NY chicken lover!!!!

[akaruby]

Gramma- I'll close it up tonight. Little chicks are happy in my basement. Their little coop stayed pretty warm last night but with -25 wind chill tomorrow I doubt it would've been warm enough.

 

[HISIRISHGEM]

Thank you Gramma! My husband is out bringing the hay from the run into the coop. Hopefully it will keep them warm. I'm a bit worried about the snow getting into the run now, but we'll deal with that when we need to. Right now I need them to be warm.

I also had a bit of a scare when I opened the coop door to find blood splattered all behind the roost. My husband missed it. It was dry so it had to have happened this morning. We had 5 eggs this morning so I think it's one of the newer girls. Doug thinks it could be a hemmoroid from the girl that laid that big egg. I checked all their vents, seemed fine, the feet, their heads and under their wings. Nothing. One of the Australorpes was walking funny but nothing visibly wrong.

Well, we're out to do our shopping early so we won't have to go out in the freezing temps this weekend. We're due some tretorous weather in the next hour or so, so I best get out of here. Stay safe and warm everyone!

 

[Beer can]

I will address the open windows - I keep a Thermometer in the coop so I can check temperatures Yesterday when I closed the door up at night it was 20 degrees...it was open all day This morning when I opened it it was 35 degrees in there . My coop is set up to vent all the time ..these small slats are not covered . I covered them last year..but this year I didnt ...I might shove some plastic in there tonight ..so there is more of a barrier ... If you let the coop air out during the day ..it should be okay to close the windows / close it all up at night ..when it is so cold Just Make SURE the moisture vents during the day . It is moisture of their breath that causes FROSTBITE.. Try closing it one night ..to see how they do ..

Never had frostbite, tips of combs maybe. See more than usual with red sussex, not bad, just notice it Giants none, their combs actually ain't very big. The humidity in the air X Cold I think is the problem.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Yes.. the humidity comes from their breath..which freezes on them .
My roo lost his points from frostbite ....I closed them all up in a small coop ( 4 x 4 )our hen house now )



with no venting ..one cold night

No points now

 

[featherz]

My coop is very open at the very top - the birds are normally protected from drafts because it has a very high ceiling (it's made from a horse run-in) but I do have birds that roost on the rafters. Last time it was supposed to be mega cold with wind chill I covered the open areas with cardboard to protect those rafter birds from wind, but doubt I will be able to get that done today - it's a huge deal requiring a ladder and hubby is busy.. One thought we had - coop has a light, we could keep it on all night so no one roosts up there, but then the roosters would crow all night..

Keep warm everyone!!

 

[Purpletie3]

Also, I'm trying to figure out where to quarantine the four new ones when we get them. All the ladies have access to free-ranging in the back yard for a few hours until my husband leaves and then I'll let them out again until 4 when they'll go back in, have a snack and roost for the night. A pretty nice schedule we have going here.

I can probably get a small coop with a run and put it in the front portion of our yard on the opposite side of the fece but it is NOT fully fenced in and they will be seen by everyone that walks their dog, as well as the dogs that end up loose often and all the stray cats that get dropped off. While I"m assuming the coop and run for quarantine would be okay for a short time, I'd like to be sure they won't be susceptible to coyotes running loose and other predators and wonder how safe they'd be in a ready made 4-6 chicken coop? We don't live in a city but we're on the outskirts of a small town in a cup de sac with the woods facing behind our house. We get all kinds of critters and people like to walk the cut de sac so I'm also leary of prying eyes on our chickens but nobody has taken anything from our yard so far. We have good people here it seems. Anyone have reasonably priced 4-6 chicken coops that can either come ready made or that we could put together that will be weather resistant?

Welcome back. Love the pics of your sweet baby girl loving up her chicken!

I always overhatch and scramble for coops...We built a simple A-frame coop with an attached run that was 8'long and 4'. It's a very quick build and requires 1/2 " hardware cloth 4' H and a lot of 2x4's and one piece of exterior sheathing or plywood...economical. I wouldn't want them in my front yard or exposed to the neighbor dogs, neighbors etc..

 

[Purpletie3]

This is one of those days where you just want to snuggle down...but instead you decide to cook up a stock pot of oatmeal for the fur babies because they are in a cold shed and you are in a warm kitchen. Stay safe everyone...we are getting hammered by the wind here. I stapled down some tarps to cut the wind more yesterday. I have my coops arranged so they all wind block one another. (Of course that's why we have a wind farm right up the road...)

On a positive note...The incubator is fired up...I got a beautiful shipment of white pavlovskya, CCL and sulmtalers chirping away in my office. I forgot how much I miss the little chirpy sound and murmuring in the morning. I am working with a a few that got leg issues from the shipping- chicken physical therapy hours a day here! LOL

Stay warm...stay safe...prayers to the chickens!

 

[Beer can]

Weather forecast; -45, minus 45!! wind chill tonight! Back to 45 degrees Tuesday. ...wow.

 

[Lapeerian]

Weather forecast; -45, minus 45!! wind chill tonight! Back to 45 degrees Tuesday. ...wow.

We seriously need to set up a windmill on our property, wind is always blowing. Right now it is whipping pretty good. Horse barn will have snow blowing in the open eaves, even with a 6' overhang. Brother brought over a bale of straw and bag of cracked corn for me last night. Put more straw in the nest boxes that were low and shook a bunch out on the floor/under the coop where they will huddle today. Leaving them in longer this morning aka procrastinating going out in this crap. Double blanketed my old horse that is having difficulty putting weight on, blanket on the pinto that keeps a short hair coat, mini horse is fat and fluffy. Keep warm everyone! Watch out for frostbite on yourselves too!

 

[tao chick]

This is one of those days where you just want to snuggle down...but instead you decide to cook up a stock pot of oatmeal for the fur babies because they are in a cold shed and you are in a warm kitchen. Stay safe everyone...we are getting hammered by the wind here.  I stapled down some tarps to cut the wind more yesterday. I have my coops arranged so they all wind block one another. (Of course that's why we have a wind farm right up the road...)

On a positive note...The incubator is fired up...I got a beautiful shipment of white pavlovskya, CCL and sulmtalers chirping away in my office. I forgot how much I miss the little chirpy sound and murmuring in the morning.  I am working with a a few that got leg issues from the shipping- chicken physical therapy hours a day here! LOL

Stay warm...stay safe...prayers to the chickens!

I just took oatmeal out to my chickens. Their coop is quite comfortable right now but it's supposed to get colder throughout the day.
Same positive warm thoughts to all flocks.
I ended up letting the chickens out yesterday because it was warm enough. Today I won't chance it.
I love the cheeping sound too and look forward to my Pavlovs and Brabanters hatching. Did you get the pavlovs from Greenfire or Simone Roland, or somewhere else purpletie?

Warm thoughts to all.