| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| eskimobirdlady |
Posted - Oct 29 2009 : 7:01:44 PM
Finally!! We put the hens and their young ones in last night as well as Rory the rooster. We kept the young roosters in the small coop, tho we would have liked to keep one of those rooasters to replace Rory we were afraid he would kill it! The hens are getting their pecking order sorted out and I can imagine that Rory was astonished this morning to find that instead of 14 hens he had 40 to keep in line! Sadly they wont be able to get outside for the winter but they dont really go out even when they have the choice once temps get into the teens. We put a light in that will be lit for about 12 hours a day. It has been weeks since i got a double yolk egg (she must have hidden them well lol) but today got one once again! The young hens are not all laying yet but we are getting about an egg a day so it wont be long! My egg customers will be happy as I havent had any eggs for about 3 weeks now cuz I wont sell frozen eggs. We may put in a barrel stove to heat the coop later in the winter but that is still up in the air. They have lots of nice perches and thick hay and shavings for bedding, as well as a 4 space nest box. The babies that are in there include a few roosters and we are hoping that they will be old enough in the spring to help Rory with his duties and that he wont kill them since he is used to them. There was one or 2 roos in the other coop that I would have loved to keep but I am certain that Rory would not have allowed that since they are almost full grown and he doesnt "know" them. Peace Connie in Alaska
|
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Alee |
Posted - Nov 03 2009 : 1:17:46 PM
One thing that might be cheaper up there is wood shavings.
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
| eskimobirdlady |
Posted - Nov 03 2009 : 10:37:51 AM
hi alee, i spoke to hubby about your ideas and he had been thinking along the same lines. its just been a mtter of having the TIME to do it. we have some foam insulation he is planning on using. believe it or not straw is $10 a bale here! cheaper to use foam *sigh* for now the chickens are fine its just the eggs that are suffering lol. he is off for 3 days and has been checking several times a day for eggs so we have been able to get most of them before they freeze. thanks so much for your ideas! peace connie in alaska |
| Alee |
Posted - Nov 02 2009 : 7:10:34 PM
Another idea is if you are tool inclined you could screw or bolt 2x4's to the wall at the height for the new ceiling and then slide plywood or something on top of the two by fours. This would give the added benefit of creating a solid "floor" where you could put some insulation for the new ceiling- like straw bales or something up there. Even loose straw would be good. And if the walls aren't insulated well you can pile straw bales around the outside where possible to help insulation and when the snow falls pack the snow in around the henhouse. Snow is a great insulator!
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
| eskimobirdlady |
Posted - Nov 02 2009 : 1:48:58 PM
good idea alee! we hadnt thought of that. it is built out of ready made wooden shipping crates (like mayflower movers use) and that just happens to be the height of them. i will suggest it to hubby and see if we can fit doing that into everything else he has to do on his days off. his schedule is weird and looks like a lot of time off but with switching from day to night and back again every week he loses a lot of off time to sleep. *sigh* it doesnt help that every trip to town takes an hour each way. peace connie in alaska |
| Alee |
Posted - Nov 02 2009 : 06:53:56 AM
Connie- is there anyway you guys could drop the ceiling in your coop? 8 feet is pretty tall when you consider that heat rises. Even if you staple an old blanket so that the effective ceiling is like 6 foot, that will bring the heat closer to the hens too. Just a thought! :D
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
| eskimobirdlady |
Posted - Nov 01 2009 : 11:47:28 PM
the prob is that with tempps nowdipping into the single digits and getting lowe rthe shells crack. if they are not cracked ikeep them for personal use but cracked shells couldhave bacteria in them and i wont even take that chance! i do feed them to my dog but one dog cant eat that many eggs!! we are going to put abheat lamp in this week but with such a large area i doubt it will do much good. we hope to put in a barrel stove but that might not happen unless we can find one really cheap. we have too many medical bills as well as land taxes that must get payed soon and sadly that has to take precidence. the hens were fine last winter thru temps of below minus 50 and nothing but their baby heat to warm them, but we do lose all the eggs. i think the coop is about 8 ft tall, and floor space about 8X16 or more.
we did decide that any chicks hatched by mommas next summer will not be left to run free after mom is done raising them. those babies are totally wild! the ones that were put in the pen soon after mommma was done are not at all wild. when we cought them to place them in the coop the wild ones never settled in the bag but the rest just instantly quieted. weird.
peace connie in alaska |
| 1badmamawolf |
Posted - Oct 29 2009 : 7:54:40 PM
Connie, you can freeze eggs without any problems, so if they froze in the coop and the shell did'nt break, they will be ok.
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
| Alee |
Posted - Oct 29 2009 : 7:49:59 PM
How big is the henhouse? I bet they love their new digs! :D
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
