The Middle Tennessee Thread

[Tracyree]

I use. Heated dog dish in winter, works great.

 

[RedRidge]

The problem I ran into with heated dog bowls is that the cocks can't drink easily without getting their wattles wet and then they are susceptible to frost bite. The stock tank deicers in a bucket with chicken nipples on the bottom seems to prevent this problem. We use a bunch of these each Jan and Feb and have never had a problem.

 

[tnmommy]

The problem I ran into with heated dog bowls is that the cocks can't drink easily without getting their wattles wet and then they are susceptible to frost bite. The stock tank deicers in a bucket with chicken nipples on the bottom seems to prevent this problem. We use a bunch of these each Jan and Feb and have never had a problem.

I agree. My rooster got frostbitten wattles last year. I want to get a system like what you described. My chickens haven't used poultry nipples before. I hope it isn't hard to teach.

 

[RedRidge]

The problem I ran into with heated dog bowls is that the cocks can't drink easily without getting their wattles wet and then they are susceptible to frost bite. The stock tank deicers in a bucket with chicken nipples on the bottom seems to prevent this problem. We use a bunch of these each Jan and Feb and have never had a problem.

I agree.  My rooster got frostbitten wattles last year.  I want to get a system like what you described.  My chickens haven't used poultry nipples before.  I hope it isn't hard to teach.

My chickens use nipples from the time they are hatched. Even the brooders have nipples. Never had a problem. More importantly I never have messy water - or frozen water. Not quite so easy for the rabbits.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: My chickens use nipples from the time they are hatched. Even the brooders have nipples. Never had a problem. More importantly I never have messy water - or frozen water. Not quite so easy for the rabbits.

The nipples can be quite a pain if you don't have a way to keep them from freezing. Last year I just learned to dump the waters when we left the farm and add some hot water to thaw what froze in the nipples and give them fresh water after that. I don't have electricity in all my pens and with 600 chickens it would be impossible to have that many water heaters.

 

[RedRidge]

 

 

The problem I ran into with heated dog bowls is that the cocks can't drink easily without getting their wattles wet and then they are susceptible to frost bite. The stock tank deicers in a bucket with chicken nipples on the bottom seems to prevent this problem. We use a bunch of these each Jan and Feb and have never had a problem.

I agree.  My rooster got frostbitten wattles last year.  I want to get a system like what you described.  My chickens haven't used poultry nipples before.  I hope it isn't hard to teach.

My chickens use nipples from the time they are hatched. Even the brooders have nipples. Never had a problem. More importantly I never have messy water - or frozen water. Not quite so easy for the rabbits.

The nipples can be quite a pain if you don't have a way to keep them from freezing.  Last year I just learned to dump the waters when we left the farm and add some hot water to thaw what froze in the nipples and give them fresh water after that.  I don't have electricity in all my pens and with 600 chickens it would be impossible to have that many water heaters. 

I have more than 1000 head of livestock here but will only be over wintering about 300 chickens. Normally I only overwinter about 100 chickens. We evaluate and keep only the best of each breed each fall. The remaining birds go in the freezer or in the large laying pen. We spent last weekend filling one freezer with chickens.
Because I am currently hatching (which I never do on the fall), I have several hundred chicks right now. These numbers are necessary for my Rhodebar genetic improvement project. The timing was just off and I'm anxious to get the next generation laying so I doubled up my hatch times for 18 months. But not without a plan since I've never over wintered that many chickens before.

So... Some tricks for some of you looking for helpful hints for overwintering...
As long as the buckets have the deicers the nipples won't freeze. The disc deicers (or birth bath deicers as some call them) have a built in thermostat so they require very little electricity. Design your pens in squares to reduce the number of deicers and extension cords you need. For instance my four primary overwintering pens all come together at one corner. One five gallon bucket with 8 nipples and only one deicer will service 100 head. I will combine my hens from different breeds in groups to over winter in groups that fit well in these 4 pens (which are not all the same size). I combine breeds of similar temperaments so i never have any arguments or fighting. They are all used to this... I rotate livestock frequently so they are used to moving about. This has worked great in the past and works great to create large groups. Combining different breed hens over the winter makes this more practical and really cuts down on winter labor. Reduction in labor since I kindle in Dec and lamb in Jan and Feb is critical. Efficiency is my primary goal for those 90 days when all livestock is close to the barn and off the good pastures on the remaining 50 acres. The big problem I had to overcome was providing water to the breeding pens where I have only pairs and trios in a long line starting late January. I discovered these cool extension cords that have an outlet spaced every 4 or 8 feet instead just at the end. I use these for 2 gallon buckets in my cockerel pens and breeding pens (each bucket services 2 pens). I use these same extension cords for the rabbit water nipples. I use the same stock tank deicers for the larger animal's stock tanks.
Years and years of over wintering livestock and just simply get older requires efficiency to reduce stress and work load. Farming is my livelihood so I'm always looking for ways to improve efficiency. Any other successful experiments on overwintering, please share. One of these days I'll have power at my breeding and cockerel pens... But not this year.

 

[Penny Hen]

I have more than 1000 head of livestock here but will only be over wintering about 300 chickens. Normally I only overwinter about 100 chickens. We evaluate and keep only the best of each breed each fall. The remaining birds go in the freezer or in the large laying pen. We spent last weekend filling one freezer with chickens.
Because I am currently hatching (which I never do on the fall), I have several hundred chicks right now. These numbers are necessary for my Rhodebar genetic improvement project. The timing was just off and I'm anxious to get the next generation laying so I doubled up my hatch times for 18 months. But not without a plan since I've never over wintered that many chickens before.

So... Some tricks for some of you looking for helpful hints for overwintering...
As long as the buckets have the deicers the nipples won't freeze. The disc deicers (or birth bath deicers as some call them) have a built in thermostat so they require very little electricity. Design your pens in squares to reduce the number of deicers and extension cords you need. For instance my four primary overwintering pens all come together at one corner. One five gallon bucket with 8 nipples and only one deicer will service 100 head. I will combine my hens from different breeds in groups to over winter in groups that fit well in these 4 pens (which are not all the same size). I combine breeds of similar temperaments so i never have any arguments or fighting. They are all used to this... I rotate livestock frequently so they are used to moving about. This has worked great in the past and works great to create large groups. Combining different breed hens over the winter makes this more practical and really cuts down on winter labor. Reduction in labor since I kindle in Dec and lamb in Jan and Feb is critical. Efficiency is my primary goal for those 90 days when all livestock is close to the barn and off the good pastures on the remaining 50 acres. The big problem I had to overcome was providing water to the breeding pens where I have only pairs and trios in a long line starting late January. I discovered these cool extension cords that have an outlet spaced every 4 or 8 feet instead just at the end. I use these for 2 gallon buckets in my cockerel pens and breeding pens (each bucket services 2 pens). I use these same extension cords for the rabbit water nipples. I use the same stock tank deicers for the larger animal's stock tanks.
Years and years of over wintering livestock and just simply get older requires efficiency to reduce stress and work load. Farming is my livelihood so I'm always looking for ways to improve efficiency. Any other successful experiments on overwintering, please share. One of these days I'll have power at my breeding and cockerel pens... But not this year.

Oh! Oh! You didn't name your source for the cool electrical extension cords!

 

[RedRidge]

Go to Amazon or Google "in line extension cords"

 

[n3kms]

One of my pullets got killed today by a neighbor's daughter's dog. We have never liked that dog. But she got out of the house unintentionally and some of my pullets were out of the run and in our yard and she went after them. The neighbors got the dog. The father actually brought his gun to shoot the dog but his daughter got her up first. Can't really blame anybody. It's what dogs do and I'm surprised things have gone so well so far. We just got chickens for the first time this last spring. She died in my arms. It was odd. She didn't have a mark on her, just a little blood on her beak. There were quite a few feathers around but they were not hers and I'm not for sure who they belonged to. Nobody seemed to be missing too many. She must have had bad internal injuries because she only lived a few minutes after I picked her up. She laid pretty blue eggs and had two sisters that looked so much like her that I had not given them specific names but was just thinking this morning that I needed to put colored bands on them to tell them apart so I could name them.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I'm so sorry. That is heartbreaking.