NY chicken lover!!!!

[Gramma Chick]

Watching the chickens realize it's cold, try to get back in the coop only to be pushed aside for someone who hasn't realized what snow really is yet is hysterical. Duane finally bowled over about 5 of the girls to come see what all their squawking was about, got four feet out the door and ran back inside running over the same 5 girls again.

chicken TV is Great !

Well the sick silkie passed away last night. But the other silkie is well.

You tried to help ...

So I'm down a sebright

I'm now kicking myself for letting them out today.
You would think it was the cold but nope...she's just missing. I'm assuming a hawk grabbed her since there is absolutely no sign of her anywhere.

Now I'm wondering what to do with her sister. Should I leave her in the coop she's in or since she doesn't have her sister to hang out with should I move her into the smaller coop with the silkies? Ugh....I feel terrible....

So Sorry ! I HATE HAWKS ! Does she get along with everyone else in the coop..Okay ? Id leave her if she has problems with them I would then move her
..
FF is pretty easy ..like MARQ says dont fret it ..have a question ? Just Ask ...

 

[Gramma Chick]

I'm struggling a bit with the FF and feeding it once/twice a day because I have 38 hens to feed and it's tough to make sure everyone gets some. I've been putting it out in the he morning spread across a couple of trays but I also leave their dry food out as an option just in case. I'm hoping they don't end up getting over fed...trial and error I suppose.

There is just so much information on it out there that it's hard to pick through.

a

 

[JLaw]

Ok so been abit since I've been on here. But I skimmed through the chat like 84 posts.

Sadly the auto pop door that swings out I don't think would work where I'm at. The winds up here are a pain my chickens can even walk straight a lot of the time and doors are a pain to shut and open manualy.

Well besides the one ee dieing in the big coop I had a 1 month or so old ee die inside. I have a hurt young chicken up stairs. I heard a hell of a fuss from a chick thinking it was chick up stairs I thought my daughter had it but as I went to steps the sound was further down the room coming from my brooder I have down stairs. I make my way to it but the sound stops so as I get there I look and I see 2 of my chicks ok but cant see the 3rd. I find the third under my 2x2 roost that is like 3 inch off ground dead. It's warm and neck just rolls around. I have no idea what could have done this cept maybe it hit something in there and broke neck or had a heart attack. The other two chicks are fine and I've been feeding starter/grower no ff at all. This is the strangest thing I've seen. None of my animals was by brooder when I got in there and even before they have been around. The only thing I did do was turn off heat lamp so I could move the bulb to one in turkey coop.

Well I processed my first deer and it was a pain. First I didn't kill it and was a lot of wasted meat. Now the story. Deer was shot in spine towards back end then to put out of misery shot in back of neck. It happened at like 9 am not brought to my house till 1 pm I worked that day and didn't get to it till today when it was frozen completely. Was killed thrusday. Besides the frozen and wasted meat of shot 2 times in wrong spots not bad. It was a small button buck. I wont be paying anyone 70+ dollars again to do it for me. I do need to build a wind proof spot do to this.

 

[Gramma Chick]

They don't bother my chickens at all, My orange Tabby Oliver actually walks me to the coop, jumps onto the roof and waits for me, and walks back to the house most of the time when I'm working out there. She's gotten close enough to look into the mesh and see the chickens. She's a hunter. She used to bring me birds, snakes and squirrels all the time but since her cancer she's wound down. I also think she finds the chickens to be hard prey in general, and she's only got one good eye (cancer was in her eye).
Do you have straw or something you can throw on it ?
You may be able to shovel it out if it freezes ?

My cat doesnt bother my chickens either ...

they bother him

 

[Gramma Chick]

Miquwid - sorry the sick Silkie didn't make it. That was nice of you to take on that task and try to help it the best you could.

Marq - Good Luck with your newest additions! You'll have to share some pics.

Ke5hde - how are the chicks? Anymore pips from the rest of the batch?

The Layer s work for me except my feet . ...I think I frosted 2 toes already this year ..They are the 1st to get cold & hurt .
Were did you find those BOOTS ...I need some

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all. Had to break the ice out of the outdoor waterers this morning as dh forgot to empty them last night. Everyone is in superfluff mode and huddled under the coops. I was generous with the boss this morning. The boys have been less vocal in this cold. It was brutal when I got out of work last night. The wind was still ripping through and the temps had dropped. Just getting to the car was bonechilling. I have been watching this show about a homesteading family up in alaska. They have cows and chickens and they survive the frigid temps pretty good. The chicken coop was not insulated and they had a run attached. I saw barred rocks, rir, austrolorps and ee's in their coop. I guess if chickens do well in alaska, they can do well here in this kind of cold!

Breella--what a mess! I hope it didnt freeze and you were able to clean it up. I do have a 5 gallon waterer in the big coop. It is on a raised platform that dh built and the cookie tin water heater is housed under the platform but touching the bottom of the waterer. It works good and since the light goes on around 430 am, they are up and drinking until I let them out around 630.

jlaw--how old are those chicks? Could they have gotten into a squabble and the two went after the one? Processing a deer takes time and patience and practice. I have found the easiest way is to just follow the muscles when cutting then cut the meat into what you want (steaks, roasts, etc.). Takes dh and I about 6 hours together to skin, butcher and package a deer. Its just the two of us and I am pretty picky about cutting off all the fat and membrane. Yes, frozen does take longer too. We have done that as well.

Ta ta for now!

 

[Glasshen]

This cold is a bit inconvenient, two more weeks would have been helpful. The excavator is here, he has dug away a chunk of the hill to the side of the house, but it has been day by day when he could dig for the new porch footing...so I had put off installing the heated water bowl. My ghetto extension cord would be in his way. Yesterday their water froze solid probably by noon, and they were roosting by the time I got home...poor girls. This morning I heard that we are not planning on any digging for about a week, so I hung my extension cord and they have their waterbowl.

No one has been venturing out with it so cold and WHITE. I think the adventurous younger girls are concerned that they won't be let back in if they go out.

Stay warm all.

 

[armorfirelady]

Good morning all. Woke up to a dusting of snow. Girls were all in the coop looking at me out the door. Someone ventured out tho since there were footprints in the snow.

Another bitter cold day but I need to go out in the coop and move their food shelf since it's now located under the roost. I am hoping I can hook it up somewhere Outside since I really don't want water in the coop. The heated dog bowl are meant to be outside anyways

 

[Lynzi777]

I really need to get out of the habit of posting from my phone, just lost my whole post, ugh. Anywho....

I came on to post some exciting news! I came home from dropping my son off at school this morning and stepped into the chicken yard to grab the other gallon waterer that I wasn't using. Wanted to bring it in to clean out and use to switch out with the one in the chicken coop when it freezes. I happened to look down next to the rabbit hutch at all this snow that kicked around by the ducks for some reason and I noticed this white "ball" laying there in the snow. I went to grab it (it was half covered with snow) and it was an egg!!!!

Not exactly how I imagined finding my first duck egg but I guess thats what I get for not locking up the ducks last night. I mean, they were locked up in their chicken yard but not their house. It must be from my KC duck since she was 20wks back on 9/27. My black runner from ke5hde is next to be 20wks this week and the blue runner not until the second week or so of December. I'm going to attempt to clean out their house today, I'm sure it'll be impossible, and throw some fresh shavings and hay in there. And tonight they will definitely be locked up. The only thing I worry about is, if all 4 of them are in this house and she lays an egg, will it get trampled? I can just see them all getting all jumpy when I come over to let them out and the egg getting stepped on and broken.

 

[Breella]

Thankfully I was able to shovel the wet bedding out last night. I didn't want to leave it in there and let the humidity get any higher. I've been trying to think up ways I can lower the humidity in the coop as it gets as high as 66% some nights! This is why I'm moving towards taking out the water.

Off to feed and water the chickens!