NY chicken lover!!!!

[horsekeeper]

I lost my frizzle NN EE roo I hatched last spring a couple days ago. I was pretty disappointed. I'm going to collect what eggs I can from his pen this week, maybe I'll get a few of his babies. This cold has been rough, laying is down and we lost some eggs to freezing.

I feel your pain

So far I lost two roosters and a turkey hen, and this week four goose eggs froze solid before I could get to them. One more week and then it looks like it will at least be close to freezing or above, like a heat wave

And sadly, my wry neck marans girl, Henrietta, passed last week. She made it for two years and got to spend time out with the flock until December when she kept getting driven outside into the cold. I brought her in and she was a house chicken and loved it, but I guess her physical problems caught up with her.

It's so hard to lose your special birds.

 

[rancher hicks]

I lost my frizzle NN EE roo I hatched last spring a couple days ago. I was pretty disappointed. I'm going to collect what eggs I can from his pen this week, maybe I'll get a few of his babies. This cold has been rough, laying is down and we lost some eggs to freezing.

I feel your pain

So far I lost two roosters and a turkey hen, and this week four goose eggs froze solid before I could get to them. One more week and then it looks like it will at least be close to freezing or above, like a heat wave

And sadly, my wry neck marans girl, Henrietta, passed last week. She made it for two years and got to spend time out with the flock until December when she kept getting driven outside into the cold. I brought her in and she was a house chicken and loved it, but I guess her physical problems caught up with her.

It's so hard to lose your special birds.

This winter has been hard. I lost my B. Marans rooster suddenly. Have no idea what happened. He was fine and about an hour later he was dead. I also lost two del hens for unknown reasons. I've quarantine another who I think is just getting picked on. She seems fine. Her poops are very nice. No real sign of problems, but I've moved her just the same. For some unknown reason it seem a hen can suddenly not fit in. Either that or the rooster take an overbearing like to one. This is why I try to keep two feeders and waters in the coop/run. With a distance between them. Frenchy has started to sleeping in the nest box again. I let her since she's older. Today is her birthday. She's 7.

I've had a few frozen eggs. Just hatched 18 out of 36. The Marans are not fertile. I've moved my reserve rooster in the coop with the hens but so far nothing.

Dels are doing good though. Of the 18 chicks 10 are Dels. The rest EE/crosses. I've been saving C. Rock egg since they've started laying.

I've switched back to Agway Egg producer pellets with 21% protein. I'll be setting the incubator up down in the basement.

DD and hers have moved in so I have to give up my office for my granddaughter. It's supposed to be temporary but we shall see.

At least there are some good schools nearby. The high school is right across the street but I'm not sure they'll be here that long. Or we'll be here that long even if they are, if you get my drift.

Gramma of course is spoiling them to no end.

Well good night all, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.

Rancher

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

Frenchy has started to sleeping in the nest box again. I let her since she's older. Today is her birthday. She's 7.

Happy Birthday Frenchy!

 

[myfivegirls]

Quote: Yes, you're not too far from us, and we often go through Schohaire Valley on our way to the Albany area. Not sure if we're going up there anytime soon, though.
When we do, then I'd be interested, even if it's past the time I'll need it.

I checked around at other stores & they're all out of stock. Amazon has them, but I think for now I'll just keep bringing the frozen fermented feed inside at night.
Even though it adds another step to chores, it also makes it easier. The fermented feed has been lasting longer, so I don't have to prepare a fresh 5 gallon bucket every day.

From the looks of the chicken's outside areas they enjoyed today's warmth and sunshine. But by the time I got home, they were all back inside for the night.

 

[Gramma Chick]

The fermented feed has been lasting longer, so I don't have to prepare a fresh 5 gallon bucket every day.

Do you pour out the water ? to ferment it has to have time .
If you do a fresh bucket every day ...its not fermented .
I drain the fermented feed the water goes back in the pail to ferment the rest of the feed that gets added

 

[myfivegirls]

Quote: Yes, I strain out the excess water and use it again to ferment the new feed that gets added.
When they were eating more, I'd strain it out (I'd aim for the morning, but sometimes it was evening) & add more feed & water to the bucket. The strained fermented feed usually wasn't fed until the following morning.
For example, Mon. morning after I fed the hens, I'd strain out the FF I'd started Sun morning, and Tues morning I'd feed that to the chickens. Even after it's strained, it's still pretty loose and I'd think it continues to ferment. So, even when I was doing it "every day", it had from Sun to Tues to "work".
Yesterday when it was warmer, I noticed that they ate a lot more. I have one coop that still has a heated water bowl for their FF and they go through it much faster than all the other coops. Before they were separated into breeding groups, I had two heated water bowls I used for their fermented feed, plus put one rubber dish outside. They'd usually eat all the FF in the rubber dish, and by morning the FF in the two heated water bowls was either gone or 1/2 way gone. But, when I separated them I needed those heated water bowls for their water, as it's more important for then to have unfrozen water all the time than the FF. Now, it's the same number of hens but there's also multiple roosters eating it. They just eat more of the dry mash when the FF is frozen, so at least they're still getting enough food.
The "bachelor" roosters & the ducks get FF also, but theirs is "plain" without all the additional things like alfalfa meal, flax meal, kelp meal, etc; they go through a bucket every day, and would probably go through even more if I made it for them. But since they're currently not producing any eggs or being used for breeding, they don't get an "all-you-can-eat-buffet".

Well gotta get going, lots to do before work.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all. Well its freezer time again which means water hauling all day. Its not nice being teased with warm weather! Sorry to hear of your losses. This has been a difficult winter for everyone, even the animals. The deer have been using the roads to travel as the snow is so deep to walk in. I feel bad for them. I hope it warms up by march at least.

Happy birthday to Frenchy! I hope you are giving her some special treats today Rancher. After all, she has put up with you for this long!

 

[rancher hicks]

Morning all. Well its freezer time again which means water hauling all day. Its not nice being teased with warm weather! Sorry to hear of your losses. This has been a difficult winter for everyone, even the animals. The deer have been using the roads to travel as the snow is so deep to walk in. I feel bad for them. I hope it warms up by march at least.

Happy birthday to Frenchy! I hope you are giving her some special treats today Rancher. After all, she has put up with you for this long!

yes I figure like me she needs extra fiber.

In more disturbing news.
While snowblowing I can across something dark sticking out of the side of the snow bank. Thinking it was a hen that dodged into the snow to get away I reached down. Well it was a small weasel that had caught a mouse.

It dropped the mouse and ran into the garage. Now I have to worry it doesn't get in the back room where Buckwheat and her daughter are. I have no rat trap yet but I will get one. I also know what has been coming and eating the dead mice I've been tossing out the back door.

I was surprised to say the least.

 

[rancher hicks]

We purchased this house in Central New York State from two elderly sisters. Winter was fast approaching and I was concerned about the house's lack of insulation. "If they could live here all those years, so can we!" my wife said. One November night the temperature plunged to below zero, and we woke up to find interior walls covered with frost. My wife called the sisters to ask how they had kept the house warm. After a rather brief conversation, she hung up. "For the past 30 years," she muttered, "they've gone to Florida for the winter."



: revised story of one I heard, not really my story.

 

[marquisella]

Quote: Do not lance the wattles. They are not swollen with liquid. They will go down by themselves. Chickens are great survivors of winter stress. And what gets frost bit this year, won't happen next year...LOL.