Brrrr! These temps are not kind to chickens!

The weather outside certainly is frightful!

We are in the midst of a very deep freeze here at Archie’s Acres, as is most of the country. For us, that means the highest temperature for the last 2 weeks has been a whopping 13 degrees with several days of sub-zero temps for highs. Plus, out here in the country, we get the benefit of unobstructed winds whipping across the corn fields. So keeping all the farm animals safe and happy is definitely more of a challenge lately. Especially the chickens, they are a constant worry for us.

Cold Chickens!

The chickens have been a big source of stress since the cold came. Our breeds are quite cold weather tolerant, but even with that, these temps are really crazy. We have had about 3 inches of snow on the ground since mid December and the sight of snow really weirds out most of the chickens, so only 4 of our chickens have ventured out of the coop since then. We get it, they can’t see anything to pick at, their non-white bodies in contrast with the snow makes them feel like a hawk or bald eagle target, yadda yadda yadda. Totally understandable.

A few of the girls venturing out of the coop.

However, since this horrible cold front came in, not a single bird leaves the coop. Which means there are 60+ crabby birds hanging out in a 25′ x 40′ coop all day. And since they aren’t able to free-range, they are going through food as fast as we can bring it. I’ll make them oatmeal and omelettes and give them old soups or meat scraps to warm them up every day. Yep, they love meat, they are related to dinosaurs after all. We froze tomato, cucumber, squash, watermelon and cantaloupe cubes from the end of the summer just for occasions like this, so they get a variety of nutrients all winter long. And this cold snap makes us extra happy that we did all that winter prep work.

Water, water, water

One of the main ways to keep the chickens healthy is by making sure they have lots of water. Lots and lots of fresh non-frozen (obviously) water. It may seem strange but it’s the same for humans – the air is incredibly dry and just breathing causes more water loss than normal. On an average day, these chickens drink a ton of water and it’s even worse now. We have special waterers that have heated bases; however, even they are having trouble keeping up with the cold. So, several times a day, we end up trekking out to the coop to bring fresh water and do a wellness check. So far, we have only lost one chicken in all of this. Little Chipmunk. RIP.

Carbo-loading

Another issue is food. Again, this is the same for humans in this weather. We burn more calories to maintain our body temperature in extreme weather and so do chickens. Normally, we feed cracked corn very sparingly to our chickens, preferring more protein rich food. However, corn provides lots of carbohydrates with are a good source of quickly converted energy. We have been providing food several times throughout the day and make sure they get a good dose of corn before bed. We also give them popcorn and old cereal. They loooooooove popcorn and Cheerios!

The coop itself

We do not have an insulated coop, which is pretty typical. And we won’t ever because in the summer, that insulation would turn the coop into an oven. Extreme heat is more deadly than extreme cold. Also, insulation would make ventilating the coop more difficult, and coop ventilation is very important for chicken health because all the moisture from their breathing and droppings needs to leave the coop fairly quickly. In cold weather, very moist air would collect on them if there was insufficient ventilation which would lead to their feathers being inefficient insulators. It also leaves them susceptible to frostbite. The combs and toes can be particularly tricky, especially with the roosters. A couple of our roosters have fairly large combs so we have slathered some petroleum jelly on them to help protect from the cold. So with all of that in mind, our only supplement in the coop is to put a foot deep layer of leaves, pine shavings and corn husks on the floor of the coop. Over time, this layer will breakdown and release heat through decomposing, plus it gives the chickens something to scratch through and the layer provides a bit of insulation from the cold concrete below. We have also added extra pine shavings to their nesting boxes and to the shelves where the girls prefer to sleep.

All in all, everyone is doing ok. They are certainly not happy. But they are loving all the extra treats we’ve been giving them, so morale is pretty high. Rumor has it that it’s going to be 30 this Sunday! We can’t wait! I may even wear short sleeves!

November 10, 2017

Winter Preparation Chaos!!

winter is coming

Hello from Archie’s Acres. We know it’s been a while since we’ve posted but we’ve been busy preparing the garden and our critters for winter!

The first order of business was to remove all remaining produce from all plants before the first frost, which was about 3 weeks ago. We still had a surprising amount of peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, zucchini and cucumbers which was a pleasant surprise!

A portion of our last harvest for the season

The produce that didn’t make the cut for humans were given to the chickens and the goats, so everybody on the farm won. Especially the chickens.

Then we had to remove all remnants of the tomato and pepper plants. Leaving them around would invite disease to the soil that would effect our productivity next year. It’s a tedious job, but the reward is being able to have a big bonfire with all the dried plants. So that’s fun!

In the next week or so, we will then spread compost and chicken manure onto the garden before the first snow to help rejuvenate the soil. Our current chicken coop setup is basically that of a giant litter box. We filled the entire interior of our coop with sand and ag-lime (aka crushed limestone). This allowed us to scoop out chicken droppings with a manure form (think giant cat litter scoop) to collect for fertilizer. It’s working wonderfully.

As for the critters, we moved and re-positioned the goats’ and Tilly’s

Un-helpful winter goats — The goats were not very helpful while we were trying to move their shelter

shelter to face the south east in order to protect them from the harsh winter winds from the west and the north. And we covered their favorite hangout area with pine chips to create a barrier between the cold ground and their feet and we put a fancy new coat on Tilly!

Sheep in winter coat — Tilly looks fabulous in her new coat

Winter Coop Preparations

We’ve been collecting all fallen leaves and shuttling them into the coop. We’ll also add grass clippings, pine savings and shredded paper. We’re aiming to get about 3-4 inches of material covering the entire coop floor. It’s called the “deep litter method” and worked well for us last year. Basically, the deep layer of organic material absorbs the chicken dropping and slowly composts throughout the winter. The material on the floor provides some insulation from the cold ground, and as it breaks down (composts) it releases some heat into the coop. Added bonus – in the spring, we have great fertilizer waiting for us when we clean out the coop. So far we only have about an inch deep layer throughout; a few of our large maple trees are stubbornly holding onto their leaves. We’re really hoping they drop them before the first snow or we may have some damaged trees!

So as you can see, we’ve been busy! As this season winds down, I promise to post more. I mean, what else am I going to do with all the free time we have? 😉

March 13, 2017March 18, 2017

Welcome to Archie’s Acres…

Welcome to Archie’s Acres

…and welcome to this, the first blog post of many to come. It’s the Monday after Daylight Savings time and the morning after a surprise (but not really all that surprising) overnight 4+ inch snow here in the Midwest. The chickens hate it but our dog, Archie, LOVES all the fresh powder everywhere! He’s been visibly smiling all morning, no exaggeration, as he runs laps around our small 5 acre farm in the fresh snow.

I’m guessing you’ve figured out where the name Archie’s Acres came from…

Archie is our 1 year old (turned 1 on March 4th) Australian Cattle Dog/Border Collie mix. We found him on a farm in Miles, Iowa near the hatchery that we visited last Spring, my only regret was that the farmer wanted us to take him immediately, but he was only 5 weeks, so we made up an excuse to allow him to stay with his mom for an extra week but still, taking him away from his mom at 6 weeks broke my heart a little. But he’s our little bear and he’s a barrel of personality and obviously, a total mama’s boy.

At this very moment…

we have 24 snow-hating chickens shouting in the chicken coop. I mean, I get it, they don’t wear shoes so snow is probably pretty uncomfortable to walk on. They also can’t see any grass, bugs or worms because of the snow, so I get that aggravation there too. So my temporary remedy for their unhappiness will be to bring them a huge bowl of oatmeal after I finish this post.

Chickens looooooove oatmeal…

…and if there’s anything a certified chicken lady loves; it’s making her chickens happy. Along with the 24 cranky birds currently throwing tantrums in the chicken coop, we have 2 injured chickens resting in a makeshift rehabilitation center in our garage. One of our best layers, Brownie our Isa Brown hen, injured her leg and is now confined to our cat’s travel carrier. She’s eating and drinking and in good spirits, she’s probably also really enjoying being warm and away from the snow. About 2 feet across from her is Newman, our lone Blue Laced Red Wyandotte rooster, he also has a busted leg. Chickens are very social creatures so there is something comforting about them having each other to recover with, not that I’m a fan of having 2 injured chickens, but it’s always easier to have a friend.

There is a such thing as a roost being too high…

I’m realizing now that the roosts in the chicken coop are too high off of the ground, they’re a good 10 feet high, the previous owners built them this way and since we had no idea what we were doing, being city dwellers and all, we just assumed they were just fine. So this past week has been all about building chicken ladders and ramps for the bigger birds to safely get down from the roosts in the morning. The drop is especially rough when they fly down out of excitement, which is basically only when I enter the coop with a treat. Because they know what it means if they see one of their humans holding a bowl!

Springtime is chick-time!…

So of course we also have 20 2-3 week old baby chicks in our homemade brooder in the garage. The brooder is a 6 foot tall wood wardrobe with 2 heat lamps inside. These babies were hand-picked from 2 different hatcheries in Iowa based on their breed’s egg color (in this case, they either lay blue or chocolate brown eggs), the rareness of the breed, their genetic broodiness and finally, some were picked to add a little unique coloring to the flock. As we approach farmer’s market season, it’s become important to us to offer a rainbow variety of egg colors since we discovered the vast color palette of farm fresh egg colors!

Chicken eggs come in a rainbow of colors…

To put it normally, there are so many awesome, natural egg tints and tones that exist in nature and that’s just so so cool! And if we think they’re THAT cool, other people need to see them too! So on that note…we are also currently incubating 14 eggs that I purchased and were shipped from a farm in Florida and a farm in Pennsylvania. These chickens will lay the most beautiful shade of blue/teal egg, naturally. Hoping for hens, of course, but considering our hatching luck in the past, the egg genders will be 3:1 roosters. But we’ll make it work no matter what the outcome because the thought of giving life to these sweet little birds makes me happy.

Our current egg color selection. It’s a mini-rainbow.

Our barncat is about to become a momcat…

Oh and on that note; we currently have our barncat, Lima, trapped in a makeshift delivery room in our garage. She is days, hours even minutes away from giving birth to what we guess are 4-5 kittens! She’s such a sweet cat. And if I’m being completely honest, she’s the nicest cat that we have! And she found us! When she arrived on our front porch last summer she was no bigger than a kitten herself, even though she had clearly just weaned or was still nursing kittens. She’s very small, her height seems to have been stunted, we’re guessing because of malnutrition, but regardless, she’s the nicest little girl. So cuddly and affectionate and appreciative. She will happily watch tv with us on the couch while our 2 actual indoor cats, Oscar and Tika, would rather not be touched and certainly not cuddled!

Our housecats are jerks…

Don’t get me wrong, we love our 2 cat babies that we brought into this marriage, but they are spoiled. So Lima is now more of a farmhouse cat than a barncat, which is a good and bad thing, we enjoy her cuddly company so much that we’ve taken her away from her work of being a master mouse hunter! So we’re looking forward to assigning posts to a couple of her kittens. One will be on mouse patrol in the chicken coop and the other will live in the garage. They’ll pay for their room and board with hard, fun work that they enjoy, which when you think about it, is a wonderful setup!

So back to the to-do list for today…

We currently have about 80 seed starter pods budding in our kitchen. We have a really fun variety of multi-colored peppers and tomatoes planted and prospering at the moment. We also have about 140 pods waiting to be used. But if I’m being honest, last night’s snow and the cold temps this week are giving us an urge to hold off on starting anything more at the moment but it’s the Midwest. Next week it will feel like spring. And then the week after that it will snow one more time. And then maybe after that it will be Spring for good. But maybe not. My wife is from NE Iowa and I’m from Chicagoland, so we know the games the weather plays. But to answer my own question, yeah we need to start some more seeds today. They need a 6 weeks head start before going into the ground anyway.

Pallet chicken coops are awesome…

We also need to finalize our pallet chicken coop and garden fence project by planning out the layouts and drawing up blueprints! We took about 30 pallets from a local tile shop with the intention of building a fence around our herb garden and a small chicken coop. As part of our future chicken breeding program, the four roosters that are currently 2 weeks old, will need to be separated from the hens in about 6 weeks and live in a bachelor pad.

Rooster bro time is important.

If there are no ladies around, they will live happily with each other bro-ing it up, watching sports and drinking beer like bros do. However, if they’re with ladies, they will fight each other to the death for alpha status. And we need these beautiful boys to be healthy and available for egg business this fall. There’s a very cool science about their specific breeds and uniqueness that I’ll explain later. And the roughly 2 foot tall garden fence will be to keep the rabbits and the chickens away from our herbs!

Well, we should probably get to work on today’s farm to-do list, and one of us should probably go check on Lima in the delivery room! Again, Welcome to Archie’s Acres!

Tag: chicken coop