Blizzard conditions tonight and tomorrow..........NOOoooooooo!

[AliciaM]

Yesterday afternoon and evening, I was out in the chicken pen cutting down the net that covers it.. I refused to have my pen collapse because of the snow...
Nobody realy flies except the call ducks, but they dont get much altitude so im not too worried.. They are all huddled in the coop...

This morning, I found one young chicken dead. She hasnt looked all that great lately so im not all that suprised. (one of our BC marans that we hatched.. have 3 left out of 11 that hatched.. ) And another Buff orphington pullet was huddled and not looking good (shes now in the house, hope she makes it)

I brought the feeder and waterer into the big coop for the older chickens and added a heat bulb for a little added warmth.

Then I had to put a heat bulb in with the rest of the pullets (there about 4 months old). They just have a small coop away from the bigger chickens, so I added a dog house in front of it and put up a board as kind of a walkway so they dont have to go to far from the heat to get food and water..

I am going to monitor it all today and I might just possibly put all the chickens and pullets in the coop together and add another heat bulb.. It might be crowded, but at least they will be warm.

The coop is an old horse lean too that we enclosed..has a few drafts, but not too bad.

 

[jettgirl24]

We got hit hard in the city... Only about 4 inches of snow but MAN was it cold... I read 5 degrees with wind chill. Should have been 20 or so in the coop except the wind was so strong it blew snow under my eaves and into my ventilation openings. I was out there fixing it in the middle of the storm last night. My flocks seems ok this morning but their little feet are so cold! I need to get out there and grease up the combs on my older girls and the roo before tonight. I think my younger girls will be ok because they still have small pullet combs. They don't have any supplemental heat because my heat bulb was burnt out but I've got them shut inside to keep any drafts out. I'm going to make a warm mash with their crumbles for lunch and refill the waterers with warm water again so hopefully that will help... Not sure what else to do at this point other than feel bad for them and hope those feathers are keeping them toasty!

Here they are just after devouring their warm oatmeal breakfast this morning:

And my roo... I think he's begging me to take him inside???

 

[AliciaM]

What do you use to make the mash? Just warm water and pellets?.. I might have to try that...

 

[thebirdguy]

We have gotten at least 8 inches of snow in this storm so far... even the interstate is closed... Thursday the low is supposed to be -12 and the high is a balmy 5 degrees!! Time for a blanket and some hot chocolate!!

 

[nelgkel]

Quote:
Oh don't rub it in!

Miss the nice winters we had in AZ now dealing with snow on the ground and more to come tomorrow. I'll take your Alabama weather now please!

It will be in the 30s when I get up tomorrow morning.... I'm gonna have to keep a fire going in the fire place I suppose.

I would love to have a fireplace!! It is way too hot in FL though! We do enjoy a fire in the fire pit though when it gets in the 60s..
would not want to live where it got so cold, but during the blazing months in the summer I envy your weather!!

 

[maizey]

I STILL have the ac on

I want some snow...

 

[jettgirl24]

I'm just gonna add hot water to their feed and give it to them when it cools off. I might add some molasses and scratch or something to make it more tasty too

 

[starchix]

I am also in my first winter with chickens. I worry about my girls -- the forecast is for -11 tonight, but reading about everyone else's cold and snow is encouraging me. We got 6-8" of snow last night which is good insulation on my uninsulated henhouse. I have a plastic cover over the run and today will put more up against the north side, to break the wind and stop drafts on that side. I have a remote sensor thermometer inside the house, and this morning it read 27 before I opened the door. Outside temperature was 14 so obviously they generate some heat. I might still put in a heat lamp tonight -- just because I am a nervous new mother.

I'm wondering a couple of things. First, is there a way to tell whether newly laid eggs are frozen? If so, and if they are, can I still use them?

The second thing is boredom. In addition to their henhouse, my 6 girls (5 standards and a bantam) have a 4' x 4' x 8' completely enclosed run which they have access to all the time (except when their nervous mom closes the house door after dark. They have a larger area, their chicky day spa, that is not secure and not covered (thus, very snowy) that they have access to during daylight hours. Now that winter is here -- and they obviously have a very low opinion of the cold white stuff covering the ground -- I don't want them to go crazy in that small space. It looked so big when they were just wee chicks! I have bought a flock block and give them treats during the day. Ahem. Greens, kitchen scraps, etc.

What extra-curricular boredom-alleviating activities do you all arrange for your girls? Or am I projecting human personality traits onto my girls that don't apply to chickens? they are just so BUSY! all the time. It's going to be a long winter, I suspect, if this pre-Thanksgiving storm is any clue.

 

[silkiechicken]

If an egg is truly frozen, it will crack the shell, if you suspect a partial freeze, use them up first.

 

[AliciaM]

Well, gave them all some warm mashed up wet food... After a little coaxing, they began eating it..

Once this snow melts, its going to be one big muddy mess in the coop and pen...