I don't know if we really do. They are our 'employees' and our workers and we treat them with respect and try to make sure their needs are met. Fancy coats and silly pictures we skip... making sure they are comfortable during incredibly hard weather we focus...
If I was Chicken, I would want to be a chicken in your flock! Fresh food in winter, sprouts! no less and an enhanced and cheerful aesthetic environment courtesy of Paul Klee and Christmas lights! All provided by stewards who care. I need a heart emoji here. Bravo.
That is a crazy cold spell hitting the US right now. In contrast, we have day time temps just above freezing here in SW Germany and nights just below freezing. I am much further north than you are. NY would be about the latitude of Sicily I think. Anyway, love your chicken system! We keep "only" bantams but the pullets lay very well at the moment. I have to be careful, 2 of them will go broody soon.
Beautiful feedback on the resting bars. So nice to see those ladies more cozy. We are expecting -40F again tonight, I dont even know how I could do chickens on a night like this. I hear the midwest US is experiencing similar temps. I hope everyone is being safe, these temps you can really hurt yourself and do damage (frostbite losing fingers, nose, ears). Be safe everyone.
I can't imagine what that feels like. Below 0F with wind is a real intense experience. I gear up and spend some time outside for little chunks, and it's quite invigorating and potent feeling for short bursts. I can feel the potential for damage though if I were to stick out there for a while. I need a face mask, that feels like the weak part is my nose and cheeks when the wind is whipping... Hoping you and yours are crazy cozy during all this!
KsJ - Chickens are crazy. I put a 100W/250W flat panel heater in my roost and all the hens are sleeping out in the screened area (on their wide bars)... It isn't warm in the roost, eggs will still freeze, so it isn't like the heat drove them out. I do have a big tarp over the whole thing so they don't die from the windchill. -JC
@@edibleacres Yes it's the wind that is killer. You can get frostbite in a few minutes at 0F with wind. -20F with wind and you get frostbite in maybe 1 minute. -40F/C and it maybe happens in 30 seconds. It all still is so cold that it hurts, you just go numb faster. Just remember numb means death. People who think they are tough by being so cold they go numb, they are stupid, not tough. I almost lost both my ears in my 20s playing hockey in -40C weather. I thought I was cool and tough. I was stupid and almost Mr Potato Head with plug in prosthetic ears. Everyone needs to be safe, not tough. There is nothing tough about losing fingers. Also, nobody should be gatekeeping, "only 0F? Its -10F here, etc". Anything this low is cold enough to kill people, and the weather should be respected. To illustrate imagine how stupid a Canadian would look in Arizona saying they were tough doing a marathon in 115F weather. People would just look at you like you are dumb. Oh and I dont mean any of that about you Sean, just some people I've seen on the news, running races in -20F weather and boasting about it. It's not cool, it's stupid. Be safe everyone!
Awh, this is so wonderful to see chickens so content and well cared for!!! Thanks for sharing! Good luck with the cold spell! We have a balmy -10F here in New York.
Nice setup. We don’t have that kind of cold down on the Gulf Coast. We worry more about the heat in the summertime but it was interesting to watch and see the recycled materials being used.
Back in the 1920's, my dad used to take the wagon up to the Fort Leavenworth (cavalry) horse stables for manure to keep the commercial hotbeds going during the winter.
Funny that you said weather was balmy. I invited a cousin in Minneapolis, Mn., temp. -29F, to come to balmy Michigan, temp. -4F. It's almost 1AM Wed. morning and the temp. is -15 here, wind chill -36. Hard to believe forecast is calling for high of 50F, with rain, on 4 Feb. Great job on the roosts and nesting boxes! Looks much better, and chickens will be a lot more comfortable. Improved functionality! Birds are obviously liking the compost pile. Hope a lot of folks with urban & homestead chickens are taking note.
Chickens can handle a ton of cold! I have 14 younger hens that are in a roofed dog kennel and are having zero issues with this cold! Biggest thing is moisture, dry is good! I enjoy your videos, even placed an order!
Looking so comfortable!!! I will blow out some eggs and then fill them with plaster of Paris or beeswax and they work wonderfully for 'inspiration' 😉 keep warm!
You can get “moving blankets” at Harbor Freight relatively cheap that would work perfect for insulation the roost area. They are quilted and therefore have batting material sandwiched between the fabric layers which works great as insulation. I’m using them for my rabbits. I’m just waiting, not so patiently, for warmer weather to re-do my perches as I now have more birds and to many of them have been camping in the nesting boxes!
Looks like you're getting the mess we've just suffered through. We had hurricane force winds on Sunday and I'm so glad our girls are all OK despite all that. Just some mending to do, hopefully tomorrow as it's supposed to warm up and be calm wind wise. Anywho, your upgrades look good! I didn't know about the wide roosts. I'll have to find some materials to implement that for our girls. As for nesting boxes, we only have 5 hens but they all seem to use the same box lol. Oh well 😀Yours is similar to what we've done. Stay warm friends!
I built 9 boxes for them, but I bet they'll only use 2-3 of them! Sounds like scary weather you went through. Hoping your chickens feel comfortable moving forward.
Looks like what I do. I prop boards up where I need them. lol I like that nest box. I have to fix/rebuild some of mine. Always something to fix or upgrade. :)
I’m so glad you posted an update for this weather! In Minnesota it was -37 this morning, without windchill. I’ve surrounded the coop in square bales of hay, stapled paper bags around the window and door drafts, and added a heat lamp as a few foolhardy hens with larger combs got frostbite last cold snap, which wasn’t nearly this cold. With all that it’s STILL quite cold inside, they look cold and grumpy as I kept the door closed today (frostbite in minutes) and they’re quite literally ‘cooped up’. On a side note, anyone have tips for treating frostbite on comb tips?
Thank you very much for the kind thoughts. Your channel is an inspiration to me, our methods seem to jive well, and I’ll definitely be using many of your ideas. A problem I want to address, is water in the coop. With these crazy frigid temps, my water heater was able to keep up, BUT, the water temp was so different than the ambient air temp that it almost appeared to be steaming. (Water is cold, not hot). I am concerned about that much moisture in the coop, especially since I’ve battened it up so much for the windchills. It’s by no means airtight, but it’s much less vented than it was previously. So, to add to my concern, the bearded type chickens seems to have moisture frozen around the beard, much like my husband does when he works outside in this weather. Am I overthinking it, or is the water inside the coop contributing to excess moisture?
I've not had a bad case of frostbite yet, but yoy may find this site helpful: www.fresheggsdaily.com/2014/01/treating-and-preventing-frostbite-in.html?m=1 Another good one is Chicken Chick. Haven't been on in a very long time, but Backyard Chickens was one of my early go to sites for info.
Yeah, you took my suggestion on the horizontal 2"×4". 😊 I have 10 boxes for 60 hens and that is plenty. Usually they like to lay eggs in the same nest as others have so i have some boxes that stay empty. One more suggestion, is they really like their privacy so i made individual curtains that are only tacked at the top. I learned that from ChickenChick's website. Works great! In the winter you can change it out, i haven't needed to yet this year, with burlap and it keeps the nest boxes warmer - another plus - helps the chickens while they are laying and keeps the eggs warmer longer. Another idea is to use pine shavings, from my local feed store, for nest box padding. It's cheap and is compressed so i buy a couple of the large bags per year. Keeps the eggs much cleaner! I like it better than the straw or hay and has great thermal properties as well. Just my opinions so hopefully they help.
Great Video! I use cedar picket fence planks for roosts. They're rot resistant, warm, wide and have excellent texture for grip. They're also inexpensive. Only drawback is the shorter length than say, an 8' 2x4.
seems gathering eggs will be challenging with that prop perch- you'll get tired of moving that all the time. I'm impressed on the number of birds you have in the space. Looks well insulated though!
We'll see. This evening I collected eggs and it wasn't a problem. Once a day for 30 seconds should be fine, but adjustments are always on the table as an option :)
That nine bay system you've made is pretty mint. Sweet Jesus, I hope you hang in there with the weather. We are sweating it out here in Australia brother, heading for 39C/102F on Sunday, had 44C/111F here in Melbourne last week :/ A tale of two continents?
Good build Sean. I didn`t know that about the roosting boards. They do look comfy. Definitely would be interested in finding out the temperature of the compost pile.
Reasonable question. Not sure what we'll do come spring. Most likely we will plan to cull at least some of the flock and replace with younger birds. hard decision to make, but we eat chicken (only chickens we raise) so we'll do it as we work through our cache of frozen birds in the chest freezer.
I've experienced in my coop that curtains tend to hold moisture, which can lead to frostbite, especially in extreme cold. I removed the curtains during the day to help them dry as they were quite damp from the chicken's breathing.
Wow like the warm chickens in the hot green house and hot composting system. Amazing. I do not live in cold climate. And was wonder if the cold steals the heat form small hot compost piles? So i wander if a layer of dry hay on top of a small compost pile for a blanket. Followed by plastic layer for a vapor and heat trap. followed by another layer of hay to keep the water vapor from freezing at the plastic barrier. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Those ideas seem valid to me. If you aren't in a cold climate, I would simply start with plastic layer on top to trap heat. When there is mild weather here that works just fine. Extreme cold like what we have now, I would explore the sandwhich you are mentioning, but above 30F I don't think it is critical.
I also use 2x4's for chicken roosts. However, I'm in Las vegas and we are in the low 40's at night, so I just turned an old PVC clad 6' diam banquet table into a low coop. Going to make a new good looking chicken coop soon because I definitely need more than 6 chickens in order to turn the amount of compost I need to make my 1+ acre of silty/clay ground fertile. I like the idea of a little nesting condo. I might do something like what you have. Stay warm and safe... Saw the forecast for you all and I feel for you. That isn't just brrr.. It's Polar brrr!
We've been in the mid -20s for the past few nights n heading there hopefully just one more time tonight. Windchill took us to -40s last night. With 2 space heaters the coop was at about 22° this am, though I'm sure it was much warmer on the roost cause they slept in 😄 I scoop their roost every morning n put fresh bedding material to keep ammonia down when they are shut in at night.
@@edibleacres It's my view that if I take in animals that I am responsible to provide the very best care I can because they are fully dependent on me. I am not perfect n still learning, but I do my best.
Hi I added one wide roosting bar there out of three - the middle one which was prefered by them. But out of 11 only 1 prefers to sit there. we are in cold climate. so strange..
Hi there !! I enjoy your channel. My husband and I have really been absorbing everything about permaculture and chickens.... such an amazing approach to systems design and following nature's true ways. We are hoping to get chickens soon . I saw one of your videos about your deep litter method in the winter and you mentioned that you added charcoal to it, I'm guessing as part of your compost system. . .just wondering if you could add ashes from the woodstove or could that potentially cause respiratory issues for the chickens. Thanks for the interesting and great content that you provide in such an informative way !!!
I think I'd shy away from using ashes from a woodstove with a deep litter method... If/when they get wet they would be quite rough on the chickens feet, being so caustically alkaline, and I could imagine them making quite a fine dust. The charcoal is from our biochar in the woodstove process so it is clean charcoal, very little to no ash, and if we wet it when we crush it a bit it doesn't make dust. Honestly, though, we haven't used much charcoal this winter for bedding, mainly hay right now.
Have never kept chickens(bummer!), but I've read that petroleum jelly helps to guard against frostbite. I'm wondering if a homemade salve of coconut oil, vitamin E oil, and bee's wax would be effective. I actually rub this concoction into my leather boots to keep them soft & waterproof. I think I combined 1 oz. bee's wax with 1 cup coconut oil & maybe a teaspoon of Vitamin E oil. A softer version could be made for birds.
What seeds/grain do you use to sprout for your ladies? And how do you purchase it again? I know you cover it in one of your videos but I cannot remember which one of the 60+ videos talks about it.
They all seem pretty hardy overall. It's hard to know exactly what is happening as some are very mixed background and quite old, but we haven't lost any to this weather (at least so far).
we been like -30 to -40 for 3 weeks and counting, high winds making it even colder, my live stock look like snow man, it been so cold i have not been able to even do a video, and to night it is going down to -47, it been just survival mode trying to stay warm and bedding the live stock were tey go to et away from the wind, so one day i am putting straw one place and the next putting it in another as the wind changes, let the chickens turn your compost, before you put more hay down spread a little cracked corn down on the ground then put your hay down, here they can only dig so deep as it freezes solid unless you have lots of bird to keepit warm like 55 to 60 deg and they lay better and no frozen eggs, build the chicken house and insulate it with 4 inch foam as well as the floor and dont make it any bigger then how many birds you will have and that mean made it smaller then is rec-amended for cold country
Don't pay for fake eggs. Chickens recognize their own eggs. Since you've got cool weather, there is no harm in leaving your girls their last two eggs. I use a different colored marker for each box and write the hen's initials and date. (egg Ca0130) for Candice's egg today. Don't grind and feed the marked portion of eggs back to the chickens. It's safe enough to use those in the garden for slug deterrent or to prevent blossom end rot.
So I should have found you this link on your last podt when I saw the suggestion for the wide roosts. www.backyardchickens.com/threads/proper-design-of-roost-bars.1197058/ I'll be interested in your own observations.
Lot to think about on that... I will focus on observation and see what seems to work for them. I don't see them slipping or having a hard time on the wide perch boards, and they seem to settle down and rest better than before. Intuitively it seems better since there is more support and they can more fully cover their feet in the cold. There are options for various sizes a bit up there so I trust it'll work out. But I'll watch and see what I can learn.
Best of luck with your channel. I'd encourage you to film in the horizontal rather than the vertical style. Way more visible and enjoyable to watch when horizontal.
You really pamper your chickens. They are a lot tougher than you think. But I appreciate the love and care you give your Chickens.
I don't know if we really do. They are our 'employees' and our workers and we treat them with respect and try to make sure their needs are met. Fancy coats and silly pictures we skip... making sure they are comfortable during incredibly hard weather we focus...
If I was Chicken, I would want to be a chicken in your flock! Fresh food in winter, sprouts! no less and an enhanced and cheerful aesthetic environment courtesy of Paul Klee and Christmas lights! All provided by stewards who care. I need a heart emoji here. Bravo.
Everyone's been feeling the cold recently. Glad to see how well that compost is heating the greenhouse.
That is a crazy cold spell hitting the US right now. In contrast, we have day time temps just above freezing here in SW Germany and nights just below freezing. I am much further north than you are. NY would be about the latitude of Sicily I think. Anyway, love your chicken system! We keep "only" bantams but the pullets lay very well at the moment. I have to be careful, 2 of them will go broody soon.
Nice to see your hens have such a nice snug place to hang out when it's so cold!
Beautiful feedback on the resting bars. So nice to see those ladies more cozy. We are expecting -40F again tonight, I dont even know how I could do chickens on a night like this. I hear the midwest US is experiencing similar temps. I hope everyone is being safe, these temps you can really hurt yourself and do damage (frostbite losing fingers, nose, ears). Be safe everyone.
I can't imagine what that feels like. Below 0F with wind is a real intense experience.
I gear up and spend some time outside for little chunks, and it's quite invigorating and potent feeling for short bursts. I can feel the potential for damage though if I were to stick out there for a while. I need a face mask, that feels like the weak part is my nose and cheeks when the wind is whipping...
Hoping you and yours are crazy cozy during all this!
Canadian Permaculture Legacy-Wow that cold! Stay warm!
KsJ - Chickens are crazy. I put a 100W/250W flat panel heater in my roost and all the hens are sleeping out in the screened area (on their wide bars)... It isn't warm in the roost, eggs will still freeze, so it isn't like the heat drove them out. I do have a big tarp over the whole thing so they don't die from the windchill. -JC
@@edibleacres Yes it's the wind that is killer. You can get frostbite in a few minutes at 0F with wind. -20F with wind and you get frostbite in maybe 1 minute. -40F/C and it maybe happens in 30 seconds. It all still is so cold that it hurts, you just go numb faster.
Just remember numb means death. People who think they are tough by being so cold they go numb, they are stupid, not tough. I almost lost both my ears in my 20s playing hockey in -40C weather. I thought I was cool and tough. I was stupid and almost Mr Potato Head with plug in prosthetic ears.
Everyone needs to be safe, not tough. There is nothing tough about losing fingers.
Also, nobody should be gatekeeping, "only 0F? Its -10F here, etc". Anything this low is cold enough to kill people, and the weather should be respected.
To illustrate imagine how stupid a Canadian would look in Arizona saying they were tough doing a marathon in 115F weather. People would just look at you like you are dumb.
Oh and I dont mean any of that about you Sean, just some people I've seen on the news, running races in -20F weather and boasting about it. It's not cool, it's stupid. Be safe everyone!
Wow y'all got some snow. The new roosts look good. And love your nesting boxes!!
Awh, this is so wonderful to see chickens so content and well cared for!!! Thanks for sharing! Good luck with the cold spell! We have a balmy -10F here in New York.
The rough spell should be ending sometime in the next few days.
I feel your pain! Extremely cold out here in the east. Amazing compost setup!
Wow, mate you had a good load of snow there. We are forecast it tonight and tomorrow won't be that bad mind. Great setup for the chooks
Quite cold here this winter, but we have it mild compared to the center and north of the country!
Nice setup. We don’t have that kind of cold down on the Gulf Coast. We worry more about the heat in the summertime but it was interesting to watch and see the recycled materials being used.
Back in the 1920's, my dad used to take the wagon up to the Fort Leavenworth (cavalry) horse stables for manure to keep the commercial hotbeds going during the winter.
Funny that you said weather was balmy. I invited a cousin in Minneapolis, Mn., temp. -29F, to come to balmy Michigan, temp. -4F. It's almost 1AM Wed. morning and the temp. is -15 here, wind chill -36. Hard to believe forecast is calling for high of 50F, with rain, on 4 Feb.
Great job on the roosts and nesting boxes! Looks much better, and chickens will be a lot more comfortable. Improved functionality! Birds are obviously liking the compost pile. Hope a lot of folks with urban & homestead chickens are taking note.
Hi Sean and Sasha, love the videos, M.C. from Jersey.
Chickens can handle a ton of cold! I have 14 younger hens that are in a roofed dog kennel and are having zero issues with this cold! Biggest thing is moisture, dry is good! I enjoy your videos, even placed an order!
Looking so comfortable!!! I will blow out some eggs and then fill them with plaster of Paris or beeswax and they work wonderfully for 'inspiration' 😉 keep warm!
Thats a cool idea for 'inspiration' eggs!
Super nice job! And who can beat that price!
2 bucks ain't bad :)
You can get “moving blankets” at Harbor Freight relatively cheap that would work perfect for insulation the roost area. They are quilted and therefore have batting material sandwiched between the fabric layers which works great as insulation. I’m using them for my rabbits.
I’m just waiting, not so patiently, for warmer weather to re-do my perches as I now have more birds and to many of them have been camping in the nesting boxes!
We source blankets from thrift shops that are pretty helpful.
Looks like a great system!
Happy chicks!
Looks like you're getting the mess we've just suffered through. We had hurricane force winds on Sunday and I'm so glad our girls are all OK despite all that. Just some mending to do, hopefully tomorrow as it's supposed to warm up and be calm wind wise. Anywho, your upgrades look good! I didn't know about the wide roosts. I'll have to find some materials to implement that for our girls. As for nesting boxes, we only have 5 hens but they all seem to use the same box lol. Oh well 😀Yours is similar to what we've done. Stay warm friends!
I built 9 boxes for them, but I bet they'll only use 2-3 of them!
Sounds like scary weather you went through. Hoping your chickens feel comfortable moving forward.
They look cozy I've just done wide roosting bars in mine too but I only have 4 hens
Nice upgrade to the coop! Hope you got those fingers back lol 🥶
I think they're mostly there :)
Looks like what I do. I prop boards up where I need them. lol I like that nest box. I have to fix/rebuild some of mine. Always something to fix or upgrade. :)
I’m so glad you posted an update for this weather! In Minnesota it was -37 this morning, without windchill. I’ve surrounded the coop in square bales of hay, stapled paper bags around the window and door drafts, and added a heat lamp as a few foolhardy hens with larger combs got frostbite last cold snap, which wasn’t nearly this cold. With all that it’s STILL quite cold inside, they look cold and grumpy as I kept the door closed today (frostbite in minutes) and they’re quite literally ‘cooped up’.
On a side note, anyone have tips for treating frostbite on comb tips?
I would be interested in hearing if anyone has ideas on frostbite support too...
Please be safe and warm, best thoughts to you and your chickens.
Thank you very much for the kind thoughts. Your channel is an inspiration to me, our methods seem to jive well, and I’ll definitely be using many of your ideas.
A problem I want to address, is water in the coop. With these crazy frigid temps, my water heater was able to keep up, BUT, the water temp was so different than the ambient air temp that it almost appeared to be steaming. (Water is cold, not hot). I am concerned about that much moisture in the coop, especially since I’ve battened it up so much for the windchills. It’s by no means airtight, but it’s much less vented than it was previously.
So, to add to my concern, the bearded type chickens seems to have moisture frozen around the beard, much like my husband does when he works outside in this weather.
Am I overthinking it, or is the water inside the coop contributing to excess moisture?
I've not had a bad case of frostbite yet, but yoy may find this site helpful: www.fresheggsdaily.com/2014/01/treating-and-preventing-frostbite-in.html?m=1
Another good one is Chicken Chick. Haven't been on in a very long time, but Backyard Chickens was one of my early go to sites for info.
I rubbed aloe jell on my hen comb last summer when I saw the her comb didn't look right. I have aloes grow outside year round.
have seen you should cover the combs with Vaseline
One more great design, good job!
We are getting the extreme cold right now too. Great video and love the up grades
Yeah, you took my suggestion on the horizontal 2"×4". 😊 I have 10 boxes for 60 hens and that is plenty. Usually they like to lay eggs in the same nest as others have so i have some boxes that stay empty. One more suggestion, is they really like their privacy so i made individual curtains that are only tacked at the top. I learned that from ChickenChick's website. Works great! In the winter you can change it out, i haven't needed to yet this year, with burlap and it keeps the nest boxes warmer - another plus - helps the chickens while they are laying and keeps the eggs warmer longer. Another idea is to use pine shavings, from my local feed store, for nest box padding. It's cheap and is compressed so i buy a couple of the large bags per year. Keeps the eggs much cleaner! I like it better than the straw or hay and has great thermal properties as well. Just my opinions so hopefully they help.
Nice ideas here. Thanks!
Great Video! I use cedar picket fence planks for roosts. They're rot resistant, warm, wide and have excellent texture for grip. They're also inexpensive. Only drawback is the shorter length than say, an 8' 2x4.
4:26 great chicken hutches
Very nice updates to your coop! For extra roost space you could make a swing up/down roost bar that attaches to the existing setup.
Could be that we tack on some bonus spaces for our friends. We'll see what they need after a few days of observation.
seems gathering eggs will be challenging with that prop perch- you'll get tired of moving that all the time. I'm impressed on the number of birds you have in the space. Looks well insulated though!
We'll see. This evening I collected eggs and it wasn't a problem. Once a day for 30 seconds should be fine, but adjustments are always on the table as an option :)
🤣 throg in my froat!🤣👍 Them chickies look comfy!👍
Very impressive repurpose in action. I would like to know how everyone did with the polar vortex?
That nine bay system you've made is pretty mint. Sweet Jesus, I hope you hang in there with the weather. We are sweating it out here in Australia brother, heading for 39C/102F on Sunday, had 44C/111F here in Melbourne last week :/ A tale of two continents?
Yikes. I think I can handle extreme cold WAY better than extreme heat. I hope you are comfortable and in a good way during your heat spell.
@@edibleacres
Yes, i'd much prefer the cold to be honest. And I think it's safe to say so does my Border Collie!
Great video! Not fun here in Albany, NY either.
Good build Sean. I didn`t know that about the roosting boards. They do look comfy.
Definitely would be interested in finding out the temperature of the compost pile.
It's been brutal here too we got to 5 degrees today in South Eastern Illinois 👍 ♥️
That sounds like crazy cold for your area.
Whats your approach with the older chooks? I guess keeping them alive isn't too much of a cost to you
Reasonable question. Not sure what we'll do come spring. Most likely we will plan to cull at least some of the flock and replace with younger birds. hard decision to make, but we eat chicken (only chickens we raise) so we'll do it as we work through our cache of frozen birds in the chest freezer.
@@edibleacres Thanks! I love your caring, yet pragmatic approach. Keep up the great work
I've experienced in my coop that curtains tend to hold moisture, which can lead to frostbite, especially in extreme cold. I removed the curtains during the day to help them dry as they were quite damp from the chicken's breathing.
Good note, thank you...
Wow like the warm chickens in the hot green house and hot composting system. Amazing.
I do not live in cold climate. And was wonder if the cold steals the heat form small
hot compost piles? So i wander if a layer of dry hay on top of a small compost pile for a
blanket. Followed by plastic layer for a vapor and heat trap. followed by another layer of
hay to keep the water vapor from freezing at the plastic barrier. Any info would be greatly
appreciated.
Those ideas seem valid to me. If you aren't in a cold climate, I would simply start with plastic layer on top to trap heat. When there is mild weather here that works just fine. Extreme cold like what we have now, I would explore the sandwhich you are mentioning, but above 30F I don't think it is critical.
@@edibleacres
thanx
I also use 2x4's for chicken roosts. However, I'm in Las vegas and we are in the low 40's at night, so I just turned an old PVC clad 6' diam banquet table into a low coop. Going to make a new good looking chicken coop soon because I definitely need more than 6 chickens in order to turn the amount of compost I need to make my 1+ acre of silty/clay ground fertile. I like the idea of a little nesting condo. I might do something like what you have. Stay warm and safe... Saw the forecast for you all and I feel for you. That isn't just brrr.. It's Polar brrr!
Certainly some different climates and different designs!
We've been in the mid -20s for the past few nights n heading there hopefully just one more time tonight. Windchill took us to -40s last night. With 2 space heaters the coop was at about 22° this am, though I'm sure it was much warmer on the roost cause they slept in 😄 I scoop their roost every morning n put fresh bedding material to keep ammonia down when they are shut in at night.
You have some taken care of chickens for sure...
@@edibleacres It's my view that if I take in animals that I am responsible to provide the very best care I can because they are fully dependent on me. I am not perfect n still learning, but I do my best.
Hi I added one wide roosting bar there out of three - the middle one which was prefered by them. But out of 11 only 1 prefers to sit there. we are in cold climate. so strange..
Hi there !! I enjoy your channel. My husband and I have really been absorbing everything about permaculture and chickens.... such an amazing approach to systems design and following nature's true ways. We are hoping to get chickens soon . I saw one of your videos about your deep litter method in the winter and you mentioned that you added charcoal to it, I'm guessing as part of your compost system. . .just wondering if you could add ashes from the woodstove or could that potentially cause respiratory issues for the chickens. Thanks for the interesting and great content that you provide in such an informative way !!!
I think I'd shy away from using ashes from a woodstove with a deep litter method... If/when they get wet they would be quite rough on the chickens feet, being so caustically alkaline, and I could imagine them making quite a fine dust. The charcoal is from our biochar in the woodstove process so it is clean charcoal, very little to no ash, and if we wet it when we crush it a bit it doesn't make dust. Honestly, though, we haven't used much charcoal this winter for bedding, mainly hay right now.
@@edibleacres thanks for the valuable information and insight
Have never kept chickens(bummer!), but I've read that petroleum jelly helps to guard against frostbite. I'm wondering if a homemade salve of coconut oil, vitamin E oil, and bee's wax would be effective. I actually rub this concoction into my leather boots to keep them soft & waterproof. I think I combined 1 oz. bee's wax with 1 cup coconut oil & maybe a teaspoon of Vitamin E oil. A softer version could be made for birds.
Could be nice, but I couldn't imagine the birds letting us do it to them!
I've been subscribed for a while. Didn't know you had so many hens. Do you sell the eggs?
We don't sell eggs, we share with friends and family.
What seeds/grain do you use to sprout for your ladies? And how do you purchase it again? I know you cover it in one of your videos but I cannot remember which one of the 60+ videos talks about it.
We trade for seeds that are filtered out from a flour milling operation. Many 'weed' seeds in there but lots of wheat.
YYYYYAAASSSS WIDE BARS
It's supposed to be in mid 40's on Sunday and Monday!!
We're seeing that too. -10 to almost 50 in a few days. Nice 'n stable!
Yes we are basically neighbors :-)
Looks nice! Hey have you noticed if one breed in particular is less affected by the cold?
They all seem pretty hardy overall. It's hard to know exactly what is happening as some are very mixed background and quite old, but we haven't lost any to this weather (at least so far).
@@edibleacres Thanks for the response!
I'm getting -45 C (-45 F) from the Arctic Blast
I can't even imagine what that would feel like.
@@edibleacres Very cold very fast. So cold it can give you a headache within minutes without a toque on
You need 1 nesting box for 8 hens so you have enough nesting boxes.
I should hope so.
they need to huddle two by two to stay warm.
They sure do. I think that helps quite a bit at night to have big puffs on either side of you!
Wonder what the temp is in the coop?
I can't imagine much warmer than outside, but with so much less wind and nearly windless in areas it is safer for them.
Iowa -14 with wind Chill of -40 colder than the South Pole!
Scary. Stay warm!
I could never figure out why they preferred one roosting bar over another. Now I think its because one is too narrow
Could be. Something to watch and learn from.
@@edibleacres yea im going to switch things around when it warms up. At least they arent sleeping/pooping in their nest boxes any more lol
I had -30F with -65F wind chill this morning. Glad I do not have chicken this winter.
Thats insane!
we been like -30 to -40 for 3 weeks and counting, high winds making it even colder, my live stock look like snow man, it been so cold i have not been able to even do a video, and to night it is going down to -47, it been just survival mode trying to stay warm and bedding the live stock were tey go to et away from the wind, so one day i am putting straw one place and the next putting it in another as the wind changes, let the chickens turn your compost, before you put more hay down spread a little cracked corn down on the ground then put your hay down, here they can only dig so deep as it freezes solid unless you have lots of bird to keepit warm like 55 to 60 deg and they lay better and no frozen eggs, build the chicken house and insulate it with 4 inch foam as well as the floor and dont make it any bigger then how many birds you will have and that mean made it smaller then is rec-amended for cold country
So brutal. I wish you and your animals warmth and safety going through all this.
Don't pay for fake eggs. Chickens recognize their own eggs. Since you've got cool weather, there is no harm in leaving your girls their last two eggs. I use a different colored marker for each box and write the hen's initials and date. (egg Ca0130) for Candice's egg today. Don't grind and feed the marked portion of eggs back to the chickens. It's safe enough to use those in the garden for slug deterrent or to prevent blossom end rot.
So I should have found you this link on your last podt when I saw the suggestion for the wide roosts. www.backyardchickens.com/threads/proper-design-of-roost-bars.1197058/ I'll be interested in your own observations.
Lot to think about on that... I will focus on observation and see what seems to work for them. I don't see them slipping or having a hard time on the wide perch boards, and they seem to settle down and rest better than before. Intuitively it seems better since there is more support and they can more fully cover their feet in the cold. There are options for various sizes a bit up there so I trust it'll work out. But I'll watch and see what I can learn.
love your videos man...especially your compist system videos...i hope to see more...
check out my channel ..i need help improve my channel
Best of luck with your channel. I'd encourage you to film in the horizontal rather than the vertical style. Way more visible and enjoyable to watch when horizontal.
thanks a lot edible acres...best of luckk to you too keep making awesome videos. and i will surely try to film horizontally ..thanks for the advice