Winter Care For Your Poultry

Don't loose your flock to fire, feeding & bedding tips for the winter months.

I can't stress enough the importance of having a coop that has air flow. No matter how cold it gets here in WV, chances are the lovely downy feathers will keep your poultry nice and warm. Drafts are bad as it can cause some issues but fresh air is essential. When chickens breathe out they expel a certain amount of moisture just like humans do. If your coop is sealed nice and tight it will cause the moisture to cause frost bite if you don't provide supplemental heat.

Another cause of frostbite can come from having a damp winter like we did this past winter in WV. It would rain nearly every 3 days and then when it would have a hard freeze... it meant my poultry had issues with keeping their legs from freezing. I did have one pullet who got frostbite on her toes and lost them. I gave her a shot of penicillin and she went on to be a productive member of our flock.



Supplemental Heat: I can not stress enough again that adult chickens that have their full feathers do not need supplemental heat in most of the US. At the very least it is an unnecessary expense and at the worst it can cause massive destruction and death due to fire. It never fails, as soon as it starts getting chilly out you start hearing about coop fires on the news. Not only can it cause a fire in your coop but if it spreads and catches your home or a neighbors home on fire... you won't forgive yourself and it will be too late. Standard brooder lights with a "heat" bulb are dangerous! There are safe alternatives to use if you must provide supplemental heat to your poultry. All if this is regarding adult poultry that is fully feathered! I will cover chicks later.

Here are a couple of SAFE alternatives you can use to make yourself feel better. I bet... if you set it up in your coop you would notice that your birds would prefer to not go under the heat! Maybe if we lived in an environment where it was -35 for an extended period of time I would consider heat in the coop. Sweeter Heater or Eco Glo are safe alternatives to the traditional heat bulbs.

http://www.brinsea.com/prod-EcoGlow_Chick_Brooder-239.aspx

http://www.sweeterheater.com/bizweb.asp

I also change their feed a bit. I buy layer pellet and mix a bag of scratch grains or cracked corn to give them a bit of extra energy to help them stay warm. You can also throw in a hand full of cracked corn at night to give them that boost of internal heat. When the snow covers the ground I still open the coop every day. They decide if they want to go out or not... They ALL go out even on the worst day. When they don't have access to "green living" food I will do things like toss in a head of cabbage to keep them entertained and give them some living food. We are lucky enough to have a lake here and there is always fresh meal worms around for a treat.



Pine shaving bedding
 

This is also the time of year that I change their bedding. I use a deep litter method in their coop that is low maintenance and helps to keep the coop smelling fresh for months at a time. I only "clean" my coop twice a year but I do wind up having to add extra bedding once every month or two. Hay is not a good bedding as it does not absorb well unless it is chopped. I find that the larger pine flake works best for my coop. Cedar is a no no as it can cause serious respiratory problems for your flock. If starting out for a first time with pine shavings I fill the coop with about 8 inches of it then sprinkle Sweet PDZ around. http://www.sweetpdz.com/ It is promoted for use with horses but I find it is amazing for my poultry. It helps absorb ammonia in a safe environmentally friendly way. I don't have to worry about adding it into my compost as it is a natural enzyme.

If I am doing my bi-annual clean I leave a light scattering of the old shavings in the coop as it is filled with good bacteria that is already helping to break down the waste. Then I add the bags of pine shavings & Sweet PDZ. It is less work for me and helps the new stuff kick start the process. All of this said, I have a free range flock. I do not keep my birds locked up year round so for those that do, you may need to change more than twice a year.

This last year we made a "run" for the times I do need to keep them contained. This allows them access to the outdoors in a safe way so that predators can't get to them. My experience was that they ate down every blade of grass in about 10 minutes. I was left with a mud pit! This is my project this fall, to get that changed so they aren't standing in mud if we have another wet winter. I've had some folks say they use sand, crush/run etc.... I think the crush & run will work best in my situation as they will have access to "grit" to eat the odd time they are locked up, it will help to drain the water & give them something to scratch which they love.

This year we added turkeys to the farm. I have two males and one female. I will be using the largest male this Thanksgiving for food. I have to make a decision soon... do I put him in a large pen to "finish him out" or do I let him continue to free range? There are pros and cons associated with each thought. If I pen him up he will be more tender as he won't have 40 acres to walk around. It is a large dog crate so he can roost and walk around fine but he can't fly or run. The down side with that is he will need to be fed grain the last 30+ days. That is an expense and a not natural diet. At the moment, he is organic. If he wants to eat, he has to catch it!

What are your thoughts? Would you or do you pen your turkey/chickens up to finish them off before processing them?

My 84 year old boyfriend... Or As The Garden Grows....

My garden partner or as my husband calls him... My 84 year old boyfriend!

Planting under plastic.

I heard from my uncle that a family friend was having some health issues. He's 84 so I expect him to start slowing down. He always gardens and I believe this has a lot to do with how mobile, smart and kind he is. Jack Dorsey helped me last year when I planted my first garden. He shared his decades of experience with things like how to plant my potatoes and why it is important to keep it measured out so that after the tops die off I will easily be able to find my little gems. Without him I would have been lost!

<--- notice the size of the tomato plants to the left and the row of bean plants to the right of the plastic.



June 23



In June I called him and offered to be his garden slave. The next morning I went over with some fresh eggs and we had breakfast & talked about how I could help. We started working together June 23rd. (Keep in mind that the big storm hit on June 29th.) He had some sheets of thick plastic and he wanted to try an experiment. The month had already had several days above 90 without rain it was creating a real drought situation.

We broke out the plastic on a tilled up section of bare garden and I got busy cutting holes into it. He also wanted to try planting some plants closer together to see how they would do. We had 3 corn seeds per hole spaced about 5 inches apart. Some never sprouted and the ones that have seem to be doing just fine. I fertilized them like normal when first planting then again two weeks later and one more time in July. In between, I continue to water them with Miracle Grow. All the rest of the other plants get Miracle Grow and/or Epsom Salt at a rate of about 1 heaping T per gallon of water.

After just over a few weeks the beans & tomato plants had grown nearly to the same size as the plants he had planted outside the plastic. The dry conditions seemed to have no impact on plants under plastic while the other plants had been stunted a bit. We did continue to water the rest of the garden with collected rain water.

So far we have been super excited about this and Jack even decided IF he gardens next year it will be by plastic. He doesn't have to get out and hoe weeds etc which makes it easier for sure. It just seems to be lower maintenance over all.



July 20th
Notice the tomatoes to the left and bean plants on the right



Then today, I was listening to The Chicken Whisperer radio show and their guest was Richard Freudenberger, Owner of Back Home Magazine. He was discussing compost and I brought up the plastic and learned that it can cause exposure to endocrine disruptors, or hormone disruptors.

That sounds scary enough to make me want to avoid doing it in the future. It is amazing really, the common every day items we are exposed to. I have never really given any thought to any of these things being carconages.

Last year in my garden I did not use any pesticides as I wanted to see how difficult it would be to have an organic garden. I did have some problems with bugs eating leaves on some of my plants but it didn't seem to be too destructive. It certainly wasn't bad enough to make me want to use poison on my food.

 I did make the mistake of fertilising my tomato pants after they had started bearing fruit. But my single biggest issue was with my chickens. Paul & I had put up an electric fence (solar powered) with the though of keeping them out. Even though the unit stated it was made for smaller animals like chickens it did nothing to deter them and they had their run of my garden. I didn't get a single tomato and they even found the watermelons I had cleverly hidden among a significant weedy section.

So far this year I have been enjoying squash, zucchini, potatoes & Roma beans from our partner garden. The peas haven't done much growing and I despair of them bearing any peas at this point but you can never tell.



Aug 3rd



<-- my bean plants outgrew Jack's. This time tomatoes on the right and beans on left.

Jack picked off a ear of sweet corn and after removing the leaves we stood in the middle of the garden eating raw sweet corn. I had never eaten raw corn before and it was great! I had a grin on my face from ear to ear... pun most definitely intended!

Friday evenings are a favorite time for me to go to Jack's and spend some time in the garden. It is my truly "Happy Hour". Working until the sun sets picking a Sugar Snap pod as I go... or grabbing an apple off the tree.

Last week when I went over for breakfast Jack had boiled some apples and put them in a hand crank food mill pot. Nothing but apples and a splash of sugar.

Tomorrow morning I will be back at Jack's to get my hands dirty, have breakfast, laugh at his stories and learn about food.

Saying Goodbye To Friends

Fergus, Fionna & Jenny



Today is a sad day, we will be culling Fergus and I am finding it hard to say goodbye. He is sitting next to me on the desk as I type this. He was part of my first chickens, I was given a trio of Cochin bantam cross. I was scared to bits of killing them and that is when I started listening to the Chicken Whisperer.

 As time passed I grew to adore Fergus, Jenny & Fionna. Sadly, Jenny was taken by a raccoon. Last fall I noticed a chick belonging to Fionna & Fergus was having a hard time walking and just assumed it was a broken leg. Time went on and we eventually culled the juvenile bird as it was unable to stand on its own.



Fionna & I Christmas 2011

Last winter Fionna developed the same symptom. I was told more than likely it was Range Sickness since one of her legs was sticking out. I kept her for about 4 months on top of a small cage where she could eat, drink & watch the comings and goings.

This week Fergus developed the same symptoms and while he still has strength in his legs and they are not sticking out at an odd angle, he keeps falling over. He is simply unable to stand. He has had no loss of apatite and no other chickens have developed these symptoms which leads me to believe it to be a genetic issue. I had hoped after nearly a year passing by that he might be safe and that the issue was solely with Fionna & her offspring.

 

Paul has offered to cull him for me as he knows that Fergus has always been a pet. My little trio of chickens that started me on my quest to farm and live a more sustainable life. I credit nearly everything I have done over the past three years to them. They were my inspiration to learn about food.

 

I could keep Fergus on top of a cage like I did with Fionna for months but it somehow seems wrong with my beautiful, regal rooster. So, before Paul goes back on the road I will have him do this for me and I will save some of Fergus's lovely feathers to remind me how special he was.

Learning to say goodbye on the farm is one of the hardest things I've had to learn. It doesn't matter how often I go through it, it never gets easier. Some of these creatures have such distinct personalities that they find a way into your heart even when you know you should not let them in. There are the ones you name and the ones you know are food.

I will never forget how Jenny laid the first egg on the farm, the week of our 5th anniversary. Or how Fionna loved to perch on my shoulder as I walked around the farm. Fergus, would always come up to the house as he knew I would let him to sit on my desk and feed him special treats. He was my special guy.

 

I hope that his son Angus, will not develop this disorder. Since he was hatched from a Rhode Island Red hen I hope he will have enough new genetics to keep him safe. At the moment, I currently have two chicks who have feathers down their legs... Fergus's legacy, they are his "grand chicks" and so far the second & third generations seem to be doing well. Could it have been something as simple as the original trio were too closely related?

Anyway, I'm sharing a few photos of my terrible three... sweet, smart and darlings to the one.

Lazy Summer & Goat Love

Its been ages since I had the time to sit down and ponder on the farm goings on. I knew I wouldn't have much time to write when Paul's youngest son came to visit over the summer. Having Jake here was pure joy! It was also fun to see the farm through his eyes.
When he first arrived he said he would never pick up a chicken. Before he knee it he fell in love with sweet Peach. She was the daughter of Fergus and Fiona.  She did not like to spend any time with other chickens and thought she belonged with the people. The second she saw you she would fly to sit on you.

My Father In Law Jack Keeley with Peach

One day Jake decided he wanted her as a pet in his room.  Paul let him to with it and by the time I came home that night there was quite a mess. I explained to Jake he would have to clean up after his pet if he wanted to have her in his room. He mentioned something along the lines of never having seen so much poo.

That was the one and only night Peach stayed inside.

Jake also called the garden the Food Field. Michele went shopping in the food field for veggies.
There was a tire swing in the front maple tree , catching lightning bugs at night and most days spent swimming at the lake with snorkeling gear. It was perfect ... honestly. The only way it could have been better is if Jack was there.

The first Saturday in September I went with my uncle to the market in Weston to sell his cows. They had goats and there was one Pygmy doe who looked like she had a broken leg. Nobody wanted her and the bid went down to $5 so she was mine. I didn't know the first thing about them but I learned quick. She was thin and scared of people but she finally warned up to us.

The day I got Gemma

I had no idea goats had such  individual personalities! Gemma liked to hang with us and sit in chairs. If she squeezed her way through the front door she would go to the couch and sit on it. If we had a fire going she would get very close to it and nibble on a bit of ash while making cute noises.

But she was lonely and needed a goat friend. This time Paul came to the market with me. BIG mistake! He went crazy and wanted to bid on all of them. We came home with 8 friends for Gemma. Lesson learned!