Recent content by Snakebiteholloway

Yup. My poor roo lived in shame with his mostly gone. Sigh. But his was solid black. It fell off. He was fine. Just self esteem suffered. Brahma are so vain.

Oh good idea. Yeah i type faster than i think. Sorry. I'm currently in Maine and have been for a few months shy of 8 years. I'm a La native and am going back in October. Stopping in Texas for some time where my parents are. Because. I hate 8 month long winters. And bugs that suck all your blood.

When i first wintered here, i went to the dr south the same symptoms you just described. I was told that's nerve and tissue cold damage, I said, "uhhh, isn't that frostbite description? " she said, "no dear. When your parts turn black and shrivel up, THAT'S Frostbite! " so when that...

At the time, i had 10 hens and 1 roo in a 10x10 coop 8' tall. Airtight but uninsulated, but with a vent fan i used during the day to prevent moisture build up and a 250 watt heat light. The temps hovered around the low 20s daily, high teens night. Middling humidity.The roo, the LHs and one...

I will not have insulation down there. I will instead have a "warming area" - padded boxes sitting under a heat light for below freezing nights. Cuz i want my girls comfy!

Hahaha! Yup! I spent 8 years at Bragg. It was quite cold! Imho, the thing to do is what makes YOU feel good about your chicken care. I was at Ft Bragg 8 years. I recall it got rather bitterly cold up there and a few soldiers did get hypothermia and light frostbite. So, you do what you feel...

My first year up here, i noticed that all my chickens had frostbite combs and toes. The temps were consistently in the low 20⁰s, dropped to high teens in the night time. The humidity and wind exposure plays a large role in frostbite, imho. But none were exposed to wind, they were in an...

I should add, down south, i plan on no insulation, VERY high roof and exhaust fans for cooling. Because they do run a lot hotter than humans. And yes. Tons, miles of hardware cloth lol

It's a lot more expensive than when i was a kid, lol. My gma always had a yard full in SLa, fed them scraps and scratch corn, they slept in the trees or a ramshackle shed, or wherever. Times have certainly changed! Temp wise, i have the 250 watt red bulbs. It gets seriously cold up here...

That's my only contention. Around here (not casting aspersions, just how they do things) because it's just a "coop" there's bad things everywhere. Nails and screws, exposed insulating, etc. I don't. I could literally live in my coop. And it's insulated. But it's regularly below zero for...

Birds are so tough. I just I just saw this so was going to offer moral support. Glad she's doing well! I had one turkey survived a gaping chest wound from a wild Tom trying to mate, another hen got her foot bitten off by a fox, and so on. No, I'm not a horrible or negligent farmer. I live...

If there's no bears or cougars, hw cloth over the Windows was my only other thought, too. Ventilation is fabulous!

Insulation chickens eat doesn't process. I found some in my neighbors eggs.

I have pet rats i am inordinately fond of, but believe me, i MURDER every wild rat, mouse and other rodent i can get to. No hurt feelings here. One thing I've learned from having pet rats.. they are INSANELY intelligent just as you described. They are also fierce and ninja- like hunters...

Has anyone recently paid for health inspecting on their chickens? While i know every vet is different, we only have a few within comfortable house call range, so am trying to get a general idea of standard costs. So far I've been quoted $250. Each. 37 chickens. 20 quail. Seriously? I'm...