Winter is almost here!! Share your tips and tricks for coping the elements with your chickens!

[dawn secord]

For the hypothermia, it happened probably 20 years ago and was a painful learning experience. She was an older hen, my only hen and was loose in our barn. She was out of the wind and weather, but there were patches on her not fully feathered due to the molt. Our temperatures unexpectedly dropped to below freezing that night and I didn't realize she was at risk. I wish I would have put her in a pet taxi and brought her in. Tragic and unfortunate.

 

[dawn secord]

I've had her since June so this is our first winter. She is fully accepted by the others, though she doesn't roost with them. She stays down in the shavings which are really deep at this time of year. I don't bed the inside area as heavily during the summer.

I'm worried to leave her outside for fear of hypothermia (not frostbite)

I'm worried bringing her inside at night will be too much of a temperature fluctuation for her.

Thank you for your advice.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

She looks like a frizzle, a frazzle is over curly and the feathers break off easily, but yet she doesn't quite look right. My avatar shows one of my frizzled hens. Yours looks bright eyed and healthy otherwise. I probably would just leave her in the coop. If the silkies are fine, she is too. My frizzle cochins are really hardy, and are my favorite chickens. Yours should thrive under better care. Just make sure she's in the coop at night and maybe putting her on the roosts at dusk will help her to start roosting with the silkies.

Edited to ask how often the rooster mates her? As that would keep her from growing out her feathers properly if she's constantly being mated. The lack of head feathers is usually from the rooster pulling them out during mating.

 

[WesleyBeal]

Just got in from checking on the chickens and collecting eggs this morning.

Outdoors it was 24 below zero.

Yesterday I put a thermometer in the coop. Calibrated it first, and I've been taking a thermopen thermometer out with me to verify indoor and outdoor temps.

It has been 24 (!) degrees warmer in my coop than outdoors. No supplemental heat, other than the heated base for the waterer.

So it was zero degrees in my coop this morning. All the chickens were doing fine.

As the day progressed I got a better look at things. Looks like some did suffer some frostbite.

Upon seeing this, I opened the coop up more today than I would have. We have had a fairly constant breeze from the south all day, with temps below zero, but I went ahead and uncovered half the windows for a few hours to get more air circulating inside and hopefully help dry things out.

Just locked them up for the night, and I removed the waterer, unplugging the heater, again hoping have less moisture in the air overnight.

Snapped some photos of the 3 roosters that have frostbite. I'd caption these photos "Ah," "Oh," and "OMG!"

Hurts to look at these. Temperatures warm up considerably overnight tonight and throughout the week.Hoping I can get things dryer before the next cold snap hits.

 

[aart]

OMG! is right......hope that scabs over ok without getting infected.

 

[dawn secord]

She had no head feathers at all when I obtained her. Now she has a little fuzz and a few small - sparse feathers. When he mounts her, he sometimes holds onto feathers somewhat on the back of her neck. Mostly he balances on her...kind of a sight....there is no visible damage on any of the three hens head or neck feathers from him. He is not overly active so I don't see him do it that frequently and I am checking on them throughout the day. They are locked in and out at night due to predators in our area.

The friend that had her prior to me getting her had no roosters. So I have no idea why she has no head feathers. It is not from my cockerel for sure. She is rather odd looking but has a great weight and is well adjusted.

Have never had a frizzled feathered bird before and don't want to take any chances.

Thank you so much for your input! Much appreciated.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

These are my two buff Orpington roosters. The one in back is going on 5 and the front one is 2. You can see that they have both been "dubbed" by frostbite. Yours will probably lose all their points too. Mine have also lost some wattle tissue too. Unfortunately with really cold temperatures there's nothing much you can do. Mine have always healed up fine without any intervention. Sometimes the tissue swell and they look miserable for a week or two.

 

[aart]

She had no head feathers at all when I obtained her. Now she has a little fuzz and a few small - sparse feathers. When he mounts her, he sometimes holds onto feathers somewhat on the back of her neck. Mostly he balances on her...kind of a sight....there is no visible damage on any of the three hens head or neck feathers from him. He is not overly active so I don't see him do it that frequently and I am checking on them throughout the day. They are locked in and out at night due to predators in our area.

The friend that had her prior to me getting her had no roosters. So I have no idea why she has no head feathers. It is not from my cockerel for sure. She is rather odd looking but has a great weight and is well adjusted.

Have never had a frizzled feathered bird before and don't want to take any chances.

Thank you so much for your input! Much appreciated.

How old is she....maybe coming out of a molt?
Might just have brittle feathers.

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm glad to see this since my White Giant is pretty frost bitten. I generally don't keep chickens with large combs and wattles.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm glad to see this since my White Giant is pretty frost bitten. I generally don't keep chickens with large combs and wattles.

I should only keep small combed roosters but sometimes I like breeds like barnevelder and Orpingtons. All my roosters do okay after frostbite. I just leave them be to heal up.