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kie4 said:


Our BCM just laid her 2nd egg, smaller than the first, a lovely colour :). Do any of you remember your first eggs and wanting to just collect them and not eat them? We've waited so long for these eggs to arrive it seems a shame to just eat them and throw the shells away! Haha!
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It is gorgeous--I blew out my first really dark egg from my welsummer, my first blue egg and my first huge egg!
 
I'm thinking I have a combination of lack of insulation and bullying over roosting leading to my hens sleeping in boxes and on the ground. Last night there were 3 huddled in one box!! I stood out there tonight and watched the bullying.
I let the two youngsters eat in the coop unmolested for ten mins and took two pics of the inside. Pardon the heat light being on...try to warm inside a little before turning it off...plus it helped with the picture lighting lol.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I read that I should put insulation with plywood over it. But do I insulate the roof too?

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Lelanae said:
It is gorgeous--I blew out my first really dark egg from my welsummer, my first blue egg and my first huge egg!
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wow @Lelanae that's a great idea! I'm making a wall egg rack with some pieces of wood and a hole saw and I'm going to use the top row to put the last blown out egg from our chicken who was killed by a hawk on Friday. A place to keep eggs and also to remember our first layer Chuck.
 
Hey all!

Well, life got crazy and it has been a MONTH since I was here to say hello.

My chickens are pushing through the cold, just like I am sure yours are as well.

Since this is our first winter with chickens, this is the first time we are having to deal with frozen water, ice on the ground etc. My darling husband changed the chickens water twice a day last week when the temps hit single digits. our pipe waterer and nipple system was frozen solid. He originally thought that he could insulate the pipe and it would be fine, but realized that the nipples would still be frozen. So we started setting out a pan of warm water for them, changing it or adding to it regularly. I actually called his mom today and recommended a heated chicken waterer for a Christmas gift. She is going to get it, so I am relieved that we will not be doing that for three more months!

Even with the temps in the 20's I decided to let them out today since it is sunny. They were very unsure of the ice covering parts of the ground, but found their way to my bushes, a favorite spot. I threw scratch and gave them a pan of fresh warm water next to the bushes so that they could enjoy themselves a bit. Mostly they have dug into the mulch right against the house and are dust bathing / keeping themselves warm.

I've been surprised. We hung a deer leg in the coop for them to peck at. They have always liked meat, but have barely touched it. I am thinking it has maybe just been too cold for cold raw meat??? The way they have devoured meat covered bones before, I thought the leg would be picked clean in a few days.

Our supplemental lighting seems to be working well. We are 5 for 5 most days and either 3 or 4 for 5 the rest. Of course, these girls are young and just started laying in September. Still, I am sure the light is helping.

Hope all is well with you!
 
kie4 said:


Our BCM just laid her 2nd egg, smaller than the first, a lovely colour :). Do any of you remember your first eggs and wanting to just collect them and not eat them? We've waited so long for these eggs to arrive it seems a shame to just eat them and throw the shells away! Haha!
Click to expand...
They are gorgeous! I should blow out some eggs too, hadn't thought of that. Hopefully I will have some gorgeous variety soon too.

gonehencrazy said:
I'm thinking I have a combination of lack of insulation and bullying over roosting leading to my hens sleeping in boxes and on the ground. Last night there were 3 huddled in one box!! I stood out there tonight and watched the bullying.
I let the two youngsters eat in the coop unmolested for ten mins and took two pics of the inside. Pardon the heat light being on...try to warm inside a little before turning it off...plus it helped with the picture lighting lol.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I read that I should put insulation with plywood over it. But do I insulate the roof too?


Click to expand...
A few weeks ago, someone recommended me to use straw as insulation. It has worked very well and been quite economical as well. I simply stapled some chicken feed bags on the studs in my coop. stuffed it with straw and stapled it shut. It's not real pretty, but I can tell a huge difference. I still have one wall to do, but I can't figure out how to remove the flat head screws hold up some brackets. Here's a picture of the inside, the bags are white, but they look purple with the light reflecting.






Werforpsu said:
Hey all!

Well, life got crazy and it has been a MONTH since I was here to say hello.

My chickens are pushing through the cold, just like I am sure yours are as well.

Since this is our first winter with chickens, this is the first time we are having to deal with frozen water, ice on the ground etc. My darling husband changed the chickens water twice a day last week when the temps hit single digits. our pipe waterer and nipple system was frozen solid. He originally thought that he could insulate the pipe and it would be fine, but realized that the nipples would still be frozen. So we started setting out a pan of warm water for them, changing it or adding to it regularly. I actually called his mom today and recommended a heated chicken waterer for a Christmas gift. She is going to get it, so I am relieved that we will not be doing that for three more months!

Even with the temps in the 20's I decided to let them out today since it is sunny. They were very unsure of the ice covering parts of the ground, but found their way to my bushes, a favorite spot. I threw scratch and gave them a pan of fresh warm water next to the bushes so that they could enjoy themselves a bit. Mostly they have dug into the mulch right against the house and are dust bathing / keeping themselves warm.

I've been surprised. We hung a deer leg in the coop for them to peck at. They have always liked meat, but have barely touched it. I am thinking it has maybe just been too cold for cold raw meat??? The way they have devoured meat covered bones before, I thought the leg would be picked clean in a few days.

Our supplemental lighting seems to be working well. We are 5 for 5 most days and either 3 or 4 for 5 the rest. Of course, these girls are young and just started laying in September. Still, I am sure the light is helping.

Hope all is well with you!
Click to expand...
They are tough critters, I worried about mine the first year too. Now, not so much. So long as they have protection from the wind and moisture, they do very well. Also, keeping fresh water unfrozen is not a problem with the heated dog water bowls. They are worth every penny. You may not have seen, but I wrote a page or two back, about how one of my Cream Crested Legbar pullets got lost outside overnight, on that one particularly bitter cold night. I thought for sure if she didn't get snatched, she would die of the cold. She wandered up sometime in the morning with her sisters, with no ill effects! I still have no idea where she hid out. There was only the one morning the other day when we had snow that some of my chickens didn't want to come outside. Those two were my old lady Silkies. Who can blame them!?
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Werforpsu said:
Thanks!
Does that keep even the "exterior" parts (like the nipples) from freezing? we were worried that even with non frozen water, the nipples would get icy.
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For the most part yes. Especially whichever nipples are the closest to the heater. On extremely cold days, like single didgets or lower, they can freeze up but usualy at least 1 nipple stays unfrozen.
 
Quote:i

GHC:

If your birds are winter hardy, there's no need to insulate....we've had a couple of quick drops in temps and chooks need to adjust....its perfectly normal to huddle up if it gets cold....try to limit the drafts a bit....about bullying....there's always going to be a pecking order and chooks will always be doing this....if not one, another....

is your bully, a hen or a roo...and if a roo, how old....I am having issues with too many roos in too close quarters....I put up will occasional fights...so they will all be warmer when the temps really get low....

you can always remove the bully for a few days then put them back...they will come back at the bottom of the pecking order and may lead to a different set of bullies.....my two cents
 
For those talking about saving blown out eggs....if you like to sew, I found these embroidery instructions on one of the egg decorating contest threads here, and it's not nearly as difficult as it looks. I have a dozen or so eggs, waiting to be embroidered, when I get time. I've done a couple simple ones to practice.
http://www.needlenthread.com/2013/03/hand-embroidery-on-eggs-index.html
 

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