asking for reassurance from the deep freeze

[annagarret]

I didn't read the whole thread, as I'm having laptop issues, but here's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

Long ago and far away (Ok about 8 years and 5 miles) we had 6 chickens and I knew NOTHING about chickens. If I remember right it was 2 Polish, a Leghorn, a RIR banty, a NHR and something else... We lived in the cabin with no running water and no electricity (HORRORS!!!). The chickens had a chicken wire area in the yard that was about 15x15 or so. Inside that area was 1/2 of a XL dog kennel for them to shelter in, and lay eggs in, and they did.

Winter came to Chickaloon. And with it 8 LONG weeks of 30-40 BELOW weather and wind. It was THE coldest winter I have ever endured before and since then.

The chickens pecked and squawked and scratched in that weather... they came out to eat snow and get their feed that I provided daily.... I did not give water, it was frozen in such a short amount of time in that weather that it was pointless! Yes they stopped giving me eggs in the winter (I thought that normal!) but they did not get sick, or lose weight. In the spring, normal egg laying and chicken activities resumed.

3 of these 6 birds lived 6 years. The other three: The leghorn and one other met a furry fate of a wolf, and my little polish girl died of no apparent reason I could see in the summer.



Found this post on an old thread from a BYC who lives in Alaska!

very helpful and reassuring

I look at my chickens now and tell them they got it MADE!

​

 

[Granny Hatchet]

thank you early bird, i dont know if they will be or not. i only went out this morn. and my hands stuck to the metal . it was a little painful.lol the rirs in there had white combs but i dont really know what to look for in the guineas. i hope they are ok too. they have been great helpers and company in my yard for a few yrs. now. this summer i will make sure this will never happen again. i will have elect. run out there and insulate the coop. i have elect. in my other coop because it is close to the barn and i used an extension cord. i knew it wouldnt carry as far too the guinea coop.

 

[earlybird10842]

thank you early bird, i dont know if they will be or not. i only went out this morn. and my hands stuck to the metal . it was a little painful.lol the rirs in there had white combs but i dont really know what to look for in the guineas. i hope they are ok too. they have been great helpers and company in my yard for a few yrs. now. this summer i will make sure this will never happen again. i will have elect. run out there and insulate the coop. i have elect. in my other coop because it is close to the barn and i used an extension cord. i knew it wouldnt carry as far too the guinea coop.

No time to cage them up?
Gotta love wet hands and cold metal...

 

[Granny Hatchet]

lol, yes. what was i thinking?? i couldnt find any more cages to put them in. the are all full. I have 7 extra cages and there all full !! i have too many. i did try to put some together so i could open up some cages but i just couldnt take the cold. seems like since i had my heart attack the cold does something to it. i dont know what the connection is but its there for sure.

 

[earlybird10842]

lol, yes. what was i thinking?? i couldnt find any more cages to put them in. the are all full. I have 7 extra cages and there all full !! i have too many. i did try to put some together so i could open up some cages but i just couldnt take the cold. seems like since i had my heart attack the cold does something to it. i dont know what the connection is but its there for sure.

So did you get them all in the chicken coop? Or did you not have enough cages?

 

[ViKulik]

I'm on an Island in South Carolina and it got down 20° last Friday so I screwed in a 60w light bulb for the girls but they raised hell at 4:30am wanting me to come let them out of the coop so I went out and unplugged the dang thing. Yesterday the high was 71° but it is going down to 17° tonight with a wind chill of 9°. Since my coop is basically just a wire dome cage with a tarp over and open ends I plugged in a 250w heat lamp tonight. I know they would be fine without anything but my daughters don't want them to be so cold, and it is less trouble for me to plug in a lamp once in a blue moon than it is to completely cover the pen with a big tarp and secure it so it doesn't blow off in this wind. An old man I know has a 100 roosters out on tie cords and I guess they'll just have to hunker down under their TeePee's and shiver tonight.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

So did you get them all in the chicken coop? Or did you not have enough cages?

i didnt get any in the chicken coop. they are still in their coop. freezing. i will be lucky if any of them make it. i feel so bad. its my job to protect them and i havnt done it i have been sick to my stomach today because of this.

 

[Chickens R Us]

It didn't get as cold as predicted it was -18F this morning when I went to work this morning at 5:30am,when I got off of work at 3:30 pm it was -17F. I don't know what the wind chill was but I don't consider that because my coop is draft free and my run is completely enclosed in a heavy duty plastic. Tomorrow is supposed to be another bone chiller.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

so all your chicks ok? some of mine had frostbite this morning, i havnt been back out

 

[TeamChaos]

Granny hatchet and everyone enduring the article vortex, I feel for you! We're hunkered down in SW WI mad it is nasty. As of 11 p.m. Last nite, we had no casualties and animals were handling things as well as we can hope for. I'll finish my coffee and start gearing up for the a.m. Check soon. In addition to the physical traits of a solid coop for this sort of wether, I think it is worth considering the likelihood that power can be maintained if established... My ladies have a lovely coop and probably would've been fine but it is quite a hike from the house and I was worried the cold would knock out their heated watered and it would be too dangerous for a human to walk so far in these temps to check.