Heating my chicken house - the solution,

I have been looking around to find something to heat my chicken house with since I noticed that my rooster Sophie was actually shivering in the cold. A heat lamp inside the chicken house wasn't a very good choice because it is just too bright and the chickens had a hard time settling down. I found a dog house heater, but that was basically just a metal box to cover the heat bulb. I almost placed an order for it when I came across these ceramic heat emitters that are used for reptiles and other small animals that need heat but not extra light. I have ordered a few and have been using one inside the chicken house now for several days. What I noticed since using it is that the chickens go inside the house earlier even when I have some bright lights outside for them after dark. Several times when I opened the door in the morning I found Sophie the rooster sitting right under the heat emitter, and the times he was already outside some of the hens were sitting under it, so it seems it is a winner.

I also have some heat lamps inside my little barn and I open that up in the evening and mornings for them also, so they can hang out in a larger place inside where their feet don't get so cold. What I noticed when they walk around in the morning when there is some ice on the ground or it is simply very cold, they spend a lot of time standing on one leg. Since they don't normally do that I assume that this is how they try to minimize exposure to the cold ground.

Bella and Tippi enjoying a cold morning, note the ice that covers the greenery.

Both Sophie and Bella are standing on one leg as there is a layer of ice on the ground.

Bella my Golden Campine hen. She is a very independant little soul, she is all over the place, checking out the different areas in the barn which requires for her to fly up on the dividers. She spends part of her days in the goat pen where she can forage without competition, but I noticed today that Tobi has picked up on that and goes in there now too. She hasn't figured out yet how to get back out. Bella gets in and out all day now.

My big boy Sophie, I know it's a funny name for a rooster, but he was supposed to be a hen. He seems to know his name as he usually comes running in his dinosaur kind of way when I call him, and what does he care about his name being a girl's name anyway. He is a very special guy.

Winterizing the chicken coop,

when it was around 20 degrees last week I noticed that Sophie my rooster was shivering. Up until then I was under the impression that chickens were fairly cold tolerant. But clearly he was cold. I have since then bought some more heat lamps, red and clear heat bulbs and a heated water bowl. A heat lamp keeps the chicken house temperature well above freezing, but the problem with the heat bulbs is that they give out bright light, and the chickens were constantly moving about and seemed to have a hard time settling down. I think I found the solution in ceramic heat emitters. I ordered them 2 days ago, so I am hoping to get them next week.

the above picture shows the outside heat lamp in the corner of the coop, if they want to warm up they can sit in that area. I have also added a lot of fresh straw on the ground. The chickens still like to scratch in that white utility sink that I always fill with fresh hay. The small coolers do keep the water pretty much from freezing if I add hot water in the evening. The temperature has been as low as 18 degrees and the water was not frozen in the coolers, but it was frozen in other containers. The concrete block allows the chickens to get up and drink from the cooler, but sometimes they just drink without getting on the block. I use a black plastic pallet to raise their food bowls, that way the hay and straw doesn't get so much into it, and the waste food isn't on the ground. In the corner I still have the little table with more food bowls. Chickens peck a lot at each other and always fight over the best places at the food bowl, so by offering several bowls it cuts down on the pecking. for now I have a heat lamp in the chicken house, but when I get the ceramic emitters I will put one of those in there, they don't give off any light, so I can heat the chicken house at night without having the light on. The picture also shows the heated water bowl on the right. I had it out the first time last night and the water was a nice temperature in the morning. This will help as I won't have to run out first thing in the morning anymore to add hot water to their bowls. All the lights are on timers, so they come on and turn off automatically. Which is great when I come home from work after dark, everything is on timers so the lights come on and turn off automaticall.

a few weeks ago I found some nice thick branches, they make nice perches for the chickens. The straw is a favorite for now and in the background is the pool with the hay. I usually throw some sunflower seeds into the pool and the sink so when they scratch in the hay they find some goodies.

The crate and the old piece of furniture make nice places to crawl into or sit on top. So looks like we are doing okay now for the winter.

In Memory of Goldie,

Goldie passed away yesterday after a fight with Sophie. He died a few hours after I saw him being chased and repeatedly pecked at by Sophie. This happened early in the morning when I went outside to give them their morning treats and I noticed Leydi running where the two roosters were. She knew something wasn't right. The roosters where in a pen by themselves to protect the hens from the constant harrassment of the roosters, some of them have quite a few feathers missing. Goldie's comb which had been bruised a few weeks ago was all healed up and I had not seen the two of them fighting at all or found any feathers that would have indicated that they had been fighting, actually it looked like things had been settled with Sophie being in charge and Goldie staying out of his way. I had planned that I would change the setup this weekend but unfortunately it is too late. I think he must have suffered a head injury even when there were no visible injuries, he started stumbling and walking in circles and then laid down and was unable to coordinate his movements and then passed away soon after. I learned a lot about roosters from him. I remember his first crow, strutting around full of himself, I didn't expect to lose him like that, who knows what happened, maybe he ran into something, he could have flown out of the pen if he wanted to, he had done it several times without difficulty. I miss him.

Here comes "Trouble"


Goldie strutting around thinking he can try once again to chase me away,

Goldie getting ready to attack me. He is really single minded on this, just can't help it. Just look at those beady black eyes of him.

But here is my guardian, Sophie, he truly rules now and has taken on the role as my personal protector. His eyes are of a striking orange red color. He always stays near me and Goldie won't even come close. I just hope Sophie remains friendly with me, he is quite huge.

Sophie in all his glory

Pearl, one of my Delawares

Mira and Buffy in the background, and Bella in the foreground

Sophie doesn't have to jump up on the table anymore if he wants to eat.

Nanuk taking a look at our little feathered flock.

My first white egg,

today I got my first white egg, yippeh. I think it was Tobi as I have been seeing her in the last two weeks sitting in the nest boxes and making noise. The eggs are uniform in color, the circles must be from the plastic box. Note the two dog noses in the picture?

3 days worth of eggs, I have been getting 3 brown eggs on most days, that's really not bad, the chickens are just 22 weeks old today

Just a few pictures of my chickens, 5 months old
Goldie my cockerel is getting very territorial and has been attacking me a few times. I now carry a dustpan with me and if he comes after me I shoo him out of the coop or into a different area and give him a time-out. What a little bugger he is, I am hoping that he will learn to mind his manners.

Headshot of Tippi

head shot of Bella, her ears a a light turquoise color, interesting breed, the colors are really striking. She is a nice pullet, very smallish.

Buffy

And this is of course Sophie, my other cockerel, he is still sweet and eats nicely from my hand.

the whole gang taking a dust bath together

Goldie crows as he is standing guard for his flock as they take a dust bath.

20 weeks old,


here is my little flock of chickens, I have 2 roosters and 8 hens (pullets), they are all in this picture, one of them is behind the chair and only her tail is visible.

my first "homegrown" meal, the egg yolks are just the size of a cherry at this point,

the three eggs fit into my hand, this was before I fried them

Sophie, the Ameraucana rooster, he is just a big dork, very single-minded and he is just as clumsy as a lover as he is when he is trying to fly or jump up on something, he keeps running up to the girls "hey, you wanna have some fun?" and they all run from him, doesn't seem to discourage him at all, he just keeps trying

Goldie, is in charge of the little flock, he is always on the lookout, and if Sophie is chasing one of the hens, Goldie intervenes, he runs right in front of Sophie, who stops in his tracks and runs the other way when he knows he is in trouble.

Leydi found herself a cozy spot in a sandbox that I have filled with soil to grow some baby trees, luckily it was already clear that the trees didn't make it before Leydi chose the sandbox as her observation deck.

Buffy in the front and Mira in the back checking out what's on the other side of the fence. Sophie is under the tree checking out Leydi who has picked a spot where she can see the chickens and has a good view of the neighborhood too.

From front to back, Bella, Bianca and Mira

Group picture of the girls, this table is 16 inches tall and their heads now reach up to it

My first Egg,

the chickens are now a little over 4 months old, I got them the first week of April and today I found my first egg, it was laid between 6.30 am and 10 am this morning as I had checked the nests when I let the chickens out this morning. They must have heard me talking to them the last week as I was muttering under my breath that it is time to get started. I had put some golf balls into their nests about 10 days ago as well as lined both of the nests with some nice soft bermuda hay. This little egg is still small, but it's a perfect shape and a beautiful light brown color. I don't know yet who laid it, could be one of the Buff Orpingtons or the Delawares, hopefully there will be more eggs soon, it sure is a special moment to find that first egg.

3 1/2 months old - still growing and crowing

Below is a group picture of all 10 "chicks", getting a taste of "free-ranging". In the mornings and evenings I let them out of their coop and let them use the open area and one of the dog runs, this gives them an approximate area of 80 x 30 to range on. Out of my 5 dogs only the terrier will still go after the chickens, the rest is only mildly interested in them, but not wanting to hurt them. So I am hoping that when fall comes and the chickens are pretty much fully grown they will be able to use at least half of our property at a time.

In the back the two white Delaware pullets, then the two Barred Leghorns (black and white), then there are the two Buff Orpingtons (peach colored), also on the right the gold and black rooster with the golden neck and the same colored hen between the Buffs in the front and the Barred Leghorns in the back, behind the black and gold rooster is Lucy, the Ameraucana pullet and then to the far left is Sophie, the Ameraucana rooster.

Sophie my Ameraucana rooster, so far so good, he is really sweet

Lucy my Ameraucana pullet, she is on the bottom of the pecking order it seems, but she is very smart, and just goes about her business and since I always put plenty of food out, she never misses out on any of the treats either.

Goldie the Golden Campine rooster, he is extremely standoffish, really interesting as he wasn't like that as a chick. He is the more assertive one of the two roosters, crows a lot more and stares down Sophie who is almost twice his size.

The Delawares Pearl and Bianca

Corn on the cob is a favorite treat

12 weeks old - chickens and their guardian in training

Ayla is an Anatolian Shepherd, a livestock guardian breed from Turkey. She is almost two years old. Since we only had the chickens for 3 months, I have been gradually letting her spend more time with the chickens under my supervision. I am hoping that eventually I will be able to let the chickens free range and that my livestock guardian dogs will keep them safe. Ayla seems to be very promising and my other Anatolian is also doing great with them.
For more information about my Anatolian Shepherd Dogs see:
http://www.anatolians-of-zaltana.com/


My Anatolian Shepherd Ayla trying to figure out what they chickens are finding in the pool with all the hay in it. Lucy is watching the "big chicken" scratch around in the hay.
Group photo left to right, Pearl, Tippi, Bella and Goldie

Sophie my Ameraucana cockerel and Mira

Lucy guzzling some water. She just absolutely loves to guzzle, if she hears water running anywhere she comes running and starts drinking, out of the hose, out of a bottle if I pour something, and when I have the drip system running she runs from emitter to emitter to drink. None of the other chickens drink near as much as she does. Lucy comes over to check out Ayla's toes

When she started pecking at the toes Ayla very appropriately turns her head away, in doggie language she is trying to keep the peace

She looks at Lucy again as she turns her back on Ayla.

Doesn't she look like a happy flock guardian?

Group phote, Tippi, Buffy and Tobi

Ayla getting a taste of the chicks' breakfast as they look on

Bianca and Pearl