Are you my mother?

Silkies are excellent mamas. I once saw them referred to as 'The best mama an egg could ask for'. Isn't that the cutest thing? It's true too. They love to hatch babies. They don't care what time of year, or even what kind of babies. When they go broody they will steal eggs if they have to! You know who make really bad mamas? Guineas. Yup...they're the absolute worst! 

Half the time guinea hens crush the eggs while they're sitting. If the keets do hatch out, mama's short attention span just about guarantees she will lose at least half of them. It's like she just doesn't even hear them peeping their little heads off. Drives me bonkers! I spend all day rushing outside and rounding up her keets for her, then she tries to peck me while I'm giving them back! The nerve!

Actually, there are a lot of breeds that don't do so well at brooding chicks. That's why you need a silkie! This is the story of Zippy the silkie hen who would hatch any egg you gave her and love those babies no matter how they hatched out!

Frozen double yolkers

It's still so cold out there! Like 8 degrees cold!!!!! I've been trying to collect eggs quickly and for the most part it's been working. Except for the ducks. I checked their nest for several days straight and when there were no eggs, I just assumed they quit because of the cold. I should have known better, they are Khaki Campbell's after all. 

Frozen duck eggs

Today I decided to check and found 4 eggs in the nest. Frozen solid! I brought them in the house and set them in the sink to cook for the critters breakfast. After they thawed enough to pull the shells off I found I had 2 regular eggs and 2 double yolkers. I had never seen a frozen double yolk egg, so of course I had to take a picture:

I've seen lots of double yolk eggs (especially duck eggs) and lots of frozen eggs...just never a frozen double yolk egg! Weird huh?

~L

Blocking drafts in the chicken coop (just for winter)

A few days ago I posted about insulating a chicken coop. This was an excellent solution for that particular coop. A permanent solution to some of the problems in the chicken coop caused by cold weather. However, not all coops are created equal. Today I want to talk about temporary insulation and our 'Wild West' coop. 

This coop has excellent ventilation at ceiling level. This is where you want the ventilation. Any lower and it's no longer ventilation...it's just a draft. (drafts are bad) 

With ventilation, the air flow does not come in direct contact with the chickens, it wafts above them near the top of the chicken coop. Drafts occur when the natural air flow comes in direct contact with the chickens. Draft during cold periods can kill animals. However, we've hit a cold spell here in Western Pennsylvania and this morning it was just 3 degrees Fahrenheit when we woke up. 3!!!! Yesterday with the wind chill it was -20! So even normal ventilation was a bit much lately. 

Check out Hobby Farms coop builder for more information on ventilation and drafts.

Insulating the chicken coop

We insulated the chicken coop last week and trust me, it's not for the reason you're thinking! We had to insulate it because of the moisture. When the cold air outside hits the chicken coop roof, the warm air inside causes condensation. These condensation drops then drip off the ceiling onto the floor of the chicken coop causing the coop litter to quickly become soaked. 

Sometimes it gets so bad, even the wooden beams are dripping! This of course causes the wet coop litter to start stinking and the deep litter method quits working because of too much moisture. Have you smelled deep litter when it gets soaked? Yuck! 

Plus moisture is always bad for wood and all that wetness on the chicken coop floor can eventually cause it to rot. We don't want that happening!

Plus, insulation helps keep the coop warmer in winter without adding any heat sources which can be dangerous.

It's not just all about the coop though. Did you know that moisture is a huge contributing factor to frostbite in chickens? Many people think it's caused by cold but it's not just cold alone. Frostbite is caused by the combination of cold and moisture. 

This more then anything is a huge reason to try to cut down the moisture content in the coop air. So the condensation had to go!

Happy Hen Treats for Daddys kids.

My husband is the typical daddy. Mommy does all the chores like morning feedings and cleaning up after the feathered kids and daddy gets to do the fun stuff. Like give them treats! All he has to do is holler "Sally.....worms!" and she comes running over like the devil himself is chasing her!

As soon as Sally goes running I swear the chickens talk amongst themselves and say..."She did it again! Sally got us treats!" and they go barreling after her. Normally he scatters them on the ground but today he was letting Sally eat right out of the container. Their favorite is Happy Hens Treats. They go through them like mad!

When the rest of the Marans crew rushed up they joined right in, sticking their heads into the dried meal worms for their favorite snack. After several minutes of this mommy had to jump in and say "don't give them too much, they'll get a bellyache" (I know chickens don't get bellyaches, I was just being a mommy. LOL)

Finally he closed the treats up and went to put them away. I guess the kids weren't done eating though, they followed him all the way back running right alongside that treat jar. They must have known daddy would stop and give them more before he put them away!

Spoiled little feather balls aren't they?

~L

Want information on raising chickens sent right to your email weekly? Click right here to join my list and get new posts sent directly to you the day they're published. You'll also get the free download 25 Ways to save money raising chickens.

This post contains affiliate links. If you chose to purchase something through the link, I will get a small payment from Amazon. It will not affect your purchase price. Click for full disclosure.

Warm winter day = play time!

Yesterday was a beautiful warm day and we had such a great time outside! I got both the Guinea coop and Marans coop cleaned out completely. The nest boxes got cleaned in the Silkie coop. I finally got a new tally on the Guineas. 51 That's a lot of noise makers! The birds got to come out and play for a little bit.

The Silkies had a great time in the garden and compost pile while the Guineas played chase in the zebra grass all day.

I used to cut down the zebra grass every fall. Then I noticed how much fun they had playing in it on the few warm winter days we get. So now it stays until Spring starts to set it in. Then I cut it down close to the ground and it's usually a foot tall in about a month or so. It grows fast!

The ducks flew out of their pen (bad duckys!) and got into every bucket and puddle they could find! It's time to net the top of their run. Since the girls found out they can fly, there is no keeping them in!

The D'uccles sat on a perch and watched as I cleaned their coop. Well, 2 of them did....the other 5 went out to play in the run.

Last but not least, the Marans (which are hubby's favorite) got some special treats....but that's tomorrow's post!

~L 

Let it snow, let it snow

I don't know what it's like in your neck of the woods, but here it's a beautiful winter wonderland! Well, maybe about 10 inches ago. Now it's just a snow covered mess! LOL I'm positive we got over a foot, but for the sake of fairness we'll just call it knee deep. Check out this picture:

This picture was taken after the first day of snowfall. You can barely see the top of a milk crate the dog had left in the yard in the middle of the picture. (our LGD is weird, she plays with milk crates) Those are a foot tall, right? It's snowed at least 3 more times since then. We have to shovel space for the critters almost every day! This picture was taken a few days ago:

I'd already shoveled their run twice and have given up and changed to shoveling a path to the feed bowls every day! It's really rather early in the season for us to be getting this much snow. Normally it doesn't snow this much till February!  I just hope it melts off and gives us a break....I can't take 2 months of this!!!

~L