Birds dying...extreme cold! **UPDATE** 12/23 PG 10

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
Well, I know they are freezing to death because I brought two inside yesterday & thawed them out & they were okay this morning...they shouldn't have any diseases--they were all hatched out this spring, never have left my place & my coop is very clean. It has good ventilation and I do not think it's too drafty...the wind-chill outside makes it below zero....

That is good that you know your birds well, BUT, you can bring disease in on grain bags, your clothing, shoes or in the bales of shavings (for example). Also one of the many reasons proper BioSecurity is so difficult is that you may have the furrier in for horses, he has been in, around and vehicle has been on other farms, to pass something on to your birds. Lastly, wild birds flying over, stopping to eat, wild Turkeys and rodents can contaminate your area.
So when someone made comment, it was not to insult you, as for a clean house, that doesn't matter, its what may have come into the birds space, not always that your birds left that area.
Good luck and if I was you, lay out thick shavings on the floor and pray for the best. A heat lamp should be fine, if they are cold, they can go to it.

Thanks

 

[spook]

Ferrier -a person that does horse shoes, not sure how to spell that one! LOL.
Also, some illness' are passed through hen to egg. Some of those are like the mycoplasia, that creates CRD, or "Cold" symptoms that show no signs of disease until they are ill, or coughing. This type will make your birds more suseptable to weakening conditions such as cold.
So not everything is brought to you, there is a super high rate of people having CRD but they never think about their birds having it.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Oh dear... no global warming for you this winter, eh?

I'm so sorry...

The only thing I could think of would be to rig up something to catch the heat... close them up in a smaller area, or drop the ceiling somehow to trap the heat around them. One or two heat lamps should be more than enough with the number of birds you have, even if the coop isn't insulated.

Could you post pictures of your coop setup? Maybe that will help the ideas flow.

 

[onthespot]

Do you have any sort of materials you can make a "crowder shed" or a smaller area you can put more birds per square foot and throw a blanket over them, or a tarp and throw some straw over that? As far as upping their feed, might want to free feed them a condensed calorie feed. I don't know if chickens digest fat well, but maybe adding some corn oil or something like that to their feed might give them enough calories to stay warm and not lose condition from shivering. Just a very few days of shivering can be enough to really melt the meat and fat off your birds when they need it the most. So sorry about your loss. Those sound like hard birds to replace.

 

[the1much]

if i couldnt get them into a smaller space,, i would take their roosts down, and spread straw everywhere,, 4 or 5 bales.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

i do not have heated coops and had the same prob the last few years with those breeds that's why i sold out of them so bling i feel for ya. funny part is i got seramas and they r doing fine this year, i don't get it myself other than they have been out since spring to adjust to the weather.

not sure how ur coops r but ours r off ground ones, we use plastic around the coops and pile pine shaveins about 8" thick and they have drop doors we shoe them in when to cold. if we start looseing them to cold we put more birds together for body heat. in winter i feed cracked corn everyday as part of their diet to help keep extra fat on them for warmth. if u have ground runs pile straw in the runs too. my friends r like that and he lost alot last year they were to dumb to stay off the wet cold ground and get inside. since we have done that he hasn't lost any this year. straw holds heat inside cause it is hollow. sounds like they r to cold from being on the ground or wind is getting to them.
hope that helps,
silkie

 

[highmountainchick]

Hey bling,
We're at the -10 fun stage right now. I got a "sealed" oil electric heater in with my hens right now. It has two different watt settings, one at 600 watts and then also a buster to 900 watts. I think we got it at Home depo. No exposed heat sources so we felt it was safe for the birds. It sits on rollers. We put it on a board and plugged it in. We didn't have time to insulate our coop this year so supplementing right now. Hope this helps

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

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I've never heard of that--but I'd find it hard to believe that out of more than a dozen breeds & more than four dozen birds, they would all have that--when they have all come from different breeders??

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Oh dear... no global warming for you this winter, eh?

I'm so sorry...

The only thing I could think of would be to rig up something to catch the heat... close them up in a smaller area, or drop the ceiling somehow to trap the heat around them. One or two heat lamps should be more than enough with the number of birds you have, even if the coop isn't insulated.

Could you post pictures of your coop setup? Maybe that will help the ideas flow.

I'll see if I can find something like that...I just hate to do that because I will lose my air holes around the top of the coop...and with that many birds in there...I'm worried that it will soon become too stinky.

They do huddle together which seems to help...but not enough.​

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
I'm going to get them another bag of cracked corn tonight & see what the does. My coop is split down the middle with two different sections--I have approx 1/2 of my birds in one 1/2 and the other 1/2 of my birds in the second 1/2...if that makes sense? So there is a lot of huddling. The smaller/weaker birds are separated from the stronger, more hardy breeds.