NY chicken lover!!!!

[Glasshen]

The thruway is my friend! But not til the spring.

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

The thaw is making my driveway a skating rink because of the packed snow melting. At least we can get the wheel barrow thru to do pen cleaning and it being warmer makes it easier.

 

[cracrzy4chicks]

The thaw is making my driveway a skating rink because of the packed snow melting. At least we can get the wheel barrow thru to do pen cleaning and it being warmer makes it easier.

That's what I'll be doing today................................ Poop Scoop detail

 

[Aria]

Rancher, Thanks for the advise for my Rooster with the "bum leg". Regards. Aroa

 

[marquisella]

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....

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Great info, and much of which I will keep in mind as we site plan and design our imminent coop!

TOB

 

[Henicillin]

Tomorrow is the Poop Scoop Day, as it's supposed to be around 50 degrees. I'll take it! I need to clean the house today. I hate housecleaning - I'd rather scoop chicken poop.

My road is beastly right now - ice, mud, and water. Eew.

 

[featherz]

Poop scooping today here too.. I do deep litter so it's more 'poop stirring and topping' but poop all the same. I wish the snow would melt enough that they would go out, but at least it's off my awnings (I have awnings so they have a snow free area, but the big snow berm was still up there until yesterday). I can highly recommend flight netting - it withstood both the snow and the big chunks falling off the roof!!

Anyone going to the poultry congress thing next w/e? (I think it's next w/e, right?).. Never been to one, was thinking about going.

 

[stonykill]

the "old girls" and a few of their boys out and about enjoying foraging...and posing for the camera.

 

[Henicillin]

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.