NY chicken lover!!!!

[vmdanielsen]

Its hard to get chickens to start laying well in the middle of winter when the light has already been dark for so long.

After you turn on the lights, it takes a few weeks for the chickens to be tricked into laying, and of course, they don't lay like mid spring, but they do.

I've also found that if the light isn't the same every day, like if one day its sunny out and the next week the days are cloudy, and if you only have the lights on for a few hours a day, it won't be enough.

I have coops on the east side of my barn that are all windows. In that coop my light comes on at 3am & goes off at 8am. The on again at 4pm & off at 7pm. During even cloudy days there is enough light coming in that I don't need it on all the time.

But, all my other coops, have small windows or are inside the middle of the barn where no natural light comes in, so I leave the lights on from 3am until 7 pm. If I did the west side coops like I do the east side coops I wouldn't get any eggs because there is so little daylight coming in, even on a sunny day.

I know, everyone is thinking, oh, those poor chickens are left in the dark when the lights go out at 7 pm, Well, no they are not. They are already roosting by 5pm so no one is left where they don't want to be. I always wondered how they know that the daylight is gone, and go to roost even when the coop lights are still on.

I use, against my will actually, but not against my pocket book, the spiral energy saving bulbs. 75 Watts per coop. People will say that 40 watts is enough, but it isn't, and those energy bulbs aren't as bright either, so I use a higher wattage than I would if they were incandescent bulbs.

Whew...that was long winded....

I am glad for the info!!!

Here's a goofy little story only chicken people can appreciate. I was home on Tuesday, and happened to leave my phone on its charger in my bedroom in the morning. When I realized that and went upstairs to fetch it, I saw that I had a missed call from our scheduler at work. Now, the iPhone has a really loud ring that I can hear downstairs, so at first I couldn't figure out why I hadn't heard it. However, my ringtone is a crowing rooster. Thinking about it, I realized that I did indeed hear it ring, but thought it was just one of the new crowers out back exercising his lungs.

It's a really good ringtone.

Too funny!!! So did you have to go to work?

 

[Gramma Chick]

Rooster you were looking for rose combed RIR is mine one ?
My roo is not RIR hes Australorp though

 

[Henicillin]

Too funny!!! So did you have to go to work?

It was a schedule change for Thursday - they took me out of my store and sent me to one of the NYS stores to cover. I would have pretended I didn't get the voicemail until it was too late if they'd tried to bring me in Tuesday.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

I was at the market today and really need to rethink this hybrid thing. Eggs were huge. The largest I've gotten is 2.6. Most are only 2.0 . Prices were good too. Plus either they're keeping more chickens or their are laying very well..

Though many are keeping the lights on as am I lately. There is definitely a market for farm eggs. I personally could use a few more eggs each day. Got 12 today and that's good, but still not great.

Rancher---my rir and red sexlinks are laying without lighting. Down to a dozen a day from 2 dozen but still going strong. My market is growing so I am limiting everyone right now to keep up. Mostly word of mouth as we are staying under the radar from the powers that be. Oh==the eggs are getting bigger as the girls are maturing. Right now they are large moving to jumbo.

Love all this snow melt and am hoping my paths out to the coops melt finally. Going to throw a bag of leaves in the big run. It will give the terrorists something to do.

I am offering up my two blue silkie roos for sale to my fellow peeps here on the forum first. Gandolf and Elron came from breeder Geri Gordina. They are 6 months old and are developing nicely. Gandolf does have some gold leakage in his hackles but there is none of that in the line so we arent sure why this popped up. Feet are nicely feathered and they both have nice type and coloring. I would like to see them go together as they are bonded and get along well. PM me if you are interested. Here is a pic of both boys.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Rancher--my rir boys Hane, above and Olaf, below. They have 19 girls to keep them busy--5 barred rocks, 5 sexlinks and the rest rir. Should be interesting to see what hatches in the spring! The cross with the br will be black sexlinks. We will see if they are as productive as the red ones. Oh--I should mention the boys are much bigger now...legs like tree trunks!

 

[ChickPrincess]

Learn the hard way, I guess. I will never, ever, EVER use straw in the coop again. It got dirty, of course, and we had the brilliant idea of throwing more straw over the top of it. With all the snow and cold, I wasn't about to shovel it out of there. It is now over a foot thick in some places and STINKS so bad! The metal roof leaks a bit here and there, so water has dripped over the weeks and matted everything down even more. Trying to clean it, you stick the pitchfork in and it stays stuck in one huge, heavy layer. UGH! It's going to take me and my son much of the day. Back to wood shavings until spring. I thought wood shavings were hard to clean before. It was easy compared to straw.
In the spring I will make a complete switch to sand so that I can clean it daily or every other day, even in the winter easily.
I have Nustock on the way from Amazon. Some of my chickens have a bit of frostbite (because it got so damp in the messy coop!). I don't know if it will help that, but it's worth a shot.
Learn by making mistakes, I suppose.

Finishing my coffee... off to the coop!

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

Learn the hard way, I guess. I will never, ever, EVER use straw in the coop again. It got dirty, of course, and we had the brilliant idea of throwing more straw over the top of it. With all the snow and cold, I wasn't about to shovel it out of there. It is now over a foot thick in some places and STINKS so bad! The metal roof leaks a bit here and there, so water has dripped over the weeks and matted everything down even more. Trying to clean it, you stick the pitchfork in and it stays stuck in one huge, heavy layer. UGH! It's going to take me and my son much of the day. Back to wood shavings until spring. I thought wood shavings were hard to clean before. It was easy compared to straw.
In the spring I will make a complete switch to sand so that I can clean it daily or every other day, even in the winter easily.
I have Nustock on the way from Amazon. Some of my chickens have a bit of frostbite (because it got so damp in the messy coop!). I don't know if it will help that, but it's worth a shot.
Learn by making mistakes, I suppose.

Finishing my coffee... off to the coop!

If the straw dried it would be like partical board and what a pain. When we bought our farm the people before us free stalled cattle and it was never cleaned out. I think the poop hay/straw mix sat for at least 5 years. It peeled up in sheets and was heavy. Doing it by hand took me a few weeks to clear it around normal work schedule.

 

[Glasshen]

This warm weather has got mine thinking its Spring. Particularly the Boys. They have been having disputes, and Reveille won, but both are bloody and look whipped. I prefer Earl, he doesn't look at me as though he is just waiting to take me on. I am thinking that Reveille needs a new home. Or Something.

 

[Lapeerian]

Hubby was sweet and scooped out the coop this morning. Of course ours is the tractor with wire floors under the roosts, so no bedding, just lots of poo. Horse stalls later. *blah* Then we see the Amish mini stud running up the road, in our driveway and to the barn. He can't get in the barn, but he will walk through fence. So back out hubby goes to chase him off. After he made sure the mini was on his way home, he stopped at the amish coop to check how their chickens have faired since the door broke off a couple weeks ago. There are no chickens left, but there are a bunch of chicken heads left laying around the lawn. Not sure of any predators that rip heads off and carry off the rest, but likely the amish butchered the chickens and left the heads behind. So glad they left some bait out to bring in predators! Some neighbors are just so considerate....

 

[Tough Old Bird]

It's so educational to read about everyone's challenges faced while tending chickens thru the winter months -- whether that be egg production issues, bedding woes or rooster flare-ups! Doing my best to keep up and take lots of mental notes.

I'm considering the deep bed method for the coop, with wood shavings. What's your preference for shaving material? I hear that pine isn't a good choice due to resins released causing potential airway issues in the birds. Cedar is supposed to be a fragrant choice, but I wonder about cost? I am still a little confused about using sand for the coop.....just play sand like you get for your kids sandbox? I am clueless about this!

I am envisioning straw for the outside pen area to help keep mud at bay once the grass is scratched and trampled down to dirt. I would imagine this doesn't take very long to happen. Also considering a "sacrifice pen", attached to but separated from the everyday pen, so I can switch back and forth between the two pens.. Does anyone have a set-up like this?

Lots to learn, and spring isn't really all that far off! Glasshen, I've also got my mind set on spring thanks to this warm-up, but I doubt it'll last very long!
Hope your roosters heal up quickly.

TOB