Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

mummy_knows_best

thankyou...i actually got my first egg this morning:j

tudorfan22

Can anyone help me? 2 of them have recently got bald or White heads. Is it something to do with the cold? My other 3 have got morefeaters on their head not less. So it doesn't make sense? They are top of the pecking order so I don't think they are being bullied. Can anyone help explain?

pickledtink

tudorfan22 wrote: »

Can anyone help me? 2 of them have recently got bald or White heads. Is it something to do with the cold? My other 3 have got morefeaters on their head not less. So it doesn't make sense? They are top of the pecking order so I don't think they are being bullied. Can anyone help explain?

Someone earlier in the thread suggested my Maggie was moulting as I have the same sort of thing happening and it does seem to be that . Neck, tail and head so far. Just hope the others snuggle up and keep her arm in this freezing weather!

Frugaldom

Balding hens usually = moulting hens and moulting hens usually = non-laying hens.

Daylight hours affect laying but we've passed the shortest day, so we should all be getting more eggs soon. :j My ducks are laying every day and a couple of the hens are laying every other day, so I'm getting half a dozen eggs a day just now. It's more than enough for us plus enough left over for selling to help pay the feed costs.

Kimitatsu

My chooks went through a huuuge moult not very long ago and they do build feathers again quite quickly. In this really cold weather I am giving them warm porridge to keep them going (yes I know I am soft!) as we have a baby that is only about 16 weeks old but mum seems to be keeping her nice and warm.

Interestingly all of ours can jump too - we have a large part of the garden fenced off for them, the fencing at its lowest point is 4 ft high, and we have a light sussex that every day will hop over the fence, go and have a wander lay her egg in the garage and then pop back into the pen!

Ours tend to be ok in the cold its the wet they really dont like!

Spirit_2

Anyone found a way of keeping chickens water defrosted?

We use metal drinkers and are changing them morning and night as they are freezing up. 14 chooks in a tack room, deep littered with clean dry aubiose, a heath robinson draught excluder, drinker up on bricks - and it has still frozen again today.

We are in the sunny south (globally warmed to the point where our cars are stuck a couple of miles away and we are swapping basics with the neighbours.....Mmmmm)

ljonski

Michael Portillo meets 12 chickens

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00psz43/Great_British_Railway_Journeys_Todmorden_to_York/

Kimitatsu

Spirit wrote: »

Anyone found a way of keeping chickens water defrosted?

We use metal drinkers and are changing them morning and night as they are freezing up. 14 chooks in a tack room, deep littered with clean dry aubiose, a heath robinson draught excluder, drinker up on bricks - and it has still frozen again today.

We are in the sunny south (globally warmed to the point where our cars are stuck a couple of miles away and we are swapping basics with the neighbours.....Mmmmm)

No - we are adding warm water 3-4 times a day to try and keep them watered. Our water bowls are metal too, but we have tried just about everything else but as it has not risen above -3 here all day then we are fighting a bit of a losing battle.

tudorfan22

might seem like a silly question but will my chooks bve okin this cold weather? they are in a coop at the bottom of the garden at the mo but am worried the sub zero temps will freeze my little girls!

Nargleblast

I have read somewhere that chickens have an internal body temperature of 40 degrees C, so that plus the feathers should keep them warm - as long as the coop door is shut at night of course. You can also give them warmed up leftover veggies made into a chicken mash during the day as a treat. I am sure you will be able to find a number of recipes for chicken mash - chickens have been fed on it for years.