The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

The girls in the hoop coop today. Over 5 ft of snow so far. We had sunny skies for about 8 hours but the snow has returned and another 3 ft expected.

That snow you see at the back of the coop is almost to the top. But I can say they are toasty warm in there. Its about 3-4 degrees warmer in there. I opened the door window again for ventilation. The only malfunction we had was the cord for the electric base for the waterer must of come unplugged in the weight of the snow since my mom dug out the door to check and water was frozen. So she gave them a bowl to drink from. They have no desire to venture outside in the shoveled path.

I am thankful for my Mom. She is staying at my house to care for the critters. I got a ride to work and will be here eternally. My car in a snow bank and wont be seen for days lol

 

[armorfirelady]

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[armorfirelady]

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[armorfirelady]

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[lalaland]

AFL, that is crazy!!!! 5 feet of snow, how can anyone including emergency services move in that? That just blows my mind. I can deal with 3 feet. but heck, i'm only 5'5 so that means snow up to my nose!.

Are you worried about the weight of the snow on the hoop coop? or is it mostly sliding off?

keep us posted, I'm sure I'm not the only one who will be thinking of you and your mom and wondering how you are doing in this.

 

[lalaland]

ok, this is what it looks like:


http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nat...-new-york/Owh4KDZfsbrZ18Tu87HBAL/picture.html


scroll down thru the pics til you get to see the car driving down the street with 5 ft on top of it. this is upper ny, not sure how far from AFL it is

 

[mlowen]

Re fermented feed in the winter: I have layer pellets in a free-feeder all the time. I bring out fermented feed (warmed up in the microwave) after the hens have waked up and before I go to work. I try to give them about what they will eat before it freezes. With the tarps/vinyl around the run, the temps usually get up high enough to thaw the feed and their water at least a little, even in very cold weather, so they usually eat all of it.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Re fermented feed in the winter: I have layer pellets in a free-feeder all the time. I bring out fermented feed (warmed up in the microwave) after the hens have waked up and before I go to work. I try to give them about what they will eat before it freezes. With the tarps/vinyl around the run, the temps usually get up high enough to thaw the feed and their water at least a little, even in very cold weather, so they usually eat all of it.

Thanks! That's basically where Im at with it.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

ok, this is what it looks like:


http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nat...-new-york/Owh4KDZfsbrZ18Tu87HBAL/picture.html


scroll down thru the pics til you get to see the car driving down the street with 5 ft on top of it. this is upper ny, not sure how far from AFL it is

And this is in an area used to snow. Just imagine if all of that snow had landed a bit more to the south west. I'm almost sure that 4-6 ft of snow over night would have closed up my city really well.

 

[Leahs Mom]

NEED OPINIONS ASAP

I'm sitting here wondering what I should do. My most beautifully feathered girl (hatchery) went into a very heavy molt all of a sudden and has lost ALMOST ALL FEATHERS. She has been looking miserable the last 2 days.

I put an apron on her hoping it would help keep her warmer but these temperatures are very cold to be sleeping naked.

Today when I got home she appeared to be having trouble standing upright to walk...but she did. She would be hunkered down, then get up and walk a few steps then hunker down again. I fed her raw ground meat by hand and she ate it very eagerly which was good to see because yesterday and the day before she didn't eat very much. She did eat, but not much. Today she ate quite a bit of the meat and seemed to have a better appetite than the prior 2 days.

So I'm wondering if I should bring her inside during this cold weather until she recovers from molt. This is very tricky because I don't have any area that is intermediary between indoor temps and outdoor temps. If she comes in it will be a huge temperature change and I may have trouble getting her back out and acclimated. It is supposed to be in the 40s and 50s this weekend, then drop back low again. I'm not sure that short of time would give her enough time for her to feather back out as it's only a couple days from now.

So.... Opinions....what would you do?