The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

-38.2F with windchill this morning. -18.4F without.

In the big barn: can't be any colder than 20F in there. The water was not frozen all the way through.

Hallway pens: very cold. The heated dog dishes froze 1/2 an inch on top. I took that inch off by pressing on one side and it pops up on the other. Nice and unfrozen under that.

We are in for a little cold snap. By Monday we are going up to 43.

I think that Lala can have her frigid temps back

We are currently 13F (-10C) but the wind chill is the negatives. Tonight suppose to get down under 0F (-17C) I want to go back home it was 76 with the wood stove going.......I need to see if I can convince my Mom to go throw some wood on during the day for me so it stays warm. My cats love the temps...they are lay in front of the wood stove

I don't know if the hens will venture out or not. If they get hungry I am sure they will.

 

[aoxa]

I think that Lala can have her frigid temps back

We are currently 13F (-10C) but the wind chill is the negatives. Tonight suppose to get down under 0F (-17C) I want to go back home it was 76 with the wood stove going.......I need to see if I can convince my Mom to go throw some wood on during the day for me so it stays warm. My cats love the temps...they are lay in front of the wood stove

I don't know if the hens will venture out or not. If they get hungry I am sure they will.

I think I'm going to have to start a fire tonight. Not sure my heat pump is going to manage this too well.

I was surprised that it was around 18 in the house this morning. Those heat pumps aren't supposed to work after -20C. It's actually cheaper than wood, which is why we use it... but we have some wood left from last year to finish up.

 

[mlowen]

FL, I, too, saved a bunch of pumpkins for the girls. I went to bring one into the basement to thaw and every dad gummed one of them have been chewed into and every seed eaten! I'm thinking red squirrels. I'm going to build a hardware cloth cage, next year!

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote:
I love, love. love my wood stove & wouldn't survive the winter to well without it....nothing better than a toasty warm house. I freeze at peoples houses who have forced air.

AFL, I, too, saved a bunch of pumpkins for the girls. I went to bring one into the basement to thaw and every dad gummed one of them have been chewed into and every seed eaten! I'm thinking red squirrels. I'm going to build a hardware cloth cage, next year!

Ah yes the grey squirrels, red squirrels, bunnies & mice tend to munch on mine as well. Tho they are frozen solid so they are no good to any critter now. I have never had them eat all the seeds before tho. I normally find chew marks on the outside skin is all. You must have hungry squirrels

 

[aoxa]

I love, love. love my wood stove & wouldn't survive the winter to well without it....nothing better than a toasty warm house. I freeze at peoples houses who have forced air.

Does your husband do the stacking and splitting? If I had someone to do that for me, I'd totally only do wood.. but with everything else on my plate, it's too much. It is the best feeling to have wood heat though, I agree with you there.

 

[lazy gardener]

All the way up to -6.9F here today. I have yet to go out to check on the girls. I am so very thankful for my heated dog bowl! I do have to get out and shovel the snow off the green house today before the next snow fall, and expected ice storm this weekend. BTW, every time I see pics of SFH, I think that I need some. They're just so gosh darn cute!!!

 

[lalaland]

-38.2F with windchill this morning. -18.4F without.

In the big barn: can't be any colder than 20F in there. The water was not frozen all the way through.

Hallway pens: very cold. The heated dog dishes froze 1/2 an inch on top. I took that inch off by pressing on one side and it pops up on the other. Nice and unfrozen under that.

We are in for a little cold snap. By Monday we are going up to 43.

thats way cold in your house! glad the barn stays so warm. It was -26F airtemps this morning, and about -16 in the coop with the heat lamp on. About because the thermometer has poop on it and I'm afriad to try to scrape frozen poop off without breaking the glass bulb - its the old mercury type of thermometer.

Monday we are going down to a cold snap, and if you think I can say that without cringing, you are wrong. Its gonna be a high of -23 and lows of -30+.
THis morning my hens look miserable. All three sulmtalers were in the nests, and some hens don't seem to even want to eat. I'm getting worried. How long can they take these awful temps?
good thing it is going to be sunny this afternoon with a high of -4, but the west end of the coop gets nice and sunny and all the hens crowd in there - kind of a sun room. might even get to 0 in there!

I think that Lala can have her frigid temps back

We are currently 13F (-10C) but the wind chill is the negatives. Tonight suppose to get down under 0F (-17C) I want to go back home it was 76 with the wood stove going.......I need to see if I can convince my Mom to go throw some wood on during the day for me so it stays warm. My cats love the temps...they are lay in front of the wood stove

I don't know if the hens will venture out or not. If they get hungry I am sure they will.

AFL, I was kinda hoping you'ld take them!

I'm going to fire up the wood stove today - Sue and I are going to make perogies, and hang out. Usually I don't get to enjoy a fire...

Aoxa, here you can buy your wood all split, and I hear tell you can even pay them to stack it for you. I usually end up with a pick up load to unload, haul, and stack, so it ia late fall task before the snow comes. I'm running a little low so have to ration out the fires so I can be sure to have an emergency stash in case of power outages.

Hens have been inside for a week now.

 

[aoxa]

thats way cold in your house! glad the barn stays so warm. It was -26F airtemps this morning, and about -16 in the coop with the heat lamp on. About because the thermometer has poop on it and I'm afriad to try to scrape frozen poop off without breaking the glass bulb - its the old mercury type of thermometer.

Monday we are going down to a cold snap, and if you think I can say that without cringing, you are wrong. Its gonna be a high of -23 and lows of -30+.
THis morning my hens look miserable. All three sulmtalers were in the nests, and some hens don't seem to even want to eat. I'm getting worried. How long can they take these awful temps?
good thing it is going to be sunny this afternoon with a high of -4, but the west end of the coop gets nice and sunny and all the hens crowd in there - kind of a sun room. might even get to 0 in there!


AFL, I was kinda hoping you'ld take them!

I'm going to fire up the wood stove today - Sue and I are going to make perogies, and hang out. Usually I don't get to enjoy a fire...

Aoxa, here you can buy your wood all split, and I hear tell you can even pay them to stack it for you. I usually end up with a pick up load to unload, haul, and stack, so it ia late fall task before the snow comes. I'm running a little low so have to ration out the fires so I can be sure to have an emergency stash in case of power outages.

Hens have been inside for a week now.

18 isn't too bad. Chilly, but okay. Especially with how cold it was outside. If we started a fire in the evening last winter, it was around 14-15 in the morning every day. So cold!

What I like about the heat pumps is I don't dred getting out from under the covers in the morning lol.
It was 21 in our bedroom. We have a space heater going on in there.

 

[armorfirelady]

Does your husband do the stacking and splitting? If I had someone to do that for me, I'd totally only do wood.. but with everything else on my plate, it's too much. It is the best feeling to have wood heat though, I agree with you there.

I am not married so I do most of it myself. We get logs dropped at my house then between my best friend & I we cut, split it, then stack it. My mom helps to stack when she can.
Then in September I toss about 10-12 cords into the garage to stack again. I like dry fire wood for the winter. When I get my dream house I am building a lean to onto the house where the wood can be stacked once & have doors into house so its accessible without going outside

But around here you can get people to drop off cut & split wood & they would probably stack it for a price as well. But around here thats between $70 & $80 a cord. I spend about $200 for between 20-25 cords of wood when we are done. Usually enough left for the following year & we heat 2 houses with the wood.

AFL, I was kinda hoping you'ld take them!

I'm going to fire up the wood stove today - Sue and I are going to make perogies, and hang out. Usually I don't get to enjoy a fire...

Aoxa, here you can buy your wood all split, and I hear tell you can even pay them to stack it for you. I usually end up with a pick up load to unload, haul, and stack, so it ia late fall task before the snow comes. I'm running a little low so have to ration out the fires so I can be sure to have an emergency stash in case of power outages.

Hens have been inside for a week now.

While its nice of you to share you can have it back

On the National news this morning they were in Minneapolis,MN showing how a raw egg froze in 3 seconds outside. I guess they were running out of news lol I know I rather be inside the outside seeing if an egg freezes. I already know they do

 

[Jewelwing]

AFL, I, too, saved a bunch of pumpkins for the girls. I went to bring one into the basement to thaw and every dad gummed one of them have been chewed into and every seed eaten! I'm thinking red squirrels. I'm going to build a hardware cloth cage, next year!

Oh ,that would frustrate me so much! After you carefully saved them for your girls! I'm sorry.

I think that Lala can have her frigid temps back

We are currently 13F (-10C) but the wind chill is the negatives. Tonight suppose to get down under 0F (-17C) I want to go back home it was 76 with the wood stove going.......I need to see if I can convince my Mom to go throw some wood on during the day for me so it stays warm. My cats love the temps...they are lay in front of the wood stove

I don't know if the hens will venture out or not. If they get hungry I am sure they will.

I think we're about like that right now too, except we got several inches of snow last night. We don't get snow all that often, so my girls are hiding out inside the coop!

One of the things I love, love, love about having a masonry heater is that they only take one or two fires a day. You don't ever add wood in between fires - you stack the firebox full, have a roaring fire, let it burn all the way down (only open the door once or twice near the end to push the pile to the center if you want, but you don't have to do that), and enjoy the radiant heat until the next fire 12 or so hours later. It keeps the house at a pretty constant temp. You regulate the heat by how much wood you put in for each fire. You don't have to be home during the fire if you have places to go (or at night you can just go to bed) - you can just get it going and leave it alone.

Does your husband do the stacking and splitting? If I had someone to do that for me, I'd totally only do wood.. but with everything else on my plate, it's too much. It is the best feeling to have wood heat though, I agree with you there.

Yes, I have that! It does take a lot of work, so as we get older, we'll probably end up buying pre-chopped & split wood, and then eventually we'll just rely on our heat pump. I really don't like forced air, though, so I'm hoping that's a long time from now!

18 isn't too bad. Chilly, but okay. Especially with how cold it was outside. If we started a fire in the evening last winter, it was around 14-15 in the morning every day. So cold!

What I like about the heat pumps is I don't dred getting out from under the covers in the morning lol.
It was 21 in our bedroom. We have a space heater going on in there.

That can't be F, right? You're talking 18C in your house? Otherwise I can't see how you'd have running water! Or pumping blood (I would freeze solid if I had to live in those temps in F)!

18C is about what our bedroom is at (on the second floor, so the masonry heater, which is on the first floor, doesn't heat it - we have electric cove heaters in the upstairs rooms and basement).