We had a -15 night about 6 wks ago, all of the guineas went into the coop except one. Blizzard like conditions that night. The sole guinea that spent the night out of the coop was found on the ground the next morning with its legs frozen solid and its tongue frozen to its beak.
I warmed the birds legs under a bit warmer than lukewarm water, to defrost, then noticed tongue frozen to beak. She was still alive. Defrosted her tongue with a couple drops of warm water, then wrapped her in a towel, set her in a dog bed in front of the fireblace, with a small heating pad set on low under her. Most of the day she laid there, gasping. Thought for sure she wasn't going to make it, but late that night she perked up, ate, drank, then slept in blankets, on the heating pad, in the dog bed for the night. Fairly good the next am.
After a few days I let her back outside, the other birds pecked & attacked a bit, but seemed to quit quickly. Two days later I took her back inside when she seemed to be faring poorly, huddled on the floor of the chicken coop in the corner. She seemed particularly thin, excessively so.
Several days later it seemed fairly nice outside, so I let her out, but about an hour later my husband found her cornered, several other guineas attacking her, and almost dead. Back in the house, washed her off, wrapped her up & put her back on the heating pad. She survived, but was covered in scabs on her head, and wattles are mostly gone. For a couple days it seemed the attack left her visual perception off, due to head trauma in the attack - the back of her neck/head had taken the brunt of the attack.
So for now she's living in a large metal dog crate, and seems perfectly content to watch the dogs come & go (they leave her alone, even if she's out. Dogs are very accustomed to the birds loose outside, totally non-aggressive towards them). We had another of the guineas get caught up in a bracket in the coop, breaking its leg, so she's now in the coop with #1. They curl up together, and seem perfectly content. One toe on one foot has dried up & turned black, but other than that, she seems healthy, & eats non-stop.
None of the other birds have had any issues with the below zero weather. The coop is insulated & the chickens & guineas peacefully co-exist in it. There are likely enough birds to roosting to keep adequately warm. As long as they're DRY, they're fine..... its getting wet that really affects their ability to stay warm on these bitter cold winter nights.
I'd do anything I could to get them cooped up where its dry at night when the temps are going to be extremely low!
