Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[LisaYolkUm]

Thanks for posting all your pictures of
-the snow scenes
- the chickens
- the ducks
- the snowy coops!
all of it!

I have been without power now for 2 days.............and phone, internet, heat, etc.........

I have moved over to my family's place temporarily so I can get some work done and be warm!

I find I am getting more done because I don't have the usual distractions!

I am in Chester county and we have so so so many trees down and lines going across roads.

The lines are turned off.............yet when driving it feels weird to be driving over them and under low hanging wires!

Candles worked quite fine for light.
warm blanket works for awhile-----just limits what you can do..........

its the internet and computer I miss the most with a power outage!

I am hearing the sat/ sun snow will be significantly less than once anticipated..............YEAH!

I sooo sooooo sooooo cannot wait until SPRING................its gonna be so nice...........even if it is just an average spring...............we will think it will be AWESOME!

When I build my next coop this spring..............I will be keeping all these weather based learning pieces of info in mind.

#1 on my list is a better roof for my run ---one that can handle wind and rain and heavy snow!
plus a better protection in the run on the sides.............as the rain and snow gets in sideways..........................

I have been lucky that my picnic tarp has worked so far. It is nearly dead.........but may get me thru to Spring...........the tarp has some tears yet mostly still provides protection.

thanks for people who shared info re: dehydrators too!

Nesco or Excalibur is on my list
if I go with Excalibur I will probably try to get the stainless trays.......

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Thanks for posting all your pictures of
-the snow scenes
- the chickens
- the ducks
- the snowy coops!
all of it!

I have been without power now for 2 days.............and phone, internet, heat, etc.........

I have moved over to my family's place temporarily so I can get some work done and be warm!

I find I am getting more done because I don't have the usual distractions!

I am in Chester county and we have so so so many trees down and lines going across roads.

The lines are turned off.............yet when driving it feels weird to be driving over them and under low hanging wires!

Candles worked quite fine for light.
warm blanket works for awhile-----just limits what you can do..........

its the internet and computer I miss the most with a power outage!

I am hearing the sat/ sun snow will be significantly less than once anticipated..............YEAH!

I sooo sooooo sooooo cannot wait until SPRING................its gonna be so nice...........even if it is just an average spring...............we will think it will be AWESOME!

When I build my next coop this spring..............I will be keeping all these weather based learning pieces of info in mind.

#1 on my list is a better roof for my run ---one that can handle wind and rain and heavy snow!
plus a better protection in the run on the sides.............as the rain and snow gets in sideways..........................

I have been lucky that my picnic tarp has worked so far. It is nearly dead.........but may get me thru to Spring...........the tarp has some tears yet mostly still provides protection.

thanks for people who shared info re: dehydrators too!

Nesco or Excalibur is on my list
if I go with Excalibur I will probably try to get the stainless trays.......

whats a picnic tarp? glad your all ok!

 

[LisaYolkUm]

Picnic tarp------------I am not really sure what to call what I have but here I go

Its a metal frame that collapses and has a tent like/ tarp like top to it

sometimes people use them over a picnic table or at a sports event for shade---

the metal frame collapses and fits into a duffel bag.

I think the frame has actually survived.........and I could just order a new tent/ tarp.....

The frame is really not meant to be up in all kinds of weather and for so long...........but it has been helpful for my chickens over the fall and winter.

My run I had covered with a regular blue tarp and that continues to have problems with being blown off it frame..........or holding water and snow on top precariously etc

plus with the sideways weather..............well the roof stuff I have does not prevent any of that!

I did put some wood on one side and even a burlap bag............but its all so temporary and insufficient. I am looking forward to building a better , more durable and nice looking thing for next year!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Picnic tarp------------I am not really sure what to call what I have but here I go

Its a metal frame that collapses and has a tent like/ tarp like top to it

sometimes people use them over a picnic table or at a sports event for shade---

the metal frame collapses and fits into a duffel bag.

I think the frame has actually survived.........and I could just order a new tent/ tarp.....

The frame is really not meant to be up in all kinds of weather and for so long...........but it has been helpful for my chickens over the fall and winter.

My run I had covered with a regular blue tarp and that continues to have problems with being blown off it frame..........or holding water and snow on top precariously etc

plus with the sideways weather..............well the roof stuff I have does not prevent any of that!

I did put some wood on one side and even a burlap bag............but its all so temporary and insufficient. I am looking forward to building a better , more durable and nice looking thing for next year!

oh!!!! gotcha!

 

[wingstone]

Okay Chiqueschicks I am gonna ask this on here.........please don't anyone hate me for this after stopping to think about it......

I will be getting a small 10 pound suckling pig to roast in the oven,,,I have found many recipes but would like more personal experience, any one ever do this if so how did you do it, did you use a brine or any kind of marinade? plenty of questions, but I think maybe I will just have to do trial and error to find what works..
average cook time and temp...
thinking no stuffing but maybe putting apples and onions in the cavity...

I know there's others out there who would try this, please give me your idea's

 

[dekel18042]

Hmmm, 10 pounds is very small. Almost not worth the bother. Me? I would raise that little sucker up until he was about 250-275 pounds then I would get all kinds of pork roasts, chops, bacon, hams, scrapple and even a bit of lard for cooking.

 

[fisherlady]

Okay Chiqueschicks I am gonna ask this on here.........please don't anyone hate me for this after stopping to think about it......

I will be getting a small 10 pound suckling pig to roast in the oven,,,I have found many recipes but would like more personal experience, any one ever do this if so how did you do it, did you use a brine or any kind of marinade? plenty of questions, but I think maybe I will just have to do trial and error to find what works..
average cook time and temp...
thinking no stuffing but maybe putting apples and onions in the cavity...

I know there's others out there who would try this, please give me your idea's

Are you butchering young to get the assumed benefit like veal or Cornish hens provide? Sounds interesting. DH would love to get pigs also, and eventually I am sure we will, but it has to wait till we find a better property than where we currently are.
At that size I would do a mild brown sugar and spice rub (multiple pulled pork rub recipes to be found on the net) and slow roast at about 275* to 300* for multiple hours. To improve moisture content I'm sure you could inject it with maybe apple juice? It should be done when any parts you check hit 170-175 (double check that temp, I'm just going by what I remember from smoking hams)

Some parts of the pig have much less fat than others so they are prone to drying out (back strap, brisket) so you may need to make sure they stay covered with foil or something similar to preserve moisture, they may also benefit from additional injections or bastings.

 

[Kiomey]

Hi everyone! Hope you're doin better in the ice than we did lol We managed. had power go out early early yesterday morning. just got it back an hour ago. Had the incubator by the woodstove but I'm sure I've either chilled or cooked them since you can't really regulate those darn things. *sighs* We'll see this weekend I guess.
amusing pic: Our mini coop is sturdier than I thought! The bantam cochins only seemed a little startled xD even got 2 eggs that morning after the 'landing' xD

Hope everyone's staying warm!

 

[msladyhawke]

Hi everyone! Hope you're doin better in the ice than we did lol We managed. had power go out early early yesterday morning. just got it back an hour ago. Had the incubator by the woodstove but I'm sure I've either chilled or cooked them since you can't really regulate those darn things. *sighs* We'll see this weekend I guess. amusing pic: Our mini coop is sturdier than I thought! The bantam cochins only seemed a little startled xD even got 2 eggs that morning after the 'landing' xD Hope everyone's staying warm!

Still no power here. Thankfully my DH just found a generator. Hopefully he can figure out how to hook it up. We've never had one before.It sure is cold in the house. I had two incubators running that i had to run over to my sister's house to plug in. Hopefully the survive 4 hrs unplugged. :/

 

[roseschickies]

I am starting to get really discouraged about this chicken keeping thing....I don't understand what I am doing wrong...Now my little chewy is sick...she has the poopy but thing...i just brought her in and she's soaking now....I am going to give her yogurt and some epson salts here later like the article Sally posted said to do!

They get clean water very day they have as much food as they want. I keep them clean! I just don't know what i am doing wrong....

You are doing fine! I started last year with all my girls, and had some issues here and there, A few sick ones, nasty butt, No eggs, 1 egg, 1 bird dropped dead after laying her 1st egg, she was my favorite. I take it all in as a learning experience. Now I have what I think is a pretty healthy flock. Just keep doing what you are doing and everything will work out!

My new grey runner

I just picked up a peaking Duck, She is just white, but pretty cool!! I have to fight off the, let's get MORE ducks bug! I should get a pic of her up here.. Just not on as much these days.

I think $3 per dozen sounds fair. We have ours priced at $2.50 and can not keep up with demand. I have a friend who wanted me to bring her by a dozen each week….for $2.50?!…that wouldn't cover my gas.

Wish I had a good answer for you. Hang in there, this crazy weather is rough on them and underlying illnesses crop up. Did you also put ACV in the water?

I sell for $3 a dozen, and some people give me $4, + cartons they save up! But I only sell to a few people.

Shoot After reading about the ACV with Mother in it, I use it in may pancake and waffle recipes! lol Should even drink it myself! ( the stuff with "Mother" in it will look cloudy, I picked mine up from GNC)

We don't use the medicated starter either, most of our birds are broody raised in the coop so they share the sand floor with the rest of the birds. We haven't had any loss of chicks to illness, last year broodies raised 38 chicks in the coop. We also raised 20 meat birds and 6 black giants from TSC in a brooder for 2 weeks and did like you, chicques, our brooder is an old wooden crib and we have a false floor in one with a plastic pan that sits down in and we fill it halfway with sand mix from the coop. A couple times a day I would sprinkle hulled sunflower seeds or some other treat in the pan so the babies would scratch in it. At two weeks they moved to the broody area in the coop and were on the sand floor. All chicks had ACV water from the start, and our water is well water, so they probably get some minerals in it also, since we have 'hard' water.

Has anyone ever looked into whether folks with 'conditioned' water have more trouble with chicks than folks with well or spring water? I don't know if removing all of the trace minerals would be good or bad, actually.

Blarney.... that pic is scary!!!! Our coop is tucked against the tree line and though I love the location much of the time a falling tree is my biggest fear. So glad it missed your coop!

I just installed a water softener, I haven't seen any changes with my girls, the water should be actually better than the nasty stuff we were getting/paying for. I also don't really add anything extra to their water unless hot days or stress days for the girls. Or I want to give them an "extra" care day. They always mess there water anyways.. Crazy Chickens!

Well I hope everyone is safe from the storm! Blarney crazy Pics! Glad everyone is ok!