NY chicken lover!!!!

[LuvMyChicks1491]

I'm going to do the Valentines Hatch Along, set date is Jan 24 for chickens. Duck set is Monday? I got a flyer in the mail yesterday for the new Cortland TSC store opening. 10% off your first purchase, sales, prizes, Jan 22-24. You know they have bators.... I'm going to stock up on some dog food and maybe couple bags of horse and chicken feed.

I won't be ready by then. I haven't even started setting eggs aside. I have to get my home made one out and set it up for a while to see about getting is ready again. It is high mainitence.I also want to time it right so that they hatch out the begining of March so that as soon as they are feathered they can get outside. Ducks are so much more messier in the house then chicks.

I went on a scouting trip on Thursday when I went so that I could find the new TSC. It looks nice. I'm going to stop in next week when I go on our weekly shopping trip. I wish I had the money to get it right now. I want to get one that has a turner in it so I don't have to do so much work. Not that I plan on hatching that much, but anything is better then the one that I have now, but it is all that I have and will make it work for me for now

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:Not that I plan on hatching that much, but anything is better then the one that I have now, but it is all that I have and will make it work for me for now

Heres a cool one on ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ELECTRIC-EG...687?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e8e52431f

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote: Look in Walmart ( I got a huge dish for 19.99 ) or Tractor supply ...

 

[Tough Old Bird]

TOB,

Okay, just looked at Amazon and see what you mean--a bit more than $10 but not as expensive as I thought. I think I was thinking of heated waterer bases, maybe....

I love my auto pop door, I just would have gone with a different model had I realized that we would eventually fully enclose & predator proof the run that the door seals off overnight. Its a little overkill right now, lol.

I see a heated dog bowl in my near future, yay!! I know my girls are gonna love it, too.

Love BYC, you guys rock!

Jenn

Good, I hope they work as well for you as they do for me with regard to saving you time and preventing frozen FF.

With regard to the auto-pop door, we splurged for the Pullet-shut, but I truly love mine. It's been so reliable and easy to re-program as daylight hours change over seasons. We also completely enclosed our hens pen, "roof" as well, but I am never 100% at ease as I know how persistent predators can be, and a night is a long time to work at it for a determined and hungry critter. So I'm glad my pop-door closes at sundown. We keep windows open in the summer, but they are high off the ground and have heavy mesh.

TOB

 

[Gramma Chick]

Gramma chick you cracked me up with your dry chicken story!,
GC, how are you using the heating pad? Is it set in a way the chickens can't reach it or do they just not bother it? I have one I could use out in the coop if it meant that they could have their ff when they want it.
It has been freezing solid in under two hours

do you drain it ? it doesnt freeze as quickly with less water in it .
I use my heating pad this way .
Ive incased one side in heavy plastic to keep it cleaner , I used electrical tape wound around the cord to make it safer

I put a chicken feed bag under my bowls in my bowl stand put the heating pad on it ...

then I put the bowls back in ...it only heats the left bowl ...the right bowl freezes ..( it is near to the door also ) but I put less in it so they can still peck at it
Both the water dish & the heating pad plug into a heavy duty extension cord
Ive been trying to think of a way to do a trough style dish with stand ...so I could put it under both sides ..this works for now


I also have a set up in the middle of the coop / run
2 plastic flower pots..with drain bottoms ..Bottom one has stones & leaves in it ..a 2nd smaller one sets in it ..
Then a clear plastic bowl is in that ...I set another clear plastic bowl the same size with their feed in it ..
That one it has to be really cold to freeze it

 

[Gramma Chick]

Which video ? you must have found one a while back ?

 

[jennianne]

GrammaChick,

So smart the way you set that up. Gees I wish I had a way I could wedge my feed pans under something to keep the girls from flipping them! I broke down and ordered a heated dog dish, it will be here Tuesday. I get free shipping with my Prime membership on amazon. Works out for me since I don't have to drive all the way out to WM or TSC for everything. I only go out there maaaaaybe once a month. I will be so relieved to know they have the food they like whenever they want it. I am going to have to reconfigure my setup a little, but I have been wanting to move it around some so that is no problem. Thanks for showing me your setup, I learned something even tho I will be using a dog bowl!

Good, I hope they work as well for you as they do for me with regard to saving you time and preventing frozen FF.

With regard to the auto-pop door, we splurged for the Pullet-shut, but I truly love mine. It's been so reliable and easy to re-program as daylight hours change over seasons. We also completely enclosed our hens pen, "roof" as well, but I am never 100% at ease as I know how persistent predators can be, and a night is a long time to work at it for a determined and hungry critter. So I'm glad my pop-door closes at sundown. We keep windows open in the summer, but they are high off the ground and have heavy mesh.

TOB

TOB I know what you mean, I know I sleep better knowing my girls are safe in their coop. Had not thought about the fact that they have more time at night, too.

 

[jennianne]

Just wanted to also mention that I finally made up my mind to get some hatching eggs if I could get a mixed lot I found. They will be here next week, should be in time for me to do my VDay HAL here on BYC I was wanting to do. Yay! I am thinking that they will be in here for a while and then be in the separate coop/run after that and so that will give me time to monitor their temperaments.

I also bought some fencing to mess around with and see if I can't rig an additional run for my girls. My husband comes off mids Wed AM and is off until Sat morning, so he can help me (wait till he hears, he'll be thrilled. lol).

 

[boskelli1571]

Well, it's been a gorgeous day so far, got some chores done. Cleaned out the waterer since the girls kicked up lots of **** into it. Yesterday I couldn't figure out why the heated waterer wasn't heating - stoopid forgot to plug it in!

Threw scratch out into the run area, the youngsters went out after it and the old ladies just looked at me......so I fed them in the barn, well trained aren't I? Egg production has increased from 1 or 2 to 3-5/day

the neighbors will be happy to have some fresh eggs.
Getting itchy for some new chicks....looking forward to Chickenstock, looking forward to getting some ducks from Pyxis! Must be Spring soon

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Which video ? you must have found one a while back ?

Was a clip with the birds enjoying some yummy treat (yogurt and FF?) out of plastic bowls and they were eating with gusto and making little happy sounds as you moved the camera around...

TOB