Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Tomski]

Off the top of my head I'd have to say that the floor of the coop was too wet... LOL Has your friend thought of the Deep Litter Method? I don't have any supplemental heat in my coop - I even leave the pop door open since they stay in the run and don't free roam. Most of the old timer's that I've talked to said as long as their coop is relatively "wind tight" the chickens will be fine...

 

[Tatters]

Quote:
I don't know if they know of the deep litter method. My friend is Mennonite and have no clue what their coop even looks like (only been there once). My first thought on this was..."I wonder if the bird got into the water supply"...and nope, never asked him on that, but should of. When he brought this to my attention, I became curious how chickens manage these frigid temps.

 

[Linn Bee]

Quote:
Howdy, GHJL-- ! Ever eat breakfast at Mary's Place in So. Beloit? See, I'm really and truly in south-est, central-est Wisconsin.

Welcome to the BYC Cheeseheads group, 'formerly from Beloit'. Me, too! My early years were spent mostly between Hackett and Fourth; Liberty and Roosevelt.

How many chickens? How much land? Nosey. . . er/um. . . inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Celtic Chick]

LOL We had this conversation a few hundred pages ago. Quite the colorful read.

Everyone has different situations, so there is no one correct answer. I'd say the very first, best thing you can do for your birds would be to do thorough research on your climate extremes, potential coop site and breed of bird long before getting any birds. Sun, wind, rain, shade, etc. all play a critical role in your birds health & comfort. Drafts and dampness are thought to be more detrimental to your flock than the cold.

Like Tom & others, some don't heat their coops, some do. Some insulate, others don't. If you have a large # of birds, their body heat will help keep them warm. If you have a small # of birds in a small coop, you may not need to heat, but it all depends on the setup. A deep layer of litter (pine shavings or straw) does help insulate the floor.

 

[jvls1942]

Quote:
Howdy, GHJL-- ! Ever eat breakfast at Mary's Place in So. Beloit? See, I'm really and truly in south-est, central-est Wisconsin.

Welcome to the BYC Cheeseheads group, 'formerly from Beloit'. Me, too! My early years were spent mostly between Hackett and Fourth; Liberty and Roosevelt.

How many chickens? How much land? Nosey. . . er/um. . . inquiring minds want to know.

I am watching the badgers on dish.. half time it was 28 to 28..

the geese went into the lean-to .. I just left them there and shut the door again.. this time they were laying down and didn't even get up when I put the dog in..

I had a chicken crawl inside a hole in a concrete block and got frozen in.. I don't know how long she was in there, but she was pretty light when I freed her..

It isn't even frigid yet.. that bird must have had wet feathers and layed on a concrete floor.. I am assuming a chicken.. duck or goose would not have frozen down..

going back to the game.. then put mom to bed and then going to eat supper..

FT. anybody can make a little mistake..
.........jiminwisc.......

 

[Tomski]

Quote:
So what you are saying is that when Chickens are wet, they are prone to lay down on frozen/freezing concrete floors - while Ducks and Geese aren't as stupid? LOL

Sorry Jim.... Couldn't help myself.

 

[Tatters]

I figured it was discussed before, but I'm not going to spend all night looking for the thread that it was discussed and besides, its MUCH easier to just ask again LOL By the way, the badgers will lose, yeppers...not going to win (can you tell I am anti-football?)

 

[raimnel]

0.o? frozen to the floor? my coop floor is wet (stupid ducks) but it's not even frozen yet (sloppy, but not frozen)
DrH I could never be mad at you. yes I raised my kids (lazy things) but what about my dh? he didn't help either. matter of fact he almost got to sleep with the goats tonight. he did a load of dishes this morning and started complaining about his lazy wife not doing the dishes for 4 days. what the hell was he doing? yes he did work, but he also ate, I did NOT! I was sick. I got up at 10 one morning and I was so stuffed up I took some benadryl and fell asleep on the couch till 2. poor critters, I did manage to let the dogs out and back in but that was it. one night I was so sick the KIDS put the birds to bed AFTER I musterd up enough strength to take the video game remotes away till it was done. my mother is such a dork, we are STILL working on the goats perminant housing (don't worry they are sheltered) so my mom thinks those goats are getting cold out there. she told me to let them in (the HOUSE)

I said 1 have you seen there coats lately? and 2 they have a "house" out there! matter of fact when I let the dogs out they do their jobs and go curl up WITH the goats in the goaty house till I remember they are out there, and they come in REAL warm they smell like a goat but they are warm lol

bed time!
later

 

[FrenchToast]

Ok, I'm back, gonna make this quick !! The first episode of the Bachlor is on,,ooops gotta wait for next commercial !!
Ok commercial over !!

Now forgot what I was gonna say !!!

Sorry guys I'm not telling ET that you are sll sticking up for him !!! I'll never hear the end of it !!

We got absoulutely nothing done over the last four days around here (he was off work) so today I pulled out all of my supplies to make water nipples and the tins for water warmers.
He said he didn't know where there were any drill bits and that he'd get them from work tomorrow !!! I said why don't we go get them at your work !!! 12 miles away but hey I wanted to get them done !! He said ok. So we went to Elcho and got the drill bits. Then I said how about going to Koni K's for some pie. Ended up eating supper there !!! AND pie, I brought 1/2 my supper home.

Oooopps gotta wait for another comerical.

OH boy this is gonna be good Bachlor !!! The last girl rode in on a horse !!!!

Love it. One of the girls is a skeet shooter !! Love it !! The others, well some are bigger B!tches then I am !!!

They are nasty !!!
I didn't think it was approriate to act like that while you are in a evening gown !!! WOW !!!

Anyway back to business at hand.

So we get home and he says he can't find the drill outside, he will look for it during the daylight !!! Sure wish he wouldn't have lost his glasses !!! Those bifocals just aren't cutting it !! He is going to drill the holes in the feed pans for me, I think cause it uses a different dirll. We shall see !!

I didn't yell to bad, Or should I say loud !!!

Haven't heard from the neighbor yet about the chickens. Hey Tomski, I can pick up some DE at Fleet Farm for you if I go there before we meet up. All depends on when we meet up.

Bigz, it is sad to hear you hen is not feeling well buty amazing that she is 7 yrs old. You sure are doing the right thing !!!

Ok, gonna go watch the Bachlor.

 

[Terri O]

Good evening...I dont think the game is on "free TV" My GF keeps calling for updates...she id not getting it that I am up in my room eating popcorn with my dog and reading BYC! All I know is that they were losing when I cam from work, then catching up and then winning when I came up. I couldnt stand it down there cause DH ordered 2 pizzas and all it smelled like down there was onions! I hate that onions on pizza smell! My Mom used to work for Tarantino's Pizza in Milwaukee and when she came home our house always smelled like that! And she would put a LO pizza in the fridge and IT smelled like that too! THen my brothers would eat it cold for breakfast and I would just about die...bad memories for sure!

Well I thought of a multitude of things to comment on while reading...hmmm. The PDZ works great in the chicken coop! I liked the stall dry when I could get it--had a better smell...it does seem to dry up the bedding a bit. I have also been using "Bye bye Odor" a product that "eats" ammonia smells. I got it from Spaulding Labs along with my fly predators. THat works great in cat boxes too! I would say it has cut the smell down to nearly unnoticeable in the coops.

I used the water soluble Tylan50 with my birds Bigz and it worked very well. I had to order it though. I only had Tylan200 here...pretty hard to measure that for a chicken!

Tatters I can only think that was a wet chicken to freeze down! I have several that live in my barn on the cement floor and they certainly dont freeze to the floor...of course they dont sleep on the floor either! Maybe that bird died during the night and subsequently froze to the floor. It is funny--when the geese are sleeping outside during snowstorms, in the morning there are a bunch of ovals without snow! The first time I saw this I was amazed that they can be that warm t melt what is under them in a snowstorm!

Oh man--I forgot to send this! I think I oughta go to sleep! I certainly do not remember anything else I read now.... Terri O