Tennessee

[NellaBean]

Well gosh, I feel gypped......I was outside for 3 hours taking care of animals in nothing but a skimpy pair of pajama pants.....my butt is frozen.

But I did get things ready for the "storm". I cleaned out the 4x8 hutch in the big rooster pen...currently home to a whopping 2 bantam roosters. Finally installed a nice roost in there, moved a litterbox in for a nest box, hung new feeder and waterer, filled it full of a full bale of clean fresh shavings....and then moved my bantam mottled cochin flock in there. 1 rooster, 6 hens....they are going to stay locked in there until the "bad weather" is over. Should be a good transition for them so that they learn where their new coop is and also keep them out of the weather a bit better. The two roosters moved into their old coop which is a 8x8 covered pen with a rabbit hutch. Perfect for just 2 boys.....

I'm going to bring out some plastic sheathing tonight and my staple gun and cover half the mesh doors and recover the windows that keep coming uncovered. Planning on also covering half the doors in each brooder to help keep some heat in.

Considering running out today to get gas....truck is only half full. Can't decide if I want to brave the cold again or not. My butt might finally be thawed....sigh....

 

[Okla-doodle-doo]

Jenski You need to come and go with me to a sale. Pm me your address and I will send you a flyer giving the dates for the new year. The next one is the 12th of feb. It starts at ten but they sell stock(not many,maily goats and a few pigs) so the chickens start at 11 or 11:30. I like to go early to "shop" first!lol. It would make an early day for you but I would love the company of another chicken lover!. Maybe someone else would like to join us!(open invation guys!).It was 9 at 10 last night here,not for sure how low it got. I have already been out emrtying water bowls! now I know why I got out of rabbits before! Oh well here we go again!lol

 

[Sissy]

Janski my hens were doing good until I stopped the lighting
of the coops after the electric bill came in at $450.

that knocked us for a loop.
so maybe thats part of the problen of no light no lay

I am getting ready to get all my coops layerd in more wood shavings to keep
everyone warm I have 6 -3 month old silkies with their
their ma in one coop and am wondering if I should bring them
into the house with this storm warning that we have.
last spring I had some golden comets on the carport
and some silkies and a critter got to all of them
I dont want to lose these.

 

[Okla-doodle-doo]

quote=Sissy]Janski my hens were doing good until I stopped the lighting
of the coops after the electric bill came in at $450.

that knocked us for a loop.


Know what you mean Sissy! I pluged the outside Christmas lights in and left them on day and night for a month, and put a heat lamp on my piglet and my wife hit the ceiling when our bill jumped $50 for the month!. In my defense tho ,we also had a couple of weeks ob really cold weather too!

 

[HBuehler]

Gosh guys I have about 12 heat lamps running for birds a central small light in the chicken shed on all the time Electric heat/air a family of 5 tvs on non stop as well as the dryer and I about flipped over my bill which was half of yours and it was brrrrr cold here.
I'm not very far from those sales I'm closer to C.Springs than Lebanon...hmm I need more chickens

but what's the quality-I'm getting very fussy unless it's a funky colored Silkie

 

[Cindiloohoo]

My bill was $235 and we had 2 lights for the chooks on constantly. We don't have TV though. Should be down next month as we have burned wood heat since installing the new stove.

I can't wait to see how much cheaper it is!!!!

 

[stanglover2001]

Man, ours was $200 as well, I only have 1 heat lamp going... It's just the 2 of us in a single wide.... I think its because our heat is a energy hog of a furnace... Our water bill was abnormally high as well (our neighbors was $80 but found out she had a leak at the water meter) ours was half that, we're blaming it on all the water we use to rewater the chickens each morning. I'm not going to miss the cold weather when it gets warm again! It's costing us an arm and a leg... I'll have to see how much a kidney is worth on the black market here soon!

 

[Jenski]

Hey, for those splash lovers out there, check out these incredible splash Dutch bantams over in NC - -


https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=435510

 

[HBuehler]

Do I see a road trip for Jen in the future

I'm learning tunnel vision no more new breeds I have my hands full-and wallet empty with the one's I have now but boy are they pretty.
Tick tock tick tock the snow is coming

 

[Robo]

Don't remind me, I am pretending I own 100 acres on Daytona Beach. The chickens forage through the water eating clams and minnows while I sit in my lawn chair watching the waves while my chickens are returning to their coops for the night. When we had that last big snow I was out there on the four wheeler trying to pull the feed trailer over a sheet of ice. When I finally made it to the coop the door had 4 inches of ice on it. When it gets really cold the quail poo freezes to the wire, and all of my expensive eggs freeze. I don't want to know my electric bill. I have two heat lamps running, a small one to keep the quail waterer un frozen, and one for the chicks. I also have 3 heated dog bowls for the chickens, and don't forget the Christmas lights on my bobwhite pens. I also don't want to know my water bill, I re fill 5 waterers every day. I have to get up at 6 o clock and start the four wheeler, then fill a barrel full of boiling water, then bust ice in the dog waterer and head out to the chickens. My feed and bedding bill is driving me bonkers, but whatcha gonna do? Guess I had better stop venting.