Surviving Minnesota!

[KlopKlop]

Say that isn't true! I have been writing a poultry bible based on your writings alone!


I agree Holm should learn AI.  With his interest and age he would do well with that knowledge. Heck, maybe he could set up an AI service harvesting and maintaining a sperm bank for chickens and bringing high quality strains to the masses. Much like AI has done for the cattle industry.   And once he gets rich doing this I can marry him off to one of my Grand Daughters!

My cousin has a diploma in turkey husbandry and AI and raises turkeys in Iowa. He must have entered the wrong market if you can get rich collecting turkey seeds haha

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Good morning to you all. -23 f. Windchill is -40.

I think we all have the same or similar ideas as to why AI is happening in the big sheds. No good can come of keeping animals that way other than cheap eggs for consumers. And although it's a nice thought. I've developed a taste for eggs raised on pasture or more humane conditions for the extra buck or two or (when my hobby is not in a laying mood). People are getting smart about the health of their food. Because it translates to their own bodies and health. Holm from what I could read on your thread is most of the people there were of the same mind as you. you just said it so eloquently there was nothing more to be said!

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Roger a New Hampshire in all his coppery red glory would be Winner Winner chicken Dinner.

I don't want to go out in the cold today. Euch...

 

[jerryse]

Ralphie go with the cups for that setup . My experience was the chickens take the little Giant apart . Hard to believe but true .

 

[jerryse]

Saw frosted comb on my Legbar / leghorn cockerel yesterday . Minus 3 here this morning .The rose comb Icelandic has no comb damage .

 

[jerryse]

This is oddity that I tinker with . EE . I need to hatch more as he is the only one left . Erminett pattern caused by a type of dominant white 1 copy - 2 copies is a all white bird with white legs . There used to be a Erminett breed . He has 1 barring gene .

 

[duluthralphie]

Ralphie go with the cups for that setup . My experience was the chickens take the little Giant apart . Hard to believe but true .

They take the cups apart?


Mine have not done that. but I have found the ones without the spring leak and just do not work well.
I use the spring loaded ones and they are great. They are not so great in the winter though. Even the one I have the heat lamp on in the layer coop freezes up. I have tried heat tape around the throat, I have wrapped my waterers in that shiny bubble stuff BC raves about. While it helps it is not the cats meow. I have found the old steel founts on the heated base is the only thing that really works all winter, and in this cold even that is iffy.

I have also found making my own waterer works well in the summer. I take a 30 gallon barrel and drill a 1/2 - 5/8 inch hole about 2 inches from the bottom. Then I take the bottom or top of a 55 gallon barrel and cut the bottom 4-5 inches off it. I set the 35 gallon barrel inside the 55 top/bottom. Fill the 35 gallon barrel and tighten the plug and I have a waterer. I use a little ACV to help retard slime. I clean the barrel with the wand of my power washer every now and then. I set these all over my yard and I do not have to worry about water but once every couple weeks.

These are cheap and work well for me.

 

[duluthralphie]

This is oddity that I tinker with . EE . I need to hatch more as he is the only one left . Erminett pattern caused by a type of dominant white 1 copy - 2 copies is a all white bird with white legs . There used to be a Erminett breed . He has 1 barring gene .

Wow, you must know what you are doing! That is some serious eye candy!

 

[jerryse]

They take the cups apart?


Mine have not done that. but I have found the ones without the spring leak and just do not work well.
I use the spring loaded ones and they are great. They are not so great in the winter though. Even the one I have the heat lamp on in the layer coop freezes up. I have tried heat tape around the throat, I have wrapped my waterers in that shiny bubble stuff BC raves about. While it helps it is not the cats meow. I have found the old steel founts on the heated base is the only thing that really works all winter, and in this cold even that is iffy.

I have also found making my own waterer works well in the summer. I take a 30 gallon barrel and drill a 1/2 - 5/8 inch hole about 2 inches from the bottom. Then I take the bottom or top of a 55 gallon barrel and cut the bottom 4-5 inches off it. I set the 35 gallon barrel inside the 55 top/bottom. Fill the 35 gallon barrel and tighten the plug and I have a waterer. I use a little ACV to help retard slime. I clean the barrel with the wand of my power washer every now and then. I set these all over my yard and I do not have to worry about water but once every couple weeks.

These are cheap and work well for me.

They take the big red one apart not the cups .First it is the red bowl the they unscrew the valve assembly . Looks like a tire valve core . Loose the spring and core water everywhere . Tried it for vacations . Settled on the low pressure system with cups . The cheap nipple drinkers drip and make a mess . The low pressure chick drinkers work ok but are prone to gunking up .

 

[jerryse]

Wow, you must know what you are doing! That is some serious eye candy!

Took me three years to find out what it really was . I bought 2 cockerels as splash Araucana at the sale barn . They never produced a blue when bred to black . The Araucana breeders on these threads called them splash cuckoo . So they did not know . This is a pic of one of the original birds . Tufted .

 

[KlopKlop]

They take the big red one apart not the cups .First it is the red bowl the they unscrew the valve assembly . Looks like a tire valve core  . Loose the spring and core water everywhere . Tried it for vacations . Settled on the low pressure system with cups . The cheap nipple drinkers drip and make a mess . The low pressure chick drinkers work ok but are prone to gunking up .

Good to know! I will stick to the cups then this year. I have a 35 gallon drum that I will set up as a gravity feed system.

I plan on planting half my garden in cover crops this year then putting broilers on it. It is 35x75' the soil is poor and weed infested from laying fallow for so many years before I moved in. Hopefully this will improve that half then I can flip flop next year