Nebraskans Speak Up!!! NEBRASKA ROCKS!!

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Quote: Thermometer said 2* below zero this AM ..... girls were fine, but very hungry and thirsty (water froze overight)..... gave 'em some warm water, mash in a bowl, and tossed some scratch and garlic bread on the floor for entertainment.....

I'm averaging 5-6 eggs a day from 9 BOrps not yet 10 months old ..... must be doing something right.
 
Happy Dad said:
I'm jealous. Ours are on strike. Haven't had an egg in about a month. We don't use any lights though.
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Mine started laying at the end of September, and were doing great by the end of November ...... then started slowing down just before Christmas ........ I added a 16' LED lightrope the last week of December, and cut down on the amount of scratch I gave so they got more protein (in fact, I gave them a bunch of ham as treats for 3 or 4 days .... ) ...... they are back up to between 4 and 6/day now....


My problem now is water ....... I bought some chicken nipples and a little aquarium heater to run on a thermocube ..... but have not put it together ...... got to reading on the packaging for the heater and it said it would only raise the water temp of a 3 gallon tank ~10 degrees, max ....... that isn't enough to keep it from freezing ..... I might go with a one gallon bucket .......
 
I was wondering if you could give me tips on which chickens do better in the cold. Also, I'm going to build my own coop. Any tips on that would be appreciated as well. Thanks in advance!
 
The chicken breeds section has a deal on the left side of the screen that lets you pick out traits that you want, and will direct you to breeds that match that most closely ...

I went with Buff Orpingtons because they are cold-hardy, large bodied, heavily feathered birds that tolerate confinement well ...... and lay lots of large brown eggs ....... they have reputation of being low maintenance, with the fewest behavior problems ..... the only downside most people note is that they are so docile that they end up on the bottom of a pecking order in a mixed flock ..... but I don't have any other breed, so it's a non-issue for me.

My second choice was going to be New Hampshires ..... also, cold hardy big birds, but somewhere someone told me that they don't take being cooped up as well ...... and my coop is a small chicken tractor, and when it's cold like this, they are pretty crowded .....
 
jimbob86 said:
My problem now is water ....... I bought some chicken nipples and a little aquarium heater to run on a thermocube ..... but have not put it together ...... got to reading on the packaging for the heater and it said it would only raise the water temp of a 3 gallon tank ~10 degrees, max ....... that isn't enough to keep it from freezing ..... I might go with a one gallon bucket .......
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I bought this bird bath heater at Menard's in Bellevue. The water is not frozen this morning but I did find that the nipples are frozen in the closed position. This is the first morning that the nipples have been frozen though.

https://www.menards.com/main/grocer...440297390-c-7873.htm?tid=-5742797992735362783



 

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