Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Celtic Chick]

Quote: I know exactly what you mean, Cind! How do they get so darn filthy in such a blink of an eye?????

H&R, sorry about your roo.

Kristi, as long as chickies are with momma & the coop isn't damp/drafty, both momma & the chicks should be ok. Momma will keep them warm. It's hard not to worry about them, though.

Jim, I say he's a no-show.

Terri, you stopped by your folks & didn't stop to visit?

I sure hope Commander will be ok in the cold. Poor guy.

Ang, what kind of heated dog bowl do you have? Is it the big metal one? If so, a plastic 1 gallon waterer will fit right inside it & it will not freeze. I used that last year for the rabbits & Jack. A lot less junk got in the water than if you just used the dog dish. I also have a metal waterer & a heated base for the rest of the flock.

I am just dragged out tired tonight! I cannot wait to crawl under the warm covers & curl up with some purring furballs. I think the bed will be full tonight. Sweet dreams and stay warm, all!

 

[Cindlady]

Hi all!

Just checking in.

Night all!

 

[Dr HaHa]

Good Dark morning All! I see you lurkin Tomski. How ya been? Back on the real puter today!

Much mo betta. Jim don't know much bout lectricity so can't help with the Ollie? Bigz didn't you have the wolves around not too long ago? Think it was Angie that was worried about the water. I built a wooden box with a piece of sheet aluminum on top experimented till I found that a 60 watt bulb kept the water from freezing even in sub-zero weather. I get the biggest kick out of Midge the banty she makes the funniest noises. Already thinkin I'd like some more BA's next spring. I'll put Lard Butt and Babykins in a yet to be constructed breeding pen. Will have to do some research on how long it takes to clear out the unwanted sperm donors. Pulled the last of the carrots last evening in prep for a batch of chicken soup tomorrow.

Need to get a pic of one of them, their Nanties but this one is G'ma Nanties. Had a good visit with the folks yesterday but Dad really needs hearing aids. He B'd up a storm when mom needed them but the aid is on the other ear now. I took them some goodies and they sent me home with a ring of bologna from the Richland Center Locker plant. About the only place in the state where you can still get the good stuff. Bryan took one of the twin 5 pointers home last night so I guess I'll be over there tomorrow cuttin it up. Was planning on cutting big trees today and tomorrow to get a good pile so he could help split. Guess that's getting pushed back.

Don't remember if I said but Donny's cancer hasn't spead to anywhere else and their going to do surgery in the next couple of weeks. Thinking that if they didn't rush him into surgery that it's a good sign.

Cind any luck on figuring out who the boys are yet? Dad told me yesterday that he was looking up Manx cats on the web. I knew he really thought Bob was cool. There was so much more but it's gone as usual. Better get movin!

 

[vickiw]

Cold SNOWY mornin' all!

Terri~wish I could send this cold all the way back to Canada!!! Angie~I have a (too big) plastic waterer that has a dual temp in it that keeps the "tank" part and drinking part from freezing separately. Supposed to only heat the part that needs it.

Haven't tried it out yet (probably tonight) but I picked it up because I got a great deal on it when FF was clearing them out ($21 for a 3 gal. 2 stage waterer? No brainer!) because it was spring and they were changing suppliers

Other nice thing about it is that it has a nice deep drinking part that my large girls definitely prefer. Also, because it's plastic, I can continue to use my OCV and Oxine. Guess I will find out tonight if it works, maybe. My coop is so well insulated it may not get below freezing

even tho they are predicting 20's which means we will probably hit the high teens because we are located in a cold pocket in a cold pocket! You don't see it unless you look at a Topography map but we are in what once must have been a large lake bed probably carved out by glaciers (thus the sandy soil). Now we just have a large creek that flows thru out back 40 that drains into the Wolf river within walking distance (on a good day) from the house. Rattling, sorry. Anyway, if it doesn't work I REALLY like the idea of sitting a waterer in one of those dog dishes! Could have grabbed one of those last spring too, darn.

well, it's starting to snow again,

so I better go throw the girls some carbs to warm them up. Still not planning on heating the coop unless it gets REALLY bad, then I have one of those oil type heaters, the ones that look like an old steam heat register, on wheels I use in my workshop that I plan on sticking in the coop. It has all kinds of settings and safety features and I figure it has to be a lot safer around the straw, etc. then an electric coil one. Read on BYC somewhere that someone else used one and seems like a good idea. Question; should I put something around it to the chooks from getting too close?

.....................................vickiinthewayyyyyytoocoldthismorningnorthwoods.........................................

 

[Terri O]

Good morning! I got a windfall yesterday! My hay guy brought me some close-dated bread from the bread store and there was a GF loaf in there!

So I ran it right into the house and had a plum jam openface. YUM! So on my way to my parents' place I called him up and he came over today so I could climb in his truck to see if there was more. I found 4 more loaves.

Just got finished with my FIRST tomato/basil/cheese on toast of the season. MMMMM--that was so yummy! It sure is weird to get that excited about bread for sure...I am already planning lunch and dinner for Pete's sake! It was so good I think I might have to have another; maybe with an egg this time? Kinda fun to be able to just get a slice and make something out of it instead of having to think about MAKING the bread first. I just cant part with $7 for a loaf of bread!

OK--that was the exciting bread news...Tommy woke me up this morning, I heard his crowing right through the pillow over my head. We cancelled our riding plans cause my friend said it was really windy and chilly too. When I went out to look for the bread it wasnt windy at all...but we have that wonderful hill that blocks so much of the chilly wind. Saves us tons on our heating bill for sure. I guess I am going to use the day to my advantage and get the tomatoes pulled up and hung down in the basement. We still have not had a frost here! I will bring the rest of the houseplants in too [cant wait to try and find room for them in here] and start with the stapling of feed bags in the coop. I sure wish the sun was shining...makes me feel more like doing stuff outside for sure!

My neighbor hasnt called about any deer so far...I hope he does sometime this fall. My venison supply is exhausted. Might have to send DH our with the truck...

just kidding!

Vicki...keep you snow for a while yet OK?
I have a metal base heater too but I didnt use it last year at all. I made a bunch of the cookie tin water heaters that have a light bulb inside. Worked great with the waterer or with a pan sitting on top. Dh just told me the watts/volts/amps formula thing...more than I wanted to know...I am going to check which one draws more: the cookie tin or the heated dog dish. I am betting on the dog dish. Somebody last year said that they sit an ice cream pail inside the dog dish to help with the savings issue...I will try that if I find that the dog dish draws less.

I guess I better get off of here if I am going to get to my list for today....kinda nice just sitting here drinking coffee with a dog sleeping on my legs though....she is nice and toasty!
Have a great day folks! Drop down the storm windows and keep toasty! TerriOdoingjustthattodayandmuchmore

 

[CasieD]

Brrr... morning, hope you are all keeping warm. Was out checking on the chickens. Our batch of meat birds are 6 weeks old now and they sure didn't want to go outside! I opened their coop and they looked out and went right back to eating and drinking inside the coop. Ha... I guess I don't blame them. Good thing they are so tasty or I'd never keep doing batches of them. So stinky! The couple of Freedom Rangers we added to the group are looking just as good as the CX. I wonder if they just look better because they don't have the white feathers like the CX so they don't look as dirty and bald? The real test will be when we taste them.

The SFH are 10 weeks old now and doing great. They don't seem to mind the cold. Just wish they would start roosting at night instead of sleeping in a pile on the coop floor. I've tried going in after dark and moving them up to the roost but they just fly back down.

Ang~ I've used the metal heated water base for two winters already and haven't had any problems with it. I did use the metal waterer on it like it says to do. This year with the new coop I'm going to try a plastic waterer with another heated base I picked up on sale at FF. We don't add any heat to our coops other than those bases for the water. Just good insulation and ventilation.

David- how were the colors at Eau Claire Dells?? We didn't get there yet this fall or up to Rib Mtn and with this wind I wondering if it would be worth the drive or not. I was out picking some fall raspberries on Thursday south of Mosinee and the drive on Hwy C by the Eau Plaine was beautiful!

Picked 7#'s of berries and made jam on Friday. I used that universal pectin that Jim mentioned (from the Amish store) and love how you can control how much sugar you use in it. Hubby is diabetic so I try to keep the sugar at a minimum. It was nicely sweet with a bit of tart yet at the lowest amount recommended. The kids loved it this morning on their toast!

DH will be setting up a timer on the light in the layers coop this weekend. With the ladies still molting like crazy and less day light I'm lucky to get 2 eggs out of the 9 that should be laying. There are 3 pullets that should be starting any day now too. I actually had to (gasp) buy eggs this week!

I'm hoping that adding the extra light will help them along.

Tuesday, when we still had some nice weather, I cleaned up the veggie garden and pulled the last of the carrots. I think DrH's chicken soup idea sounds like a good one for today. I've been saving roasted chicken carcass to make stock with in the pressure cooker. Add in some of those carrots and onions from earlier, some kluski noodles and maybe make a fresh loaf of bread. Mmmm!

Well I think that's all I've got for an update here! I've been reading but not posting much as of late.

 

[Angiebubs]

Wow! Lots of great ideas for the heated water!!

Jim: No I don't heat my coop-I think there was one stretch last spring that I put in the brooder lamp/bulb as my roos comb had bled alot and was worried about the cold/shock. Other than that-I just sit and worry and fret and check on them often. I am hoping with 24 bodies in the 10 x 24 it wil be slightly warmer than last year with only 12? (Probabl wishful thinking) And yes I have one of those heated waterers where it twists off (Your suppossed to fill it from the bottom rubber stopper) and let me tell you there were plenty of times where there was some pretty blue language coming from the barn and some stomping (is it stomping when its in the snow?) around when I would just make it to the coop/barn and the whole thing would dump 5 gals of water in my deep litter flooring. Have to scoop it all out in the area, and lay down fresh bedding-just to have it happen all over again!!

I have the plastic heated dog bowl-I will have to go look at it and see if any of y waterers will sit inside it-that sounds like an excellent idea!

One complication I have is-I am using an extension cord and last yr ran a timer/full spectrum light for a couple hours in the morning. So with that set up I can only safely add one more thing off it. Meaning I will only have one heated water source in the coop. Since I have mixed bantys in there-it has to be low enough for them to reach water yet high enough for them not too all fillit up with shavings (deep litter method).

BigZ: Do you have any pics of your water set up? That sounds like a safe practical idea. Also I am wondering if I could make it in such a way that it would also provide a lil extra heat if anyone them were freezing their tushes off this winter, they could amble over near it!!

 

[Angiebubs]

Why s BYC not allowing me to have spaces between my paragraphs??

 

[unkadan]

Why s BYC not allowing me to have spaces between my paragraphs??

I think it's part of a green movement to stop wasting paper

 

[Angiebubs]

LOL Unk- Is a "tree killer" on and off line. Yesterday at work accidently printed a 150 page doc that I needed one sheet-ran to the printer and couldnt ge tit to stop. I remember last place I worked 6 yrs ago-they hung a sign on my wall "Tree Killer" for a similiar episode.