Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Terri O]

Great info Chris D! I am always scared with the water that plagues my client on Black Hawk Island...two years ago she had to have her entire house gutted and redone. Now we both are nervous Nellies when that river starts to rise! I am sure that DrH will take your advice in the spirit with which it was given.

Sent one litter of pups off down the road tonight to learn "house manners" on their way to adoption. They were the ones residing in my basement room so glad to get them off! Tomorrow I will be scooping up shavings, vacuuming and bleaching in readiness for the next bunch that will need to be inside. I have a litter of husky mix, one of JRT mix and one of beagle mix to go yet...then I just might take a rest! Depends on how many more there are to be saved....probably way more than I want to know to be sure!

So the week is done...finally! It has been a long one for me. THis weekend I think I will just sit in the yard and enjoy the weather! (how long can this last?) The trees are so gorgeous they just take my breath away! We drove down to Newville today to pick up the barnwood nest boxes I won on the auction and had fish in Milton at the Caddy Shack (Gophers) restaurant. GREAT fish! We were too early for baked but the breaded was really good. If you have a chance to try it you should go. Thursday is Sicilian style pasta and meatballs and we might do that next week! There is a terrible smell in that town though...it is like dirty feet! DH says it is from the ethanol plant...YUK!

Maybe you get used to it but I for one would NOT like to live there!

Just heard a crash...guess the cats are on the counter again! Good night! Terri O

 

[WIChookchick]

Evening all,
Well I am going to be scheduled for an aspiration of my shoulder, basically they are gonna pull some fluid from the shoulder area to check to see if there is truly an infection there.
yah me..

I found this on the Madison CL, its in Lancaster so closer to IA.. but you never know...2 dollars apiece foe Hisex layers
http://madison.craigslist.org/grd/1996326869.html


Just found free ducks on the Janesville CL
http://janesville.craigslist.org/grd/1995647001.html
We have 10 full grown domestic ducks for the FREE. They were farm raised from baby's in 2010.

4 Khaki Campbells
3 Welsh Harlequins
3 Anaconas

You will need to pick them up.

Please call Dan @ 608-843-6023 if interested.


No one wants my mini roosters?? LOL

Carol

 

[chris deiss]

Hey everyone how's it goin? Just figuring this site out so give me time lol. This is my first year with chickens and I am learning as I go with much help from byc. I have a pretty snug coop with what I think is adequate ventilation but I was wonderiing if any of you were goin to heat your coops this winter or not ? I know to put in a light for extra daylight hours and I have a heated waterer {fleet farm had 3 gallon electric heaters for 30 bucks} I let my chickens out from sunrise to sunset so from what I have been reading it may be bad to heat their coop because of temp changes from inside to out. I have been leaning towards no heat but I don't want to lose my birds either when it gets really cold.


The chickens started out as my wifes but I built the coop and picked the birds and fed them and watered them and I guess they are mine now but she really loves to watch them roam the yard. The last thing I want to do is loose them this winter and have to start over

 

[Dr HaHa]

Beautiful Morning Everyone! First of all WELCOME chris deiss!!! You'll find all good people here and make new friends. A lot of us are new to chickens and are also learning and we share our experiences both good and bad. It's all for the improvement of our flocks. A lot of people on here are verterans and help us a lot! My coop is tight for the winter and I use a couple of heat lights over their roosting areas when it's below zero. It's not insulated. Don't worry about overstepping the bounds, you didn't. Any info is helpful and always appreciated! You have echo'd my thoughts exactly. Had 4" of water in the house and am thinking of cutting off the interior wall coverings off aprox 10 inches up to insure I hit dry insulation. The cellulose does have me worried because of it's absortion abilities. Might have to gut the walls. 50% of the bedroom walls are varnished plywood the rest is drywall, well it used to be a dry wall. Must have been on sale at the time. But for now I'm waiting to see what the Fema inspecter says about the place, hate to do all the work only to find out that it's going to be bulldozed. WCc boy it sure seems like the Dr's are dragging their feet. Tell them I said to pick up the pace we need you well! TO I don't know where you find the time and energy to do all that you do. But your doin a good job!!!!! Bigz you truely eat like a king! I told L the other day that we have to start eating real food again. It's been a lot of pizza, hot dogs and quick meals. She was asking what she could do to help I said keep me fed on clean plates in clean clothes. I know it sounds chavenistic but it's not that is a major job! One of the neat things is that I pulled off all the curtains and window shades and at night when I roll over and open my eyes you can see the stars from the comfort of my pillow. Have a great day!!!!!

 

[Terri O]

Good morning! AAAHHHH...Saturday! No work

I am taking a bit of time here to wake up and have some coffee. Then I have tons to do as usual. Glad it's a gorgeous day again and I can work outside. Maybe I will put the garden to bed today...it is so nice in spring to be able to just turn up the soil and start planting! Nothing more discouraging than to have to work for several hours pulling out last year's stuff! They say it's better for the garden too--cuts down on diseases.
So good luck with the FEMA thing DrH--a lot of times I have thought the same thing about this house, "if we could just bulldoze it down and start over!" Same thing with my barn....I dont have any excuse for the government to pay for it though! Guess I am stuck. Good luck to you though...sure sounds like a buttload of work ahead of you regardless what they say!
Chris D--my coop is definitely NOT air tight OR insulated and my chickens dont have any heat either. They go outside during the day all year. I do have problems with frostbite on combs and the folks on here say it is because of not ENOUGH ventilation in the coop. I am gathering stuff to build another one (I excelled in "chicken math" this year) but my old one is an old shed so I am not sure how to get ventilation in there because it has a ceiling and an "upstairs." There is something on the ceiling that you cant pound a nail into. (I call it rock board!) It is all over this farm and makes me crazy!
Our students on this thread must be very good ones! We hardly hear anything from them any more! They must be deep in the books for midterms or something.

Good for you guys to use the computer for studying and not for chatting! I hope that "little parasite" starts behaving itself soon Raiquee...I remember that tired feeling...had it with my first one. It is so weird that you can come home from work, put dinner on, take a nap while it's cooking, eat and go back to bed and sleep all night! I have a theory that it makes a good baby though...my first was a fantastic sleeper and I never had an ounce of trouble with her! (unlike my second!)
WIChC--I sure hope your shoulder gets what it needs soon. That has to be miserable! Take care of yourself!

Looking forward to camping and riding in two weeks! (and seeing those of you that are coming to visit) Wouldnt it be fantastic if this weather held up for that long? I think if I could find a local that had this type of weather for 10 months of the year I would move in a second! I can stand a little bit of winter but not 5 or 6 months of it! It really wears me down. I am just hoping that my "new" car goes in the snow as well as my van did! This one is awfully light though...maybe I will have to add some weight!
Hey, I am getting a really dark brown egg every day now...only problem is that I dont know who is laying it! Sure would like to figure it out and get her with my cuckoo marans for some new babies next year! I might have to try those "nest traps" and see if I can figure it out. I have 25 nest holes in my coop and those crazy girls use about 4 of them (and one place on the floor!) I just got some really nice barn wood ones and I dont want to put them in there...they are so pretty and I dont want them full of chicken sh&*!

Maybe I will put them in my house....

Gotta run--forgot to order feed again so I have to make a trip to F&F and pick some up! Darn--I just "hate" that store....

Enjoy the day everyone! Terri O

 

[fordmommy]

Quote:
Becky...PMed you.

WIChookchick, sorry, that friend wants to keep her frizzles. But I'm still looking for you. I have another friend who has some and might want to sell a few. I'm seeing her today. It's her baby shower. I'll let you know what she says.

So much to do and so little time.

 

[fordmommy]

If anyone gets a chance today... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=407511

 

[Terri O]

Hi again! Was reading up on some stuff and found these links and thought it might answer some questions on heat for winter and ventilation. Hope it helps somebody...I know I am making a few changes!



Here's the ventilation page the other commenter mentioned (and I agree, it's an excellent reference):

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

Patandchickens also has prepared an equally good page on winter management, including some important things to consider if you're thinking about providing artificial heat in your coop this winter:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/vie … mperatures

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Terri O

 

[chris deiss]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! And thanks for the tips about ventilation and heating . I think I am goin to have to ad more ventilation . I got my coop plans from DIY coops because I had no idea this site existed and didn't know what the hell I was doin {still don't lol} and I think the plans were for a warm climate because they had only one vent on the end and nothing up top for circulation. I sealed my large end vent up for winter after potting an 8x16 vent in the plug for it and also put 2 more 8x16 vents in it but by the sound of it I better get my tools back out and vent the soffits and I should be good.

 

[GothChick]

Hello again,

Soooo it's official I am a chicken addict. I now have a total of 3 Buff Orpingtons, 6 Easter Eggers, 1 Welsummer, 1 Buff Brahma, and I am raising 25 mystery chicks for my uncle, I started 24 BCM and 8 Olive Egger eggs in the incubator on Thursday, and.......

I couldn't help myself, Ideal has an October special going on for a bantam assortment of 25+ chicks for only .99 each! So I bought 25.

Mind you all of these chickens are currently being house in my house because of the absurd regulations my city has. My house is officially a zoo, but I love it. I will only have a few long time chicken residents, most of the chicks are all just here until they are ready to go outside then I am selling them.

I even managed to get my grandmother on the chicken train. She lives out in the country and told me I can put a coop out in her yard as long as I come and maintain it because she has Raynaud's Disease and can't go outside much in winter. So this means MORE CHICKENS!!!!

So now I will have Black Copper Marans available soon and a variety of bantams. Whichever I don't keep I will be re-homing. Also if anyone is looking for a BEAUTIFUL Buff Orpington Roo please please please let me know. I have a 7 week old that I recently put on the "What breed or gender" section and the majority of people think it a roo. Needless to say I can't keep a hidden roo in town as much as I wish I could. This chicken is my favorite and over the top friendly. He will sit in your lap and loves being held and handled. I let them out of the cage and he runs right over and sits on my leg and my 15 month old DD carries him all over. So I really want to find someone that will take him and love him as much as we do. He is NOT a hatchery bird. I got him at a few days old from a local breeder that has gorgeous Buff Orps.