Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Bigbluefrog]

I use a heated dog dish for my birds. So far it works good.

I did buy a bigger chicken water with heater from Tractor Supply. It works too but is awkward to use.

 

[babylady4]

This is all I have to say for today:

 

[jvls1942]

This is all I have to say for today:

View attachment 1956833

yep, pretty isn't it ?
we don't have any of that white stuff..

 

[bigzio]

I'm so glad for you to have it bl4! You must be doing something right to be so blessed!
Hauled more wood today. There is a real bite to the air today.
Glad the Pack won. Hope they all get rested with the bye week coming up.

bigz

 

[Bigbluefrog]

It is cold one tonight! I closed the babes in their coop and turned the heat lamp on for a few hours on the timer.

still unsure about the heat lamp.
Some say yes and some say not needed... so I thought it is a bit cold for November I put on an infrared lamp to warm it up a bit.
I have it securely attached and put it on a timer so it should be going off after a few hours.
Two hens were snuggling on the floor in one of the nest boxes. The other ones were roosting. Is this normal?
I also saw one hen was missing a nail. I don’t remember her missing it before...

so new at this

 

[jvls1942]

that is all normal. nails come off. no big deal.
with the heat: as long as you don't get them used to it and then take it away. either heat, or don't heat..
If you are not heating, then in Jan it drops to minus -20F you can add some heat to bring it up to what they have become accustomed to.

 

[jvls1942]

Big B F, I noticed you on another thread asking the same question. That is fine with me,
But I am not going to compete with the whole byc population in offering advice.
just how I am.

 

[babylady4]

BigZ, you can take the snow and the 3* this morning. Wind chill is -8*.

Birds are just fine without extra heat. They wear a feather coat for crying out loud. It’s the drafts that will get them.

Chickens never lefts the coop yesterday. Tossed a bag of chopped leaves in with them so they could entertain themselves, and then threw some scratch on top of that. They were most definitely busy throwing the leaves around. I checked them at night and they had filled their feeding trough with leaves.....

 

[Bigbluefrog]

BigZ, you can take the snow and the 3* this morning. Wind chill is -8*.

Birds are just fine without extra heat. They wear a feather coat for crying out loud. It’s the drafts that will get them.

Chickens never lefts the coop yesterday. Tossed a bag of chopped leaves in with them so they could entertain themselves, and then threw some scratch on top of that. They were most definitely busy throwing the leaves around. I checked them at night and they had filled their feeding trough with leaves.....

Thanks ... this cold spell came quickly! My birds didn’t want to come out either.

So this quick cold no issue for the birds but I am not digging this coldness.
Glad they have down coats. I did see some pullets on the floor.

stay warm Wisconsin

 

[wyoDreamer]

Pullets will sleep on the floor occasionally. I have one hen who is 3 years old and insists on sleeping on the handle of the trough feeder - which puts her about 4 inches above the floor on a 1.25" wooden dowel. The roost bar is only 3' off the ground and she hops up there every morning to get to the top of the nest boxes to get her treats; so I know its not that it is too high for her. Goof ball.
Yesterday I walked into the barn and there was sawdust in the air - what the heck. I look at the Sapphire Gem pullets and they are all dust bathing in their bedding. They all stopped right were they were and looked at me like I had walked into their private dressing room without knocking. They discovered that there was a fine wood chip under the layer of big chips - and decided that would be good for dust bathing. I stopped trying to understand what those crazy birds are thinking.