Texas

[ClovisMan]

Yes, we are shutdown in New Braunfels. Roads are iced over and people are in ditches. Hoffman Lane is real bad. I slid twice and decided to turn around before I hit the hills. Took the long way to work and 306 and Common Street seem to be okay right now.

ShowBarnMom - What breed is your dog? Looks Terrier-ish. I have something similar.

 

[hensfortherapy]

Going through Dallas on the way to Ok.

Keep warm.

 

[hensfortherapy]

Mornin from Georgetown! I finished my home made incubator this weekend. Had some eggs and got some more yesterday from Lexington. Going in the incubator tiday! I'm so excited and so nervous at the same time, I can't stand it!

Good Luck.

 

[8isenuff]

My hens tried to burn down their coop last night!

Guess it was so cold they needed a fire! I went out this morning and smelled that smoldering smell coming from the coop...opened it up and their heat lamp had fallen so hard to the floor that it knocked the protectors off and there was a burned hold through the floor!!!

What does everyone do to help heat their coops? ....with out burning them down....

 

[hensfortherapy]

My hens tried to burn down their coop last night!  Guess it was so cold they needed a fire! I went out this morning and smelled that smoldering smell coming from the coop...opened it up and their heat lamp had fallen so hard to the floor that it knocked the protectors off and there was a burned hold through the floor!!!

What does everyone do to help heat their coops? ....with out burning them down.... :/

I just put more hay in the coop. The coops are small and the chickens manage fine. I might do more if it got colder than the teens.

 

[LBejaran]

I'm a bit of a simpleton when it comes to heating the coop. I hand multiple heat lamps from the ceiling so the heat radiates down, I layer the hay onto everything, and I leave on our fluorescent "daylight" lamp so they can pick at the corn I leave out for them to pick at. It isn't the.best that I could do, but my chickens are pretty adaptable. Even the Frizzles and Naked Necks, chickens that are said to not do well during cold weather, are doing great.

They've always had to deal with the weather and they are doing really well. I do like to give them warm feed sometimes to congratulate them on surviving, haha!

Speaking of warm food...

It was a ramen kind of day. I wanted to add broccoli, but I wasn't about to open the freezer. I settled for a tiny pullet egg, hehe!

 

[SlipsWife]

My hens tried to burn down their coop last night!

Guess it was so cold they needed a fire! I went out this morning and smelled that smoldering smell coming from the coop...opened it up and their heat lamp had fallen so hard to the floor that it knocked the protectors off and there was a burned hold through the floor!!!

What does everyone do to help heat their coops? ....with out burning them down....

I'm so glad you caught it!

We are in Odessa and don't supplement heat. How old are your chickens? If they are feathered out and have protection from the elements, you should be fine not supplementing them. Right now we currently have 6 standard size girls and 2 bantams and they didn't even sleep together last night, which you think they would for warmth. They are in an 8x12 shed that's on the ground w/hay bedding. It got down to 12* with a wind chill of -1* and they were going crazy to get out this morning....not that they stayed out long...silly girls.

From everything I've read if you don't supplement heat they will be fine. If you do, and then for some reason don't/can't (power outage) then you can run into problems because they are use to the heat. The only time we step in is if it's going to get nasty or be cold at night and they roost in their run, then we will put them in the coop. Most of the time they make the right decision and go in when its cold but if we know there's a cold front coming in we push them in the coop and close it off.

 

[thesagemind]

Sage Mind Homestead here
In lovely Paige texas near Elgin Giddings Bastrop and Smithville
New to area about 1.5 yrs
Just getting started w two hens 1 roo and they get along fine even tho only 2 as they grew up together ! Vertical gardens hydroponics 25 Talapia in an aquaponic setup and 6 ferral cats who are now wanting in the house and to be picked up and follow us around everywhere we go who share time between two homesteads ! Very fine site here

 

[bnjrob]

I just received my 2014 Ameraucana Breeders Club 2014 Handbook. I wanted to share some information from an article ("Should I Vaccinate For Laryngotracheitis) written by Paul Smith, an Ameraucana breeder from Gainseville, Texas, and also the ABC Director for this region.

In 2003, he attended a fall show where someone exhibited birds recently vaccinated with a live-virus vaccine for the disease. They shed the virus and his birds became infected.

In the state of Texas, the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) will order the destruction of an entire flock of birds if one has the disease. A few months later, the TAHC ordered the destruction of his entire flock. He slaughtered 158 of them and the TAHC gassed the other 48, all at his expense. Included in this mass killing were three Best of Breeds, one Reserve Best of Breed, many Best of Variety from the previous four Americauna National shows.

He had to start from scratch with eggs that had been disinfected.

If anyone is showing birds, he recommends vaccinating and specifically with the vaccine that doesn't shed. The old style "hot" vaccine (CEO--Chick Embryo Origin) will shed the virus. The newer LT-I-VAX does not shed the virus according to the manufacturer. He closes the article by reminding everyone that there will be birds at the show that are un-vaccinated or vaccinated with the CEO vaccine. He laments that if he had vaccinated his flock, he wouldn't have lost his entire flock of prize-winning birds.

When I wrote to him about vaccinating my birds (he is their breeder), he wrote back that the manufacturer of the vaccine has changed ownership and there is a merger thrown in there to boot, so the vaccine is often hard to come by. I bought the last four vials of the vaccine from the supplier that was recommended to me.

Certain vaccines for ILT are illegal in TX for this reason - makes me wonder how the person got their hands on the stuff - unless they ordered it from outside the state from a company that failed to inform them that it was illegal to use in TX.

People really need to learn the rules about vaccinations before they just start ordering vaccines willy nilly.

 

[SlipsWife]

My hens tried to burn down their coop last night!

Guess it was so cold they needed a fire! I went out this morning and smelled that smoldering smell coming from the coop...opened it up and their heat lamp had fallen so hard to the floor that it knocked the protectors off and there was a burned hold through the floor!!!

What does everyone do to help heat their coops? ....with out burning them down....

If you still want to put a heat lamp or a light, you might look into a stand that you can secure. (I would personally run any cords in conduit so they don't get bored and peck at it). I think these would be really simple to make but here's a link to order one if you'd prefer!

http://www.randallburkey.com/Brooder-Stand/productinfo/10135/#.UvPLhHbnYcA