Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[otonoh]

good morning all, Hope you stayed warm. . It is 33 lovely degrees in Rural Rib Mountain. Suns not up yet so waiting a few minutes before the dogs get walked and the chickens fed.. I am spending a lot of time with the ladies this weekend. I will miss them yet will enjoy the time away from the extra chores. Can't wait to Spring to get banties and regulars in a mixed flock. With 7 chickens, they are producing more eggs than we can eat, I honestly don't like eggs .so it makes sense that I cut the egg layers and have more banties. Since I basically have pets now anyway. I have 2 quick questions

What is the earliest you have ever had chicks shipped to you? Can banatam and regular birds live in the same coop if they grow up together as chicks?

thanks

David

 

[Twizzlebee]

Otonoh- I'm not sure if this is true for everyone, but when I was younger my dad used to keep bantams in with the rest of our flock and it all went fine, and they were adults! We even had a serama roo in there that just loved our BR roo! Right now I just have standard birds, so I guess I could be remembering wrong.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

I have bantams and standards together. They live together fine.

 

[vickiw]

25o and SNOW on the ground again this morning!

somebody posted a pic on Rhinelander tv showing a girl just a couple miles to our north making the first snowman of the year!!

Now I have to outside and see if the girls' water is frozen. sigh.


I'm back

It is now 28o next to the house. Went to the coop and the waterer inside was not the slightest frozen!

Although it did not get quite as cold as expected (didn't lose our cloud cover til near dawn) it was still 25o next to the house @ 7 a.m. When I went into the coop, which didn' seem that cold btw, the girls were right by the door yelling at me. I collected an egg and they were still yelling at me so I said "ok, if you want to freeze" and I went outside and opened the pop hole. Crazy snow birds. Going to put a thermometer in there today. I have one of those indoor/outdoor electronic ones I used to keep track of the greenhouse temps from the house. Going to see if it is able to send a signal from the coop. Three sides have steel coated siding so I don't know if it will be able to or not.

 

[Bigfamily4me]

Hey Bigfam, I got 12 eggs today, and 15 yesterday. 

......Robinwhosaystheheckwiththepoking..letssmackthatthatsleepingHeatherandwatchherjump......

I think that's cool Robin! Doesn't irritate me, so your poking was deflected by my idontcarevest

I'm not sure why my pullets take so long to lay. I honestly wonder if getting to free range all day could slow that down somehow. But they love it, so I'm not changing a thing. The shell-less egg is odd though. Having a few regularly. I think I better actually put the oyster shell out there, huh?!

So eggs are in the bators btw. It should be fun to have babies around again. It's all CCs fault for hatching babies. For having broodies. And Terri too with her darn baby and momma pics. You are all such enablers!

You know CC... Stella will jump for treats... Pretty cute. She loves bread. That's how she honed her eyelash skills. She flutters them and squawks for treats and of COURSE you give them to her!

 

[babylady4]

Cind, the big plastic waterer I have from Fleet is one that has a heated coil in the bottom of it. The cord wraps up into the bottom when you do not need it. A little more in the $ department, but worth it.

I think the kids and I will head over to the in-laws again and give the ducks their hot tub. I know they will appreciate it! I would like to move their pen too so they are out of the wind...... but I do not think that will be happening. Perhaps I could put a tarp around the north side of their hutch to block the winds....... and the view of the dog. They have a 1/2 coonhound 1/2 bloodhound that believes the ducks need to be barked at 24/7. I am thinking this is why they are so quiet, they are stressed out with the dog being so close all the time.

The house is SO much more pleasant to be in now that the AC units have been taken out and we have the furnace on! I would have preferred to keep the furnace off for a little while more, but everyone is much happier now.

Time for cup #2 of java....

TTFN!

 

[Terri O]

Good morning...Just having my second cuppa too and watching Tommy "play" with his chicken toy. There must be a piece of whole corn in it that wont fit out the opening; he is banging it around like crazy trying to get it out. What he really wants to do is sit on my lap but the JRT is sound asleep on my legs and she like to eat chickens so he is much safer where he is.

My entire body is aching today...dont know if it's the weather or what. I did some weatherizing outside yesterday but nothing that should make me feel like THIS! The IBU is not helping yet either...just

I guess....

Whomever was looking for mealworm info here are the instructions for setting up a simple colony:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-raise-mealworms
Down in the comments section there is another link to the long thread where all the "mealy farmers" chat about their farms. It is an entertaining thread.

DD is making another pot of coffee...good thing, I think I need another cup! I want to go back to bed!
TerriOneedingsomebreakfastrightnow

 

[jvls1942]

Good AM, I have every kind of bird sharing the same coop.. I do not have bantams, but they would have to share if they were here.. I do not see what the problem is.. don't worry so much and just do it..

Two people are supposedly coming to look at the cockatiels today.. We will see..

I have those 3 gallon plastic waterers from Fleet.. If I don't want them to freeze, I turn the small heater toward it.. Otherwise I rotate the waterers from day to day.. I give the layers warm water.
it seems to help the egg production..

somebody mentioned having more chickens in the coop,, Yes, the more you have, the more body heat is generated.. thick bedding on the floor helps a lot also.. insulated coops is a plus, but not mandatory.. air tight coops with controlled ventilation is good..

..........jimdonewithfirstcuppaandgoingforasecondone....

 

[Angiebubs]

BabyLady: And you didnt have any problems with the FF waterers bases coming off? I sure did. Did you fill them thru the bottom rubber stopper?

Otonah: I just introduced a young banty to my mixed flock a couple weeks ago.....and have some that were raised together..no problems. I think its just important to have areas the lil ones can get away from the big ones if needed. But never had an problems.

TerriO thanks for the link on the mealworms....will check it out shortly!

 

[babylady4]

I find it easier with this big one to fill it through the port in the bottom. The one I use now is the heated 3 gal with the straight sides, I used to use the one that has the rounded edge on the bottom.... I'll try to get a pic of what I have out there now, it locks onto the bottom really well, much better than the old one I would use..

I have all the stuff I need to tarp the ducks. Kids need to eat and then off we go!