Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[them chickens]

LOL sorry I ment I am south west of bellingham

I'm in oak harbor where are you?

 

[evemfoster]

Carolyn, remember when I posted my coop and you told me the ventilation was fine. Well saturday morning when I went to let them out, there was condensation on the outside of there window. The temperature said low 40's. So they keep it warm inside just fine : )

After reading Alaskan's coop thread, I will no longer worry about heating our coop. His gets to 14 degrees, and he still doesn't use a heat source, with no issues for seven years. I think our girls will be just fine in our measly winters here. But like you said, draft free, ventilation, and wide roosts (so the toes stay in the feathers) is the most important thing in the winter. The chickens do the rest with there feathers, and snuggling. : )

Our light works great now as well. We still get 2 eggs a day. Which is what we have been getting for months. It is set to give them 13.5 hours of light. comes on at 4am, goes off at 8am. comes on again at 4pm, and goes off at 5:30 (I think) lol. The girls go in the coop around 4:30pm now on there own, get ready for bed, and then the light will turn off for them.

How do you guys and gals set up your lights, and do you heat, and why not?

I now live NE of Deer Park but i have only been here for around 10 years. Before that i lived in Whatcom county for around 35 years. I came over to the dry side because most of my family was here and its more like where i grew up. At first it was a little rough getting used to the long winters again.

I use a string of LED lights that can put out a lot of light and don't get warm. I think they are safer. I don't heat i prefer the chickens acclimate to the weather.

I do the lights split like you do Theegoliath but I do leave the lights on a little longer in the evenings. 4am to 8am then 4pm until 9pm. The extra time is just to add some more light on the darker days we have. We just went through about 10 dark days that was so gloomy my solar charger turned off and on all day long. Normally the charger comes on 8am and turns off at 4:30pm this time of year. That tells me some winter days the chickens aren't getting intense enough natural light even though its daytime. So i try to give them a little more light to help them out.

It seems to be working i had a pullet squat for me this morning. So hoping to get an egg soon.

 

[CharterChick]

Guess who didn't coop up again? Lady gaga... I found her sleeping on a stump. I brought her inside to sleep tonight. We have a dog kennel she gets for now. She's pretty ticked off at me right now! I looked her over and she looks ok but I'll give her the run down tomorrow. She's not the lowest in the pecking order so I don't know why she'd give up her spot on the right of the rooster... I don't know. Too tired for it tonight. I'll figure it out tomorrow after coffee! Lol

 

[Amberjem]

I'm in oak harbor where are you?

same lol

 

[Momageddon]

In Marysville, here. I started to read the whole thread here, but then I realized it was 283 pages. Hahaha no.

So very new to this forum! Excited, I am!

 

[Hinotori]

In Marysville, here. I started to read the whole thread here, but then I realized it was 283 pages. Hahaha no.

So very new to this forum! Excited, I am!

Welcome!

The thread is even more daunting when you realize that this is part 2. The original one got to long and was causing issues.

 

[Amberjem]

In Marysville, here. I started to read the whole thread here, but then I realized it was 283 pages. Hahaha no.

So very new to this forum! Excited, I am!

welcome

 

[elizmartin]

um ya auto correct, that was cocci. We lost her last night, so sad. But thank you

Am so sorry,,,,

 

[DaveOmak]

Our light works great now as well. We still get 2 eggs a day. Which is what we have been getting for months. It is set to give them 13.5 hours of light. comes on at 4am, goes off at 8am. comes on again at 4pm, and goes off at 5:30 (I think) lol. The girls go in the coop around 4:30pm now on there own, get ready for bed, and then the light will turn off for them.

How do you guys and gals set up your lights, and do you heat, and why not?

Only the main pen with the layers gets light. I sell eggs so I need it. It's just an 8 watt LED bulb so it doesn't draw much power. It comes on about 4am and off about 7pm. I leave it on all day because it's so dark in there. The birds get on the roost when it gets dark outside. They just ignore the light when they are on the roost.

I do the lights split like you do Theegoliath but I do leave the lights on a little longer in the evenings. 4am to 8am then 4pm until 9pm. The extra time is just to add some more light on the darker days we have. We just went through about 10 dark days that was so gloomy my solar charger turned off and on all day long. Normally the charger comes on 8am and turns off at 4:30pm this time of year. That tells me some winter days the chickens aren't getting intense enough natural light even though its daytime. So i try to give them a little more light to help them out.

It seems to be working i had a pullet squat for me this morning. So hoping to get an egg soon.

FWIW, everything I have read states, have the lights come on early in the morning and allow the birds to naturally roost at normal sunset... That method is easiest on the birds....

My lights come on at 12:30 AM and the birds hit the roost at 3:30-4 PM, with the sunset..... 15 1/2 hours of daylight... give or take... egg production hasn't slowed.... and they get 8 hours + of dark time..... I will allow for them to molt come August/September as it gets darker and won't turn the lights on until about 3 weeks into the molt and 3 weeks of no layer feed, once the egg supply stops, and high protein diet.... egg shells and oyster shells will still be available if they need the extra calcium...

Dave

From the Purina Folks on yesterdays live chat...

We recommend feeding Flockraiser during molting/non-laying periods. It has a little more protein and energy to support feather regrowth, and it gives them a break from high calcium at a time when they are not making egg shells. Flockraiser is 20% protein, compared with 16% for Layena, so it is well-suited to be a molting feed. If you do change feeds, be sure to do a gradual transition, mixing the old feed with the new over a period of a week to ten days, to avoid jolting their digestive system and potentially stressing them. Some birds handle abrupt feed shifts just fine, but some sensitive individuals may develop digestive upset and diarrhea for several days until they adjust to the new feed.

The easiest thing is to switch from a layer feed to a slightly higher protein grower feed.
They don't need, nor should they be getting excess calcium while not laying eggs.
Feathers are 90+% protein.

About lighting and egg production....

Are you providing at least 16 hourse of light per day? Without it, they will not lay.

 

[Espresso]

We didn't have power for a few hours yesterday but my incubator didn't drop below 80 so I have high hopes.

Husband says I can only keep what hatches if I can figure out how to make a nice looking coop/run set up on my own without his help. And mow the lawn first. So I've got a month to figure out how to do that for free... Wish me luck.