First of all, with winter officially here with its freezing temperatures, our waterers were freezing overnight. I found an electric heated water bowl that was recommended that I installed in the coop. Only problem was that our electricity source is higher than where we had been keeping the hens' food and water, so I had to change its location. Then I lured the hens up to the new waterer with mealworm treats and am hoping that when they get hungry/thirsty enough they will find them again. This water bowl has worked great so far, no frozen water even when the other unheated waterers have frozen up. And as a bonus, the water seems to stay a bit cleaner in its higher location.
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| This new waterer is actually a bowl. (Their old waterer had a different shape.) But the hens figured it out quickly. Here they are dunking for mealworms, their favorite treat. |
The outside waterer, I just switch out every morning. I take the frozen one into the heated tack room and leave it there to thaw for the day. I then take the one that has thawed out from yesterday, clean it and refill it with hot water from the sink. So far, most days that has stayed unfrozen all day. Only once has the warm water actually frozen up again before evening. But I feel okay knowing that if the hens are thirsty enough, they should remember the heated waterer waiting for them in their coop. (Right? Hope so.)
I've also started moving their food outside during the day. Because of its new, higher location in the winter, it's not quite as easy for them to run in for a snack, so why not put the feeder outside for a bit? I bring it back into the coop in the late afternoon to make sure it doesn't attract any unwanted predators or pests overnight.
The biggest change we made to the coop this weekend is that we installed a new, longer roosting pole that they sleep on and we installed poop boards (as opposed to the poop hammock we had before.) The way we had it before, the roosts were only about three feet long. Of course there were four roosts to choose from, which is plenty of space for seven chickens, but the problem was that they ALL wanted to be on the TOP roost. None of them were willing to use the second roost down. So, even though they were in a coop that is waaaay bigger than seven chickens need, we actually were having crowding issues with the hens. I guess it was kind of like they were living in a mansion, but at night they were all stuffed into one twin bed. (Even though there were three other twin beds available.)
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| This is the original location and length of their roosts. This is where the chickens sleep at night, on the roosts, usually all packed onto the top roost. It was a tight squeeze. |
Anyway, I happened to check on them one evening (they are going to bed around 4:00 these days) and witnessed some very mean behavior. I had noticed a lot of feathers around the coop floor lately, and had chalked it up to a bit of molting for some of the hens. While, yes, I think that some of them are molting a little, I was upset to see that there was also some bullying happening on the roosts. Because they were all squeezed onto one roost, they were pecking at each other and pulling out each other's feathers. And the hens being picked on had nowhere to escape to. (Of course they could have moved down one rung, but clearly they did not see that as an option.) Poor Mayzie and Daffodil were getting the worst of it. And even more upsetting was that just as I was thinking "Oh poor Mayzie!" when she was getting picked on, two minutes later it was Mayzie who was bullying poor Daffodil! So Daffodil is definitely getting the brunt of it from everyone. Poor Daffy looks terrible right now. Literally has feathers falling off of her. She looks a mess, seems to be a bit uncomfortable as the new feathers are growing back in, and everyone is picking on her. So, it was especially for Daffodil's sake that prompted me to make some changes this weekend. (And I was just saying how great it was that all my girls got along so nicely. Guess I jinxed myself.)
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| Poor Daffodil. No friends in the coop at the moment. It's crazy how often the dynamics change with these hens. One day you're in the cool crowd and the next day you're out. Can you see that she is missing big patches of feathers? This is definitely a combination of molting and being picked on. In fact, I bet it is the change in her looks that is prompting the others to pick on her. I've been sneaking her extra protein-packed treats to help her grow her feathers back quickly. |
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| And here's Mayzie. Even though she's being mean to Daffodil, the others are being mean to Mayzie. (Two wrongs don't make a right, ladies!) See all the feathers that got pulled out of her neck area? The white lines are new feathers growing back in, which can be a bit painful for them. |
So, I found an 8 foot pole to be their top roost. This more than doubled their "bed" size. Lots of room for them to spread out (and get away from the bullies if needed.) I moved the roosts from the short wall to the long wall yesterday to accommodate the longer roost. Because the roost was so much longer, my "poop hammock" wasn't going to work anymore. Instead, we decided to install some "poop boards". Another trip to Home Depot for supplies and we now have brand new poop boards. (By the way, poop hammocks and poop boards help to keep the coop clean. The birds poop a lot while they sleep on the roosts. With poop hammock/boards, in the morning I can just scrape all that poop into a bucket and voila! The coop is clean in just minutes!) The birds seem very happy with their coop renovation. If only it was this quick and easy to renovate our own house!
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| Always a fun time when you get to use power tools. |
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| Seven hens all on the top roost! And plenty of room for everyone to spread out. What a difference! |
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| I wish I could say that this renovation solved everything for Daffodil, but sadly she's still the odd man out with this gang. :( Hopefully, it will get better with time. Hang in there, Daf! |
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