Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Loveak9]

Hi all,
I am currently thinking of trying to raise black soldier files for the flock & to help with waste management. Does anyone here have experiance with black soldier flies? I ask in this forum as I am wondering about winter hardiness.

 

[Helicopter Mom]

Did any fellow Wisconsinites have issues with frostbite when we had the severe temps? Aside from keeping everyone inside, any other preventative measures taken to avoid combs & feet from getting frostbit?

 

[CherMoz]

In regard to black soldier flies:
Harvey Ussery has a nice section on black soldier fly harvesting in his book, "The Small Scale Poultry Flock." His book is available at several libraries. I have not tried said harvesting.

Following is a link to a UW-Milwaukee article on soldier flies:
https://uwm.edu/field-station/soldier-fly/
Let us know how this turns out for you if you do this.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Luckily, this year I did not have any problems with frostbite.
I have my chickens in an old concrete room - so I have a hard time controlling the humidity levels. Not kidding on concrete room - it is the room that connects the silo to the barn and has 4 concrete walls, a concrete floor and a concrete ceiling. There is one window to the outside and a doorway to the barn.
What I did different this year than last is use ALOT of wood chips. If it seemed to be getting humid, I dumped another bale of woodchips down. I now have about a foot of bedding in there that i will have to wheel barrow out this spring.
It is still dry in there, but that will change soon. With the warmer weather come snow melt. One of the walls leaks water really bad in spring with the snow melt. DH did a wonder ful job of keeping the ramp to the haymow cleared of snow , so maybe that will help me out this spring. We will see this weekend after we hit 50 degrees...

 

[CherMoz]

Yes, some of the points of my single comb chickens developed frost bite. No feet or toes though. I try to keep moisture down in the coop and keep it ventilated. I have not had to give those combs any special treatment.

Did any fellow Wisconsinites have issues with frostbite when we had the severe temps? Aside from keeping everyone inside, any other preventative measures taken to avoid combs & feet from getting frostbit?

 

[Loveak9]

In regard to black soldier flies:
Harvey Ussery has a nice section on black soldier fly harvesting in his book, "The Small Scale Poultry Flock." His book is available at several libraries. I have not tried said harvesting.

Following is a link to a UW-Milwaukee article on soldier flies:
https://uwm.edu/field-station/soldier-fly/
Let us know how this turns out for you if you do this.

Thanks for the info. Will keep you all posted..... hopefully I can order the bug soon if it ever warms up.

Did any fellow Wisconsinites have issues with frostbite when we had the severe temps? Aside from keeping everyone inside, any other preventative measures taken to avoid combs & feet from getting frostbit?

We had a bit of frostbite on our buff's. We moved them in to the garage over the long cold spells. For the last cold spell I put a bale of straw down in the run & coop. Everyone did great, didn't need to move them inside. This is our first year with chickens, so I feel there is a lot of learning happening.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

I had no problem with frostbite but all of mine have small combs and wattles. My daughter's Wyandotte had some on her wattles. We figured it was from getting them wet when drinking. It looks like she lost a small part of them but healed up nicely.

 

[chikenscratch]

Morning to you all! After 8 years of chicken-keeping, I am in need of mud solutions. We have had an unusually frozen and wet winter, the issue I’m having is poop thaw mixed with rain. Solutions? I was considering tossing out grass& clover seed, then covering it all with straw. Any ideas, comments, alternatives? TIA.
Twent, welcome! I live in NE IL and also have illegal chickens (18). I started with 4.

 

[wyoDreamer]

@chikenscratch I am not sure about the seed, but the straw is a great idea. Old leaves, wood chips, hay, straw - I think they all work great in the run to help keep the chickens dry in the run.

 

[Heinzie]

2

Did any fellow Wisconsinites have issues with frostbite when we had the severe temps? Aside from keeping everyone inside, any other preventative measures taken to avoid combs & feet from getting frostbit?

2 of my 3 bared rocks got a little frostbite on their combs but healed very well. I found they can handle temps down to around -20 quite easily. Welcome to the group