NY chicken lover!!!!

[Cass]

Ok I'm here. I nearly left BYC cuz of all the changes but Lord have mercy that would have meant losing all my friend. Sorry I'm sentimental and have become fond of you all.

Spark - the hoop coop is covered with snow but they girls seem ok with the weather.

We do have snow of course and I've snowblowed a path. The first one is always the hardest. Gets easier as the ground freezes. The muddy areas are hard cuz the blower bogs down a bit. I'll try to post pics. There's a lot to learn.

I did join another forum after seeing all these changes but Cyn convinced me to give it a try after listening to me whine. You can teach an old dog new tricks it's just getting him to get up.

Well folk"s take care. My hands hurt from snowblowing across the lawn. You've got to hold it up a bit to keep it from scraping the ground. I try to get it up to leave just an inch of snow. I can get the wagon through that.

ta, ta for now,

Rancher

Sorry to hear your hands hurt Rancher, but glad you are sticking around. The changes are really that much to how we do things, it just looks different. Better.

I do like having the emoticons (smilies) right above the typing box so you don't have to scroll to add one to your post.

I don't like that you can't "type" the keystrokes for the ones that you usually use (and have memorized the "code" for them) You have to choose one from the menu. But I'll adjust and probably use them less. *pouting*

Everyone have a good day. I have to clean my bedroom. I'll see you in the spring.

 

[stonykill]

Ok I'm here. I nearly left BYC cuz of all the changes but Lord have mercy that would have meant losing all my friend. Sorry I'm sentimental and have become fond of you all.

Spark - the hoop coop is covered with snow but they girls seem ok with the weather.

We do have snow of course and I've snowblowed a path. The first one is always the hardest. Gets easier as the ground freezes. The muddy areas are hard cuz the blower bogs down a bit. I'll try to post pics. There's a lot to learn.

I did join another forum after seeing all these changes but Cyn convinced me to give it a try after listening to me whine. You can teach an old dog new tricks it's just getting him to get up.

Well folk"s take care. My hands hurt from snowblowing across the lawn. You've got to hold it up a bit to keep it from scraping the ground. I try to get it up to leave just an inch of snow. I can get the wagon through that.

ta, ta for now,

Rancher

I hear ya. I really don't like the new site. It loads SLOW on our new laptop. REALLY SLOW! Too many adds, etc.

2 ducks laying as of today. Gotta collect the chicken eggs often today. Tomorrow is going to be worse. 16 for a high is COLD. And of course, I need to split firewood tomorrow. Ugggg.

Snowblowing. Yup, did it last night and this morning. Freaks out the free range Sumatra's every time. But they get over it having paths.

I GUESS I'll adjust to this new forum. I don't like it one bit, but.....

 

[itsy]

Hey all! Haven't been on BYC in a few days, but I missed it!

Rancher - glad you decided to stay!!!!

I picked up one dozen beautiful Ameraucana eggs from a local breeder. I'm SO EXCITED!

 

[featherz]

I guess I kinda like the new forum.. don't shoot me! I don't like the colors (too bland and white), don't like the layout with the reviews bar (deleted that in Chrome so I don't see it), but I love the automatic new posts feed, uploading images is way faster and some of the other stuff is nice as well. Still some bugs (I can't reply on my Ipad), but it runs smoothly on my three year old (but still reasonably high end) computer.

I have all the ads and most scripts blocked, so that may be why I've had no speed problems.

 

[Henicillin]

Ok I'm here. I nearly left BYC cuz of all the changes but Lord have mercy that would have meant losing all my friend. Sorry I'm sentimental and have become fond of you all.

Glad you're here!

Yesterday I left for work at the usual time, as all we had were a few big flakes falling but not accumulating (had a 2 to 8 shift). I headed towards Pittsfield on 20, and thought, "hmm - the roads are getting a little funky." By the time I reached Stewarts in New Lebanon, I had to pull in, call my partner, and say that I'd be late, as the roads were a hideous, unplowed mess. Route 20 over the mountain was horrid - 15 to 20 MPH, and near-whiteout conditions - and Pittsfield was a complete wreck, with accidents all over the place. It was the weirdest thing! I got home - no snow at all here. Good - I don't want it anyway!

I'm actually sort of happy for the cold, but only because my fridge finally gave up the ghost, and we can't get the new one I've ordered from Home Depot delivered until Friday the 21st. I'd ordered online and they gave me that delivery date, so I checked with the store and they confirmed that everything comes from the same distribution center, so I'd be stuck either way. So, the tiny back room that serves us as a trash room and general junk storage is currently acting as a makeshift fridge. Fortunately, we'd already pulled everything out of the freezer and stuck it all in the big freezer in the garage, so we didn't lose anything good (read: expensive). Still, ugh! I now have a large magnet holder taking up space in the kitchen.

 

[Henicillin]

I guess I kinda like the new forum.. don't shoot me! I don't like the colors (too bland and white), don't like the layout with the reviews bar (deleted that in Chrome so I don't see it), but I love the automatic new posts feed, uploading images is way faster and some of the other stuff is nice as well. Still some bugs (I can't reply on my Ipad), but it runs smoothly on my three year old (but still reasonably high end) computer.

I have all the ads and most scripts blocked, so that may be why I've had no speed problems.

I'm on Firefox with NoScript and an ad blocker running, so it's pretty quick for me (well, as fast as anything is on HughesNet, which often isn't very fast).

I just saw stonykill's post of a 16-degree high tomorrow. So much for using the back porch - I'll have to stick the "refrigerator" stuff in the garage. *curses HD's delivery schedule to the skies*

My roos did get a touch of frostbite on the really frigid day a couple of weeks ago, but it was from being outside, not from drafty coop conditions. I can tell my ventilation is good in there, as the windows never develop frost or ice on them. It didn't seem to bother them at all - they really are tough birds. Two of them only had discoloration on a couple of comb tips and the edges of their wattles (undoubtedly from drinking and then going back out). My big boy had the worst case. He developed a small water blister on his comb, which poking around on BYC indicated was from frostbite, so I slathered him with triple antibiotic ointment, and it healed up nicely. He rather liked the attention, but his special girlfriend, my younger Leghorn Barbie Girl, evidently didn't like me mauling her man - the little wench took a peck at me while I was applying the ointment, and was pinged on the beak with my finger for her troubles. Goofy birds.

 

[rancher hicks]

Henni - sorry to hear about the fridge. Try to look on the bright side it happened when it's cold out.

itsy - I'm jealous. I need more colored egg layers but have no where to put Liberace (lav amer roo) and the EE girls so I can get some eggs.

Now I am liking the new set up more each time and I've found it easier to upload pics and I did edit a post and that seems easy too. So I may have underestimated my intelligence.

Here's a pic of my back yard and what I have to snow blow to get to the coops. The big loop goes past two new half hoop coops not yet finished. I intend to use them as grow outs or breeders or broody coops.

One thing about pics is they look darker than they are, because this pic was taken in the morning but it looks like evening.

 

[sparrker]

Rancher, the picture may look darker because of the brightness of the snow. See if there is a setting for taking pictures in the snow. Both of my cameras have the "snow" setting under scene pictures.
We have about 18" here.
Patti

 

[happycountryhens]

Rancher: So glad you stayed.

Henni: Sorry about your fridge issue....so glad it's not ninety and humid out tho.

Last night we had 18 eggs. Three were frozen and cracked. So we ended up with 9 large/x-large and 6 small/med. Good girls!

We just put on barn boots and walk a path to the coops. Or shovel if it gets really deep. One path that is one shovel wide.

Got more hay for the large coop...the girls should enjoy that. There is lots and lots of hay still in the small coop. The floor is now springy with hay.

Had to get more feed and scratch today too. STOP EATING SO MUCH ALL YOU CHICKENS!

Right now they pay for themselves in feed and bedding. I fear they will never be able to repay us for thier coop.
It's worth it though to think of them all warm and cozy and dry and fairly safe in the coop.

Rancher - hope your hands feel better in the morning.

 

[itsy]

Rancher, the picture may look darker because of the brightness of the snow. See if there is a setting for taking pictures in the snow. Both of my cameras have the "snow" setting under scene pictures.
We have about 18" here.
Patti

18" of snow?!!!!!!????!!!!!!

I'm going to stop complaining!!!