The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[speckledhen]

We moved the loveseat over to where I had a table with my grandmother's platform rocker on one side and my "crochet chair" (recliner) on the other. I put the old rocker in my craft room for now, moved the table down and put the loveseat over there. It makes a complete seating area there which is more comfortable than it was. Tom's recliner will be in the LR but moved to where the loveseat was so we can put the new couch directly across from the wood stove--it is too long to go where the loveseat was because of a basement door on one side and an exterior door on the other. I mean, it could go there, but no room for an end table for your drink due to the couch length.

I think the loveseat looks good here under the big Michael Sieve print. And I just moved my recliner over at an angle. That loveseat came with really nice pillows that have shades of beige, taupe, silvery gray and charcoal gray and will actually work better on the longer couch. We had put them away because they are so big, they took up too much of the loveseat.

 

[Leahs Mom]

We are much colder, my birds are doing okay. A few look a bit cold, but they will be fine. It can be hard not to worry. I see some nice healthy looking combs on your birds. Nice box, you will have to share how it goes.

I may not do anything at all. I never have given them heat, but every time it gets bitterly cold I think that I need to do something. I just can't imagine sleeping on a roost in that cold with bare feet :0

Then I think of the sparrows and chickadees with their "toothpick legs" and wonder how in the world they don't lose their feet and legs to frostbite. I imagine they have been designed for it. But I'm not convinced that chickens would choose to live in the north if they had a choice. I think they'd likely populate areas that are much warmer in the winter.

Sigh... It's the same thing every year. I feel bad but I don't do anything except feel bad.

 

[Leahs Mom]

PS: I think it weighs on me a bit more each year as the oldest girls get another year older. My oldest 3 will be 6 years old this March.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

PS: I think it weighs on me a bit more each year as the oldest girls get another year older. My oldest 3 will be 6 years old this March.

The older birds do have a rougher time. I feel the guilt too, but it isn't practical for me to try to provide heat. It would be expensive and would just cause them to be dependent on it.

I have had some lose toes. Wide roosts will help prevent that as they sit on their legs and heat them right up.

Most of the chicken is hot if you feel one on a cold day. Their body temperature is hotter than ours. Chickens have been surviving on farms in sub zero weather for decades without extra heat.

Give them extra calories in the form of corn and scratch grains to keep their internal furnace burning.

 

[h2oratt]

I may not do anything at all. I never have given them heat, but every time it gets bitterly cold I think that I need to do something. I just can't imagine sleeping on a roost in that cold with bare feet :0

Then I think of the sparrows and chickadees with their "toothpick legs" and wonder how in the world they don't lose their feet and legs to frostbite. I imagine they have been designed for it. But I'm not convinced that chickens would choose to live in the north if they had a choice. I think they'd likely populate areas that are much warmer in the winter.

Sigh... It's the same thing every year. I feel bad but I don't do anything except feel bad.

What about those heated roosts. We have a metal roost for the cockerels. That sounds cold.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Heated roost?

 

[getaclue]

Whew! We made it through Christmas. What a ride! I had 5 people staying at my house, and 4 of them were kids. When they left, Dh looked around, and told me it would take me 3 months to get our house back in order. I laughed. It will take me a few days, but not 3 months. The kids got so many toys, my daughter couldn't load them all in her car, so I've still got quite a few here. They're coming back this weekend, so she'll get the rest of them then.

When the kids arrived, they were all wound up. We managed to keep them busy, and wore them out enough we didn't have trouble getting them to bed at night. Their last night here, we built a nice fire, roasted marshmallows, and I hitched up the trailer to the tractor, and gave them a few hay rides. They had a ball. My middle granddaughter cried, and didn't want to go home. I told her she will be back this weekend, and she grudgingly accepted that.

I am proud to say, DD #1 did all the cooking for Christmas. Not only was the food good, but I think it tasted even better because I didn't have to cook it. Of course, I had to clean the kitchen afterwards. It wasn't too bad though.

Usually I give the kids some money, as well as a present. I try to get something "interesting" that they'll like. This year, everyone got a Himalayan Salt Lamp. The first one I ever saw was at the cancer center. They're really pretty. I don't know how well they work, but the cancer centers here swear by them. I had gone online to price them. Whoa! They were fairly expensive. Well, for Christmas, Amazon (or their vendors) had dropped the prices almost in half. I was just going to get one for me, but realized they would make a great gift for all the adult children, and a close cousin I needed to buy for. They were a hit!

 

[speckledhen]

Cheryl, glad you survived that. I'm glad there was nothing here. My older son suddenly showed up on Sunday when he was supposed to have to work. I had just sent him an email saying we'd be driving down to meet him at his restaurant this week, that I had made him something, but he answered back, "I'm at your gate!". Did not see another soul.

I can't forgo providing some heat spot to hens as old and disabled as I have. We're talking 9, 10, 11 years old and crippled or almost crippled. We are about to have an unusually frigid spell, certainly for this time of year, with possible negative actual temps and definitely negative windchills. If I had not done so, I feel that several would have already died. I would rather do that and risk a power outage, then pack them with hay/straw than do what the idiot down the road is doing right now, which makes me terribly angry. He has one of those dog kennel things, a stick across one end, a small blue tarp covering part of one end on top and only partially over the side by the roost right out in the open near the road. Not even a dog house for them to go inside. To me, if you cannot provide better than that for your birds in this climate, you should eat them or give them to someone else. It may work in warm climates, but it won't provide any shelter from wind or rain. That is not right at all. Ladyhawk's neighbor did that, not even with a tarp and his birds literally froze on the roost, froze solid. GRRRR!

 

[getaclue]

I agree with you. If you can't provide for your animals, you shouldn't have them. Yes, I understand your need to heat the older birds. You might want to invest into some of those hot hand, pocket warmers too. That way you have a source of heat for them, if the power goes out. I have a friend that has saved more than one hatch when the power went out, using them to hold the heat, until her power was restored. They work.

 

[speckledhen]

I agree with you. If you can't provide for your animals, you shouldn't have them. Yes, I understand your need to heat the older birds. You might want to invest into some of those hot hand, pocket warmers too. That way you have a source of heat for them, if the power goes out. I have a friend that has saved more than one hatch when the power went out, using them to hold the heat, until her power was restored. They work.

We have those around. I keep them for when folks take chicks that are newly hatched and have a drive. Those warmers are part of my emergency supplies.