NY chicken lover!!!!

[stonykill]

chickens are natural heat creating machines. it's true, my Sumatra's seem oblivious to weather in general. Personally, I think it is because we as people haven't messed with them too much. They are still pretty wild.
I do have 10 Sumatra's born this past summer that chose to live in the tin shed they were born in. 8 of them roost right above the door. I leaned in with the flashlight tonight, like I do everynight to do a head count, and as my head passed under the 8 of them, I felt heat. It was noticably warmer under and around them. I pulled my head away after a roo gave me the stink eye tho....

OK, no heat in the coop. I can't reach the fixture anyway....it's 7 feet up, mounted to a rafter.....but ray can reach it.

I don't cover my water at night in the heated bowl, but since it is thermostatically controled, I don't think it gets warm enough to evaporate in these temps. At least that's what I am telling myself, cuz I have no frostbite on anyone and one of my hens has a HUGE flopover comb. (kinda Donald Trumpish)

Of course the sand floor and poop is totally frozen so nothing is evaporating to cause humidity.....I am dreading the first warm day. I already have the sand in the coop to replace, what is going to be, sloppy, wet, stinky sand. (It's in bags, and the chickens enjoy standing on it to see out the window)

I need some Sumantras to keep me from adding heat. I know they don't need it, but I am freezing inside the house, how warm can the chickens be in the coop (where I still haven't closed the pop door?)

Stay warm, folks. Think "Spring"

 

[Henicillin]

My roos all have big, straight-up combs and big wattles, and they're the dudes with the touches of frostbite. Neither Leghorn has a problem despite their floppy painter's hats of combs. Nobody else seems affected in the least. Poor big dudes.

I know better than to heat them, but I still think "brr." Nothing appears to disturb them, though - they're still trying to seduce the ladies at every possible opportunity, cold and all.

 

[rancher hicks]

How are you keeping your hoop coop warm? I thought they were just PVC hoops and heavy mil plastic.

My hoop coops are made with 2, 50" x 16' cattle panels. The coop part is covered with a large silver heavy weight tarp. I did put a wood back on it but the back door is covered with clear plastic. I also covered the front with colored felt.
The attached run is covered with clear plastic over the top and the front is covered with a clear plastic painters drop cloth. There are a few holes in the drop cloth as it got real humid when the temp reached 50* one day. The coop itself is also covered with 1/2" hardware cloth. I think I should have used the black side for the winter to absorb the heat. as you can see there is a blue tarp under the silver. I had forgotten I put that one there. I had it laying around and used it to protect the silver from getting ripped. I think next winter I'll put another over the silver but use the black side for the heat absorption. I have doors on the front and back for ease in cleaning and the attachment of a second run. I made the doors to the run wide enough to get a wheel barrow through. There is no heat source other than the birds.
The roost goes front to back and hold 12-13 birds. I used a 2x3 for the roost so when the birds squat the have to cover their entire foot with feathers. All new roosts will be designed that way.

 

[chicken stalker]

felt? like roofing felt?

 

[Nambroth]

I have this heated dog bowl and I love it. It pulls very little power and I've never even had a rim of ice with it. http://ozbo.com/338347-Plastic-Heated-Out-Season.html It's a lot cheaper than the heated waterers that they sell at TSC and it seems really durable and it's easy to keep clean. Maybe this will help someone else!

 

[Cass]

I have this heated dog bowl and I love it. It pulls very little power and I've never even had a rim of ice with it. http://ozbo.com/338347-Plastic-Heated-Out-Season.html It's a lot cheaper than the heated waterers that they sell at TSC and it seems really durable and it's easy to keep clean. Maybe this will help someone else!

Link says "out of stock" or some such, but if you search on that site it brings you to several "heated dog bowls"....all of which are about 10 bucks cheaper than the one I got. Nice.

 

[stonykill]

good god it's cold out! 2 duck eggs and a white leghorn egg so far this morning. Had 3 duck eggs yesterday and a dozen mixed chicken eggs. Some leghorn, RIR, EE's and Sumatra.

 

[featherz]

I use one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Innovato...BQ/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1326720699&sr=8-11
and a few other types, depending on when I bought them. Usually $16-$20.

Scrambled some eggs for my girls this morning - they much preferred that to the oatmeal I tried yesterday!!

 

[vmdanielsen]

It has been very quiet hare...Am I missing something or are you all just frozen?

Rancher, how are the chickens in the hoop coop? How is the condensation build up?

edited to say that my last notification was for a post from yesterday. After posting the newer posts came up! I am not recieving notifications when they are new...will have to check this out.....

 

[vmdanielsen]

I use one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Innovato...BQ/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1326720699&sr=8-11
and a few other types, depending on when I bought them. Usually $16-$20.

Scrambled some eggs for my girls this morning - they much preferred that to the oatmeal I tried yesterday!!

I have tried oatmeal before and mine don't seem to like it....mixed it with kefir that they love, but they still stuck their beaks up at oatmeal. oh well, I tried....