Anna Ranieri
Crowing
I use the that Google tool too and find it very helpful.You guys just need to do what you feel is best.
I don’t know anything about ducks but I’ve heard runners are more susceptible to cold.
I’ve heard other types of ducks are very cold hardy.
I just mentioned about the chickens because when I had Pip in the garage she had a partial molt and she’s not even old enough to molt.
Our garage held steady at 50 degrees F (10 degrees C) and yet that seemed to be warm for her and it’s like her body was trying shed extra feathers or something.
I was concerned though because I knew she’d be going back outside.
She’s still looking pretty raggedy but is weathering the cold just fine.
They all are actually.
We’re having overnight temps in the low 20s (-6 to -4) and daytime highs in the mid 40s (6-8 C).
I’m not worried at all.
It was the same last year.
We’ve had it get down to 8 degrees F overnight and they don’t care at all lol.
Yours will do great! Don’t worry you’re a good chicken mom!
llombardo’s situation out there is quite different though.
She has to keep them out of that wind chill and if her coop doesn’t do the job then of course she’s going to bring them in.
BTW...I just love the nifty Google tool where you can type in the Fahrenheit temp and it’ give you the Celsius or vise versa. Very helpful!
I am following your advice and am keeping my chickens outside even though we reached -5°c during the night and up to about an hour ago. We are -4°c at the moment but met office reports we should reach 2°c by this afternoon. We are on yellow warning for Icey fog, but there's no sign of any at present where I am so hoping it will stay that way.
I'm out with my chickens, they seem to be doing fine, no one is shivering which is a good sign. I'm having to repeatedly break top ice off their water bowls as it is freezing quite quickly so their water resembles a slush puppy at the moment. I was tipping out and replacing but it's still icing up very quickly so opted to keep breaking the ice instead.
Am forever thankful to who ever invented tarpaulin - back to middle of run which is completely covered is fine, the water, food, oyster shells inside their hutch is fine, the water just feels like it's come out from a fridge, bedding is completely dry no frost what so ever. Front if the run which is only covered on top, water dispensers completely frozen solid, oyster shells and grit mix frozen solid too and food has frost on top. Pedro keeps standing on one leg, she's just gone into the run and I'm hoping she will stay in there because wood chips are cold but have no frost, snow or ice on it and at the back of the run aren't particularly cold at all. The other three seem to be doing just fine so I am reluctant to shut them in the run as they like to forage - I'm just hoping Pedro will go where is best for her. I forgot to bring in the duvet and blanket last night so the blanket is frozen solid, the duvet frozen on top but ok in the middle where I had it folded so I've turned and folded it that way so they have that to sit or stand on if the wish to.
Jellybean, Pedro and Roo are being quite vocal at the moment, so im guessing they are wanting to lay but Lilah is in the nest box laying at present and as always they want the nest box she is in. I can see some sun shine in the distance and hoping it's headed this way. I'm wearing several layers and have on socks, tights and then another pair of thick socks and thick shoes, my toes are feeling the cold, uncomfortable and starting to go numb but nothing I can't handle.
I think the biggest problem for us is that we are not used to this amount of cold at all, where we are is very wet and we are one of the wettest parts of our country, although it's not raining there is so much moisture in the air which makes every where feel colder than it is. We are also one of the warmest parts of our country and minus 4/5 is just something we rarely ever see, the last time we hit these lows was over 10 years ago and before that over ten years also, so we just aren't used to this and clearly has made us into wimps. But I remember some years ago meeting a guy from Miami visiting friends over here, for us it was a very hot summer but he went around wearing thick jumpers and a thick winter coat and complained that it was way too cold for him. People from Scotland where they reach lows of up to - 27°c laugh at us because down here because we find this weather difficult, so I guess it boils down to what people are used to and with the temps so irratic and unstable we barely have time to acclimatise.I am keeping in mind our chickens are not like us however I do think the sudden changes from warm to freezing is hard on them too and recognise they haven't had the time to grow in the amount of feathers needed for this cold. I've even seen dogs with woolly jackets on and one dog owner I spoke to told me when they lived up north their dog would grow a much thicker coat than he does down here, so I believe this to be a factor in how much our anilmals are feeling this cold snap.
I really feel for all you who are having to deal with your extreme cold and weather conditions and I take my hat off to you for how well you all are handling it. Roll on summer it's what I say!
