, extension cord to - our dogs don't mess with it at all and it works just fine. We hope to run permanent power to it this spring when the weather breaks. Believe me, I know about toting water - years ago, I had to temporarily keep a horse at a barn that did not have running water. It just had a deep well, nice barn and warm stall. And I mean it was deep! In order to get water for the horses, I had to lower a bucket down into that well and then crank that heavy sucker back up, unhook it, and tote it over to the barn as many times as it took to fill up the waterers! Not sure I could do all that now! LOL!

The heated waterers work great for us and ensure that our pets always have water available. It is especially important for our horses to have plenty of water as they eat lots of hay in the winter to keep warm and if they don't have plenty of water, they can get impaction colic and all sorts of other bad things. I wonder if the same type thing could happen in the chicken's crop if they didn't get water for a period of time....???? I don't want to find out, thats for sure!

There is another product that can be used for hauling your water that may be helpful for those of you who have to carry water. We've had to use them when our well over at the barn went dry several years ago. Talk about a nightmare! Ugh! Anyway, here is a link....

http://www.bayteccontainers.com/20-gallon-watering-bag.html

We have a couple of these on hand just in case we ever need them. They work really well and allow you to carry a lot of water at one time.

Angela

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Got to have electricity in the buildings to use them, though. Um...and you still have to provide water. If my hoses are frozen, that means I carry it.

Yes, you would definitely need electricity to your flock housing - lol - I just figured most folks would at least have power for a light in their flock housing.  In the winter it gets dark so early I have to have some type of lighting so I can check on the girls if I get home after dark.  We drain our hoses after using them so that there is not enough water in them to freeze and block the line.  Years ago I left the hose attached and it broke the pipes!  What a mess.  So, now we always unhook and drain all hoses after watering horses, chickens or whatever.  I do have one pen that I run a long, heavy duty, extension cord to - our dogs don't mess with it at all and it works just fine.  We hope to run permanent power to it this spring when the weather breaks.  Believe me, I know about toting water - years ago, I had to temporarily keep a horse at a barn that did not have running water.  It just had a deep well, nice barn and warm stall.  And I mean it was deep!  In order to get water for the horses, I had to lower a bucket down into that well and then crank that heavy sucker back up, unhook it, and tote it over to the barn as many times as it took to fill up the waterers!  Not sure I could do all that now! LOL!

The heated waterers work great for us and ensure that our pets always have water available.  It is especially important for our horses to have plenty of water as they eat lots of hay in the winter to keep warm and if they don't have plenty of water, they can get impaction colic and all sorts of other bad things.  I wonder if the same type thing could happen in the chicken's crop if they didn't get water for a period of time....????  I don't want to find out, thats for sure!

There is another product that can be used for hauling your water that may be helpful for those of you who have to carry water.  We've had to use them when our well over at the barn went dry several years ago. Talk about a nightmare!  Ugh!  Anyway, here is a link....  

http://www.bayteccontainers.com/20-gallon-watering-bag.html  

We have a couple of these on hand just in case we ever need them.  They work really well and allow you to carry a lot of water at one time.

Angela

Yep, we drain the hoses, too. I should have said the faucets. Ours don't work in freezing weather. The one at the barn is supposed to be a no-freeze thing, but nobody told it! And our emergency lighting in the outbuildings other than barn or shop are the flashlights hanging on the walls! I guess everyone has a different setup. If we had built from scratch, we probably would have wired and plumbed everything, but we bought an old farmstead, so it's a work in progress. I am jealous of your winter water!

 

[atmaclean]

Good Morning ,hope all made it thru this weather in good shape
Coop Scoop Boogie how did your eggs do any hatch

I sent a dozen to a lady in Alabama the week after yous she hatch 6 out of 12 not bad for shipped eggs
Wi

Wow! I've gotten 5 different batches of shipped eggs and hatched 4 out of 5 Isbars, 3 out of 4 BLRWs, 4 out of 6 BCMs, 6 out of 7 Rhodebars and 6 out of 7 Norwegian Jaerhorns. I guess I have had pretty good luck with shipped eggs! I have basically gotten chicks for every egg I paid for, thank goodness. Most folks sent me an extra so I came out ok. Just candled my shipped Blue Ameracauna eggs and Mille fleur d'uccles and all are fertile and developing....won't know how many will hatch for a few more weeks.... I didn't realize it was normal to only have a 50% hatch rate with shipped eggs. It must just be beginner's luck! LOL! I better stop while I'm ahead

 

[atmaclean]

Mary, sorry you lost your roo, but glad you didn't lose more. That cold was rough!

I've spent today getting a chick apartment complex built in my workroom.

. Better than what I had, especially since I will need to continue to brood indoors if I'm going to set small hatches. So a couple guinea pig cages with deep trays, smaller heat lamps and pine pellets to try for bedding. Two cages right now, stacked on a pair of TV trays, so they are up where I can reach them. And towels over all to hold heat in. Youngest ones up higher. I looked at the reptile heating pads to make a hover, but they are outrageously expensive so we'll stick to lamps for the moment. I neglected to get red bulbs though, so we'll listen to them cheeping all night.

. We'll see how it all works out, anyway.

You can get those ceramic heat emitter lamps like they sell at Petsmart/Petco for reptiles on Ebay for $12.99. Petco wanted $31.99 and Petsmart $40.00! These don't give off light -just heat - so the chicks are better able to have a sleep cycle instead of being blasted with bright lights 24/7. They are also quiet at night I just put the heat bulbs in the heat lamp thing and clamp it on like I would if I was using a brooder light in it.

I use my old rabbit cages for the babies after about a week in the rubbermaid tubs on paper towels. Getting them on the wire floor with shavings in the slide out tray underneath really helps with the smell! I use really small wire on the bottom of the cages so their feet don't get hurt. Their poo just falls through the wire and onto the pine shavings. You can also sprinkle baking soda on the poo/shavings if the odor gets bad and it will allow you to go a little longer before dumping the whole mess out.

I also teach them to drink from a rabbit water bottle so I can get rid of the nasty water bowls as soon as possible - I watch to make sure they are all drinking from the rabbit water bottles before I remove the water bowls. They regularly walk and poop in the water bowls and it is hard to keep it clean without changing it numerous times a day. This also frees up space on the floor of the cage so they have more room. I have never had any issues with them not getting enough water. If you have several babies, you can always add more than one water bottle. You can also add the electrolytes or vitamins, etc to the water bottles and not have to worry about it getting contaminated with poop, food, etc.

Angela

 

[atmaclean]

Yep, we drain the hoses, too. I should have said the faucets. Ours don't work in freezing weather. The one at the barn is supposed to be a no-freeze thing, but nobody told it! And our emergency lighting in the outbuildings other than barn or shop are the flashlights hanging on the walls! I guess everyone has a different setup. If we had built from scratch, we probably would have wired and plumbed everything, but we bought an old farmstead, so it's a work in progress. I am jealous of your winter water!

Oh, its nothing fancy! My hubby is pretty handy and has put a lot of work into it. This place was built in the 50's, I think. We had to totally gut and re-do the inside of the barn where our horses are. It was used for cattle. Sometimes we want to just bulldoze everything and start over. I know how you feel! Ours is a work in progress too. We had 8 inches of rain before all this sleet, snow and ice fell last Friday. It was just gross. Our next project is putting guttering around all the buildings to re-route the water. Then we will have a couple hundred tons of sandrock put around the barns and outbuildings. It is always something......