Anyone else losing chickens to freezing temps in the south?

[highcountrychickens]

Oh I'm so sorry!!

Funny, it has dipped below -20 f. here a lot over the last two months, and I haven't lost a bird - One night the pop door wasn't latched properly and opened at some point - the girls were fine (a little tweaked, but nothing a bowl of hot oatmeal couldn't fix)

I was a little worried in November because they hadn't finished growing back from their molt when we had our first cold snap of -30, but incredibly they were all fine - not even frostbite (I keep them in at night - but they go out at their leisure during the day... even if it's quite cold.)

I'd say to keep an eye out for other illness that may have weakened your older birds too -

 

[Bama chick]

Hey Chichenguysmom,
I'm so sorry for your loss. It hurts so bad when you can't understand why they die.
I'm from Madison County too. Last year during a very harsh cold snap I also lost two birds. One was the oldest hen we had. They were both Seremas. I have no idea other than the cold, why they died. They both were very active and healthy in the afternoon and dead by late evening five days apart. They are under heat lamps in the coop and when the temps drop into the teens we bring them into a small pen in the garage. We tell them they are going to have a vacation at the chicken spa! They are under heat lamps in the garage, also, so the temperature stays constant.
My theory is they just can't tolerate the large temperature swings we have in North Alabama.

This year we have had the birds in the garage since 1-2-10. They are going back outside today. Hooray!