Tag: backyard-chickens

Quick Update

~ wattlesandcombsfarm ~ Leave a comment

I haven’t posted in a while, but I plan to start back up again soon. We’ve been busy lately trying to get all the goats bred. Last year was our first year breeding goats and the spring kidding went ok. We had a loss, but other than that, it was good. However, the goats bred for fall kidding did not take. The plan was for two of our Nigerian Dwarf goats to deliver in November, but neither one of them ended up pregnant. So, now all of our goats are bred for spring kidding. I brought on a new buck this last month and am hoping he can do a good job breeding our other buck’s kids for us. Our original does should be bred by our original buck, but we will see. I have someone coming out next week to ultrasound them and see who is actually pregnant.

Winter has decided to show up here in South Dakota so we spent most of the last week prepping everyone for winter. I believe we’ve got everyone situated right now and they should all be good for the cold temps that are coming. I am, however, starting to research and think about switching out chicken breeds. Some of our chickens, especially our roosters have pretty large combs. Last week our high was seven degrees. That is simply too cold for large combed breeds. I do have a few chickens that are Swedish Flower mixes and they have a little poof on the tops of their heads. I am really curious to see how they do since their comb is small and protected, but all of my roosters are normal single combs. The coop is warm and insulated, we will put heat in it when the temps drop well below zero, but I can’t help them much when they are walking around during the day. I am leaning towards bringing on a few Wyandotte colors and having a fun breeding program going, but I am looking at all winter-hardy breeds. Feel free to let me know if you have favorites. I will add, where we live, it gets well under zero, and we have really bad wind. The wind chill frequently gets into the double-digit negatives. Everything that lives here has to be exceptionally cold-hardy.

Lastly, we are cruising along in our homeschool year. I have a freshman and a 7th grader this year and it’s been a bit of a change. I miss the days of poetry tea time and doing all our subjects together. However, this season of life is amazing as well. I am still very thankful I get to make the choice to homeschool them and it’s working out well.

Until next time, I hope you all have a wonderful day and all your farm animals are staying warm.

Warmth Matters: Saving Cold Chicks

~ wattlesandcombsfarm ~ Leave a comment

Nothing is dead until it’s warm and dead.

I think I have mentioned this before, but if you haven’t heard it, keep it in mind for future use. Currently, we have a broody hen who laid her eggs in a tote meant for a cat shelter. Yesterday she had three chicks hatch and there was still one egg with a pip in it.

This morning I got up and did chores as usual, and then took a minute to go check on this chicken and her chicks. What I found was a baby who looked like it had recently hatched, it wasn’t dry, and it wasn’t moving. I grabbed it out of the tote and it was cold to the touch, not making any noise, not breathing as far as I could tell, and the membrane was closed over its eyes. Quickly I took it into the garage and started trying to warm up in my hands. I huffed warm air on it and its eyes opened a little. It still wasn’t moving and very much almost dead, but there was a tiny spark of life.

I knew I needed to get it warm. I brought it into the house and got a rag which I ran under hot water. As soon as this hot rag touched the chick I felt it take a breath. It didn’t take long until it was cheeping and starting to move around. The warmth saved this chick. So, if you ever find a baby that looks dead, but it’s cold go ahead and try to warm it up. You never know when the warmth might be able to save it.

Items to Have on Hand

I have had to save a few animals now from cold. We had a pond when we first moved here and we had both a turkey and a chicken fall into the cold water and almost die last year. I had a chicken get caught in the rain and get too cold, and then of course this chick.

I always have a heat pad on hand. If I can’t find the heat pad or I need a bit more warmth I have a brooder plate. Today once I took the chick off the wet rag I put it on a towel on top of the heat pad. However, the heat pad takes a minute to warm up so I filled a mason jar with hot water and a lid and placed the baby next to it. I have also used a hair dryer on a low setting to help dry a chicken and get it warmed back up. Really anything can be used but I highly recommend some sort of heat pad to be readily available at all times.

Farm Life

I feel lucky that I found that chick just in time today. When you have farm animals you are going to lose some. It happens, but when you can save them it feels really good. Now, I just hope mama chicken does a better job and is able to keep him warm and safe. Remember, especially for baby animals, if they are cold you may still have a chance.

Sell the Farm, I Quit!

~ wattlesandcombsfarm ~ Leave a comment

I don’t really quit but today has been a bit of a rough morning. We live in the prairies of South Dakota and the wind is brutal out here. This morning is no exception to that. It’s 29 degrees outside, which isn’t bad, but it’s 35mph winds. Add that to the fact that it rained just enough last night to make the ground icy and you have the recipe for an interesting morning.

First, I stepped outside not knowing the backyard was a skating rink and almost bit the dust. Next, I had to chase down the duck’s pond since it had been blown down the yard, fight the wind to get it back, and get it filled up with water only to look out the window an hour later and see that it was yet again halfway down the yard. I guess I am going to have to summon the courage to go back outside and put a rock in there to hold it down this time.

Then came the chickens. A few weeks ago, the chicken coop door froze and I couldn’t open it. The door slides in place and the wind had frozen it where it wouldn’t budge. Luckily, the coop has big side doors that open so I could let the chickens out, otherwise they would have been stuck inside. Today it was the bottom door. The chicken coop has what I like to call “the basement”. Basically what would be the underneath of the chicken coop has been closed off and the chickens can hang out underneath to get out of the weather. There is a door at the end that lifts up to open and you let it down the close it off. It doesn’t close all the way but enough to keep the chickens warm and out of the elements. This morning that door was frozen in place.

Lastly, were the lovely goats. I am still milking one doe, who I brought to the shed only to have her decide she didn’t want to go into the shed. She tried to run away, I grabbed her, she pulled and my feet flew out from underneath and I busted my butt. The goat feed I had in my scoop went flying, I said a few choice words, got up, and finished the job. However, while I was milking her I had a guest join us in the milking shed. One of the bucks is small enough to squeeze through the gate crack and came into the shed looking for food. He of course proceeded to jump onto the milk stand, while I was milking, and I had to stop milking and drag him off. So, now I need to finish milking but I smell like a stinky buck. Eventually, I got everything done but the chores that usually take about 20-30mins took an hour.

So, although I will not be selling the farm, mornings like this one make me question why we live where we do. The wind just sort of grates at your nerves over time, and although you get used to it a little I don’t know that you can ever simply get used to wind this strong all the time. I am really dreading February when it gets into the negatives here and the wind-chill is unbearable. I think I may dry off the last goat before that happens. We have babies due in March, so it will be a nice break for everyone. I don’t want to complain too much, I am so thankful that we were able to get this property and I have all the things I’ve been praying for for years, but this morning was a little but not so fun. Is it springtime yet?