Utah!

[the-bird-man]

birdman...man, no need for heat if your coop stays in the 20's. What's your secret?! I am even doing the deep litter this winter. It's pretty easy for sure. With the cold, there is no smell. We just clean some out once a week, leave some, then put some new on top. Seems to be ok for the hens. hattie, Nankins, I've had them before. I didn't keep them. Different times. Here is a picture of one of them. She was sooo sweet. She would jump up onto that post when I knelt down in front of it, so she could look at my face. Didn't mind me having her on my arm. They make the cutest little sound. If this is a girl, I may keep her..if a roo, the guy I got her/him from may take it back. He had a dog attack, lost a lot of birds. Not full grown here. But, almost. Actually, as I look close here, this is a different one from the first picture. They liked the attention. lol..

well even if it was a lot colder i would not need heat. the biggest thing to worry about is the humidity. if your coop is humid the moisture freezes and causes things like frost bite. you should not have frost in your coop. i watch the humidity level very close in my coop. and i have lots of venting. the member patandchickens taught me a lot, i think that is her/his name. you can never have too much venting. i have always done deep litter method too. deep litter does even better with a dirt floor. my roof is darker and it sucks in the heat. then the chickens give off a lot of heat too.

 

[Cynthia12]

birdman, I was just talking to my hubby about just that yesterday. As long as my Miss Piggy's comb was, she never got frostbite. I know about about having good venting..sure glad he put some good sized vents up on each side of the coop. None of my chickens have frost bite. That has to be a miserable thing.
Well, with it being in the neg. I best go see if there are any eggs out there trying to freeze. I hope this cold spell goes away soon! I had heard we were going to have a hard winter way back in the first of Oct.

 

[themadchicken]

I finally got a picture of Cotton with her chick. I know what your thinking, its adopted.

And just a random of the part of the flock following my around trying to get some treats.

 

[RedIII]

We got an egg today! It was already frozen and split by the time I found it in the coop, but my mom's BSL still laid one. I thought she was getting ready to quit for the winter. My BO and RIR had already stopped. None of my chickens really like the cold, except for the ones that haven't laid, period

My BR/Dominique cross and two of the Icelandics just wander around in the snow during the day and hang out together on the gate to the preserve. Two of them are plenty red enough in the face to be laying, and the third isn't far behind. My Wyandottes are all red, the third Icelandic is red, the Welsummer is getting red, my Leghorn is red, The EE's and Ameraucana are all red...............did I miss anyone? Because about the only girls that aren't as red as they used to be are the RIR and BO. Sigh. At least I got the one egg.

 

[RedIII]

Hahaha, Madchicken, love the pictures! It looks like your birds do the same thing to you that mine do to me. And Cotton's baby is so cute! It looks teeny. I'll be she's happy to have a baby of her own.

 

[Daloorashens]

Cynthia, so sorry about your Miss Piggy.. some birds just do not tolerate the cold, even without frostbite... when I was younger, I lost 1 or 2 chickens almost every winter, usually one of the older ones, when it got REALLY cold, like it has been now...

I don't heat my coop, either, the run is outside, I worry that it would shock them too much if they went from heated to the regular outside like that... The coop gets warmed up at night from the doors being closed (vents are up near the ceiling) and there is no frost... I do get frozen eggs occasionally, because the pop door is open during the day....

Still feeling sad about all those eggs, did eggtopsies, and none of the others even had an internal pip, fully developed, what causes that? But the GNH I have in now many are developing, so I am

for a better hatch, I'd like to give some to this broody bantam cochin, they're due about the same time.... besides that I'd like to have a more successful hatch, sheesh!

Yay for chickenstock!! that makes me so excited!! BTW Shawn... that pic of the chick and James Bond made me

 

[auntie hattie]

Thanks for the pictures of the Nankin. They look very small. I wonder if they are smaller than most bantam chickens. I'll have to look that up.
Love the pictures madchicken pretty chickens and cute mama and chick! I have a question for you. Do you have a light on for the chick? I have a broody hen and I have eggs hatching tomorrow and want to give her the chicks. So I was wondering if I need a light in the coop because right now my chicken don't have one. I'm thinking I probably do
but just wanted to know what you did. Thanks
Daloorashen best of luck on this new hatch. I think it just takes some getting used to the new incubator. At least that's what I think my issues were. Good luck.

 

[RedIII]

Thanks for the pictures of the Nankin. They look very small. I wonder if they are smaller than most bantam chickens. I'll have to look that up.
Love the pictures madchicken pretty chickens and cute mama and chick! I have a question for you. Do you have a light on for the chick? I have a broody hen and I have eggs hatching tomorrow and want to give her the chicks. So I was wondering if I need a light in the coop because right now my chicken don't have one. I'm thinking I probably do
but just wanted to know what you did. Thanks

I'm not Madchicken, obviously, but I would say to put a light on the chick for the first little while. Just my two cents.

 

[auntie hattie]

Thanks Red. I'll take your advice any day!

 

[Sphinx]

Delarooshens, I'm sorry you had such a miserable hatch.

Sundancen, how are you doing today?

I ended up losing my golden laced wyandotte last night. I think her wing injury in conjunction with the cold was just too much. I thought about bringing her in, but I thought the trauma of not being with the flock would be tougher for her. She's never been too terribly friendly, and she just seemed happier with everyone else.

Madchicken, love the pictures of Cotton and her baby. I think I need to have a silkie.