The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

Quote: I have been watching my hens to make sure there are no problems. Sophie has the largest wattles & is the one who tends to get them wet. I have the water on a shelf & the giant heated bowl is on the ground. I am trying to come up with an idea to keep it outside instead of the coop yet keep the heavy snow off it but high enough they wont walk in it. Of course they get on the shelf now.

I wonder if I put it in an old plastic box on the ground (an old nesting box) or something like that with a limited entrance would work.........hmmm need to think on that some more.......
Or put it in their old run which would force them to walk 5 ft in the snow to access it yet it would stay cleaner there. But when I was not home to shovel they wouldn't walk thru the snow to get to it......and no way I can cover the are for them......

Any thoughts?

You know what? I miss the cold.. take the snow away..

53 cm in the past 3 days. 10 cm more expected tomorrow. Chickens are not allowed out until I get a good path cleared.

Honestly as much as the snow is a pain in the rear I rather have the snow than the cold. My arthritis does not like the cold.......

And Leah's Mom I agree it seems there is more humidity this winter than in past ones. It sure has been a weird year.......more rain than usual, then hot humid above temps for summer, then more snow than we have had in years............

 

[aoxa]

I have been watching my hens to make sure there are no problems. Sophie has the largest wattles & is the one who tends to get them wet. I have the water on a shelf & the giant heated bowl is on the ground. I am trying to come up with an idea to keep it outside instead of the coop yet keep the heavy snow off it but high enough they wont walk in it. Of course they get on the shelf now.

I wonder if I put it in an old plastic box on the ground (an old nesting box) or something like that with a limited entrance would work.........hmmm need to think on that some more.......
Or put it in their old run which would force them to walk 5 ft in the snow to access it yet it would stay cleaner there. But when I was not home to shovel they wouldn't walk thru the snow to get to it......and no way I can cover the are for them......

Any thoughts?
Honestly as much as the snow is a pain in the rear I rather have the snow than the cold. My arthritis does not like the cold.......

And Leah's Mom I agree it seems there is more humidity this winter than in past ones. It sure has been a weird year.......more rain than usual, then hot humid above temps for summer, then more snow than we have had in years............

Do you have to shovel? The shovelling does me in. I was shovelling so hard I threw up. LOL

My road to the barn is 2 acres long. I had to do it all by hand yesterday because our tractor will not start.

I did have someone plough the regular driveway.

Two winters ago I only had to shovel maybe 3 times max. I'm being punished for that easy winter now...

 

[Leahs Mom]

I finally came to the conclusion that it's worth paying someone to plow if you have a long drive and no plow. Of course, the prices may be way higher this year, but in the past it was reasonable for all it saved.



On the ff and wattles - I am keeping watch on that. After I saw lala's dog bowl (I think it was lala?) with the center piece inside, I started putting an inverted pyrex container into the center of my pie pan feeders that I use for ff. (There are 3 of these feeders around..) I'm also hoping that restricts the opening enough to help keep wattles out of the bowl. We shall see.

I think you can kind-of see one of them in this photo.

 

[armorfirelady]

Do you have to shovel? The shovelling does me in. I was shovelling so hard I threw up. LOL

My road to the barn is 2 acres long. I had to do it all by hand yesterday because our tractor will not start.

I did have someone plough the regular driveway.

Two winters ago I only had to shovel maybe 3 times max. I'm being punished for that easy winter now...

I have to shovel out to the hens. I have snow blower for the driveway. If the temps were not going up I was going to snow blow paths in the back yard for the dogs. Its as high as Lily and up to Bears back. They have a couple paths they made but its hard for them to go potty in the paths. I wish I could get the snow blower into where the hens are to snow blow that as well but its to wide to get thru the gate.

I finally came to the conclusion that it's worth paying someone to plow if you have a long drive and no plow. Of course, the prices may be way higher this year, but in the past it was reasonable for all it saved.



On the ff and wattles - I am keeping watch on that. After I saw lala's dog bowl (I think it was lala?) with the center piece inside, I started putting an inverted pyrex container into the center of my pie pan feeders that I use for ff. (There are 3 of these feeders around..) I'm also hoping that restricts the opening enough to help keep wattles out of the bowl. We shall see.

I think you can kind-of see one of them in this photo.

Hmmm I might try that for the new giant bowl and see how it goes. The water bowl one is small & deep so they have to dip to get it out. I used to keep it full till Sophie got her wattles in it

 

[Scott H]

Yesterday I filled the heated dog bowl with fine gravel and then topped with water to conduct the heat better. I put a double walled fount on top of this to see if it will work outside as a waterer.... no water in the coop.

 

[aoxa]

I have to shovel out to the hens. I have snow blower for the driveway. If the temps were not going up I was going to snow blow paths in the back yard for the dogs. Its as high as Lily and up to Bears back. They have a couple paths they made but its hard for them to go potty in the paths. I wish I could get the snow blower into where the hens are to snow blow that as well but its to wide to get thru the gate.

Hmmm I might try that for the new giant bowl and see how it goes. The water bowl one is small & deep so they have to dip to get it out. I used to keep it full till Sophie got her wattles in it

My dad is lending me his old snow blower until mine is fixed.

I just can't afford to have someone plough down tot he barn as LM mentioned. It's $40 alone for my driveway, and we've already had two big storms this week

 

[Leahs Mom]

AFL - I finally bought a bowl like this to keep the outdoor ff from freezing for the "little monkeys". I put a glass pie pan in it so that I could lift it out easily for cleaning then put the pyrex container upside down in the center.

It's the only one that I have that I didn't take apart and use the heat base because it's shallow enough. It was more expensive than the deep plastic ones though. $29 here locally. Way too expensive on Amazon.

Only thing I'm still concerned with on this is that it is metal and may be very cold to the wattles too if they have any moisture on them when they touch that metal.

I read one of the reviews on it that a lady sits her chicken waterer right inside the bowl with water in the bowl and it keeps it open. I've been doing that with one of the smaller bowls like you have - putting one of the chick waterers right inside the quart dog bowl with the canning jar sitting upright in it. Keeps it from freezing and still provides a restricted opening so wattles aren't in the bowl. I'll take a photo of it later if I get a chance.



Farm innovators makes a shallow one that has plastic on the outside but I can't find them locally even though the manufacturer is within 30 miles of me. I called them and they don't sell from the factory. It looks like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Innovators-3-Quart-Stainless-SB-40/dp/B000TZ1VWW

I thought the ss insert was removable but is isn't. I would still put a glass pan inside it as it makes it easier to just pull the bowl and clean it out and put it back in.

 

[lazy gardener]

LM: I have a 5 qt heated bowl similar to the one pictured. I put a filled gallon jug in the middle to keep the girls out of it, if it's kept topped off, they are able to drink without dangling their wattles in it.

 

[Leahs Mom]

LM: I have a 5 qt heated bowl similar to the one pictured. I put a filled gallon jug in the middle to keep the girls out of it, if it's kept topped off, they are able to drink without dangling their wattles in it.

I'm glad to hear that works.

I had thought about filling a tall narrow canning jar and putting it into one of the quart size bowls for water for the same purpose. But decided that I'd have to fill it too often for them to have enough water. With the bigger one at least they'd have more water before I had to fill!

 

[lazy gardener]

Also, if there's a full jug sitting in the waterer, you can use that to top off until the level in the jug gets down to the level in the moat. I take a jug out every other day or so. I'm delighted to not be dealing with ice any more.