More chicken news and information!
Greetings from Big Mama on the right, and "the other one".
Well, we have had some interesting weather last week and now this week, too. Last week we saw plenty of snow and wind and the schools closed for three days! We saw some double digit negative numbers at night, some have reported minus 12 degrees! About a month ago, I finally decided that I'd put a light in the chicken coop. I felt sorry for them and worried that I'd come out some morning to find them half alive. I am not interested in reviving or killing off a half-dead chicken, so I went for the heat bulb. I was wanting a black heat bulb, the kind used in reptile habitats, but Wal-Mart was out and I wasn't driving to town to search for one. Having healthy, natural birds means I hesitate to give them artificial light. But.... cold times call for a compromise in standards. I guess.
And so the girls have light all the time, 24 hours a day. Which might be why their egg production is so great durning this freezing weather! Just to illustrate how cold it was, I went to collect eggs one day and found the rare and beautiful green egg... only to discover that it had frozen and cracked. So I had to toss it in the non-chicken compost pile. =(
Now we collect the eggs twice a day, and even then, I think a few eggs might have become a little frosted inside. But no matter, if the shell is intact, a little frozen inside won't bother us.
Here you can see the girls finally out enjoying a little bit of sunshine after being "cooped up" for two days. =)
At my monthly shopping trip to Costco, I was tickled to notice that I don't need to buy eight 18 packs of eggs, only three. =) So I looked up at the price and discovered I was "saving" an entire $10.55 per month. Eggs are about the cheapest protein, guess we should be raising our own meat chickens and beef instead. (never!)
I'd like to report that my wild girl (Marian named her CJ, but none of their names have stuck) once again "flew" over the gate.
This is CJ, also known as "wild girl":
So now her flight feathers are clipped on both sides. Their fence isn't high enough for a real chicken coop, but when you are trying to keep a low profile, it's hard to convince the hubby to go for the tall fence. My Australorps are too fat to fly, but I guess the Americauna is lean and mean. She's still laying brown eggs, the twit! Doesn't she know she was purchased for variety, both with her looks and her eggs??? I'm hoping it's just a rebellious teen stage she's going through. ;)
And here's a closer picture of the gate Shane made for me with his new welder. He was excited to have a project of MINE to practice on, rather than ruining some exhaust pipes or some other welding project he's wanting to do for himself. And I'm very, VERY happy to be his practice!
Supposed to be -3 degrees tonight. It feels nice to have plenty of groceries, a warm pellet stove and nowhere to go!
Hope you are keeping cozy!
Hmm, almost makes me wish we could have chickens. Almost!
ReplyDeleteWe got 9" of snow last week and school was closed for 3 days. Yesterday we got another 9" and school has been out for 2 days. So sick of winter! The good news is that next week the temps are supposed to be in the 60's and 70's. I can't wait!
Our Americaunas seem to lay only one color - the same one they start out laying. We do get green and blue, but we get brown ones from them too. And they're often shaped the same so we think they come from the same chicken all the time. We used to have all Americaunas (8 or 10?). Decided to try out other varieties last year, and we'll be going back to Americaunas with a few Brown Sexlink. (We get a new batch each spring and Kenny butchers the older ones each fall.)
ReplyDeleteI'm eager for a little warm weather, myself, Kristy! It's supposed to be nice and warm here! =) Well, Kim, I guess I won't hold out much hope for more green eggs, then. It's a bummer, since I only have two Americaunas(one brown, one green layer), and three Australorps(all brown eggs). I only have room for 7, maybe 8 chickens. And I didn't want to start with a lot of birds, in case I needed to abandon the chicken endeavors. I like your butchering cycle, but Shane killed enough chickens in his youth and refuses to have anything to do with them. And I'm not gutsy enough to be a butcher. So in a year or two, I'll have to see what options come to mind. =) I'll have to pick your brain for chicken expertise! I'd love any and every tip you know.
ReplyDeleteWell...I'm not the chicken expert in this house - that's definitely Kenny's dept. His family used to raise and butcher 1800 meat chickens a year. Now he's a butcher by trade. So for him to watch me try to cut one up is physically painful to him! lol If it were up to me, I'm sure I wouldn't be doing the butcher thing, either.
ReplyDeleteTips? hmmm... Sounds to me like you're doing just fine. Clipping wings, extra light during winter. If you lived closer, I'd donate one of our ever-present mice-catching kittens so you wouldn't have to worry about that. If I think of more, I'll let you know. :-)
Your chicks are so big and froufy these days! I'm glad you haven't lost any of them to such cold nights! And I hope it warms up soon... We're bound to be in for a bunch of snow soon (probably as we drive home from Boise). It's been snowless for a long time and unseasonably warm. Just wish winter was like a band-aid and it could just be ripped off fast. :D
ReplyDeleteNice band-aid analogy! =) Another question, Kim. So it would work to have a cat allowed to roam in the fenced chicken yard and coop? I've wondered about that, because a mouser would be very, very nice. And I'm sure there are plenty of kittens around here, I was just worried about cats plus chickens equaling dead chickens. =) Do they work fine together if the kitten is small when introduced? And any good ways to tell a kitten will grow up to be a good mouser? =) The voice of experience is far better than the voice of trial and error!
ReplyDeleteOur cats can get in the chicken pen and never bother the big chickens - it's like they know the chickens belong and are off limits somehow. Birds (and probably baby chicks)? Now that's a different story. And ours have all been kittens and raised around the chickens, so that's how I would do it if I were you.
ReplyDeleteAs far as a good mouser - we got lucky and got an original female kitten that just naturally hunted mice well. She then passed on that trait or skill to many of her kittens. I find it interesting that the ones we neutered have always been much lazier and don't hunt hardly at all - the females we don't spay (for the fun of kittens) are always the hunters. So you might ask kitten owners if the parent is a good hunter - might increase the odds, anyway.
P.S. I just noticed that first picture of your black chickens looks rather heart-shaped. Happy Valentine's Day!
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