For all the cold weather we’ve had this year (and last Fall), we finally got snow to go with it. Now, this makes my kids happy. Understatement of the year. Need proof?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkunuyYviOk
The chickens are not so happy about it. In fact, I am typing this on Wednesday afternoon, and they have not stepped foot outside the coop since the first layers of ice/snow covered the ground Monday morning. I cannot imagine the cabin fever they must have.
Cabin FeverGiving me the Cabin Fever stink eye.
It is ironic, though, because Monday was the day our Buff Orpington “chick” decided to lay her first egg. We now have 7 layers out of 10 chickens, and it is somewhat surreal to see the winter wonderland outside and realize we are getting more eggs than ever!
One distinctly small egg from our Buff O
We are all pretty excited to have our first layer from chicks we raised (granted, they were 4 weeks old when we got them, but they were still so tiny!).
Remember when?
Jerry was able to make it out to the local store yesterday and got us some straw. We got another inch+ of snow last night and this morning, so I put some of the straw out today to try to coax the girls out of the coop into the sunshine.It was hard to really get it scattered well since the hawk netting is hanging VERY low due to all the ice. If they do decide to venture out, it should give them some dry piles to roost on and scatter and soak up some rays.
Thinking about coming out…I couldn’t spread the straw well due to the sagging netting.
I really hope they do… it would be a shame to have egg production reduce because they are literally all cooped up!
Thinking about it. The sun is so tempting.Well….. since you put the straw out I’ll think on it some more…I don’t THINK so. Get back in there… I’m not putting my feet down on that stuff!
Oh, and in case you wondered… our 9 month old pony, I mean Great Pyrenees, is LOVING this weather. This is the type of weather he was bred for, and you can tell he is right at home in it. He’s busy barking to keep the wild birds out of the chicken yard since the girls aren’t out there. He did decide to take advantage of some of the straw to lay on top of the snow.
Snow Day 1 – his fur is crunchy from the ice!Snow Day 3 – Even an Atlas likes a pile of straw.
Quick update from the farm. The kids and I were gone for over a week, and we left Jerry to look after things at home since he had to work.
Just a few days before we left, we had our first case of Atlas getting hold of one of the chicks and over – playing. That was a tough loss, but somewhat inevitable with a livestock guardian puppy in training.
All seemed to be going well while we were gone until Friday. Jerry came out to find chicks outside the fence, and one was not ever found. Our suspicion is that she was snagged by a hawk. We’ll probably not know for sure, but if it was a hawk, I am concerned that it will return now that it has had a taste.
There is some “good” in this update… promise
It seems that one of our black stars has decided she doesn’t want to be Christmas dinner. Yesterday – approximately 30 weeks post-hatch, we got an egg!! So, we are back up to 2 a day for 2 days straight.
We are definitely doing the happy dance, and looking at the silver lining in the midst of our chick losses.
(I’ll try to get pics up soon… Atlas goes for a weigh – in today so we can get more heartworm prevention. He seems to have added a good ten pounds while we were gone!!)
A full dozen — chickens in the coop, that is. (Not eggs in a day… Yet.)
But first, some coop modification updates…
With any DIY home project, you’re never really done. Case in point, I still have no baseboards and we’ve been in our house for over 8 years! Turns out, the same goes for a chicken coop.
When we got the coop finished in a rush prepping for the “old guard” that came with Atlas back in the summer, there were some things that we knew would need updating/finishing by the time the new residents would move in (and for the winter weather).
One – windows. We just cut holes in the man door and side of the coop and backed them with hardware cloth this summer, knowing that the girls would be fine with the summer temps. But, that just won’t do for winter. we do have some ventilation in the upper eaves, but these holes will be too much to allow the girls to stay warm in the winter. My very clever hubby saved the boards that we cut out, and we rigged them with hinges and closures so that we can have them either open or closed. It now seals up quite nicely, allowing the chickens to build up some body heat and not have the drafty wind.
Two – roost poles. We literally slapped a pole across the midsection of the interior when we built this coop. It has worked great for the existing 6 grown chickens (I can’t call them “layers” because we have yet to get an egg from the 4 Black Star pullets – but that is another story :-)!). We knew that adding the 6 chicks into the mix for winter would require more roosting space. So, Jerry and I put a layered roosting area for them – 45 degree slope with 3 roost poles. The 6 grown chickens have been doing nicely here – all of them snug in nicely on the top roost at night and they have been happy cluckers. They even hang out inside lately during the day with all the wind and cold that has been blowing through lately.
Yes, this will do just fineChickens like it, too!
And, now we can get to today’s exciting news… We now have TWELVE chickens in the coop!! The chicks are now 12 weeks old, and with it getting colder we were really wanting to get all of these ladies together so that they can keep each other warm at night AND so that we are not moving the chicks in and out each morning and evening. Not only is it a major hassle, we just really didn’t have a good place to have them outside when there was rain. They are getting big enough that it was too cramped for them in their UHaul box contraption in the garage Now they will be able to choose whether to go out in the rain or stay in the coop.
All 12 cluckers in the yard together
Today turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day as we gear up for the cold front that is coming through later this week. Some call it a “polar vortex,” but I grew up calling it a “cold front.” We took advantage of this late this afternoon and brought the chicks into the hen yard area again. Everyone seemed much more at ease this time, and once the big girls went in and got settled on their roost, I showed the littles how to get in and let them explore. They ended up settling in – half of them on the bottom roost and half of them nesting in the pine shavings on the floor.
Littles – 3 on the bottom roost and 3 nesting on the floorBig girls on the top bunk
I plan to make sure I’m down there at the Crack of Dawn tomorrow so that I can closely monitor the waking and morning activities to make sure there is no unwarranted aggression from the big girls. If all goes well, they can all stay out and enjoy the yard and the sunshine together tomorrow!
Now it is time to get our waterer heater made – it’s supposed to get down in the 20s later this week, and we don’t want frozen water!
Here are a couple more shots from the farm:
Even though he has a sheltered area, Atlas prefers under the coop – even in the rain. Problem is… he keeps getting taller, so he is quite a bit dirtier crawling in and out.Poor Dom – she’s molting. Barred Rock feathers everywhere!
Here’s hoping we’ll get eggs soon, with Dom in full-on molt we are down to one egg roughly every day from Red. So, 12 chickens and – at best – one egg a day right now. Rough time of the year
