NY chicken lover!!!!

[Aria]

We have SNOW here too. And we have Coop with an outside
run. Our Chickens have been out in the run a lot. Or run has
a top...no snow gets in. BUT only one Rhode Island Red is laying.

 

[tao chick]

No eggs here. The roosters aren't even crowing much. I wish there was more fall weather this year. We didn't get through our fall cleanup. The barn roof is scheduled to be cabled in January and the guys will have to deal with the mess.

Emus are too big for our lot. We don't have an easy way to fence much of it. But, I love the adorable chicks and the beautiful grown birds. If I had the fencing option I think I'd end up getting a donkey.

Two neighbor cats have been stealing my barn cats food. One probably moved in permanently. The other still wears a collar.

Stay warm y'all. I hear we might get one more warm day (high of 40 Sunday) before cold and snow settle in for the rest of 2018. Is January the month we sometimes get

 

[tao chick]

A thaw?

 

[rancher hicks]

Been ages I know. Anyone interested in free chickens? You gotta take the roosters. Just a couple. I'm old and tired. I'll have to keep a few for Frenchy who will be 11 if she makes it to the end of Feb. and her daughter Buckwheat. who will be 10. I can't give them up and while they don't lay they do sit and hatch each year. When they do go, then all of the others will go. I do have folks who will take them but if they're not on BYC I wonder how much they care about their chickens.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Been ages I know. Anyone interested in free chickens? You gotta take the roosters. . I do have folks who will take them but if they're not on BYC I wonder how much they care about their chickens.

Hi Rancher ...Glad to hear from you ..Winter does make it tough ...on all of us ..
At least we get to wear boots ..poor chickens ..barefooted in the snow .
If you list how many chickens , age and breed you might get some responses

 

[Gramma Chick]

A thaw?

yes a January thaw

 

[boskelli1571]

A thaw?

have you been smokin'??

 

[Gramma Chick]

My Chicken ball and Cutie unwrapped

 

[Purple Iris]

have you been smokin'??

We are forecast a thaw here nr Buffalo too, we had 18 inches of snow by last Weds, but temps forecast to be up in the 50's tomorrow, so now we switch from snow clearance to basement flood watch mode!

I have been reading that others, like me, have had a hard time getting dry leaves set aside for winter bedding, with the weather being so wet in the run up to the snow. Our firewood is covered with tarps, and I'm finding quite a bit of suitable stuff like pine needles, and dry leaves tucked amongst the logs, so when I bring firewood in now, I use the little brush that goes with my dustpan to get this dry stuff into buckets at the same time. Have also put damp leaves to 1/2 full level in some big plastic buckets, stored them in the garage, and been stirring them around, flipping the bottom ones up to the top to dry them out a bit before using them. Got one good load of dry stuff raked up in late October., but that's almost gone now.

Chicken numbers now at 6, but only getting 1 egg every other day. 3 oldest are molting - Princess Di, our Easter Egger has been looking very shaggy but regrowing some lovely feathers now, and we have 2 young pullets.

The girls enjoyed some hand me down pumpkins from coworkers, and I've got a couple more chopped into chunks in ziplok bags in the freezer, so I can pull out a few pieces at a time and they can have those on future snowy days

We added 2 new Red Sexlink chicks in September, the look but don't touch intro stages went well, and all the chickens were happily combined in one coop before the cold weather came, although this pair still tend to stick together when they are out free ranging. They are 19 weeks today, and seeing some pink comb and wattle development starting so maybe more eggs soon.

So, there's the update from Western NY, with this warm up, a coop cleaning is on the agenda, so much easier when the poopsicles defrost, and aren't frozen to the floor / bedding!

 

[rancher hicks]

Purple: what a nice greeting card type picture.

I was in TX when the first snow hit so didn't get my hoses in nore shrubs or roses mulched. I hire a kid to come and help me do some things. Covered the runs with plastic and bury poor Norma Jean. She had to be put down while I was in TX. (Partly why I want to give up the chickens, so I can take off when the urge hits me). It was DD's cat who lived with me.

It's been a horrible year. DD went into labor early and the baby was stillborn. It would have been their first. Funny how life works isn't it. Some folks don't really want kids and can pop them out like Pez candies, others fight to have them. We carry on.

My other DD did have a baby in May. He's such a cutie. I call him the Deputy. He's named after his father. So the Deputy works for me. Not MarkSam as his mother calls him. He and his siblings have already spent an over night with grampa.

Still working at Wegmans. I miss my wife, and try to think of our lives as in transition. Not sure to what though.

Anyhow things got a bit warmer and I got the hoses in. Lost one but had already bought two new ones, not yet opened. I should be good for next summer. Mulched the butterfly shrubs with hay and the bottoms of the climbing roses. I may get to some others tomorrow. IF it goes to 52* as they predict.

Son and his in Alaska are doing okay with the earth quake. Oh just thought about Sue in Sterling. She's not on anymore thought I do have her address. So many chickens friends have drifted away. Gone but not forgotten. Too this new format has mess things up and I've lost my way to threads I used to follow. Darn!

TTFN, Please be well, I've had enough trouble of Friends for a lifetime.