NY chicken lover!!!!

[rancher hicks]

try cleaning the history and any cookies you may have ..if that doesnt work try clearing the cache..you can find the cache in the search bar on the start button or windows button on the bottom left of your computer screen...

What I was trying to do was cut and paste some pictures to go with my comment. apparently you can't cut and paste from pinterest.

AND it seems it wouldn't even post what I had typed out. Which is why you just see the ................... across the top.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Rancher , What you got nothing to Say ?

 

[wny egger]

What I was trying to do was cut and paste some pictures to go with my comment. apparently you can't cut and paste from pinterest.

AND it seems it wouldn't even post what I had typed out. Which is why you just see the ................... across the top.

oh sorry i thought it was just jumbling the letters ..i just was reading about my yahoo news storys being jumbled and thought maybe you were having the same trouble ..lol..well i am glad it wasnt something bad happening to your computer..pintrest my wife tried sending me some recipes from there and they wouldnt send ..pretty cool site tho..




frozen pipes here this morning ..i left the cold side drizzle threw the night and the hot side froze ..i have a tankless water heater so i dont dare let the hot side run over the night ..if the flame went out it would gas us ..anyhow , wifeys hair dryer is in full action this morn ..lol..toilit froze and the hot side to the kitchen and bathroom froze ..ugh ..hope it warms a little today to help thaw them ..

birds are not venture out yet ..i boiled water this morn to unfreeze the waters for the coop..

 

[Glasshen]

Sorry about your pipes. We used to have some that would freeze when it got this cold. So far so goodin this house. We took the insulation out of that channel so the warm air from the basement could travel up and help to moderate the temp. Also made using the hair drier easier!
Yesterday the chickens came out to eat and the door blew shut so some of them were huddled on the step for a few minutes. I happened to look out right after taking off my heavy duty clothes. I ran out and opened the door everyone rushed in except the ones getting the last crumbles. So the dishes went in too. This morning I fed them in the coop, and when it gets a little warmer I will let them out. They do fine when it is in the teens, but sub zero is tough for them.

 

[wny egger]

Sorry about your pipes. We used to have some that would freeze when it got this cold. So far so goodin this house. We took the insulation out of that channel so the warm air from the basement could travel up and help to moderate the temp. Also made using the hair drier easier!
Yesterday the chickens came out to eat and the door blew shut so some of them were huddled on the step for a few minutes. I happened to look out right after taking off my heavy duty clothes. I ran out and opened the door everyone rushed in except the ones getting the last crumbles. So the dishes went in too. This morning I fed them in the coop, and when it gets a little warmer I will let them out. They do fine when it is in the teens, but sub zero is tough for them.

yeah i agree the below zero is tough on them .i have to say i must be venting the coop out better this yr tho ..no signs of frostbite ..[knocking on wood ].. frozen water every few hrs is not fun either ..but i figure i have to collect eggs anyways before they freeze ..i want to throw them some corn but everytime i do they go back to picking on my roo..


its always after you get your coat hung up and your boots off that ya have to run back out ..

 

[rancher hicks]

oh sorry i thought it was just jumbling the letters ..i just was reading about my yahoo news storys being jumbled and thought maybe you were having the same trouble ..lol..well i am glad it wasnt something bad happening to your computer..pintrest my wife tried sending me some recipes from there and they wouldnt send ..pretty cool site tho..




frozen pipes here this morning ..i left the cold side drizzle threw the night and the hot side froze ..i have a tankless water heater so i dont dare let the hot side run over the night ..if the flame went out it would gas us ..anyhow , wifeys hair dryer is in full action this morn ..lol..toilit froze and the hot side to the kitchen and bathroom froze ..ugh ..hope it warms a little today to help thaw them ..

birds are not venture out yet ..i boiled water this morn to unfreeze the waters for the coop..

Well now we had a bathroom that had the pipes run underneath a porch, it's hard to explain. Anyhow I covered them with insulation and because there was a light there I put in a 100 watt light and left it on 24/7. The heat was just enough to keep the room warm and the pipes from freezing.

If there is no light socket there you could run a hanging light such as a heat lamp to the area and put in a "ceramic heat bulb" to keep the area just above freezing. If you have not it might be a good idea to wrap all pipes with foam wrappers or another form of insulation.


I hung one over the water bowl in my back room where I have a quarantined hen and it keeps the water from freezing. Much safer I think than those 250 watt red lights.

 

[rancher hicks]

What I had intending to say before was my idea to put up a cattle panel/covered with poultry wire in an arch and grow some type of vine over it so when winter came it would catch the snow and created a space clear of snow for you birds to find shelter. You can secure your panels with those Green metal stakes if you choose to raise them higher so you can walk under them. Add more each year to make a tunnel.

I tried to cut and paste pictured off Pinterest but the would not take.

You could use Trumpet vine, Hops, Grapes or an annual flowering vine such as Scarlet runner beans. Hops, grapes and Trumpet vine are woody and less likely to be destroyed by the chickens.

Trumpet vine would attract Humming birds too. These can be invasive but also come in Yellow.

 

[jennianne]

Yes esp when they are cooped up ...Even people get cabin fever . ..boredom
Could you let them out for a bit & do something outside for a while ?

I think maybe they are trying to reestablish the pecking order ?
What is a Creep feeder ?

I have one of these, thought it was called a creep feeder? The food creeps down and comes out the hopper as they eat from the bottom.

Yesterday we brought the injured RS outside and blu koted everyone's combs. Spent some time with them, setting out the flock block and hanging the cabbage and what not. The darnedest thing--one of the RS's went right for the injured RS's comb, grabbed a hold of it in her beak, and started yanking on it! Never saw anything like that before. Thought maybe it was that she had just been inside or maybe due to the combs all being blue. Not two minutes later, she was chest bumping a different RS and going after that bird's comb. We just looked at each other like, what??? So I said, okay, the bully goes in the basement brooder, let me see if anyone else is doing this or just her. I haven't seen anything else, they are all getting along since I brought the bully in. Today we are going to set up a segregated area for the bully hen outside and see how things progress from there. All the other girls are so quiet today, makes me wonder if this is what DJ (my BR) was squawking about, trying to say Houston, we have a problem here. I don't know.

I have to figure out a way to get them outside of the covered run but keep them corralled in the one side of my yard over there. I can't get anything in the ground to support a fence anytime soon, but I may be able to rig something by connecting off of the existing structures....

I just wish it wasn't SO cold. It was minus ten at seven AM today. It is now 10F. I have a hard time staying out there too long when its this cold.


Rancher, the cattle panel idea is AWESOME. Definitely going to do that!

 

[rancher hicks]

I have one of these, thought it was called a creep feeder? The food creeps down and comes out the hopper as they eat from the bottom.

Yesterday we brought the injured RS outside and blu koted everyone's combs. Spent some time with them, setting out the flock block and hanging the cabbage and what not. The darnedest thing--one of the RS's went right for the injured RS's comb, grabbed a hold of it in her beak, and started yanking on it! Never saw anything like that before. Thought maybe it was that she had just been inside or maybe due to the combs all being blue. Not two minutes later, she was chest bumping a different RS and going after that bird's comb. We just looked at each other like, what??? So I said, okay, the bully goes in the basement brooder, let me see if anyone else is doing this or just her. I haven't seen anything else, they are all getting along since I brought the bully in. Today we are going to set up a segregated area for the bully hen outside and see how things progress from there. All the other girls are so quiet today, makes me wonder if this is what DJ (my BR) was squawking about, trying to say Houston, we have a problem here. I don't know.

I have to figure out a way to get them outside of the covered run but keep them corralled in the one side of my yard over there. I can't get anything in the ground to support a fence anytime soon, but I may be able to rig something by connecting off of the existing structures....

I just wish it wasn't SO cold. It was minus ten at seven AM today. It is now 10F. I have a hard time staying out there too long when its this cold.


Rancher, the cattle panel idea is AWESOME. Definitely going to do that!

Can we get pictures of these birds?

 

[rancher hicks]

So I've been thinking. DW doesn't like it cuz the smoke alarm goes off, but anyhow.

My Maran hens have white butts and research suggests it's gleet caused by an upset in Flora in the gut. I have no idea what upset Flora or even that she was in their gut.

So research also suggests resetting things with some ACV and/or probiotics and/or Yogurt. Which I intend to do. This is right?

Also it mentioned washing their butts but that is not going to happen in this freezing cold weather. However I do have a hint for such things in the cold weather and that is a "dry shampoo".

I will take some DE to the coop and one by one "wash" their butts good. Cleaning and drying the crud from their feathers.

I'm not really surprised by the gleet thing since I've fed them some scratch with bread crumbs and some popped corn and scratch. Too it's been wet off and on. This might explain the gleet?

I also intend to dump lots of DE in the nest boxes so they can "clean" themselves with each laying.

Anyone remember the "Minipoo" ads? "When you can't shampoo, Minipoo".

Of course now we have hair dryers.

Another hint? If you have a label that won't come off. Warm it with the hair dryer and it should come off easily. I hate those ugly labels on the candles that we buy.

Good lord is it cold out. I saw a dog stuck to a firehydrant.