Life on a little urban homestead in the making, with ideas for self-sufficiency, Permaculture, DIYing, organic gardening, food preservation, Chicken keeping, cookery, crafts, thrifting and more...

Oct 15, 2012

Winter Sprouting For Chickens, New Winter Coop Light, Let There Be Rain!




Winter Sprouting For Chickens-
If you live in a freezing climate like I do your poor hens can't get any green grubs unless you give them some in the winter. While our girls get plenty of kitchen scraps, sometimes they just need something different. I read this-   Growing Sprouts For Your Chickens and though BINGO, that's it! Fast, easy and cheap. I already have a sprouting jar too, although you can easily make your own...



New Winter Coop Light-
I was wanting the girls to pay for their feed, since I'm I'm selling eggs every week now ($3.00 a dozen). We decided to install a "winter light" to encourage their winter egg production. I researched it and most people add a incandescent bulb, but since there's outdoor fluorescent bulbs and they're cheaper to run.... well Dave found one! It was at the Habitat for Humanity store, new and in the box, and only $11.00 (bulb/tube included)! What a deal! Dave wired it in and he put it on a timer, easy peasy. Here's the fixture-


Nice and enclosed

Safe and cool to the touch

Let there be light!!!

Let There Be Rain!-
It sprinkled a little last night, but the first BIG storm is forecast tonite and tomorrow. Finally! We've had little rain since the end of MAY :(  It's coming to an end hopefully. I'm ready and the coop is ready :)
Enh Infrared Satellite - North West Current

Anya discovered the heating vent last week when we finally turned on the furnace :)  -


             
Anya laying in the low fall afternoon sun on her blankie

7 comments:

Michelle said...

I love the spout idea. I am going to try this. We used a light in the winter for our chicken too. I found out from the Vet not to leave it on all night. It forces them to lay out of their natural cycle. Which shorten the number of years they lay. We were told only use it for 2 to 3 hours a night. It does get cold at night so we use a red heat light to keep them warm when the weather is really bad.

Unknown said...

We run it so they have the "light" on about 4 hours or so. It increases winter egg production. You always want some darkness for sleep :) We run a heat lamp too when it's below freezing or lower...

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Thanks for the blog on growing sprouts for chickens. I'll be reading that over later.

Candy C. said...

I read about growing sprouts for the chickens last winter and tried it a couple of times, they love them! Anya on the heater vent reminds me of our Bob cat. I saw that big storm headed towards the west coast on the news, hope you get some rain! :)

Susan said...

Hope you get a nice, soaking rain! Cats just gravitate towards heating vents; two of mine squeeze together to cover the vent. That doesn't help the rest of us... I've sprouted for me, but not for the hens. Maybe I will share this winter ;o)

Lisa Sall - Sall's Country Life said...

Looks like your chickens are going to enjoy winter at your home!

Unknown said...

Yes, it finally POURED! What a relief... hens are busy digging for worms now :)

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