Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[babylady4]

It was 12* this morning and my coop has holes in it that are roughly the size of a door opening (the gap at the wall and rafters is not closed). All the chooks were just fine today. No supplemental heat, other than the water heater.

One of my geese decided to really become airborne; they flew a good 12’ off the ground today, ended up in the woods.

Have to share a pic of these beauties....

 

[wyoDreamer]

@babylady4 Those are beautiful!!

No heat in the coop. It is a concrete room off the back of the barn - north side so no solar gain at all. Only one window that I use for the pop door. The people door opens into the barn. No animals in the barn except 6 barn cats.

I got 1 egg yesterday - I grabbed it first thing in the morning as I was heading out to work. It sat all day on my desk, lol. Any other eggs that were laid were eaten by the time I got home from work.

This morning, they had already eaten the first egg by the time I got out there. They were just finishing up with the shell. I think I only have 1 bird that breaks into the eggs, then all the rest join in to clean up. GRRR! I need to figure out which one is causing the problems. I have 7 pullets to add to the flock, but I don't want them to learn to eat eggs.

 

[bigzio]

Welcome to the cheeseheads bbf! I also boost the protein for the birds during molt, and close some windows to stop any drafts for the featherless girls....might not be necessary but I feel better then.
No heat in my coops either, but I do give them a lot of straw for comfort.
Wyo, do those heating mats provide enough heat to keep the water from freezing?
Nice eggs bl4...do they taste like chocolate?
My flocks hate the snow and I don't bother to open the pen doors, just to have to lock them up later.

Is it Spring yet?

bigz

 

[wyoDreamer]

I have a heated water bowl for the cats and I use the metal heated bases for my double wall fonts for the big flock and my guinea hens. The heater mat is under the 1 gallon plastic water font with the pullets for now and is warm enough in these temps to thaw out the frozen ring and keep it from freezing - but it won't work for anything below 0*F. I will have the pullets in with the layers by those temps and they will be using the metal waterers.

The heat mats are going to go in a 2'x3'x18" box that we are making for the cats in the cat-room (former milkroom) of the barn. Those little buggers are Spoiled!
I may put a seed-starting mat in the nest box to try to prevent frozen eggs this winter.

The heat mats are what I use for brooding in the spring/fall. I have a Mama Heating pad that I use also. Last spring I put the mama heating pad over a heat mat when the temps were still in the single digits and frost showing on the concrete walls of the coop. The barn stays warmer than outside in fall and then is cooler than outside in spring.

 

[bigzio]

Thanks wyo for the information on those mats. Celtic Chick uses those in the brooder also...I may have to give them a try for the brooder and not deal with the lights for heat.

bigz

 

[Bigbluefrog]

It was 12* this morning and my coop has holes in it that are roughly the size of a door opening (the gap at the wall and rafters is not closed). All the chooks were just fine today. No supplemental heat, other than the water heater.

One of my geese decided to really become airborne; they flew a good 12’ off the ground today, ended up in the woods.

Have to share a pic of these beauties....

View attachment 1954483

Oh those are beautiful! Mine are just 14 weeks- I doubt I will get eggs for awhile- maybe Spring?

 

[babylady4]

Thanks! Eggs from my Marans. I am impatiently waiting for the Cream Legbars to start laying..... those beautiful blue eggs......

 

[jvls1942]

when I had chickens, I used a small milk house heater in the coop. It has a fan. I directed the fan at the 3 gallon waterer. it kept it from freezing most of the time. it did help a little to keep the chickens warm. I figured if they didn't have to rely on feed to keep themselves warm, the egg production would stay up.
when I had buff orpingtons, I had 14 hens. one time on Jan 2, I had 100% laying.
Funny thing bl4. when I first looked at your picture, the egg carton appeared to look like some strange bird heads to me. I guess my eyes are playing tricks on me.
I am in central Wisc. about the same distance to each East and West borders.
.....jiminwisc.......

 

[jvls1942]

Badgers won.
I made cinnamon, caramel pecan rolls today.
really nice and gooey ..
Now I am getting a hankering for potato pancakes..
41F here today. it really wasn't bad to be outside. I guess I have my winter blood already...
....jiminwisc.....

 

[babylady4]

Spent the whole day outside today. Ran errands this morning picking up apples from a local orchard to make sauce with, and getting supplies to winterize the coop and hives. The DH had the great idea of plugging the holes at the eaves in the coop with bags filled with leaves, so instead of using plastic I made my own out of burlap. I wanted to try and find the mesh bags you use for grass clippings BigZ, but ended up buying a few yards of burlap instead. Now I want one of those weather monitoring stations to monitor the heat/humidity in the coop......

Finally go around to putting insulation on the bees. The one hive, I peeked inside to see what the ladies were up to, and did not hear or see any bees...... uh-oh....... so I started to pop off the super I had left on the top. I did not even get it off before bees made there appearance. Nothing aggressive, just popping up to the top to say hello and why are you opening our house? The other two hives had bees coming and going so I knew they were ok.

The yard had it’s final mowing of the year, the leaves were bagged for later use in the coop, the goose pool emptied, dogs had an unscheduled bath...... a very busy day. Tomorrow it is applesauce making day!