Hey! It's outside of the coop in the "lean-to" you can see it kinda around the 12 minute mark!

@@borealbloomhomestead Hi, I was talking basically about the recipe. What do you put in it thank you

@@craft-fun-tastic5983 oh my so sorry! I use sand, wood ash, and top soil

You’ll still want to use warm water :)

As the "She" in this video, I'd like to say thank you for watching. Personally, I like a video with a bit more information than "egg dirty. wash egg. store fridge". The way my brain works is that I want to know more about the problem (dirty eggs), how to prevent it (collecting regularly, keeping nest boxes clean), how to wash (water temp, process etc), how to store (where, when etc). and WHY! This knowledge gives me the power to make informed decisions that are tailored to my needs. Oops, did I talk too much again?

@@borealbloomhomestead If i have some fresh chicken eggs my sister gave to me around the 15th or so of March, they have been in the fridge since we returned from VA to NC after a funeral, They still have the bloom on them, That should be ok, right? Are you using a special scrubber or something to clean them, Is it a type of scrub mitt or just a regular dish rag? I will do the float test on these I guess, Hadnt been up to eating eggs lately, but want to clean and consume them , prepare them in a casserole or something at this point. Great video, Its nice to put some human in videos sometimes instead of trying for a time limit to increase clicks. I am hungry for some eggs now! Please hurry with your thoughts

@@NcKnobhead as long as those eggs went into the fridge within a week or two of laying you’re definitely good to go! I just use a cotton wash cloth to clean them up, it works great and is easy on the eggs! Hope that helps!

We are very cautious in using masks whenever we clean the coop or spend any length of time in there, but I didn’t know that about the eyes, thank you for sharing. We will definitely be more considerate about that in the future!

Oh my gosh. I didn’t realize anyone got colder than Alberta HA! If I’ve learned anything living here is that’s it’s all about the layers, and in those temperatures, wearing standard outdoor gear is ill advised cause it gets stiff. Fabric gear is actually better in the deep cold but it isn’t great for playing outside.

It sure is! I wasn’t kidding when I said I got brain freeze from the outside 😂

I have too many birds 😂. Interesting idea though, in fairness this coop is fully insulated and built with double pane windows etc. at -50 it really doesn’t matter what safeguards you have in place it’s just overwhelmingly cold 🥶 😩

That is indeed overwhelmingly cold. You have all bases covered and it is okay to add the heat lamps because chickens can regulate and acclimate, but every animal has its limits. They seem quite content. I can't stand people who think animals are built like they can take anything because that is not true. There are people where I live that keep horses without a basic windbreak. As long as an animal is out of draft, they can regulate but -65 is extremely pushing them to their limit.@@borealbloomhomestead

Is warmer weather finally on the way for you? we’re about to break this weekend. Hallelujah!

I appreciate your passion on the topic, but I would argue that every situation is a little different. We have several systems in place to mitigate moisture issues, you can see them in our winterization video and also winter coop tour video. We live in a much drier continental climate than you. We run a bathroom exhaust fan in the coop that cycles the air every hour. We run deep litter bedding which allows up to fine tune the humidity levels. The heat lamps are powered via a thermostat which cuts the heat as soon as it gets within 2 degrees of freezing. Happy to hear that you’re able to skip heating the coop, but we’ve had better outcomes using the systems we set in place

2bRealist - 1st time chicken owner here since last April when I received my 8 2 day old chicks. I have a steel wire dog run that I put them in that I had already. I built 3 elevations for them because of fire ants here eating their food on the ground and biting the chickens. Dang things. That has worked as I put their scratch on the second level for them to eat off and I also have a large metal stand which I put a medium size dog Igloo on which is the same level as the "elevated floor" I built them and they sometimes congregate in that too. (I use big flake shavings for bedding.) Greenery and veges fed on the ground and they dirt bath there, too. The ants don't seem to be fond of the veges and the girls fully eat that. Two long perches across the width wired to the sides at the top area of the coop. It becomes a 3 level 'condo' of sorts. I have put tarps over the top and around it from it's 6' height down to about 30 inches open on two sides of the coop and down to the ground on the other 2 "wind sides" for winter. Summer, I leave the tarps overhead and down the "weather side" to about 12" from the ground, and a tarp down to just below the elevated feeding area to keep rain off of it. The other 2 sides are left open. It seems to work but this winter (their first) the chickens always seem so cold with their feet and combs and they hunker on their perches fluffed out and don't want to move from there, usually with their heads pointed down. Call me naive. When it got into the 30's to the teens I took them into my house into metal dog crates. I couldn't sleep well knowing they were in that cold. They have the bigger combs and wattles for the heat, which is more prevalent here. They are more warm weather breeds. I replied to you as I have never read someone that had an open concept coop, too. Mine came about by accident as I don't know that much about chicken raising, but the end result seemed to work so I left it alone. Glad to read about yours. Stay warm, friend.

@@americanpatriot7247 Fire ants?? O_o OH boy, well, that is one thing we don't have to worry about in the north lol Congrats on your chickens. How are you liking them? We have had chickens for a while now. Live in town too. Kinda started the trend in our neighborhood. Lots of chicken owners arround us now =] Love the eggs they give us and they are fun to just watch and play with

@2bRealist Howdy. Love my chickens, actually. Glad I got them. Live on a half acre but can't let them out. Many of them would be gone if I let them free range. Predators. Glad your neighbors have all got the chicken bug. Very few of mine do, interestingly b enough, and everyone has acreage. Go figure. Have a good one.

@@americanpatriot7247 I know it is not always feasible, but getting a guard dog for our chickens changed everything for them. They can now free range our fenced back yard, the whole yard. But so does the dog ;-) The much smaller side yard is dedicated for them as it has become a fenced in chicken run with excellent tree cover. Dog is allowed in here as well. Got him as a pup and socialized him with the chickens right away. The chickens did not like him at first and he did love chasing them, but as a pup, the chickens eventually applied the "picking order"l. A bit of positive reinforcement on our part and nature did the rest. He LOVES "his" chickens, and the chickens tolerate him lol Honestly, they see him as the "rooster-figure" in their lives. Being in the city, means we can not have actual roosters. We got him because we lost a couple to raccoons. We have plenty of tree cover, especially in their run,. We are also lucky to have crows which do a great job of keeping most air predators like hawks and owls away. Stray dogs are kept out by our fencing and they are easy to scare off as well. But.. Raccoons come in the middle of the night, silently, like ninjas O_o They even figured out the traps! So we got the pup, and by the time he was 8 months old, his urine markings alone were enough to keep them away. The back yard is for the kiddos and garden in the summer, but the chickens get to free range it starting late fall through early spring. They ABSOLUTELY LOVE THAT. So do we, as we get so much entertainment in just watching them. Especially when one finds some thing interesting and the rest chase after it. You can almost see ther T-Rex in them lol

It’s finally warming up here, thankfully 😅

Almost unimaginably so! Honestly, it’s too cold to wear nylon based outerwear, it gets too stiff, that’s why I’m wearing only fabric 🫠

Hah! Truly though, we all do our best with what we know! I have seen people use inexpensive tents to contain their birds and the mess when inclement weather strikes - might be an idea for next time. Last year we moved out all the breeds with big combs and switched them out for cold hardy breeds because this weather, while extreme, isn’t uncommon for our area. Its really hard if your chickens aren’t acclimated to the cold, like our weather was pretty mild until the cold snap so my poor birds didn’t have a chance to get used to it, we went from like between 5f and -4f to minus ridiculous within days. We made it! lol it’s finally warming up it was a high of 0F yesterday!

@borealbloomhomestead Thanks for the reply. I live in a warm weather state and it's important for them to be able to take the heat over cold for the most part. Have become fond of my girls and don't want any to die because I didn't do what I could. After that, it's up to God. Know I will lose some one day but am trying to put that off. They give me anywhere from 3 to 7 eggs every day. It's been amazing.... well to me at least. I don't know how many to expect. I handle and hug on my chickens. It's been fun so far.... will be a year .... end of April. Don't know if I could handle your cold weather, friend!!! LOL!!!!!! Kuddos to you and your animal management. Stay warm!!

@@americanpatriot7247 chickens are the best. I have absolutely loved having them on the homestead, I think they are secretly addictive as a survival mechanism lol I think it might be easier to keep them in the cold months than keep them cool in the hot months. So kudos to you! Stay warm during your cold snap ❤️

A small greenhouse will help also

Glad you enjoyed it! Brevity is definitely not my thing haha

Thanks for watching!

Hey, I actually would not recommend the company I used for this order. The service was poor and in the time since we ordered they've definitely scammed people out of money. That said, we did order through WiffleTree farms for our pear guild food forest, the trees were already bareroot, and it was soooo mcuh easier. Service and selection at WiffleTree was excellent!

​@@borealbloomhomesteadWho did you order through that we should avoid..?

I agree with the University of Minnesota! Our thermometer is just below the height of our main roosting bars, which most birds sleep on. We talked about a roof, but one thing we didn't want to deal with was snow load and having to engineer a roof to withstand it. We decided to go with the mesh roof for that reason. I makes a little more work in the winter when we have heavy snow winters, but so far this winter, we've only had about 2 inches of snow, so it's been almost no work!

We’re so pumped!! Beekeeping is so amazing. It’s one of my favorite things. Wishing you a heavy honey harvest next year 🤩

I love this idea. I meant to reply to you right when you wrote it, Kevin and I even discussed it! I will likely do that next winter. Heat lamps are one of those things, I know that they are well secured into the roof, and very high up from the wood shavings. For me, it's one of those leap of faith things. We just had the polar vortex rip through here this week and the temps hit as low as -65f. I don't know that heat panels would be able to take the edge off that kind of cold. As it was, our coop dipped as low as -5f. BRR!

Good idea! One of these days when I have a little more time I will add them to the description :)

A local farm and feed store stocks it!

What store I live in nothern Alberta also, I would like to buy some, they have some at peavy mart but only small and expensive bails lol

Love my silly lavender orpingtons!

Hey Melissa, awesome to hear! I am in the process of filiming a food forest waking up tour! I will share that as soon as I finish it- it will probably be a couple more weeks, only because things are very slow here this spring. But we've got some hot weather coming so I hoping to see more buds and hopefully some leaves soon!

I just picked up 30 new chicks 🐣 LOL

@@borealbloomhomestead can I get a heart on my comment

I have heard of them but they aren’t very common around these parts!

@@borealbloomhomestead yeah, you would have to special order them.

Me too! We are so sick of the snow haha it’s gotta goooooo!

So happy you enjoyed it. It's pretty niche content haha! I am using heat lamps, they are secured to the coop roof with chains and hang a few feet above the roosting bar on the wall opposite the run door. They have worked awesomely. There are 2 though, the roof of our coop is vaulted, so a shorter roofed coop may need only 1. At -40c it ends up being around -10c during the day while the door is open and a bit warmer during the night when the door is closed.

@Boreal Bloom Homestead Thanks, our small flock (9) has been keeping the interior temp about 10 above ambient but that's not enough. Going to need to add something, keep up the good content!

@@nathanziegman9262 cold climates make it really hard to keep animals for sure!

She’s not actually broody, I think she’s just giving me a rough time lol

@Boreal Bloom Homestead that's possible lol but chickens can be so fun and funny

I love having chickens way more than I ever thought I would. Even when I was trudging out to the coop at -45 lol

@Boreal Bloom Homestead hehe yeah but in the end, they make up for it

Winter time is a little less glamorous but it works so we’re sticking with it, I can’t wait till it’s lush and green in there again 😍

@@borealbloomhomestead same with mine, it’s so bland in the winter!

They really are addicting ☺️

Thank you! We usually have a broader plan but sometimes you just gotta jump into something without all the details ironed out! Lol

@@borealbloomhomestead I agree haha

🥰 you get me!

Thanks so much!

If I have any advice on this, it would be start now! Start small if that's what you can do, but We wish we had planted 10 years ago!

You are so welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Keep me posted on your progress 🤩

Yes, that should be totally fine! I choose to make my own mix because its more economical for me to do so in large volume. Hope that helps :)

Great question! I really struggled getting a camera set up in the coop because it's a little ways from the house - about 100 feet. Most wireless cameras claim to reach 300 feet, but because our coop is tin clad, it really reduces the range. I tried a few different alternatives, and finally tried a WYZE Wireless Outdoor Camera and it is excellent - has both daylight and night view mode, motion sensing, the battery last a long time, and is hardy enough to stand very cold temperatures. You can get them on Amazon: amzn.to/3J1JXi4 (Affiliate Link) Hope that helps!