NY chicken lover!!!!

[armorfirelady]

I have a few girls experiencing frostbite on their combs. I spent part of today one hand covered in bag balm one hand pinning a chicken to my chest trying to coat their combs to save the rest of the large floppy combs and long spikes. My humidity gauge in the coop says 16% during the day unless it's raining/snow melting, then it goes as high as 86% during the day. The eaves on the coop are open on the south side, I don't know what else I can do to prevent more frostbite damage. I'm scooping out as much poop as I can. Sometimes it's hard because it's already frozen to the boards and I have to wait for a thaw to get that stuff and I take what I can get. Any thoughts?

I have no frostbite but I have had ice crystals inside the coop on the tarp. I leave the north facing screen window open about 6 inches and have vents on the roof and the sides. While I don't think the humidity is high in the coop I did remove the water & food & put them in a plastic dog crate right outside the coop. It seems this winter in general has been high humidity. The DL is a little damp but a stirring of it helps to dry it out. I don't remove the poop just mix it in. I add more leaves, grass or shaving about every 2 weeks. And I agree frozen poop is very hard to remove.

My suggestion is you need more ventilation. Hard to do in the middle of the winter when there is snow and unbearable temps. Can you open up the north end? or maybe on the sides? The bitter cold doesn't bother my girls they just fluff up more.

I hope the nustock works for their combs. I had done some research on them and they said the nustock might freeze? I don't know for sure just passing on what I read. There is another BYCer whose temps haven been down to -65 at times and has a roo with frost bite on his comb. She has just left it alone & it hasn't gotten worse. I am sure it will start to heal once Mother Nature decides that we had enough of the deep freeze !! I keep an eye on my girls and thankfully no frost bite.

 

[marquisella]

Quote: $13.47 for 15% layer. He has a 19% but I do't know how much it is. I'm going to get the 19% next time.

 

[Lynzi777]

Morning All!
Caught Rat #2

I think this one was even bigger! I wonder how many there are.

Another cold one out there today. Looks like I won't be doing much outside again today. Owell.

ke5hde ~ Congrats on all the chicks!!! That's awesome! Can't wait to see pics of the lavenders!

 

[ke5hde]

Morning All!
Caught Rat #2   I think this one was even bigger! I wonder how many there are. 

Another cold one out there today. Looks like I won't be doing much outside again today. Owell. 

ke5hde ~ Congrats on all the chicks!!! That's awesome! Can't wait to see pics of the lavenders! 

Congrats on rat #2. I set traps last night, nothing yet.

Here's the 2nd lav.

 

[horsekeeper]

Breella, a putty knife 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide works great for scraping poo. And yes, the feed bags work great for blocking the wind if you can get them to stay put. Glad your sister is safe, that's a scary situation to be in.

 

[Lynzi777]

Congrats on rat #2. I set traps last night, nothing yet.

Here's the 2nd lav.

OMG!! So jealous! Now I REALLY can't wait for mine to pick up laying again.

 

[houseofknauss]

Yes he is a drake. He is a Magpie that I got from Lynzi this summer. His Buddy Sanjay got killed on the 21st. I'm going to pick up a runner from Lynzi on Sunday. She is picking up an extra one for me, but I may be up for a girlfriend or 2 if you need to have them find a new home? What do you have? (I like having diffrent kinds) Where abouts are you again?

Samantha

i have runner, pekin, rouen, khaki, and a pekin/khaki mix and a rouen/runner(I think) mix. I suspect that the ducks will start laying in the spring and CC will hatch out another clutch(only if people are looking for strong cold surviving genetics will I let her sit). Im gonna try and go for the pekin/khaki mix again and see what happens. I am more than willing to give away babies when they arrive. lets talk in spring when she starts sitting. I have a pekin female that can be rehomed for sure and my rouen/ runner male also. still trying to figure out the rest. im in cooperstown.

dawn
ps-runners are so unique -my mrs runner has been very loudly vocal recently. maybe cause mr runner thinks he is mr stud with all the girls?lol

 

[ke5hde]

OMG!! So jealous! Now I REALLY can't wait for mine to pick up laying again. 

I was happy that the first one hatched. I was ecstatic when the second one hatched today. The first one looks a little more blue. I'll have dig around under mom and get a pic of the 2 together. I think I set 15 or 16 eggs this time and got 10 to hatch. Not bad considering the last couple hatches. I've already cleaned the incubator and am setting Barnevelder eggs tonight.

 

[ke5hde]

ps-runners are so unique -my mrs runner has been very loudly vocal recently.  maybe cause mr runner thinks he is mr stud with all the girls?lol

2 of our runner girls are like that. They'll just walk around making the loudest quack I've ever heard.

 

[Pyxis]

Well, I have one lone chick. My temp spiked overnight and killed all the others, including one that had pipped and several that had pipped internally. I opened the eggs and they were all perfect. Most likely all would have hatched So now I have to find a friend for the lonesome chick. At least she has tiny legs, so maybe I'll be lucky and it'll be a girl.