NY chicken lover!!!!

[salsss]

Wow. -20 this morning when we got up in the Adks. I have to admit that my husband put an oil filled radiator inside the coop overnight...I'm a wimp. It's our first winter with chickens, and the 4 cream leg bars don't look so great. The sex links and EE's look fine though.

The coop stayed at about 26 all night--not too warm I think! My chickens are spoiled...I got 4 eggs this morning so far.

 

[Lapeerian]

Hubby found this tiny owl in the barn tonight, should I be concerned? He said it is only the size of the banty rooster. The chickens that roost in the rafters are moved into the coop that is parked inside the barn every night. I would feel bad chasing it off, it is just looking for warm place to roost too. And maybe it will hunt barn rats. But don't want to lose chickens either.

 

[Pyxis]

Hubby found this tiny owl in the barn tonight, should I be concerned? He said it is only the size of the banty rooster. The chickens that roost in the rafters are moved into the coop that is parked inside the barn every night. I would feel bad chasing it off, it is just looking for warm place to roost too. And maybe it will hunt barn rats. But don't want to lose chickens either.

Cute little thing! I wouldn't be concerned as long as you're locking your birds up right at dusk every night and not letting them out until it's light out. Just keep your birds locked up during its hunting hours to be safe. Do you know what species it is? Sounds like it might be a Saw-Whet. If so I doubt it'd try for a chicken dinner and it'll be great for keeping the rodent population down.

 

[Devona]

Nice little owl. Tonight and tomorrow we're supposed to get a measley couple inches of snow. Our first real snow of the season. We've had a few flurries before, but nothing that stuck. I'm suffering from allergies/ sinus congestion, and am quite miserable. Started yesterday morning. Drove into Manhattan yesterday evening (crazy traffic for part of it) to the ASPCA for a fostering orientation, and came home with a cat. He's pretty big. We might have him for up to a month. Very agreeable fellow. I'm hoping he helps with a rat problem we're having. The kids are disappointed it's not a frisky cuddly little kitten. But I'm happy that they're not likely to get too attached to him.

 

[Lapeerian]

Cute little thing! I wouldn't be concerned as long as you're locking your birds up right at dusk every night and not letting them out until it's light out. Just keep your birds locked up during its hunting hours to be safe. Do you know what species it is? Sounds like it might be a Saw-Whet. If so I doubt it'd try for a chicken dinner and it'll be great for keeping the rodent population down.

Our chicken routine is wait till dark then remove the Spitz from the rafters by shoving a push broom up under them, they step on, then carry/drop them into the coop.
Every.
Night.
For months.
Only a couple of the Spitz have decided to just go directly into the coop. The Spitz roost in the middle of the barn, the owl was at one end. Who knows if this is a repeat visit, as we only check the usual spitzing zone. It will be easy to keep them in later this weekend, but during work week the coop is opened at 6am when doing barn chores. And with the days so short, it is dark when we leave work at 4:30. May put the timed light in a few days early, so they can at least see in the coop till we get home.

 

[boskelli1571]

Just a 'heads up' for everyone - there has been a huge outbreak of Avian Influenza across Europe - several countries affected, including the UK. Watch out for dead wild birds etc. fingers crossed for us all

.
On another note, had blizzard conditions on the way home lightening up to a few flakes on the way home this morning, thankfully I was one of the few idiots out and about. Think I will have to put some adult Depends in the car.......

 

[Devona]

We had our expected couple of inches today. I've had the pleasure of not needing to go outside yet for today. That's going to change shortly. I like your depends idea. Might as well make the process easier and put them on before you leave the house

 

[cutipatooti]

So I figured I'd officially let you all know how last weeks hatch went. Not great I'm afraid. I had humidity issues and to make a long story short I have 6 chicks. 4 needed help hatching. I did set 2 dozen more for the New Years hatch along. We had some issues with feet and legs from the humidity but I managed to fix it. Then a touch of pasty but but that is mostly cleared up too. Here are a few pics of some of the new chicks.

 

[Devona]

What cuteness! Soooo fuzzy! Sorry to hear you had problems. Better luck with the New Years hatch

 

[cutipatooti]

What cuteness! Soooo fuzzy! Sorry to hear you had problems. Better luck with the New Years hatch

Thanks! I do my first candling tomorrow. Hoping they did well in shipping.