This is one of those things that you never even fathom happening till it happens in your coop! Frozen chicken 'hair'. Or topknots. Or just call them feathers....either way when temps hit zero or below, suddenly a little wet hair is a big deal! Frozen head feathers are especially a problem on birds with big hairdos like Silkies and Polish.
Yes, those are ice drops frozen to the ends of her feathers! I noticed the problem last week when temps were in the negatives here in Western Pennsylvania. It mainly happened in the Silkie coop. The birds would lean down to drink water and their head feathers would dip into the water.
This happens year round, however it's only a hazard in the winter. In the winter the wet feathers freeze. Frozen feathers are never a good thing! The solution was simple though...just trim the feathers!
I've had some extra time recently and I thought it would be fun to look back at the most popular posts of last year. Some of them I expected, others kind of surprised me! So without too much rambling on my part.....here they are!
#1) 10 Chicken Supplies from the dollar store
Save yourself some money and get these common chicken keeping supplies at your local dollar store.
#2) Mother Earth News Fair in Pennsylvania
The last 2 years we've attended the Mother Earth New fair and brought chicks to the Brinsea booth. What a great time! Hope to see you there next year!
#3) Growing Fodder for feed
Another way to save some money.....this time on the feed bill! Learn to grow fodder to feed your chickens healthy and cheap greens all winter long!
#4) A brief word about wry neck
How I treated a Silkie chick with wry neck and what happened when her chicks started hatching out with wry neck also.
#5) Clipping chicken nails
When one of our most broody Silkies started growing ridiculously long toenails, we had to learn how to clip them properly.
I was pretty surprised by number 2, but the rest I expected. Especially number 1. That one has been pinned a LOT! I can't wait to see what's popular this year!
~L
I've noticed more chicken 'memorabilia' around the farm lately! This time I'm looking at our Mascots. "What are the mascots" you ask? They are the feathered friend figurines that we have with us everywhere we go. These guys occupy space in all the vehicles. In the car. the truck and even the farm vehicle....the Gator.
A few weeks back a friend brought me an injured chicken to treat. He had been ripped open by a raccoon or other predator (it had scurried away before she could get a good look at it) I had everything on hand to clean and stitch the rooster except one thing. I didn't have any saline solution to rinse the wound. This of course led me to the internet which didn't disappoint.
I was soon faced with a half dozen different recipes for homemade saline solution. What to do? Well, I have to admit I went with what seemed most practical. I mixed up the saline solution recipe, cooled it quickly and got to cleaning him up. It worked, it didn't seem to bother him and he healed up nicely in time.
I thought I'd share a few of my favorite pictures with you. For 2 reasons..... the first is that I needed to remove an affiliate post after they decided to quit paying all affiliates...and never told us. The second is that I got a new phone and these pictures were downloaded from my old phone before I traded it in. So here they are....A few of my favorite Iphone photos.
A Mille Fleur d'Uccle feather.
Splash Marans Hen
3 White Silkie Chicks
I especially love how soft and fluffy the chicks look! I love taking pictures!
~L
