Chicken coop in North Dakota...at six degrees...

[Nodaksnakelover]

This past year I went ahead and got some cornish cross and around ten or so layer breeds for pets. Just for the summer. Butchered the meat birds. Well two months after I got mine my mother in law ordered ten chantecler chicks from Ideal hatchery and got 25 chicks. Most of them were chanteclers. Partridge and Reds. At least that is what we think they are. All roosters but the two Chantecler roosters were butchered off. So we have a mixed flock of about half Chanteclers and a mix of brahma, buff orpington, silver laced wyandotte, white rock, barred rock, partridge rock and black sex links. Was VERY cold out there in the coop today! Only 6 degrees in the coop. Zero degrees outside! Typical North Dakota winter weather has set in. I feel bad for the birds with combs! This is my first post with pictures. Hope it works! Enjoy. And yes, they are still laying eggs! About eight eggs per day now. Getting a little less as this cold sets in. But that's pretty good with 20 hens.

 

[sheilawagner]

Wow you have some pretty good looking chickens there. Are they all from Ideal? Cos I'd be impressed if they were.

I especially like the gold laced hens, they look so beautiful with the penciling lacing pattern in their feathers. What breed are they? The roos look gorgeous too. The silver laced hen has such good penciling, I'd be so surprised if you tell me she is a hatchery bird from Ideal. All your chooks look like they have very good type and body structure. Very healthy looking indeed. You are doing a good job.

Everyone looks snug and comfy even though it is so cold. You probably do use a heater for the waterer right? We had about teens around here 2 weeks ago and the water froze into solid ice. I had to go buy one and heat the waterer for them to drink.

 

[theoldchick]

Wow, the coop appears snow proof! They look rather pleased, don't they? I had an old timer tell me years ago that chickens could surive cold temps if the wind is kept off them.

 

[Nodaksnakelover]

There are two silver laced wyandotte hens, one with a straight comb...and yeah they look very nice for hatchery birds. They are from Welp Hatchery. I pulled them out of the chick bin at the local feed store and that is where they said they got their birds. I got the barred rock (not shown here) and the single white rock from the same bin.

The brahma, buff orpingtons, partridge rocks, and black sex links are from McMurray hatchery.

The Chanteclers are from Ideal. They are the gold ones being refered to. Hardly a one looks exactly alike! oops...

These guys have the run of half of a tool shed where a truck topper sits inside it with a heat lamp inside the center with perches on the sides and back. So these girls are spoiled!

thanks for the compliments!