The Yukon (Canada). About 150mi from Alaska. One of these days (in my oodles of spare time 😂) I plan on writing an article about maintaining a coop in extreme winter conditions. Sharing all of the lessons I have learned, many the hard way. There are so many small details, like preventing the...
Anyone that has ever wondered where baby pumpkins come from...here is your answer!
And if you are wondering about the background, yes, we already have 8" of snow on the ground.
look this boy square in the eyes and tell me he isn't evil. The girls avoid him like the plague. He mounts them when Cuckoo isn't looking and they scream bloody murder. Cuckoo comes running and chases Copper around the run a half dozen times as the girls scramble to get out of the way.
This spring I had a terrible hatching rate, just 2/12 eggs (not a big deal since I had 11 females ordered from a hatchery, although 1 turned out to be male...another oops). When the two hatched I was so happy to see that they looked like pure bred barred rock females. At 4/5 weeks old, I was...
I live 100mi from Alaska, so I can't clean the coop in the winter because everything is a big frozen block of straw/poop. In the summer I prefer to use wood chips. I go full on safety when cleaning the coop...Hazmat suit, safety glasses, shower cap and respirator with cartridges that filter...
I live in the Yukon (100mi from Alaska). It does look like frostbite. The comb isn't bad. He may or may not loose the tips. The wattle is what is causing him enough pain to be lethargic.
I am guessing that he has been drinking from a water bowl which is what got the wattles so cold to do that...
I came across this interesting article about the impact this unseasonably warm winter is having on wild waterfowl...a goose hatching a pair of goslings in December in Canada! When I lived in that city many years ago I have seen more than 3 feet of snow at this time of year. Never goslings...
The quaint little chick coop waiting peacefully in the snow for the spring brood. Once they are big enough, the chicks always love perching in the mountain ash tree.
The coop with fresh snow on the chicken door. On the left is their 'tent' for year round dust baths. On the right (only partially visible) are a series of wooden objects for perching on. Above are zig zagging clothes lines to keep aerial predators away.
I had to dig the roosting bar out from 5' of hard packed snow for these boys to enjoy some afternoon sunshine. They are Husky (left), Dalmatian (center) and Tortoise (right).
I have a rooster who is almost a year old now. He started this pecking behaviour at around 6 months old. He has even pecked at my husband a few times. He has also tried pecking at me once. All pecking was while wearing winter coats, so no injuries resulted.
Despite having an electric fence, a...
Thx. She was so young so it was pretty upsetting. I am hoping they were from her so that I don't get my more eggs like that. The birds have all been stressed lately. Did a major coop cleaning when it warmed up for a week before the cold snap, changed the pecking order and we live so far north...
Two weeks in a row I have had eggs with broken up yolks when I went to make devilled eggs. I sell most of my eggs and am worried my customers may have gotten one of these eggs.
I only sell large to jumbo and keep the medium eggs for my own use. Almost all of the medium sized eggs are blue and...