Texas

[wlhtx]

Don't tell me this! I have three-week-old EEs and my DH might eat them if they wait that long to lay

Ha! Mine has been threatening the same thing!!! But it is totally driving me nuts!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Hmph - my EEs are 29 weeks old and I haven't gotten a single egg from any of them yet. (I have 12 EE pullets...) Yes, 29 whole weeks and no colored eggs. My husband is convinced they're defective.

To be fair my whole flock has been on strike for the last month though... A couple of my other birds just started laying again this past week, so maybe - *fingers crossed* - the EEs will start laying soon.

Do you have a light on them at night? All of my hens stopped laying in Sep. Put a light on them 2 weeks ago and I am up to a dozen or more a day now. Even my 3 yr old AA/Game mix started laying two days ago.

 

[TammyTX]

My birds have not laid an egg in a week. I thought they were done molting...even the favorite hen is growing feathers on her back again.

We keep hearing "colder than usual winter", maybe they are storing up their energy in preparation for it.

 

[bnjrob]

My birds have not laid an egg in a week. I thought they were done molting...even the favorite hen is growing feathers on her back again.

We keep hearing "colder than usual winter", maybe they are storing up their energy in preparation for it.

Glad it's not just me. The only ones laying right now are some pullets that just started laying. The hens quit laying while molting but I swear they all are fully feathered again, just not laying again yet.

 

[hungnguyen]

I raise Oriental and they lay year round. Most of them just gave me several batches of chicks in Sept. Then half of them started to lay again last week. So the breeds do make a difference.

 

[mylittlechicken]

I have a question. Take anybody in Texas there chickens into a chickencoop or shelter. It is not really cold here in the winter.
Was just wondering, cause this will be my first winter with chickens and like to hear about your experiences.

 

[TammyTX]

I have a question. Take anybody in Texas there chickens into a chickencoop or shelter. It is not really cold here in the winter.
Was just wondering, cause this will be my first winter with chickens and like to hear about your experiences.

My current coop is pretty drafty. In the winter I shut the windows up and keep a heat lamp on, hung up high by the roost but use it ONLY if it is below 35 at night. Right now I'm keeping the windows open during these cool nights to start getting them used to it. It is important to keep your chickens dry when it is cold.

My coop will be at capacity on the roost, so I think that they will be warm enough with one heat lamp, but I might add another just in case of a bitter cold night like in the lower 20's.

In this part of Texas chickens are usually in more danger in the summer because of the heat. In the winter they huddle together and stay warm. If we get really low temps they can get frostbite on their feet and large combs and wattles.

 

[bnjrob]

I have a question. Take anybody in Texas there chickens into a chickencoop or shelter. It is not really cold here in the winter.
Was just wondering, cause this will be my first winter with chickens and like to hear about your experiences.

I do not use heat lamps in coops. Frostbite is generally caused by condensation from poorly ventilated housing. We have vents, windows, and roof ventilation to prevent the condensation issue. The roosts are 2x3 cedar set flat so there is plenty of room for them to squat their breasts down on their feet to help keep them warm. Chickens have a body temps around 103 - even below freezing if you have them out of direct wind/drafts, they can do well without supplemental heat. If you do any historical research on poultry housing, you will see that even in places with heavy snowfall and colder temps than we have here, the coops were not heated or insulation and were often open air style with simply a canvas hung between the wire and the roosts as a windbreak. Was 38 degrees yesterday morning - everybody was fine and frisky when we got up - including the juveniles who are in open air grow out pens that do not have 4 wall coops on them, just 3 walls with the walls facing the north, east, west which keeps them out of the north wind.

 

[TammyTX]

I do not use heat lamps in coops. Frostbite is generally caused by condensation from poorly ventilated housing. We have vents, windows, and roof ventilation to prevent the condensation issue. The roosts are 2x3 cedar set flat so there is plenty of room for them to squat their breasts down on their feet to help keep them warm. Chickens have a body temps around 103 - even below freezing if you have them out of direct wind/drafts, they can do well without supplemental heat. If you do any historical research on poultry housing, you will see that even in places with heavy snowfall and colder temps than we have here, the coops were not heated or insulation and were often open air style with simply a canvas hung between the wire and the roosts as a windbreak. Was 38 degrees yesterday morning - everybody was fine and frisky when we got up - including the juveniles who are in open air grow out pens that do not have 4 wall coops on them, just 3 walls with the walls facing the north, east, west which keeps them out of the north wind.

I'm originally from eastern Illinois where it gets pretty dang cold and the chicken houses that I was familiar with were built out of concrete blocks. I don't remember them being heated but they were completely closed in. My experience is limited to just a few coops that I happen to remember being in when I was around 10 years old.

 

[jajeanpierre]

My current coop is pretty drafty. In the winter I shut the windows up and keep a heat lamp on, hung up high by the roost but use it ONLY if it is below 35 at night. Right now I'm keeping the windows open during these cool nights to start getting them used to it. It is important to keep your chickens dry when it is cold.

I doubt you need the extra heat. If they are dry and out of the wind, they should be okay, unless they have some issues with feathering such as a double copy frizzle.

I'm not that far from you, just north of San Antonio in the Hill Country, and I was trying to set my parrots up this year to be able to stay out day and night all winter. The breeder just outside Dallas has all her parrots outside 24/7, all year. No heat. She puts plastic around the flights to block the wind. They have nest boxes, but many of her non-breeding birds don't go inside the nest boxes. I know another breeder in Ohio whose big cockatoos break the ice in their water bowls to bath in.