NY chicken lover!!!!

[rancher hicks]

I love those little ceramic heaters ...we have used them in the house for warm up spots...Can be used as just fans too

I've thought about hanging one of those oil filled jobs in my coop. I can hang it from the ceiling to where the birds can't get on it to roost. I do use one in my back room but keep it on medium. Just enough to raise the temp.

30* in the BR hoop coop this afternoon and I found an EGG! First in a long long time. Bet if I get a light in there things will pick up.

Yes VMdanielsen I do pay for horse manure. This however was already bagged. I have shoveled it myself for free though. When I did buy it I did have to drive a ways to get it. You can not beat horse manure IMO. Something the horse does inside that turns it into gold.

I went to a plant sale where they were selling it in bags for $5. If I was you I'd bag it and sell it. I know I'd pay for it. Like I said even a couple dollars a bag is better than nothing.

 

[vmdanielsen]

I've thought about hanging one of those oil filled jobs in my coop. I can hang it from the ceiling to where the birds can't get on it to roost. I do use one in my back room but keep it on medium. Just enough to raise the temp.

30* in the BR hoop coop this afternoon and I found an EGG! First in a long long time. Bet if I get a light in there things will pick up.

Yes VMdanielsen I do pay for horse manure. This however was already bagged. I have shoveled it myself for free though. When I did buy it I did have to drive a ways to get it. You can not beat horse manure IMO. Something the horse does inside that turns it into gold.

I went to a plant sale where they were selling it in bags for $5. If I was you I'd bag it and sell it. I know I'd pay for it. Like I said even a couple dollars a bag is better than nothing.

Truth is I have begun to spread it and rotate my pastures. Give it some time off and grass comes back nicely. I hate for anything to be wasted, besides, that is how our grandparents did it...it will work for me!! The stuff I compost goes into the garden...black gold is what it is!

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Now my Frenchy has been with me since the beginning....Frenchy. She stays with the Dels. She and her daughter Buckwheat. She's a little bantam but she seems ok. I wouldn't think of moving her to another flock. If I could I'd move her into the house but DW won't allow it.

Frenchy is definitely adorable!

TOB

 

[vmdanielsen]

Just got in from closing the chickens up and feeding the horses. It is frigid outside! but it is a spectacularly beautiful evening!! The snow squeaks and crunches and the three quarter moon hangs low on the horizon. I smell the onions roasting with the chicken in the oven! Having a day off does wonderful things to ones perception.

Only a few more days of this cold weather. Bundle up and have a great night!!!

 

[Pyxis]

My word it's cold! But that hasn't stopped my darn light brahma from going broody for the first time. It must have been that warmer weather a week or so ago...sigh. Light brahmas don't seem to feel the cold anyway. I've decided to let her have at it and see what she can do, especially since it's supposed to warm back up a little next week anyway. She's my favorite girl, so what can I do?

And my aunt has finally decided to retire, so I'm helping her sell her alpacas! Anyone need a really nice pet that also happens to produce very valuable fleece and functions as a poultry protector? These guys have stomped foxes to death. Seriously, I saw it happen once. Not a pretty sight, but that fox sure didn't get the chicken/duck/goose dinner it was going for, I can tell you that.

 

[Cass]

DUH!! I have been throwing the cracked eggs in the garbage. I never thought to thaw them and feed them back to the birds. Sometimes I am soooo silly. Fortunately I have only had 3 - 4 freeze to the point of cracking, so I haven't thrown out a huge number. NOW I will thaw them on the counter and scramble them up for the birds.

Chicken diapers crack me up. Ray wanted to get some and bring his favorite chicken in the house when the raccoon hurt it. I am like "ahh, no, they are birds. They are not indoor pets". (Please note, this is the man that told me first, I was crazy to get chickens, second that he wasn't going to have anything to do with them and third build a bullet proof coop, turned over logs and called "his girls" over for worms. Guess he should learn to "never say never")

I don't even want to think about how cold it is out there. My car thermometer read 0 this morning. I didn't know it went down that far and I hope to never see it again. The floor of my coop is 100% frozen so I can't move any poop out until it thaws. Weatherman said it will be above freezing next week. Glad I bought that new shovel, I'm gonna need it. The scoop just isn't going to cut it for THIS mess.

 

[featherz]

DUH!! I have been throwing the cracked eggs in the garbage. I never thought to thaw them and feed them back to the birds. Sometimes I am soooo silly. Fortunately I have only had 3 - 4 freeze to the point of cracking, so I haven't thrown out a huge number. NOW I will thaw them on the counter and scramble them up for the birds.


I don't even want to think about how cold it is out there. My car thermometer read 0 this morning. I didn't know it went down that far and I hope to never see it again. The floor of my coop is 100% frozen so I can't move any poop out until it thaws. Weatherman said it will be above freezing next week. Glad I bought that new shovel, I'm gonna need it. The scoop just isn't going to cut it for THIS mess.

Yah, if they crack I consider them 'dirty' and they get fed back to the chickens. I put them all in a bowl until they thaw, then scramble. But today I was home and managed to save all but three eggs that cracked before I could get to them. It was -9 here this morning but all chickens fine. I added another layer of shavings over my poo as I do deep litter anyways and I didn't want them walking on that super frozen crunchy poo.

I think I have a broody hen too! What chicken in her right mind would go broody in -9F?!?!? It's my Java (from Javagirl's eggs) and she was broody without chicks just before it got cold also. Guess she hasn't quite forgotten. No eggs for her tho, not yet.

 

[rancher hicks]

yeah broody's the word I guess. I think Frenchy is and an EE but no way are they getting eggs. I hate to deny Frenchy she's such a sweetie. Right now she's sitting on a wooden egg. The EE just air.

I really have no where to put them to mother chicks. Though it is tempting since the Orps side is laying nicely compared to a week ago. There was actually a CR and an Orp both in the same nest box cuz every one had a hen in it.

No cracked egg either. I'd probably just thaw them and break them into a bowl. Most are clean anyhow. I try not to have dirty nest boxes and they break nicely.

 

[Cass]

yeah broody's the word I guess. I think Frenchy is and an EE but no way are they getting eggs. I hate to deny Frenchy she's such a sweetie. Right now she's sitting on a wooden egg. The EE just air.

I really have no where to put them to mother chicks. Though it is tempting since the Orps side is laying nicely compared to a week ago. There was actually a CR and an Orp both in the same nest box cuz every one had a hen in it.

No cracked egg either. I'd probably just thaw them and break them into a bowl. Most are clean anyhow. I try not to have dirty nest boxes and they break nicely.

Only ones of mine that freeze and crack are the ones the silly girls lay on the floor, so they are very very dirty. (some even have poop in the crack...ewww..) I suspect they do it because the favorite nest box is currently inhabiteded. I think I have 3 broodies down there. (that's why more aren't freezing, cuz there is almost always a hen sitting on them. But only those laid inside the nest box) I am ignoring the broody behavior. I don't want any chicks right now....I can't get the coop clean enough for babies....and I just can't deal with the drama that having chicks in a too small coop, in this 'i'm staying indoors, I don't care what you say' weather would cause.

 

[featherz]

Only ones of mine that freeze and crack are the ones the silly girls lay on the floor, so they are very very dirty. (some even have poop in the crack...ewww..) I suspect they do it because the favorite nest box is currently inhabiteded. I think I have 3 broodies down there. (that's why more aren't freezing, cuz there is almost always a hen sitting on them. But only those laid inside the nest box) I am ignoring the broody behavior. I don't want any chicks right now....I can't get the coop clean enough for babies....and I just can't deal with the drama that having chicks in a too small coop, in this 'i'm staying indoors, I don't care what you say' weather would cause.

I have freezing ones in a relatively clean nest box, but my fridge is full of eggs, so I can spare those for the chickens juuuuust in case. Wow, three broodies? You have me beat. I'm not giving my wannabe any eggs yet either.