Virginia

[bobbieschicks]

Are you starting to use supplemental lights already? I'm trying to decide if I want to supplement this year or not. Last year I put Christmas lights on a timer and that worked great.

 

[ki4got]

Are you starting to use supplemental lights already? I'm trying to decide if I want to supplement this year or not. Last year I put Christmas lights on a timer and that worked great.

thanks for the *AH HAH* moment. 8) LED christmas lights. pull hardly any current to speak of so they're cost efficient.

i wasn't going to do lights because of the cost factor. but i might now. 8)

 

[bobbieschicks]

I was researching yesterday and saw where one BYCer starts in Sept and he is in ME. So I figure east coast, days getting shorter, now is about the right time? I started late last year, around November time and it was cold when I put out the setup and it took awhile for them things to pick back up.

So I guess I'll add "hang christmas lights" to my coop to do list this weekend.

 

[ki4got]

i would say it depends how far west you are... maine is the northeasternmost state and has much shorter days to begin with on average. i would say set the timer to go on at 5am and off once it's light out. right now it's still getting light early enough but if they go too short then they'll stop and you have to wait for laying to pick back up again.

i think 10 hours a day would be a minimum you want them to have.

fortunately, dorkings are great winter layers, so i'm not too concerned with light for them. it's the cochins that might need it more for me... and coturnix quail stop laying if they get less than 12 for me. that's why they're inside partly.

 

[ki4got]

ok, i'm starting a shopping list...

does anyone in the state have (eggs, chicks, adults) blue laced red wyandottes or bantam cochins (anything but white) available for sale?

if so, where are you located, and will you be at gilmanor in 2 weeks?

pm me please if you can help. 8)

 

[Maggiesdad]

This girl on the right will be 25 wks on the 15th. She was a freebie toss in of some hatching eggs I bought. She's not laying yet. She doesn't fit into my breeding plan and my laying flock is maxed out with EOs and my project birds. I plan on being at Gilmanor with some chicks. Au naturel, no vaccines, no NPIP

PM me if your interested. Glen

 

[ki4got]

This girl on the right will be 25 wks on the 15th. She was a freebie toss in of some hatching eggs I bought. She's not laying yet. She doesn't fit into my breeding plan and my laying flock is maxed out with EOs and my project birds. I plan on being at Gilmanor with some chicks. Au naturel, no vaccines, no NPIP

PM me if your interested. Glen

PM sent... any others? and i'll need a roo for this girl. hm... chicken math... what's that again?

 

[omaeve]

here we go again. get home this afternoon, and as soon as i sit down, the power browns out. on/off/on/off/on/off... off...

they're estimating 6pm. cross fingers it isn't any longer than that.

time for you to go off the grid mabye solar or a windmill? or exersize whell for the chickens to run the computer

 

[ki4got]

Quote: actually hubby's shopping for an older onan multi-fuel whole home gennie... plant a propane tank, put an auto-switch on it, we're good to go. and yes we do have a solar station that keeps a small bank of deep cycles charged up for emcom purposes. (ham radio stuff) it's portable so we can take it with us if we need to mobilize for any emergency situation requiring radio communications, because of infrastructure failure (power and cell towers down because of a hurricane for example). windmills don't work too well on wooded mountainsides however, since we're on the leeward side of the mountain.
so in the short term, our little gennies keep us going when needed, but the gas is expensive.

 

[jpelton]

Can someone refresh my memory as to where Gilmanor is and the exact date. I am looking for 5 hens between 6 months and 1 year old to add to my coop before winter so everyone will stay worm. No power to my coop and I have found if your coop size matched your flock size then you don't need lights to keep the girls happy and they lay all winter. cold chickens don't lay eggs. and the 9 chicks I got in the spring turned out to be 4 hens and 5 roosters! Can't have Roos were I live. I'm in western Loudoun but I'm willing to travel in the state of Va to get good healthy hens. Thanks.