Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[chiques chicks]

Wingstone- thank you so much!

LMP - I hatcher my heritage breed May 5. Seemed nice sized to me.

Busy weekend, processed four Turkey Saturday, visiting relatives yesterday. Now to catch up.

Hello everyone I'm new to the PA thread. Thought I'd join. I'm located in south central PA. Just south of Harrisburg.

Welcome! I'm a couple miles from wingstone, between Lancaster and Harrisburg.

 

[chiques chicks]

Double post.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Here are some pics of the newly remodeled coop








I still want to get plastic up on the front, there is a tarp around the other 2 sides. The new coop is on the right, it's about 5X8 & the run is 10X12 with vinyl roofing over all but a small area on the other side. We were going to leave that open with just chicken wire but have since changed our mind & are in the process of putting clear vinyl roofing over that area now too. Of course the 2 middle pics are the girls, Gertie & Gracie.

Love this coop, the picture hanging cracks me up! I also love the second chook pic where we're getting the 'stink eye'. I have contemplated putting plastic on part of the run before to create a kind of 'greenhouse' to keep the water from freezing.

I took my hanging plastic waters out when the temp started dropping below freezing. It was a waste to fill them every day only to have to thaw and empty them and refill again the next day. That and I was afraid I'd break the brittle plastic once it was frozen and filled with expanded frozen water.

Right now I have a crock type dog bowl in for the quail and one of these "Chicken Canteens" I picked up at Country Junction last pay day for the chickens.


I only bought one because I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it and how it was going to actually work.
I wish I'd have gotten three more now after 2 weeks in use. It's only 16 oz so they drink it all throughout the day. If I have to I just refill it once. At night I take it inside and fill and replace in the morning. I know this isn't a practical solution for anybody with large numbers of chickens. But for my little coop I love it. I ordered 2 more off Ebay and plan on putting one in for the quail as well and a second one for the chickens.

I'm curious about these waterers, do they keep the water from freezing?

We were there this past weekend too Blarney! Might have passed right by each other and not known it! haha My family and I love Longwood too! My wife has a membership, my son in under 4 and I get in for free due to work

We're only bout 15 minutes or so away ourselves. A bit surprised they don't have chickens hanging out somewhere on property.

I wonder if we did pass….

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Ok MsLadyHawke, these are for you….

CHIME tower:

The 'thousand bloom', (displayed in the East Conservatory) one stem, 1000 blooms. A lot of people do not know that they keep a second thousand bloom in the nursery in case something unforeseen (possibly in transportation) happens to the first.

The Orangery…which is filling with Pointsettias at this very moment. It is the one time per year that Longwood Completely strips the Orangery and re~plants it. The Conservatory is closed today and tomorrow, possibly Wednesday to finish 'change over' for Christmas.






These pics were taken with my phone, 'real' camera is too heavy to tote around Longwood.

 

[Katt66]

Gorgeous gorgeous pictures!

As for the Chicken Canteens, no, they don't keep water from freezing really. What made me want to try the one I bought was it's galvanized steel so won't crack. It's a smaller size so there's more of a chance of them drinking it before it freezes. (My Aunt uses buckets and they're frozen solid by afternoon and she has to thaw the ice enough to dump the block out before she can refill them. This little thing I can just run under the faucet and thaw any ice very quickly before refilling.) They hang easily on the wire run at any height I need them and take up no valuable run space whatsoever. Also they're enclosed so there's little area for the chickens to throw stuff into them through.

I may try experimenting with making one of the new ones I have ordered heated by drilling a hole in the back of it near the top and putting a tiny submersible aquarium heater in there then siliconing around the drill hole to make it air tight again so it'll still hold the water in by vacuum when filled.

 

[chiques chicks]

The rubber bowls from TSC are easy to get the ice out of, just flip and kick. Various sizes, 1 gallon to at least 3.

 

[wingstone]

The rubber bowls from TSC are easy to get the ice out of, just flip and kick. Various sizes, 1 gallon to at least 3.

yep, I have many of these, they are great for working out frustration also.....indestructable..

 

[Brittany7]

I use rubber bowls too! They work nice! That chicken canteen would be nice for in the coop....

 

[barbiegirl]

My girls are starting to lay!!!! I'm so happy, was thinking they weren't going to start untill spring.

 

[Katt66]

My girls are starting to lay!!!! I'm so happy, was thinking they weren't going to start untill spring.

Awesome! Congrats! ^_^ I didn't think mine were going to lay till spring either. We've got 3 laying now and are waiting for the other 2 older pullets to start yet.