NY chicken lover!!!!

[vmdanielsen]

Glad you're here!

Yesterday I left for work at the usual time, as all we had were a few big flakes falling but not accumulating (had a 2 to 8 shift). I headed towards Pittsfield on 20, and thought, "hmm - the roads are getting a little funky." By the time I reached Stewarts in New Lebanon, I had to pull in, call my partner, and say that I'd be late, as the roads were a hideous, unplowed mess. Route 20 over the mountain was horrid - 15 to 20 MPH, and near-whiteout conditions - and Pittsfield was a complete wreck, with accidents all over the place. It was the weirdest thing! I got home - no snow at all here. Good - I don't want it anyway!

I'm actually sort of happy for the cold, but only because my fridge finally gave up the ghost, and we can't get the new one I've ordered from Home Depot delivered until Friday the 21st. I'd ordered online and they gave me that delivery date, so I checked with the store and they confirmed that everything comes from the same distribution center, so I'd be stuck either way. So, the tiny back room that serves us as a trash room and general junk storage is currently acting as a makeshift fridge. Fortunately, we'd already pulled everything out of the freezer and stuck it all in the big freezer in the garage, so we didn't lose anything good (read: expensive). Still, ugh! I now have a large magnet holder taking up space in the kitchen.

Amy, I was inside all day yesterday at work! What a surprise when I left the building at 5! I called home and we only had a few inches.....I hate it when Berkshire county has vastly different weather than us!! Are you up for selling a couple dozen of "laid in the USA" eggs on Tuesday? If I remember I will send along a couple of kefir grains.......

 

[vmdanielsen]

How do I post a PM?
Tabitha,
1-29-12 will be better for pick up off eggs. sorry for my slow response! Having difficulty processing new site(you are not alone rancher!!)
Ginny

 

[happyhensny]

How do I post a PM?
Tabitha,
1-29-12 will be better for pick up off eggs. sorry for my slow response! Having difficulty processing new site(you are not alone rancher!!)
Ginny

It looks like if you float your cursor over the person name that you want to PM a list of choices will come up, try selecting PM and let us know if it works.

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

How do I post a PM?
Tabitha,
1-29-12 will be better for pick up off eggs. sorry for my slow response! Having difficulty processing new site(you are not alone rancher!!)
Ginny

to get to your mailbox you click on messages option on the upper right of screen. For example mine says "0 new messages" you click on that. Once you're in your mailbox you can either send a reply through an old message or click on compose new message. Hope that helps.

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

Everyone stay warm tonight it is already super cold outside! I think I'm going to sit back with a cup of tea and fall asleep. I worked late last night and then had to be back early this morning. Fridays into saturdays are the worst part of the week for me.

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

Dogs woke me up to go outside and I really didn't want to burrow out from the covers. It's -10 degrees here. I'll have to go see if I have chickie-cicles out in the coop.

 

[happycountryhens]

Dogs woke me up to go outside and I really didn't want to burrow out from the covers. It's -10 degrees here. I'll have to go see if I have chickie-cicles out in the coop.

Yeah, what is with the dog. Mine cold nosed me at midnight to go out and then again early this morning. Yowzer...I did not want to get up. We have no theremometer, but the snow is squeeky and sparkly, my fingers are sticking to metal, and breathing in through the nose causes pain and nostrils sticking together. Chooks are all nestled in their hay, but appreciating the warm water brought to them this am. We may need to check extra for eggs today or they will all be cracked and frozen! Hope your chickies are good too.

 

[featherz]

got down to -5 here. Chickens not happy about it,but so far so good. my pullet group didn't like my offer of oatmeal! Hmph. They don't know what's good for em. Already had two cracked eggs this morning (probably laid last night) and one good one. I'm not going outside again until it hits zero.

 

[horsekeeper]

It's zero here, too. I was worried about the little half naked silkie girls, but they snuggled up with a few of the boys in the nest box and don't seem bothered much. I have six pullets and eleven roosters, so a couple of the girls have bare backs. The plan is to put all the boys in the freezer, but I wimped out about plucking in the cold because I have so much arthritis in my hands and they hurt enough already. At least they are providing body heat to help warm the coop.

Very pleased with the coop this first winter. The walls are plywood on the outside and OSB on the inside. No vents, but plenty of ventilation at the eaves where the roofing is attached. I tried deep litter and it smells kind of chicken poopy, but no ammonia smell, so I guess it is working well enough.

So close to finishing the duck coop and can't tolerate this extreme cold to finish up, so the dozen ducks are still in the house in an unheated room. They are in a pen with a tarp on the floor and the window open so there isn't much odor and they get fresh shavings every day. Spoiled things make a jail break every couple of days and raid the dog's water bowl. They started out as dinner and ended up as pets.

This spring I want to try a modification of Rancher's hoop house and build one on a pony wall using landscape timbers. Most of the back yard is steep hillside and I have to figure out how to make use of what I have.

 

[Cass]

I figured that I would have frozen chicken, on the hoof, as they say.....but no...they are crowing and squacking and making all kinds of complaining noises. It got so cold IN the coop the water froze all the way to the bottom of the dish. I was super glad I have a heated dog bowl in the coop too, so I didn't have to crawl out of bed til 10.

Right now the majority of the flock is standing under the dryer vent, cuz the dryer is running. And I used to call them "dumb chickens"