Arctic Blast Coming - Any Suggestions?

[ccoscina]

I'm not going to ask where in MA you are, but our State is idiotic about chickens (at least many of the towns are closer to Boston). I don't have a permit for mine, and they can kiss my clucker if they think I am getting one. I bribe my neighbors with eggs and none of them care that I have the girls back there. I got this breed because they are cold-hearty and quiet, and (knock on wood) have held the authorities at bay so far. It's none of their business what I do on my property. One of the reasons I push back is because they CAN do those inspections and tell you that your setup isn't adequate, etc...and take the birds. That would be a fight, let me tell you!

That said, it has gotten this cold up here before, but what's surprising is how fast the temps are dropping over such a short period of time, and how fast they'll return to above-normal temps in a day or so. It's that sudden shock that makes me worry about the girls...and all the animals out there.

Also I think the quick shock is not nearly as bad as prolonged cold. I know it might seem like quickly going up and down is bad, and to some extent it is. Really negative temperatures are never good for chickens whether short or prolonged. But prolonged negative temperatures are much more deadly than a quick cold snap. My friend in Minnesota says 5 of her chickens died this week (even before the Arctic Blast begun) because two of her heat lamps went out and now she only has one heat lamp. In Minnesota it has been below zero for several days over the past month, and five of her chickens are dead even with a heat lamp on. So prolonged cold is definitely not better than a quick shock, even though neither is good.

 

[fox623]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend's chickens, @ccoscina. How sad.

@Dakar2009, we had no idea how arduous the permit process was and got one before we knew how ridiculous our town is. They can revoke it at any time, even if no one says anything. Unfortunately, it seems that the only people interested in participating in local governance are the ones who want to police others' behaviors. As progressive as the Commonwealth generally is, it suffers from a large population of "not in my backyard" (NIMBY) residents.

I like the idea of running a temporary extension cord for a radiant heat panel; however, for better or worse, every ventilation hole for our coop is covered in 1/4" hardware cloth, and we have a 2' hardware cloth barrier around the bottom, so I don't think that we could get an extension cord *into* the coop.

Our ladies are in the garage. We don't really have anything for them to roost on. Is that okay? I've considered putting a cardboard box in there, but I don't want to disturb them too much.

Edit: They have already made a colossal mess of the shavings. Good times!

 

[Dakar2009]

If they are going to stay there overnight, I'd give them something to "roost" on so they can sleep okay. Are you letting them out of the dog crate at all? They could get very stressed out in such a small space, even over a short period of time.

The extension cord through the 1/4" hardware cloth is easy. That's what mine has. I pulled a few staples at one of the seams, ran the cord through, and then re-stapled it. The cord will fit in one of the 1/4" spaces no problem. That worked for both the water heater in the run (lower plug in my pics) and the cord disappearing into the coop through the eave air vent. No incursion risks from pesky neighborhood vermin either.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

I’m in northern MI UP. It was -12 F at 0800 today. I closed the main pop door to the attached run last night to cut down on floor level drafts then put a radiant oil filled space heater on medium. It kept the coop around 15 F. I place the heater under the poop boards so the hot air doesn’t go straight out the roof ventilation. The model heater I use works great, low risk of fire, has a tip alarm with auto shutoff.
I only turn the heat on if it will be well below zero.

 

[saysfaa]

...so I don't think that we could get an extension cord *into* the coop.

Our ladies are in the garage. We don't really have anything for them to roost on. Is that okay?...

Yep, I had the same problem. It took a couple of hours to get the extension cord into the coop. I may have used a few more screws to attach the hardware cloth than it needed. And didn't plan well when I decided which parts of the hardware cloth to attach first; I had to undo quite a bit extra just to reach the heads of the screws. The cord fit through but the plug didn't.

At least you wouldn't have to stand on a ladder to do it. My best option was in through the eaves.

I would rig up a roost if I brought them into the garage. It isn't life or death but the changes are stressful, no need to add even a little more stress when it isn't hard to avoid it. Two cement blocks with a 2x4 or branch (if you have trees) across them. Or ladders or chairs instead of cement blocks. Mine are too heavy for cardboard boxes, unless they are full of something, but your might be smaller birds.

 

[ccoscina]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend's chickens, @ccoscina. How sad.

@Dakar2009, we had no idea how arduous the permit process was and got one before we knew how ridiculous our town is. They can revoke it at any time, even if no one says anything. Unfortunately, it seems that the only people interested in participating in local governance are the ones who want to police others' behaviors. As progressive as the Commonwealth generally is, it suffers from a large population of "not in my backyard" (NIMBY) residents.

I like the idea of running a temporary extension cord for a radiant heat panel; however, for better or worse, every ventilation hole for our coop is covered in 1/4" hardware cloth, and we have a 2' hardware cloth barrier around the bottom, so I don't think that we could get an extension cord *into* the coop.

Our ladies are in the garage. We don't really have anything for them to roost on. Is that okay? I've considered putting a cardboard box in there, but I don't want to disturb them too much.

Edit: They have already made a colossal mess of the shavings. Good times!

They don't really "need" anything to perch on even though they definitely prefer it. It's basic bird instinct to roost on the highest branch possible to protect from predators. But I actually have one chicken that originally preferred to sleep on the floor and he would get pooped on every night. It took a couple months of training before he would go on the roost even after all the other chickens did so naturally after I brought them out to the coop, and they were all from the same hatches (2 breeds so 2 hatches but around the same time). If you are doing your own hatching it's not uncommon even for small family farms to keep them in a cage for a few weeks so they stay on top of the eggs. And also many chickens live their entire life in a cage, many eggs from the grocery store come from chickens like this. Don't get me wrong - I think it's inhumane to keep a chicken in a cage for its whole entire life, which is one more reason to raise chickens so you can give them the life you want them to have. But keeping a chicken confined to a cage or box for a day to save its life is definitely well worth it!

Think of it this way - if you were freezing outside with nowhere to go, homeless or something, and some guy walks by and offers you a warm pod about half the size of a car to help you survive. Would you rather get in the pod or freeze to death? I'm sure you wouldn't mind the small space for one evening if it kept you both alive and comfortable. When my rooster Mr. Speckles (the one that used to get pooped on) would get bullied too much by the hens sometimes I would let him come stay in my bedroom for a few days. A couple of times they wounded him very badly and was worried he would bleed to death. I would keep him in a plastic tote tub with a blanket over the top, with the blanket pulled back about 6 inches from the edge to allow air flow. Sometimes I would take off the blanket and he would come play with me in my room and I'd feed him fresh corn right off the cob. He couldn't perch while sleeping but did just fine, I kept him right next to my bed. I'll attach some pics of the injury and him in the plastic tote in my room.

One last thing- I hope i don't seem like a Tractor Supply sales rep but one thing I've considered buying is a heated perch. Of course the Arctic Blast will be over tomorrow, but it would have been perfect for your dilemma and not a bad idea to have for next time.

Here is a link to the heated perch:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/k-h-manufacturing-thermo-chicken-perch-gray-36-in-40w

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

They don't really "need" anything to perch on even though they definitely prefer it. It's basic bird instinct to roost on the highest branch possible to protect from predators. But I actually have one chicken that originally preferred to sleep on the floor and he would get pooped on every night. It took a couple months of training before he would go on the roost even after all the other chickens did so naturally after I brought them out to the coop, and they were all from the same hatches (2 breeds so 2 hatches but around the same time). If you are doing your own hatching it's not uncommon even for small family farms to keep them in a cage for a few weeks so they stay on top of the eggs. And also many chickens live their entire life in a cage, many eggs from the grocery store come from chickens like this. Don't get me wrong - I think it's inhumane to keep a chicken in a cage for its whole entire life, which is one more reason to raise chickens so you can give them the life you want them to have. But keeping a chicken confined to a cage or box for a day to save its life is definitely well worth it!

Think of it this way - if you were freezing outside with nowhere to go, homeless or something, and some guy walks by and offers you a warm pod about half the size of a car to help you survive. Would you rather get in the pod or freeze to death? I'm sure you wouldn't mind the small space for one evening if it kept you both alive and comfortable. When my rooster Mr. Speckles (the one that used to get pooped on) would get bullied too much by the hens sometimes I would let him come stay in my bedroom for a few days. A couple of times they wounded him very badly and was worried he would bleed to death. I would keep him in a plastic tote tub with a blanket over the top, with the blanket pulled back about 6 inches from the edge to allow air flow. Sometimes I would take off the blanket and he would come play with me in my room and I'd feed him fresh corn right off the cob. He couldn't perch while sleeping but did just fine, I kept him right next to my bed. I'll attach some pics of the injury and him in the plastic tote in my room.

One last thing- I hope i don't seem like a Tractor Supply sales rep but one thing I've considered buying is a heated perch. Of course the Arctic Blast will be over tomorrow, but it would have been perfect for your dilemma and not a bad idea to have for next time.

Here is a link to the heated perch:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/k-h-manufacturing-thermo-chicken-perch-gray-36-in-40w

I wondered about the risk of burns with this perch. Anyone using it that could provide feedback?

 

[fox623]

If they are going to stay there overnight, I'd give them something to "roost" on so they can sleep okay. Are you letting them out of the dog crate at all? They could get very stressed out in such a small space, even over a short period of time.

The extension cord through the 1/4" hardware cloth is easy. That's what mine has. I pulled a few staples at one of the seams, ran the cord through, and then re-stapled it. The cord will fit in one of the 1/4" spaces no problem. That worked for both the water heater in the run (lower plug in my pics) and the cord disappearing into the coop through the eave air vent. No incursion risks from pesky neighborhood vermin either.

We are not planning to let them out of the dog crate. We do not have anything that we can put them in, and our garage is a disaster. It's suboptimal, but it is better than freezing to death, and it is better than most chickens in battery cages get. Apologies if I come across as defensive; I love these girls and feel terrible that I was not prepared enough for this generational cold spell.

The last time we had chickens in this crate, a) they were two months old, and b) there were only two. I did not account for their growth spurts. Fortunately, it should only be until Sunday afternoon. The thermometer in their coop says that it is 19 degrees in there right now, but it is 28 in the garage (plus, we have electricity in there).

That's a good work-around for the hardware cloth @Dakar2009 and @saysfaa. We will try that once it warms up. @ccoscina, I will get that heated perch as well. It's not in stock locally, but I'll have it for next time. Next time, we will be more prepared.

Thank you all for your guidance. It takes a village.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

We are not planning to let them out of the dog crate. We do not have anything that we can put them in, and our garage is a disaster. It's suboptimal, but it is better than freezing to death, and it is better than most chickens in battery cages get. Apologies if I come across as defensive; I love these girls and feel terrible that I was not prepared enough for this generational cold spell.

The last time we had chickens in this crate, a) they were two months old, and b) there were only two. I did not account for their growth spurts. Fortunately, it should only be until Sunday afternoon. The thermometer in their coop says that it is 19 degrees in there right now, but it is 28 in the garage (plus, we have electricity in there).

That's a good work-around for the hardware cloth @Dakar2009 and @saysfaa. We will try that once it warms up. @ccoscina, I will get that heated perch as well. It's not in stock locally, but I'll have it for next time. Next time, we will be more prepared.

Thank you all for your guidance. It takes a village.

if you have a a scrap 2x4 you can probably wedge it across though the bars so they have a very low perch. I did that for one of my girls when she was isolated overnight in a crate once, and she used it.

 

[Dakar2009]

We make due with what we have, that's for sure. I bought the radiant heater in advance of the last time the temps dropped here and had time to figure out the wiring. I sure wouldn't want to do it outside right now!