The Omega Rocks: The Last & Ultimate Barred Plymouth Rock Flock

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Sounds like you are really enjoying your new series! This winter is so cold and yucky that it's great you have something to fill your days besides problems. Here we're not so lucky. We lost a rooster--apparently to the cold--and now his hens are trying to escape into the next pen. That pen has older hens who make it plain those youngsters would not be welcome. Plus the main water line to the barns has cracked from the cold. We're using the shutoff to only run water when we are filling buckets. The rest of the time the water is off. We figure Fri or Sat will finally be warm enough for the plastic pipe cement to set and then we will hopefully be able to restore water full time.

But what kicked off this rotten streak was the kitchen stove. It's a glass top--a gift from the kids a few years ago. In the middle of baking pumpkin bread the dang glass cracked, rendering the whole appliance unusable. Repair people won't be here for 2 weeks.

Yup. We're having ourselves quite a week. LOLOL!



Rusty

 

[speckledhen]

Omigosh, Rusty! The saying "when it rains, it pours" may be cliche, but it can be so true on a farm/homestead. I hope it gets better soon and the problems are in your rearview mirror.
Sorry about the rooster, poor guy. My old Sebastian is not loving the cold nights at all. He can't balance on, a roost, even 4" wide, so he sleeps in the floor and has a higher wattage heat lamp than my other oldsters pen. I do pad his "nest" with hay, but I thought of having a flat panel heater in the barn. I'm not sure it's going to do any good with four different pens occupied in there. Safer, yes, but I can't buy four of them. I am still considering it, though, at least for those birds who are 8-10 yrs old. Arthritic joints have really made an appearance in several, including big old Bash.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

We lost Buster who hatched in June this year. The girls in that pen all hatched with him that day. They are doing fine--cranky without him, but everybody is eating and drinking and scratching around-- and trying to visit Red next door, LOL. Red's my main guy. He had a few white tail feathers this summer but since his molt he's back to his normal gorgeous sweetheart self. He's 6. His ladies (he's got 8) all love him. Buster, tho... I just don't understand what happened. I'm assuming weather but I don't really know since all his ladies (he had 4) are all fine.

How old is Bash now?

Rusty

 

[speckledhen]

Buster, tho... I just don't understand what happened. I'm assuming weather but I don't really know since all his ladies (he had 4) are all fine.

How old is Bash now?

It happens sometimes, the mystery deaths. I've had a handful over the years myself.
Bash is 9 1/2 yrs old, hatched in June 2016. I never expected a big boy like that would outlive all six of his hens, including his daughter. Atlas, my BR rooster, lived to right at 9 years, also outlived all his hens and daughters I had; he was about to turn 9 yrs, so Bash holds the record for the longest ever lived large fowl rooster here. Atlas comes in second. Among the bantams, my porcelain D'Anver rooster, Aubrey, was 11 when he kicked the bucket, sort of like Chihuahuas living to 20 years old.

 

[NanaK]

We're having ourselves quite a week.

Very sorry about your rooster and other troubles. Been a tough week for us as well.

The saying "when it rains, it pours" may be cliche, but it can be so true on a farm/homestead.

Oh, yes, part of living the dream. lol
We had a major car repair then realized our home heating was not working very well.
Car fixed. Had to replace our heat pump. It started snowing while the tech was checking it out. Yikes! $$$$ All done. Pocketbook lighter. Hope that is the end of the bad luck.

I do pad his "nest" with hay, but I thought of having a flat panel heater in the barn. I'm not sure it's going to do any good with four different pens occupied in there. Safer, yes, but I can't buy four of them. I am still considering it, though, at least for those birds who are 8-10 yrs old. Arthritic joints have really made an appearance in several, including big old Bash.

I have a few older birds too. One is almost 12, others 8-10 yrs old. I do give those a little heat on really cold nights. I suspect arthritis in them as well. We also hang clear shower curtains on the back corner of their run. Lots of open space for ventilation still but I have often seen them in that corner sunning and dust bathing instead of staying in the coop most of the day. I do worry about heating but I keep the heater and area cleaned and dusted regularly. The way my coop is built the birds can't get to the heater. The heater only keeps it above freezing not comfortably warm for a human.
I have had a few locals tell me they are fine and don't need heat. I mostly agree but they do not have older birds.
Our climate is mostly mild here in eastern NC but we dip into the teens and 20s sometimes at night. Those folks can laugh all they want. These are my birds. I make the decisions on their welfare. I don't like seeing my old girls struggle.

 

[speckledhen]

I have had a few locals tell me they are fine and don't need heat. I mostly agree but they do not have older birds.

Absolutely, they cannot say that across the board. It may be true, provided the birds are all well, younger and fit.
I've had two birds as old as 14 1/2 then13, 12, etc. Most of mine live to 10 years old with few exceptions. And they have super stiff joints. Zara is my current oldest at 10 now and flexes her leg behind her as if working out the kinks. Maddie is 8 and her mother, Jill, is 9, both limping. Bash has the same stiff joint issues.
My brooder lamps all have a large piece of hardware cloth secured across the bell of them so even if one of the ceramic reptile bulbs we use breaks off at the base, it should fall on that wire and not in to the shavings. I also secure them several different ways. If mine were all in the same pen, I'd put two flat panel heaters in that pen and stop using the others except in special circumstance like in the hospital cage in winter. We divide the power into two different sources coming into the barn so the system is not overloaded.

 

[NanaK]

That's what I was seeing. Limping, not moving around much, not dust bathing very often. They didn't eat as well either.
When I started giving them a little heat on the coldest nights and added the curtains, they started coming outside more. They eat better too and just act more like a happy old hen.

I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do! Regardless of what those folks say. lol

 

[speckledhen]

You go with your gut. You observe your chickens, it's obvious. The best item in our "chicken arsenal" is the power of observation.