Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[Blarneyeggs]

Well-apparently there are several types of LT vaccine-and we vaccinated with the wrong one(along with several other people)....so no show for us this year. Kids were really upset. Live and learn.

Oh NO! So sorry.

ETA: which vaccine did you use, and which was the one they required?

 

[Blarneyeggs]

I'm worried about my girls too for the next few days. I'll let the older 2 out tomorrow & Sunday into their run but the 2 newest ones may have to stay in the coop since there is an ongoing battle between my dominant old one & the dominant new one. I'm going batty trying to keep them separated. I have a small enclosed run inside the big run for the new girls that way they can still interact some without harming each other but I have a hard time getting the new girls in to it & hubby works early in the morning & can't help. The guy I bought the 2 new young ones from (which is by the way the same person I bought my older gals from), said to keep them apart but close together with barriers if I could. He said 2 days & 1 night should do it but it will be a week Sunday & they are no happier with each other than the day we brought them home. I'll never again try to introduce new girls to my flock again in the winter months. I have the coop divided into 2 areas also trying to keep them apart but there is no roost in the new girls area & I have lots of straw down but they seem to push it around & end up on the bare linoleum floor. I am not having fun with this at all. Kinda sorry I got more if I can't get them to accept each other. The other older gal & the 2 new ones get along fine so far. Any ideas? Getting very discouraged & this weather isn't helping at all....lol The first 2 pics are of the new girls, Gabbie, the Black Australorp & Gussie the Gold Laced Wyandotte. The bottom is of the older girls, Gracie & Gertie. Gracie is the dominant one...always thought Gertie was...go figure....the quiet silent type is Gracie I suppose...lol Gabbie just paces in front of the barrier for hours at a time & they do try to peck each other between the holes. I came out the 2nd morning that we had them & opened the coop, Gracie was in front of the barrier in the new chicken area & the 2 new ones were back behind the barrier with Gertie....lol Like Houdini's I guess....lol

These are some pretty birds! Eventually, they'll work it out, wish it was warmer out and they could free range together instead of being all cooped up. Danielle, I have the black rubbery type feed bowls and have used them for water from time to time. But I prefer the hanging plastic waterers....call me a glutton for punishment. Katt, I SO get what your saying, am totally stressing that I may lose a chook tonight....BTW loved your description of the mean leghorns amongst the icycles.

 

[chiques chicks]

LMP, honestly, my bedroom is set @ 62. That is in the main part of my house, the rest of that part is in need of renovation. Three is an addition, kitchen and living area, where I spend most of my time. It has a wood stove, the heart is on a seperate loop with its own thermostat. I consider the heat a backup to the wood. The temperature can vary from upper fifties to upper seventies at different times of the day.
I went through some major issues a few years ago and am kind of starting life over from scratch. I've rethought what matters. Things are simple, but I'm happy. Living alone, I can just throw on more clothes if its cool and not worry about keeping it comfortable for someone else.

 

[LisaYolkUm]

Well:

For Vicki, Mike and Lisa:

I just checked on my chooks and they were all settled...I had considered running the heat lamp out there, but, they were all comfortable on their roosts. I think if they were bothered by the cold they'd all be bunched together, but some were spaced out as they normally do....maybe this is a wrong way of thinking about it, but, the coop is full which creates alot of BTUs and I make sure they get all the scratch(corn) they can chomp...I just carb them up...my two cents,,,

stake-----I think this sounds like a very reasonable plan.........

we have to take our cues from them and from nature and other chicken farmers!

I think since many of us are rather new to this...........and we care about our animals.......its natural to be thinking about these conditions a bit more ...........we are all just learning about this.

 

[SilkieSensation]

I'm worried about my girls too for the next few days. I'll let the older 2 out tomorrow & Sunday into their run but the 2 newest ones may have to stay in the coop since there is an ongoing battle between my dominant old one & the dominant new one. I'm going batty trying to keep them separated. I have a small enclosed run inside the big run for the new girls that way they can still interact some without harming each other but I have a hard time getting the new girls in to it & hubby works early in the morning & can't help. The guy I bought the 2 new young ones from (which is by the way the same person I bought my older gals from), said to keep them apart but close together with barriers if I could. He said 2 days & 1 night should do it but it will be a week Sunday & they are no happier with each other than the day we brought them home. I'll never again try to introduce new girls to my flock again in the winter months. I have the coop divided into 2 areas also trying to keep them apart but there is no roost in the new girls area & I have lots of straw down but they seem to push it around & end up on the bare linoleum floor. I am not having fun with this at all. Kinda sorry I got more if I can't get them to accept each other. The other older gal & the 2 new ones get along fine so far. Any ideas? Getting very discouraged & this weather isn't helping at all....lol The first 2 pics are of the new girls, Gabbie, the Black Australorp & Gussie the Gold Laced Wyandotte. The bottom is of the older girls, Gracie & Gertie. Gracie is the dominant one...always thought Gertie was...go figure....the quiet silent type is Gracie I suppose...lol Gabbie just paces in front of the barrier for hours at a time & they do try to peck each other between the holes. I came out the 2nd morning that we had them & opened the coop, Gracie was in front of the barrier in the new chicken area & the 2 new ones were back behind the barrier with Gertie....lol Like Houdini's I guess....lol

They will never get used to each other if you keep them apart. Wait until night & plop the new ones on the roost with the old ones. Let them wake up together & get the new order established. As long as no one draws blood everyone is fine.

Oh God, our ancestors. In today's America people freak out if the cables out for a day, and if the power goes out, people treat it like it's life threatening. Compared to today's world, it's hard to imagine people going outside to use the bathroom, having no electricity, no phones, no cars, etc. It's even getting rare to see people doing physical labor these days. Not everyone's like those though, put me out in the woods and I can make it a few years, but I'd have to admit life would be a bit tough without some of our modern conveniences.

most definitely!! What would I do without the laptop?! who would I chat with then about chickens?? this is some serious stuff!! ...hahahhaaa...every one else thinks i'm crazy..well, we'll not go there ...seriously though, we are made..or should i say..we have made ourselves fragile, easy to disrupt with the modern technology, a large percentage of what we use it for is important , but it is/has become a 'time consumer' for a lot of people. I enjoy it, it is wonderful to be able to get in touch with so many different people...but i also know and live even more for the 'physical/doing', the real interactions of life...keep learning and doing more for ourselves & we are good to go!..**I guess we have the best of both worlds here.... ..life is good! hahha..Wow, I really am in a "blah-blah-blah" kinda mood here..haaha

Yay, going to meet up with my sister tomorrow at the farm show.

so have farm show envy!! ....Have a great time!! Wish we were going...take pics or as Blarney says."didn't happen!!"

OMG Ray 55???? your kidding!!! its been 62 uin the house for days now and I cant move my bones are frozen! Anything over 70 I am a sweat hog but I am chilled soooo bad for so long!!! how do you guys manange? boots and jackets?

Ya'll should try what we have had to do for the past month. 4 people crammed in a 24 ft camper with no running water & only an electric heater. The porta potty needs emptied frequently. Even with the heater running full blast the thermometer read 45F yesterday morning when we got up. We sleep in piles of blankets & let the kitties in to keep us warm. We have been carrying drinking water back a 1/4 mile of driveway that our car won't make it up. We also have to haul water for the birds 5 gal at a time from the creek a mile down over the hill. My animals have survived all in the same chainlink pen covered in tarp & plastic. Very drafty & gets muddy quickly from ducks splashing. I think all of us have been more than a bit pampered to be honest. People & animals both adapt to survive. The strong DO survive!

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Dang Silkie! You're like 'Wilderness Woman'!

We won't be making it to the farm show today... Boo. Good luck to all there!!

 

[SilkieSensation]

Dang Silkie! You're like 'Wilderness Woman'!

We won't be making it to the farm show today... Boo. Good luck to all there!!

Ya do whatcha gotta do Blarney.

 

[Katt66]

That's what I love about it around here. So many people who seem to have that "Do what ya gotta do" attitude.
It's the attitude my Mom always had raising us kids. I always knew she's find a way somehow and do what she had to do to make sure we were taken care of and everything would work out all right somehow. And she always made it happen and never complained because it was just what ya had to do sometimes.

Anyway, so I woke up this morning and looked out my bedroom window to the chicken coop. And there's my EE rooster, Leghorn hen, and Buff Orpington Hen peeking out the window patiently waiting for someone to come down and let them out of the coop.

So happy to report that everybody made it through the coldest night on record since like 2009 just fine. I opened the door and they couldn't get down the ramp and into the run fast enough. Then the EE and Leghorn did the "feedme dance" and clucked at me to hurry up and put the fermented feed down in the darn bowl already. And it's business as usual.

The temp on our back porch said -3 as I headed out the door. The thermometer I have at the back of the coop stuck in one of the vent spaces at roof level read 15 degrees when I opened the door to let everybody out. It's amazing how much heat those little balls of feathers actually produce and put off!

So I guess until we head down to the Farm Show in a few hours it'll just be running out every now and then and making sure everybody's got water and not blocks of ice to drink.

 

[PeakyBeaky]

what went wrong with the vaccinations?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

omg true you gotta do what you gotta do, I pray you get this move on woman! holy mollasases!