The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Scott H]

@CourtsCacklers ....just checked out your coop. Very nice...love the barnwood! Your husband did an awesome job.
Gotta wean those girls off that heat lamp tho.....Wyandottes are cold hardy and I'd hate for all that work to go up in smoke.

If I ever give them supplemental heat I think I will heat the roost with a length of heat tape...much safer and mo gentle heat.

 

[Jewelwing]

I'm stealing all these ideas. lol
I planted my tomatoes in the ground like that b/c they're actually perenials (they're just treated like annuals, being plowed under every year and replanted).

I think it must depend where you live. Tomato plants don't make it through our winters! Often, the seeds from the year before will sprout new plants, though.

smart aleck. not in the BYC dictionary but in Websters. Wyandotte isn't in the BYC dictionary......

Is it in any dictionary? I was at Rural King yesterday and they had a sign up from a place that sells many different breeds of chickens. There was a picture of each breed they sell and the name. According to their poster, they sell both Silver Laced and Golden Laced "Wynadottes." I had to reread it a couple times to make sure I was seeing it right, and then I wondered if I'd been mis-reading it all the other times! Guess not - thanks!

I would just as soon shoot a coon as look at it. They're merely glorified rats with striped tails IMO.

Well, I like both...

We trap and release raccoons (far away, and across a river), and I've had pet rats for about 35 years. We removed about 15 raccoons last spring, and haven't had any since (so far).

Here is Artemis, my daughter's rat. Who could resist that smile? She just had surgery to remove a couple mammary tumors on Tuesday, which is why she's wearing the chest bandage (otherwise she tries to remove the stitches!). Red eyes would not have been my choice, but my daughter thought it would be cool to have a pet with red eyes. She thinks they're exotic! Artemis isn't all white - she's more like a Siamese cat.

 

[Scott H]

Quote:

Wyandotte​

Wy·an·dotte

[wahy-uh

n-dot] Show IPA
noun, plural Wy·an·dottes for 2, 3; (especially collectively for 3) Wy·an·dotte.
1.
a city in SE Michigan, on the Detroit River.
2.
one of an American breed of chickens, raised for meat and eggs.

 

[Jewelwing]

@CourtsCacklers ....just checked out your coop. Very nice...love the barnwood! Your husband did an awesome job.
Gotta wean those girls off that heat lamp tho.....Wyandottes are cold hardy and I'd hate for all that work to go up in smoke.

If I ever give them supplemental heat I think I will heat the roost with a length of heat tape...much safer and mo gentle heat.

I turned the heat lamp on tonight even though it's just getting down to low 20s, because my girls are soaking after spending the day foraging in the rain. I didn't even let them out of the run, but they spent the day hunting through the leaves in the uncovered part.

I saw how wet they are and worried that would be a problem as it gets below freezing (it's low 30s right now).

Usually I only turn on the heat lamp if it's going to be below 0. My coop is insulated, but it's never more than a few degrees warmer inside the coop than outside. Maybe because the door takes up most of one wall, and it's mostly glass? Plus the sliding window in the door doesn't seal well, so there's air coming in around it.

Otherwise, I agree. I was hesitant to turn it on tonight, too, but I worried with all that wetness
You guys will tell me if I should go turn it off, right?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Siamese cat.

I just got a rat zapper

 

[Leahs Mom]

Okay. He IS cute. If he's a pet. Otherwise....ZAP!

 

[CourtsCacklers]

@CourtsCacklers ....just checked out your coop. Very nice...love the barnwood! Your husband did an awesome job.
Gotta wean those girls off that heat lamp tho.....Wyandottes are cold hardy and I'd hate for all that work to go up in smoke.

If I ever give them supplemental heat I think I will heat the roost with a length of heat tape...much safer and mo gentle heat.

Thanks for the compliments. Yes, he did a very beautiful job! He amazes me every time he tackles a project for me. The heat lamp is not constant. When I have it plugged in (which is not always) it is controlled by a farm thermostat that would trigger it to come on if it falls below 40 degrees. There is no extension cord. If the temps are mild-- I don't plug it in...if it is extreme I do use it! I recently just purchased a new Aladino heat lamp from premier and hooked that up instead. I feel it is a much safer option, if I am running a heat lamp, than a regular heat lamp is. Honestly, I am obsessed with my girls-- that I am out in the coop every night before I turn in and I check everything over twice (the plug, dust, etc...). Right now they are being monitored by a baby video monitor-- so I have constant chicken tv going in my house. I am sure I will reach a day that I won't be so obsessive about them and I won't be checking everything so closely-- and in that situation I would be more concerned. I know that there are plenty of you that will jump all over my **** for saying this-- but I don't think that a properly installed (hung) heat lamp that is closely monitored--cleaned and not running constantly is any more a fire hazard than what many many many people do in their own homes with space heaters, leaving their toaster unattended while toasting, furniture, clothing, blankets against plugs,running generic extension cords, using powerstrips and those gadgets that make an outlet that is intended to only have two things running from it able to run 6 things from it etc...etc...etc... I sure hope I don't have to eat my words on this one-- ever-- because a fire is NEVER something I want to have but before I stayed home with my boys I managed 3 MRDD group homes. Yearly we had to go through fire training. Monthly we had to inspect the clients homes for any fire hazards including their bedrooms and do drills. My Grandparents house--the homestead-- (which is where my aunt and uncle live) burnt to the ground about 5 years ago-- a problem with older wiring. Fortunately it was during the day and no one was hurt. No matter where you live or what you do there is ALWAYS a hazard.... you can do so many things to put the odds in your favor though. Eliminating the heat lamp all together would be a step in that direction but the way I have it set up and the way I monitor it I feel safe with my decision to be able to use it when I decide I want to! Thanks for your concern though-- and again, for your compliments! My husband is amazing at building and I am fortunate to have him!

 

[lazy gardener]

I bet all three would do well. Also, petunia is supposed to be easy to propagate that way. I've never bothered b/c our season is so short, and I don't have much indoor space...

 

[lazy gardener]

Cute rat Chaos, but I'm glad I don't live across the river from you!!!!

I provide a flower pot heater in my coop and am not too ashamed to say so!!! Artemis is truly cute. I grew up with hamsters, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, lizards, salamanders, turtles, fish, parakeets, canaries, chickens... never had a ferret, rat or gerbil... couldn't quite get comfortable handling them... but of all three, I think I'd choose rat first!

 

[Leahs Mom]

My Grandparents house--the homestead-- (which is where my aunt and uncle live) burnt to the ground about 5 years ago-- a problem with older wiring. Fortunately it was during the day and no one was hurt.

Wow...It is always so "surreal" when I hear about a house burning down. So glad they were all okay!