Surviving Minnesota!

[mn farm gal]

I was down for about 18 hours after the second shot.
Ralphie sounds like your home running saint Judy ragged. Tending your hobbies.
I have been peeling a cat out of trees with ladders teetering and telescoping poles with push broom head wrapped in towel and not one ounce of sense.

work.
attending weddings.
Attending baby showers.

will need to get boat out of the water. It’s an I/o so it’s a pita. This weekend’s project.
A beautiful fall. But too dry yet. The River running through town is bone dry. Sad.
No mushrooms.



there was a visitor here asking about wintering chickens. Search bar the topic for threads. I’ll see if I can find some advice from earlier years I’ve given. It really depends on your coop’s design. Do you have a photo? where the hole is in you’re old farm coop. I would fix with similar wood. and strategically place ventilation near the top with a small draw spot down below. If it’s an older farm coop those old timers sometimes already have that set.
If we have a lot of snow your chickens will not like it and will prefer the coop and run. If there’s a little bit and warming enough they may free range in the winter.
if you have large combed varieties they will get winter dubbed in minnesota. The feet are needing the most protection. 2 x 4’s on the flat wide side for covering feet. Set lower so no broken toes or feet. Consider straw mixed in with pine shavings for extra insulation and cushion on the feet.
Also when searching threads understand that Minnesota chickening is different than chickening in Kentucky, Alabama, etc. even Coastal Maine or Oregon.

I checked out the thread you tagged, that had a lot of information and different ideas. THANK YOU! i can get a photo this weekend, my husband and i run a grain elevator in SW MN so this time of year i am luck if i see our place in the daylight once a week.

the gap isnt so much a hole but more like the gap between the tongue and groove boards has thinned to the point you can see light through not terrible but i do have some similar boards i can cover it with. but its location may not be bad to just leave it for the ventilation. its facing and located away from the roosts and nesting boxes.

there were 1 x 1s already in the coop, i can easily attach 2x4s to the top of them so they can sit on their feet without curling their toes better.

unfortunately my run will be pretty much unusable during the winter ( not that they have used it at all in the last months) only early mornings when they wake up before i do to let them out to free range. its and old pool frame wrapped with snow fencing on the sides and chicken wire on top, placed between the coop itself and an old falling down corn crib. with snow falling from the corn crib theres no point in me trying to cover it with plastic or anything it would just end up shredded from falling snow.

all great advice, thank you so much!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

You super busy if you’re running an elevator right now.
Asian beetles hit Chippewa national forest two weeks ago. That’s when us in the Northwoods know that the soybeans are getting harvested!

 

[mn farm gal]

IT is extremely right now, but i love my job so it makes it easy to do.
We got hit with Boxelder bugs about two weeks ago, worse than i have seen them in years!
You are definitely in a beautiful part of the state even with the Asian beetles

 

[bobbi-j]

@duluthralphie - Ralphie, saw this and thought of you:

 

[jerryse]

Morning . I did not want to getup . Coffee should help . Ralphie say something .

 

[duluthralphie]

Hi all.

Still kicking, just not very hard. Couple bad days.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I just filled the shop vac with Asian beetles at work. They were keeping warm next to the fluorescent lights and corners of our office. One of those weirdly satisfying jobs.

Last Saturday’s wedding took us to Red Wing. (Big Grain Elevator there!) I had read poor reviews on the Super 8 that we stayed at after booking of course. That the rooms were full of bugs. I thought “oh crap ! Bed bugs!” i thought I’ll have to stick our luggage in the deep freezer after. Well here the rooms were traipsing with Box Elder Bugs.
After living in a hundred year old house near St Cloud it was like seeing old pesky friends again. I laughed when I saw them. DH did too. Then that night they were taking drinks out of my water... etc. darn things.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

hope you’re feeling better soon Ralphie. Mornin’ Jerry.

 

[WIchickMama]

Morning all. Rainy here, was going to mow and gather up some leaves for the garden today but it will be too wet. Also, need to cover the strawberries with straw. The days are shorter but my list is longer......

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Yes. Getting to be time to tuck in things that are outside. Hoses. Deck furniture.,,, although it’s been pretty nice out. Gray day today though.
I have been taking in some local orders of soap. So that’s racking up on me.
made my one apple pie for MIL’s birthday so harvested apples are done . I do have some squash to put up!

3 golden delicious grew. This is the big one. Thank you Jerry. We’ll save seeds. FIL wants to do again with his butter cups and acorn squash.