Surviving Minnesota!

[Bogtown Chick]

Hey kloppers!

Ralphie I hope the Roos figure it out. All those wet feathers and then it's going to freeze tonight-- well for us up here any ways. I think we're getting 25 degrees.

 

[duluthralphie]

3 am and I am awake.

I am having a bad night, my knee is hurting, I have had a heating pad on it for hours, but in this moist cold air it does little good.
I wanted to get a lot down tomorrow but am afraid I will have to write most of the day off. As was told to the world by someone I erroneously trusted in the "other" thread' I have PTSD. I take Adderall for it and it does wonders preventing the nightmares and flashbacks. However, because I take it I have to be real careful with my knee pain medicine. I have Tramadol for that. The two have a possible drug interaction that can cause seizures. I have never had one and do not want one so I suffer through the pain. Which means no sleep tonight. I know the chances are slim of the interaction, but I do not want to risk it. I will confess I took a half dose when I was sure the Adderall was out of my system. I did get about 90 minutes sleep then. So ends my pity party.

I do hope I can get some pictures of the turkeys in their new home and the roosters in the bachelor pad. Maybe the term bachelor pad should be changed, the place is kind of Ghetto looking. Urban renewal is needed badly on it.

Has anyone figured out what makes a nest box better than another one?
I have two banks of boxes, one on the back wall that use to be the favorite. The bottom row and closest to the corner was it. Then I put up a second bank when I made it possible to split my coop into two separate areas. I did this so I could control breeding. Now the new bank is the favorite, the lower corner closets to the outside. It is an open front coop. ( no wall) just a huge door made out of hardware wire so the air is dry. cold but dry. If someone ever figures out what they want and why please let me know. We will put on a training session and can split the tuition fees. fairly, say 80% for me 20 for you.

I need to build one more redneck coop for the toads tomorrow. I am not sure I will get it done now. BUT I can do that inside the shed and haul it out on the bobcat using pallet forks. I think I need Holms help on this or Lalas they seem to be the pallet coop experts.

Boy that wind is howling tonight. We normally do not hear it in the house as I have 8 inches of insulation or more in the walls. Depending on the wall. I am guessing it is time to drop the water heaters in my tanks and plug them in.

Well, I can't think of anything more to write and I have bored you enough already. So time to play candy crush or alphabetty, feel free to send me extra lives.

 

[KlopKlop]

Good morning all! What a dreadful morning out! Everything here is covered in a thin layer of ice. It was drizzling late last night, plus windy, and now it's down to 30 degrees. Ick! I did my best to check over everyone for frozen combs, especially Conrad and my leghorns who have the largest combs. So far so good!

Being in one of my coops with the wind howling told me I need to block drafts better for the roost. Just a light breeze back there but enough to worry me.

I've got the day off work tomorrow so I will focus on getting the heated waters installed as well. The kittens are almost big enough to move outside so I need to prepare the shop for them also.

 

[KlopKlop]

Ps ralphie- I've missed your humor this last week. You sure can make me chuckle with your odd comment about your 'classes'

 

[Cluckies]

Morning, wow, that wind! I woke up at 3 do to it. Fortunately I was able to roll over and go back to sleep for an hour, before the alarm went off. Sorry to hear you were having a bad night Ralphie, hope today goes better for you. I put the bag balm on 2 of my girls with combs last night, we'll see if it helps. I added more pine shavings into their henhouse last night as well, to make it thick for winter.
Hopefully your birds went inside when they got cold or are still ok this morning, Ralphie. I'd be sick with worry.
@crazyfeathers I would also recommend you put up plastic up on the sides of your run, at the very least on the north and west sides to block the wind. I had to shovel a part of mine last year early on. I fixed that pretty quick. If you want to see what I do, click on "my coop" under my avatar. I'd click on BogtownChick's as well for great ideas. Her coop is lovely.
Of course you can see how Ralphie covered his turkey coop when he is able to post his final photos.
Is your run covered?

 

[ejb3810]

Well it is good to see a new thread with some of my old favorites contributing. It seems that winter is really here. 64 degrees yesterday with a high forecast in the low 30s today. We have only a trace of snow which is ok by me. I anticipate we will soon have more than enough for most people.
Bogtown the photos of the chickens in the snow are very good, but I am not sure the chickens thought so?
I am not looking forward to water duty today, as it will be the first time this season that substantial ice is involved. I should cut down on my number of birds to reduce the task time, but that would be too logical.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Good morning all. I got the kids off to the bus. Got the 2nd waterer washed up and took it down as I knew the first would be froze. Brought treat bowl with apple treats and some pork chop bits. Oh gosh they went ape. I also threw the scratch in the run a bit early today so they'd toss those leaves in there. 3 days of rain still get a bit of moisture in there through roof design of the run. They were loving me today.

Ralphie. Sorry you are hurting today. Going at it on the turkey house I'm sure added to the joint stress.
I myself have an achy left hip. The chiropractor says it's a stretched ligament from sitting on the couch shifted up on that side or sleeping on my left side. So any ways and I guess fortunately I need only one ibuprofen once a day or every two days if I'm being mindful of my body positions. It started aching good yesterday though and I think it had alot to do with the weather and the barometer. Anyways.

I also ran the juice to my coop. She's plugged in for the winter. Flat panel at the ready. The coop didn't have a different temp with the Reflectix that I could appreciate. Which is ok. I want a cold coop. But not a cruel one. Poop was half frozen in there so that was a nice clean up this morning. That is one thing to say about the cold. Easy poop scooping.

Ralph I hope you get in many naps today. Kind of envious on the nap deal.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Welcome ejb. We're glad to have you on. And hope to glean good info out of ya!

The photos were of my flock when they were about 8 months old. A bit young and curious then. Ha. Any ways we had a beautiful wet snow which then froze quite well to the trees and fences and whatever and made a winter wonderland for a week. They are my favorite winter pics of them. And there will be no other photo ops like this since they are older and wiser I suppose.

We too had just a skin of snow that stuck to grass a bit. The roads were dry and not slippery. So thank goodness for that. My deck out the kitchen door is a bit treacherous but that's about it.

 

[duluthralphie]

Cluckie,, I am almost afraid to post the pictures of my "coops" here. Your coop is so great, neat and clean. Your chickens live in luxury as do BC's. I am kind of a slum landlord with my birds. I looked out the window and I saw movement in the bachelor pad so I know some of them made it through the night. I am sure they are all ok, they just had a chilly night. If they had a brain they would have went inside.

I have game bird netting over the run. It is about 30x50 feet. I also have a topper in it surrounded by hay bales to give them a secondary shelter and to give them a chance to not have to look at each other all the time. I will be throwing the Toms out except JJ around New years. Some of the Toms might have a life changing or ending event.


EJB no snow here, not even a trace. but that rain yesterday was coming down looking real whitish. I really need to get the water heaters in. The worst part for me is having to carry the water in the cold. I have 30 gallon waterers so hopefully I can pick out the warmer days to fill them. I have to fill them all today they are getting down there. I am going to try and keep all the waterers outside and have none inside this winter. Hopefully, that will keep the moisture down. Glad to have you here Ed!

If I was smart I would cut down to one coop. but what fun would that be. The reason for all the little coops is I am getting ready for breeding season, I am going to have pure blooded chickens. I am still planning to get to Duluth someday. We have just been busy, if your offer still stands.

I am only going to use JJ for breeding on the turkey hens this year. Do you think he can handle 11 hens? When I use the calculator at Porter's site. I have no idea what I am going to do with all these turkeys. I have way too many.

CRAP>>> As I am typing this it has started snowing like a male pup of a female dog! The snow is going sideways in this wind. Not good for my poor knee. BTW my Doc thinks it is my imagination when I tell him the weather effects my knee. Give him another 20 years and I bet he changes his tune.



It is snowing hard. the ground now has a trace on it...Cluckies it is headed your way... ( she lives about 8-10 miles as the crow flies the direction the wind is blowing..)

 

[duluthralphie]

WOW, My drive is white! the road is white.

My Wife is whining...

Winter is here.