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Posted: 9/24/2018 8:45:51 AM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Will y'all talk about this barley thing? I could divide my small chicken yard and maybe do that. Certain kind? Any advice? I love the idea of the green for them. NOTHING can outgrow the chickens I've had in the past, but maybe with fewer.... Below is my setup. I grow the barley fodder in the small plastic containers, 1 per day of the week. It takes the barley 7 days to get to the green stage seen on the middle left end of the shelf. This way they get some fresh greens over the colder months when the pickings are slim in the yard or there is snow on the ground. You soak the seed overnight (bottom right container) Each day I spray them with water (with a tiny bit of bleach in it to kill baddies) to keep everything moist. Each day I take the "finished" tray out to the hens and move the other trays one place further along. Grown like this the barley fodder creates a small mat, like a piece of turf, so it pops out easy and stays together for the birds to eat. Rinse the container and start the process over. It takes a minute or two each day.  Attached File |
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Posted: 9/24/2018 12:50:48 PM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Ignorant 1st question about chickens..... I have land an hour away.... currently 170 acres [thinking of buying adjacent land later], 11x acres wooded... can and do get up there 4x of the 52 weekends and often during the week.... but it is best described as a weekend place.... Could I run chickens up there with, basically, weekend attention? Love the thought of organic meat.... [ would love to run a few beef as well ] can I have chickens under this fact pattern? Thanks At minimum, I would run a large electric fence area for them to run around in. Not only keeps the birds mostly contained, helps keep 4 legged predators out. Eagles/hawks love chickens, so if they are in the open, they will be snatched up. Bonus is that chickens do great in wooded areas, and there are typically more yummy bugs in the woods anyway. Use one of my daylight door opener/closers for the coop itself. For water, use 55 gallon barrels with chicken nipples. Use barley straw to keep water clear. With that setup, you should be able to have a meat flock and do pretty good. ETA: DO NOT GET CORNISH X BROILERS!!!! You will be leaving them with free-choice feed. Cornish x will literally eat themselves to death if you allow them to. That, and you have to butcher Cornish X on a specific schedule, otherwise they start dying off. Order Freedom Rangers. Order all roosters, butcher before (or just when) they start fighting each other, or about 12-14 weeks. They will still want to forage for feed, and grow well. I have very little of them die for no reason. |
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Posted: 9/24/2018 7:43:48 PM EDT
[#3]
Thanks,
Sounds like to do it right, treat them as they deserve, will take more time and attention I can provide. |
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Posted: 9/25/2018 9:28:19 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Ignorant 1st question about chickens..... I have land an hour away.... currently 170 acres [thinking of buying adjacent land later], 11x acres wooded... can and do get up there 4x of the 52 weekends and often during the week.... but it is best described as a weekend place.... Could I run chickens up there with, basically, weekend attention? Love the thought of organic meat.... [ would love to run a few beef as well ] can I have chickens under this fact pattern? Thanks Beef...yes, you could probably do that, though I don't consider it particularly good practice, but beef cows are a lot less vulnerable than are chickens. With chickens, you are basically setting up a bait tray for predators, in an artificial situation with birds not equipped to survive on their own, and with no support when they have trouble. And they WILL have trouble. Chickens are prey. There are predators waiting for you to throw prey at them. Don't do it. Buy your chicken at the grocery store. It is far less cruel, and far less frustrating. 
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Posted: 9/25/2018 9:30:15 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I only have a few hens and only one area to confine them so I can't grow anything inside the run but I supplement their food/scratch with some fresh greens in the winter time which they love. Below is my setup. I grow the barley fodder in the small plastic containers, 1 per day of the week. It takes the barley 7 days to get to the green stage seen on the middle left end of the shelf. This way they get some fresh greens over the colder months when the pickings are slim in the yard or there is snow on the ground. You soak the seed overnight (bottom right container) Each day I spray them with water (with a tiny bit of bleach in it to kill baddies) to keep everything moist. Each day I take the "finished" tray out to the hens and move the other trays one place further along. Grown like this the barley fodder creates a small mat, like a piece of turf, so it pops out easy and stays together for the birds to eat. Rinse the container and start the process over. It takes a minute or two each day. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/29926/fodder-681447.JPG VERY cool. And so good for the chickens. And so good for YOU because their eggs will taste better and be more nutritious! 
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Posted: 10/8/2018 8:02:05 PM EDT
[#6]
Had sort of a milestone today.
We got a second egg, late in the day. Our little girls are all growed up! HobbitWife is so happy, you'd think she invented them! 
A question for you all: How do you keep their water from freezing up? We have a one-gallon waterer for them; wife wants to put some kind of $20 heater under the waterer. |
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Posted: 10/8/2018 10:11:38 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Had sort of a milestone today. We got a second egg, late in the day. Our little girls are all growed up! HobbitWife is so happy, you'd think she invented them!
A question for you all: How do you keep their water from freezing up? We have a one-gallon waterer for them; wife wants to put some kind of $20 heater under the waterer. Mine was basically a birdbath thawer-outer. |
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Posted: 10/9/2018 11:19:25 PM EDT
[#8]
plastic safe bucket heater. For a couple gallons, I like at least 75 watts, preferably 150, but I live in the frozen north.
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Posted: 10/9/2018 11:49:30 PM EDT
[#9]
I was thinking of getting a short gun safe Goldenrod heater; put it under a pie pan and put the waterer on top of that.
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Posted: 10/11/2018 12:20:00 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I was thinking of getting a short gun safe Goldenrod heater; put it under a pie pan and put the waterer on top of that.
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Posted: 10/11/2018 3:22:25 PM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryQuoted: You will be heating the entire world with a heater meant for a contained space, and definitely not designed for that application. I doubt that will work, but would love to find out I'm wrong. |
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Posted: 10/15/2018 3:46:23 PM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
[grumble] I should never have shown that thing to her![/grumble] 
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Posted: 10/21/2018 9:17:55 AM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Ignorant 1st question about chickens..... I have land an hour away.... currently 170 acres [thinking of buying adjacent land later], 11x acres wooded... can and do get up there 4x of the 52 weekends and often during the week.... but it is best described as a weekend place.... Could I run chickens up there with, basically, weekend attention? Love the thought of organic meat.... [ would love to run a few beef as well ] can I have chickens under this fact pattern? Thanks If you go this route id go with a heavy breed and trim their flight feathers, also a rooster and a guard goose would help keep smaller predators away. |
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Posted: 10/21/2018 10:29:08 AM EDT
[#14]
We just use a heated water dish/ bowl. You can find them on amazon for less then $20 pick your size...
https://www.amazon.com/Pet-Products-Thermal-Bowl-Heated-96oz/dp/B000Y8GQ56/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1540131997&sr=8-2&keywords=heated+water+dish&dpID=51FHkDFrkhL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch |
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Posted: 10/21/2018 10:34:23 AM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
No. Don't do it. Beef...yes, you could probably do that, though I don't consider it particularly good practice, but beef cows are a lot less vulnerable than are chickens. With chickens, you are basically setting up a bait tray for predators, in an artificial situation with birds not equipped to survive on their own, and with no support when they have trouble. And they WILL have trouble. Chickens are prey. There are predators waiting for you to throw prey at them. Don't do it. Buy your chicken at the grocery store. It is far less cruel, and far less frustrating. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Ignorant 1st question about chickens..... I have land an hour away.... currently 170 acres [thinking of buying adjacent land later], 11x acres wooded... can and do get up there 4x of the 52 weekends and often during the week.... but it is best described as a weekend place.... Could I run chickens up there with, basically, weekend attention? Love the thought of organic meat.... [ would love to run a few beef as well ] can I have chickens under this fact pattern? Thanks Beef...yes, you could probably do that, though I don't consider it particularly good practice, but beef cows are a lot less vulnerable than are chickens. With chickens, you are basically setting up a bait tray for predators, in an artificial situation with birds not equipped to survive on their own, and with no support when they have trouble. And they WILL have trouble. Chickens are prey. There are predators waiting for you to throw prey at them. Don't do it. Buy your chicken at the grocery store. It is far less cruel, and far less frustrating. Ours will go three maybe four nights when we go on a vacation or camping but that includes the use of a kiddy pool for their water. They also stay locked up in their coop/ run when we do this. Any more than 3 nights home alone and we have someone come check on them, collect the eggs, give them more food etc. That only occurs a few times a year when we are away. Things would go really bad if you only tended to them on the weekends. |
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Posted: 10/21/2018 12:50:28 PM EDT
[#16]
The second post says to use a chicken tractor. Our yard is constantly beset with nasty stickers and the plants that grow them:
sand grass 
and goat head stickers 
If we positioned the coop over these plants, would it be safe for the chickens to eat? I'm guessing that they would not thrive but I've seen them eat stickers before. |
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Posted: 10/22/2018 7:38:11 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
The second post says to use a chicken tractor. Our yard is constantly beset with nasty stickers and the plants that grow them: sand grass https://neilsperry.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Grass-burs.jpg and goat head stickers https://media.buzzle.com/media/images-en/photos/botany/1200-34033044-goathead-weed.jpg If we positioned the coop over these plants, would it be safe for the chickens to eat? I'm guessing that they would not thrive but I've seen them eat stickers before. |
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Posted: 11/17/2018 2:23:50 PM EDT
[#18]
We have a sick chicken.
Lucy is the smaller of our 2 chickens (both Barred Rocks). Yesterday we saw blood on an egg and today, the other chicken seems to have been plucking her ventral feathers. She seemed to have a somewhat prolapsed cloaca. We gave her a sitz bath for about 2 minutes, then applied Preparation H to the cloaca. Shes resting now, inside, and away from the other chicken. She ate a few meal worms but has not eaten any of her regular feed. She's also drinking water, to which we've added Save-a-Chick electrolyte. Right now she's not very active at all, not making chicken noises. Wife says she seems to be puffed up a little. We got these responses from BackyardChicken.com Has anyone else encountered this situation? Any suggestions? eta They were vaccinated against coccidiosis while they were chicks. eta2 This from an online source: Outward signs of coccidiosis in chickens include droopiness and listlessness, loss of appetite, The symptoms she does NOT have have been lined out. She IS smaller than her sister-both were bought at the same time from the same store, indicating possibly poor weight gain. No blood in her stools. Her feathers seem to be normal except around her cloaca. Wife is now concerned that she's laying bigger eggs than she's ready for; we just started getting 2 eggs a day from our mini-flock about 3 days ago. Prior to that we got 1 egg per day, and they were always on different sides of the nesting area, indicating that the chickens were laying on alternate days. |
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Posted: 11/17/2018 6:37:11 PM EDT
[#19]
The patient is resting comfortably now. The
We've covered her cage to keep light out so she won't be stimulated to lay eggs. |
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Posted: 11/18/2018 12:24:00 PM EDT
[#20]
Okay, it's 9:23 the next day, she's apparently straining to lay an egg. How long does she have to go through this? I guess I just thought they sort of popped out, but she's grunting and straining.
eta She started grunting about 9:15. |
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Posted: 11/18/2018 12:49:35 PM EDT
[#21]
9:45 the egg is out, with blood on it. There's a spot of blood on the ground where she was.
How long does she go through this, until she's no longer bleeding? Wife is worried, this is her favorite chicken. |
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Posted: 11/18/2018 4:44:48 PM EDT
[#22]
Lucy (the hen) has just had her sitz bath and Preparation H again. I had to help.
Maybe no one is answering these posts because they don't care... or maybe you are rolling on the ground, laughing. I feel so used. |
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Posted: 11/18/2018 8:18:42 PM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Lucy (the hen) has just had her sitz bath and Preparation H again. I had to help. Maybe no one is answering these posts because they don't care... or maybe you are rolling on the ground, laughing. I feel so used. Weekend before Thanksgiving, and I'm guessing folks are running crazy. I just got on the forum and have been really scarce myself. Just checking for issues and trying to fulfill the minimum mod responsibilities, at which I've failed pretty miserably since family issues hit last winter. Also guessing not many people have dealt with this sort of issue. I think she has torn herself laying large eggs, and I don't know how to help much. You CAN lube her up, even reaching in with a finger to lube up the end of the egg, but I've never done that, only read about it. I don't think your hen has a disease. I think she's just too small for the eggs she's laying. The dark thing...to slow down egg production...is a good thing, but it's not an instant fix of course. Her system will respond slowly, and you want a quicker fix, as would I, if my chicken was in trouble. Have you read "raising poultry the modern way?"What I have learned about difficult chicken issues like this, came from that book. It's worth a read, and very practical. The good news is, your young hen is not egg bound. One question: What have you been feeding them? Any kind of ramped-up diet? If so, I'd back that off for certain. Normally her body will eventually adjust, but at the moment, she's obviously uncomfortable and though I have seen blood on eggs regularly and not worried about it, it has not been a lot of blood, it went away after a few days, and I have not seen long-term effects for the hen from this. Please keep the reports coming. I have heard of people taking a syringe (with no needle of course) and injecting particular lubricants into the oviduct via the vent. But I don't remember what the lube was, and the production end of a chicken is not the easiest thing to navigate without harming the hen. Just sayin. Just how bad IS the prolapse? |
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Posted: 11/18/2018 10:30:04 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: @FrankSymptoms Weekend before Thanksgiving, and I'm guessing folks are running crazy. I just got on the forum and have been really scarce myself. Just checking for issues and trying to fulfill the minimum mod responsibilities, at which I've failed pretty miserably since family issues hit last winter. Also guessing not many people have dealt with this sort of issue. I think she has torn herself laying large eggs, and I don't know how to help much. You CAN lube her up, even reaching in with a finger to lube up the end of the egg, but I've never done that, only read about it. I don't think your hen has a disease. I think she's just too small for the eggs she's laying. The dark thing...to slow down egg production...is a good thing, but it's not an instant fix of course. Her system will respond slowly, and you want a quicker fix, as would I, if my chicken was in trouble. Have you read "raising poultry the modern way?"What I have learned about difficult chicken issues like this, came from that book. It's worth a read, and very practical. The good news is, your young hen is not egg bound. One question: What have you been feeding them? Any kind of ramped-up diet? If so, I'd back that off for certain. Normally her body will eventually adjust, but at the moment, she's obviously uncomfortable and though I have seen blood on eggs regularly and not worried about it, it has not been a lot of blood, it went away after a few days, and I have not seen long-term effects for the hen from this. Please keep the reports coming. I have heard of people taking a syringe (with no needle of course) and injecting particular lubricants into the oviduct via the vent. But I don't remember what the lube was, and the production end of a chicken is not the easiest thing to navigate without harming the hen. Just sayin. Just how bad IS the prolapse? The prolapse wasn't that bad IMO, not as bad as any of the pics I've seen on the internet. Wife says it was about like this one at 6:10 or so. We gave her a sitz bath and put some Preparation H on her bum, and she seems to be OK now-- except when she tries to lay an egg like this morning. Its nice to know my wife isn't overreacting in this. I too think she'll adjust. We will keep her separated from her coop mate (Ethyl) till the bleeding stops, as chickens tend to attack anything that looks red. Food: Regular chicken food, with some grit and some oyster shell. Wife likes to give them some meal worm treats too, but it's not the major part of their diet. |
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Posted: 11/18/2018 10:35:36 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Thanks for responding! I was trying to inject a little humor here with my earlier remark. Sorry you're having family issues- BTDT. The prolapse wasn't that bad IMO, not as bad as any of the pics I've seen on the internet. Wife says it was about like this one at 6:10 or so. We gave her a sitz bath and put some Preparation H on her bum, and she seems to be OK now-- except when she tries to lay an egg like this morning. Its nice to know my wife isn't overreacting in this. I too think she'll adjust. We will keep her separated from her coop mate (Ethyl) till the bleeding stops, as chickens tend to attack anything that looks red. Food: Regular chicken food, with some grit and some oyster shell. Wife likes to give them some meal worm treats too, but it's not the major part of their diet. |
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Posted: 11/18/2018 11:22:39 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted: You're certainly not doing anything wrong. Are you treating same as that video for the prolapse? She's got the cats scared silly! eta We're keeping her separated from her sister Ethel, who pokes at Lucys wounds. |
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Posted: 11/19/2018 6:29:30 PM EDT
[#27]
Frank,
We have owned chickens now for 17 months and learn something new about them every few days. We have run into a couple of things where there wasn't any info on the internet or anywhere else that we could find. Twice we have had issues that just took time to solve themselves since we couldn't find any way to help. Someday we will know it all, but be too old to own chickens anymore! Anyway, I am sure there are several of us that read your problem, but didn't know how to help and didn't want to "muddy the water". Good luck my friend! James |
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Posted: 11/19/2018 7:18:06 PM EDT
[#28]
@Franksymptoms
When you say "regular chicken food" what do you mean? Scratch? Laying mash? Or what? |
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Posted: 11/19/2018 9:33:23 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
@Franksymptoms When you say "regular chicken food" what do you mean? Scratch? Laying mash? Or what? She's also been feeding them lots of 'treats:' suet, mealy worms. |
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Posted: 11/19/2018 9:35:43 PM EDT
[#30]
Someday we will know it all, but be too old to own chickens anymore! That's also why this forum is so valuable: No one can survive making all the mistakes in this life, so we try to learn from those of others. |
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Posted: 11/19/2018 10:06:51 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: That's called "Life!" That's also why this forum is so valuable: No one can survive making all the mistakes in this life, so we try to learn from those of others. |
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Posted: 11/23/2018 7:42:38 PM EDT
[#32]
Well, we've rejoined the two chickens. Ethel, the one left outside, acted overjoyed to see her sister.
Lucy seems to be healed and we think she'll get over her small cloaca. |
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Posted: 11/26/2018 11:53:21 PM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Well, we've rejoined the two chickens. Ethel, the one left outside, acted overjoyed to see her sister. Lucy seems to be healed and we think she'll get over her small cloaca. AND....is Lucy's butt all healed up? You think Ethel will not peck at her? |
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Posted: 11/27/2018 2:20:54 AM EDT
[#34]
Basically we did what the video above showed us: give her a sitz bath, doctored her cloaca with Preparation H, and dried her as best we could. We separated them for about 4-5 days. We'd take Lucy (the patient) out and leave her in the pen with Ethel to reduce stress of separation, always leaving her in her cage to protect her from Ethel*.
A few days ago we checked Lucy for bleeding, and she seemed to be healed. So we have re-introduced her into the chicken coop and are keeping an eye on her. We check her every morning, and also check to see if there are any bloody eggs. *The experienced chicken keepers know this but if anyone reading this doesn't: Chickens seem to be predisposed to peck at a wounded bird. Anything that is red looks like blood, so they'll peck at it. HobbitWife says that this is to eliminate a sick bird from the flock. We had this problem a couple of months ago, when Lucy had a wound on her beak. She got better with treatment after 2-3 days. |
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Posted: 11/27/2018 2:24:02 AM EDT
[#35]
We kept Lucy in a cat cage about 2' square by 18" high. We kept her just inside the back door. Each of our 3 cats met her and it was hilarious! If the cats got too close to the cage, Lucy would fluff up, spread her wings and make a loud CAWWW noise. The cats were terrified of her!
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Posted: 11/27/2018 4:51:16 PM EDT
[#36]
birds are outside together in the chicken yard. Now, they are making lots of noise! They've started standing atop the coop and seemingly squawking in counterpoint.
Any idea why they do this? We're gonna go outside and check for eggs in a half hour or so, but is that normal "Oi, I'm layin' a egg, matey!" behavior? Wife is afraid the neighbors will object. |
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Posted: 11/28/2018 2:50:45 AM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
birds are outside together in the chicken yard. Now, they are making lots of noise! They've started standing atop the coop and seemingly squawking in counterpoint. Any idea why they do this? We're gonna go outside and check for eggs in a half hour or so, but is that normal "Oi, I'm layin' a egg, matey!" behavior? Wife is afraid the neighbors will object. That whole squawking behavior CAN mean "hey you, keepers, come out here and help! We've got trouble!" It can also NOT mean that, but it's important to note that chickens make a lot of noise when there is an intruder. |
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Posted: 11/28/2018 10:57:21 AM EDT
[#38]
It can also NOT mean that, but it's important to note that chickens make a lot of noise when there is an intruder. We're still getting only one egg per day, from Ethel, the largest chicken. |
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Posted: 11/28/2018 12:52:05 PM EDT
[#39]
You need two more hens. Four or five is about right for folks who eat eggs regularly, and when the inevitable loss comes, it is a little easier (I don't mean that to sound crass, but it just is, in my experience, even when they're all pets.) AND the loss doesn't decimate your egg supply.
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Posted: 12/28/2018 1:07:51 AM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
You need two more hens. Four or five is about right for folks who eat eggs regularly, and when the inevitable loss comes, it is a little easier (I don't mean that to sound crass, but it just is, in my experience, even when they're all pets.) AND the loss doesn't decimate your egg supply. BTW now that winter is here, I've found a neat little contraption. It looks like an electric plug splitter but it's a temperature-controlled splitter; it turns on at 35 Degrees F. and turns off at 45 Degrees. I have it on my chicken water heater. The heater itself only uses about 12 watts so it doesn't really "heat up" the water but keeps it from freezing. On Amazon, about $10. 
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Posted: 12/30/2018 8:59:43 AM EDT
[#41]
Chickens ARE warmer than humans! (105 to 113 F, according to Google.)
It's 11F outside... inside the coop it's 58! I put a blanket over it and covered that with a tarp; between the two hot-blooded chickens and their water warmer, it's plenty warm in there! I haven't heard any complaints from them but the morning temps are going down with the blizzard we had recently. 2"-3" of snow on the ground. We put a dog waterer in the coop and set the water atop that; seems to keep things warm enough. |
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Posted: 1/4/2019 10:45:17 AM EDT
[#42]
The girls' laying has decreased, I get one egg every day, from a different chicken (their eggs are color coded). The temps have plunged, into single digits, although (as noted above) their body temps are high.
Is this normal? They will be a year old sometime around Easter. |
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Posted: 1/4/2019 4:29:12 PM EDT
[#43]
It is normal. And it depends. Some chickens lay about 6 days a week and rarely stop. Some stop for awhile because the wind blew too hard that day. Molting, stress, food changes, broodiness and time of year all figure into that. We have about 40 hens now of laying age. Back in the early fall we were getting about 30 eggs some days. These winter days it is down to 6 - 12.
The reduced amount of sunlight in winter really effects laying. About 10 of our hens are in a building that we turn the lights on and off in. They get at least 12-14 hours of light a day and still some days we don't get but 1 or 2 eggs out of them. Now all that being said, hens occasionally can get egg bound or have an internal problem. But most probably not. |
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Posted: 1/7/2019 9:22:50 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
The girls' laying has decreased, I get one egg every day, from a different chicken (their eggs are color coded). The temps have plunged, into single digits, although (as noted above) their body temps are high. Is this normal? They will be a year old sometime around Easter. MongoCaver is not wrong about different chickens being different. Some is breed specific, but chickens are individuals. MOST chickens are daylength sensitive, and their bodies respond to shorter days by decreasing the rate of laying. You can adjust this and keep them laying somewhat at a normal level, by placing a "chicken light" in the coop with a low-watt lightbulb. (Chicken lights are ten dollars at Tractor supply. It's just an aluminum reflector-style light that's tough as hell and has a wire guard so the chickens can't easily fly into the bulb and break it.) That said, some folks prefer to let the chickens "rest" in the winter, as they feel that forced laying burns them out sooner, and I do not disagree with this. And yes, chickens are a LOT warmer than humans. If you ever catch a hen on the nest and ease your hand underneath her (you may get pecked, but it'll be okay) you will go "aaaahhhhh!" because it's so toasty warm under there. That's what incubates the eggs. The broody hen will lay many eggs in the nest until she decides it's time, then she begins "setting" (sitting) on the eggs. Then you've got yerself a settin' hen. (thought I would help you with the southern vernacular). The eggs do not begin incubation until she starts setting. That's because she warms them up and keeps them warm enough, for long enough, to grow babies in the eggs. Outside the science of it (which I do sorta know, though not as well as I know plant science), it's just freaking cool, IMO, and makes me believe in God, but that's just me.
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Posted: 1/8/2019 1:19:05 AM EDT
[#45]
Now we're getting one egg one day, 2 eggs the next. I think they are just relaxing a bit. The temps have been down into the single digits for the last week and I insulated the coop a bit with an old blanket on top, and a 1" layer of styrofoam insulation on the bottom of the "penthouse" of their coop. It's warmer now at night.
I also have a dog heater dish thingy that keeps their water supply warm enough to not freeze. IT's sort of funny how they flew/climbed to the top of their coop as I installed the styrofoam, like they were supervising. UPDATE: They totally eliminated the styrofoam at the bottom of their 'penthouse!' They pecked at it till it dropped and then just tore it up.  Attached File |
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Posted: 1/29/2019 12:31:26 PM EDT
[#46]
If anybody in VA needs or wants a rooster I have a lavender Orpington cockerel with some buff bleed through that needs a home or he’s going in the stockpot in 3 weeks.
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Posted: 1/29/2019 8:37:51 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Now we're getting one egg one day, 2 eggs the next. I think they are just relaxing a bit. The temps have been down into the single digits for the last week and I insulated the coop a bit with an old blanket on top, and a 1" layer of styrofoam insulation on the bottom of the "penthouse" of their coop. It's warmer now at night. I also have a dog heater dish thingy that keeps their water supply warm enough to not freeze. IT's sort of funny how they flew/climbed to the top of their coop as I installed the styrofoam, like they were supervising. UPDATE: They totally eliminated the styrofoam at the bottom of their 'penthouse!' They pecked at it till it dropped and then just tore it up. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/87116/Ethel___Lucy_jpg-825815.JPG
It's a shame animals don't think ahead to "I'll wish I had this when it's cold later." |
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Posted: 1/29/2019 8:53:55 PM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Well, you gave them a toy, yaknow?
It's a shame animals don't think ahead to "I'll wish I had this when it's cold later." 
As it was, I had to vacuum a million little styrofoam dots off the dirt floor. |
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Posted: 1/31/2019 9:35:37 AM EDT
[#49]
This winter has been very cold for us, and our chickens are pretty well snowed in. I think we are down to 15 now, lost a couple this fall from racoon attacks.
We have been running a low wattage red light bulb in our coop this winter, leaving it on 247 to help keep the coop at a reasonable temp. Other than that they don't come out very often in this weather, we must have 3+ feet of snow around our coop. |
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Posted: 2/9/2019 1:13:17 AM EDT
[#50]
One of my hens has a sort of strange-looking condition with her feathers. Just at the base of the tail, they look kind of "furred," sort of downy-looking. Any idea what this could be?
I doubt that the other hen is pecking her as she is the "alpha" chicken, and noticably larger. eta Here's a pic of her tailfeathers:  Attached File |
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