Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MrsNorthie]

I think @TropicalChickies announced that she wouldn’t be around on BYC for a while. Last time she wrote was December 6. She had a hen end of november that suddenly got very sick.

I miss her too.

It just seems like it has been a reeally long time. Then I have been seeing the reports of crazy things going on down there, and the rainy season. Mother hen senses kick in, and I worry. I will just keep sending positive thoughts their way.

I didn't know if anyone in the group maybe had contact outside the forums and could just say, "Everything is good."

 

[Molpet]

It just seems like it has been a reeally long time. Then I have been seeing the reports of crazy things going on down there, and the rainy season. Mother hen senses kick in, and I worry. I will just keep sending positive thoughts their way.

I didn't know if anyone in the group maybe had contact outside the forums and could just say, "Everything is good."

Yes it's concerning when we don't hear from people.
There's been several people missing for personal reasons and several who died and a bunch I never found out what happened.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

I've been mostly lurking so will pop in with an update, especially since snow and single digits here in east Tennessee are making it prudent to stay indoors near the computer. @Shadrach, hope your day off was nice and the cake was good.

After 3 days of frigid weather, tomorrow's highs in the upper 30°sF/3C will feel like a tropical front. People in colder climates may not think it's a big deal, but the humidity + rarity of this weather here make it highly inconvenient. We spent a long, tiring day winterizing the property before the front moved in, to an extent only necessary every couple years. Then it's maintenance mode: prattling back and forth with unfrozen water all day in 2 pairs of everything.

Since the last cold this severe knocked out our apiary, and I've since come across a compelling article about the benefits of hive insulation, we even wrapped our hives this time (they have more ventilation than they appear to in this photo, btw).

Fortunately we've had weeks of cold already, so the chickens are more acclimated than past years when cold fronts swept in on the heels of 70°F days (east TN is known for drastic thermal shifts). But when 9" of snow are blowing sideways with temps at 15°F/-9C, most still opt to stay in the coops by the heaters.

Except, of course, the 10-month Speckled Sussex girls and our one bearded Easter Egger, Carrots, who has always been a snow bird. Every day is a sunny summer Saturday for them! I made a video:

Andre is perfectly happy to stay under cover, which is good because his tall comb is prone to frostbite. When I'm not out there, I close his baes into the run so he doesn't have to get snowed on watching over them. They tire him out.

Note the end of the video where Merle & girls are wandering back to their coop. They detest cold weather, but something spooked them out of the coop, so Merle led them out through the weather to the hoop canopy for the afternoon. I had to go convince them the coop was safe If you look hard at this picture, you can see the Speckles out in the snow in the background.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

It is supposed to drop into the teens tonight in the upstate. It was a little nippy out when I went down to tuck them in. They seemed to sense that it was going to be colder than normal and headed off to roost about an hour early. They always roost as close to each other as possible, anyway.

How is your husband doing?

He is hanging in there.

He got a report yesterday that he has blood clots in his lungs and two areas on his liver.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

Tea is ready.

Temperature is in the 30s.

Have a great day!

 

[Shadrach]

Yes it's concerning when we don't hear from people.
There's been several people missing for personal reasons and several who died and a bunch I never found out what happened.

Some people get BYC fatigue and rather than post they are leaving or having a rest they just stop posting. BYC has changed since I joined; many more chat threads and fewer ongoing threads about chickens.
There are other people like myself who really are not interested in idle chat and can't find a thread that for want of a better description, called a home thread.

 

[Shadrach]

Cold at -5 and rather grey most of the afternoon. Everybody was hungry. C had fed them yesterday, but probably not enough to leave much for the morning
Dig and Mow, being young and fit cope with the cold although I doubt they are exactly comfortable. Henry ate as much as he could and went off to roost an hour earlier than the rest. Carbon and Fret spent the second hour in the coop extension and were roosting long before sundown. I took 700 grams of food and most of it was gone by the time they went to roost. I have a bit to say about this in the article I'm working on. Bear in mind nobody is laying eggs, so that's quite a lot of feed.

 

[MrsNorthie]

prattling back and forth with unfrozen water all day in 2 pairs of everything.

We weren't single digits, but the teens over night and this morning. Everything outside was frozen, so we were thawing waterers and replacing with warm water. We delayed letting the chickens out until the temps got above freezing. The coop stayed comfy.

You bring up an excellent point about the apiary, we don't get many days below freezing, but we are going to have to really plan where to put ours. My grandfather kept bees in Vermont, when I was very young and don't remember what he did, but the always survived the winters. I have more research to do!

 

[Shadrach]

I've been mostly lurking so will pop in with an update, especially since snow and single digits here in east Tennessee are making it prudent to stay indoors near the computer. @Shadrach, hope your day off was nice and the cake was good.

After 3 days of frigid weather, tomorrow's highs in the upper 30°sF/3C will feel like a tropical front. People in colder climates may not think it's a big deal, but the humidity + rarity of this weather here make it highly inconvenient. We spent a long, tiring day winterizing the property before the front moved in, to an extent only necessary every couple years. Then it's maintenance mode: prattling back and forth with unfrozen water all day in 2 pairs of everything.

Since the last cold this severe knocked out our apiary, and I've since come across a compelling article about the benefits of hive insulation, we even wrapped our hives this time (they have more ventilation than they appear to in this photo, btw).

View attachment 3727798

Fortunately we've had weeks of cold already, so the chickens are more acclimated than past years when cold fronts swept in on the heels of 70°F days (east TN is known for drastic thermal shifts). But when 9" of snow are blowing sideways with temps at 15°F/-9C, most still opt to stay in the coops by the heaters.

Except, of course, the 10-month Speckled Sussex girls and our one bearded Easter Egger, Carrots, who has always been a snow bird. Every day is a sunny summer Saturday for them! I made a video:

Andre is perfectly happy to stay under cover, which is good because his tall comb is prone to frostbite. When I'm not out there, I close his baes into the run so he doesn't have to get snowed on watching over them. They tire him out.

Note the end of the video where Merle & girls are wandering back to their coop. They detest cold weather, but something spooked them out of the coop, so Merle led them out through the weather to the hoop canopy for the afternoon. I had to go convince them the coop was safe If you look hard at this picture, you can see the Speckles out in the snow in the background.
View attachment 3727795

Thank you. Yes the cake was good. She's good at baking, something I very rarely do. Pleased to have a day off for other reasons than being sick. It can be hard going at the allotments mid winter. It's one thing spending 5 minutes chucking some food in the trays but sitting/standing around in the cold and wind for a couple of hours is quite another.
Love the video.

 

[MrsNorthie]

He is hanging in there.

He got a report yesterday that he has blood clots in his lungs and two areas on his liver.

Oh good grief! I am sorry to hear they didn't have better news. I know coumadin doesn't dissolve clots, but I was hoping that it was preventing new ones. I will keep sending positive vibes your way!