I’ve been discussing our bird’s reactions to our unusual cold snap and cold spell that ended for us just this past weekend. I thought I’d post a quick update on its own thread since I managed a few pictures! We have Guineas, chickens (hens and roosters) and layer ducks. We routinely freeze at night in the winter, so I didn’t think too much about how we’d handle snow and cold with continuous freezing weather, highs in the single digits F and lows below zero, as I figured that the birds were already cold acclimated. I was dead wrong for most of our poultry, but the guineas did wonderfully so I wanted to share.
First off, all coops have an open, wire covered south side for hot summer ventilation. The guineas did fine with this once locked in. The big chicken coop though had some truly miserable chickens and ducks. Their waterer froze too fast, the black rubber waterer I substituted was terrible for water slung everywhere, freezing wattles, etc. The ducks, who happily swam in a pond that still had blocks of ice on Sunday, were so cold in the coop that they were shivering and constantly laying on their cold feet.
The chicken coop is elevated whereas guinea coop has a dirt floor - I think the ground was an insulator and made the guinea coop much cozier. Second, I realize that this will sound so stupid to all of you Northerners, but all those romantic pics of chickens and guineas in snow are likely taken AFTER the storm. I didn’t realize that I needed to lock them all up in their coops because they would stand outside in driving, snowy wind with wind chill way below zero and get frostbite. The guineas and laying hens were smart about this, but my bachelor roosters stood out in the worst of the storm and got some bad frostbite.
Even staying in the coop, all roosters got some comb/wattles frostbite and some hens did as well. These coops are very well ventilated, but the ambient humidity was 70% at the lowest and often 85% at night. I don’t know what I should have done with them to prevent frostbite as I don’t have electricity there, and I could not have put all of these quarrelsome roosters in the garage for this 12 day weather period! I guess I should consider this though if we ever have a weather event like this again.
As far as I can tell, no guineas suffered frostbite. Really the guineas did so well. I was nervous locking 21 of them in 8x16 coop for six straight days, as some are bullied. However, I didn’t see injuries and they all appeared healthy at the end of their confinement. After seeing so much frostbite, I feared for the guineas feet so didn’t let them out until I shoveled walkways for them and the sun came out (still well below freezing). I feared they’d be afraid of the snow and get stuck in the trees, but they did great! I had removed snow from the top of the chicken coop and they flew up there, then came down easily. They also flew over the top of deeper snow instead of trying to walk through it. Anyway, I have to give much kudos to our smart guineas for surviving this extreme weather event intact with the least damage of all our birds!!!
First off, all coops have an open, wire covered south side for hot summer ventilation. The guineas did fine with this once locked in. The big chicken coop though had some truly miserable chickens and ducks. Their waterer froze too fast, the black rubber waterer I substituted was terrible for water slung everywhere, freezing wattles, etc. The ducks, who happily swam in a pond that still had blocks of ice on Sunday, were so cold in the coop that they were shivering and constantly laying on their cold feet.
The chicken coop is elevated whereas guinea coop has a dirt floor - I think the ground was an insulator and made the guinea coop much cozier. Second, I realize that this will sound so stupid to all of you Northerners, but all those romantic pics of chickens and guineas in snow are likely taken AFTER the storm. I didn’t realize that I needed to lock them all up in their coops because they would stand outside in driving, snowy wind with wind chill way below zero and get frostbite. The guineas and laying hens were smart about this, but my bachelor roosters stood out in the worst of the storm and got some bad frostbite.
Even staying in the coop, all roosters got some comb/wattles frostbite and some hens did as well. These coops are very well ventilated, but the ambient humidity was 70% at the lowest and often 85% at night. I don’t know what I should have done with them to prevent frostbite as I don’t have electricity there, and I could not have put all of these quarrelsome roosters in the garage for this 12 day weather period! I guess I should consider this though if we ever have a weather event like this again.
As far as I can tell, no guineas suffered frostbite. Really the guineas did so well. I was nervous locking 21 of them in 8x16 coop for six straight days, as some are bullied. However, I didn’t see injuries and they all appeared healthy at the end of their confinement. After seeing so much frostbite, I feared for the guineas feet so didn’t let them out until I shoveled walkways for them and the sun came out (still well below freezing). I feared they’d be afraid of the snow and get stuck in the trees, but they did great! I had removed snow from the top of the chicken coop and they flew up there, then came down easily. They also flew over the top of deeper snow instead of trying to walk through it. Anyway, I have to give much kudos to our smart guineas for surviving this extreme weather event intact with the least damage of all our birds!!!
That’s not a very Oklahoman attitude; most people here are fascinated by extreme weather.
