Blizzard Tonight, worried about my Chickens.

[SarahJaneB]

Since the windstorm of 40mph winds and up this past week a portion of our roof blew off the coop and run. It's an old tin roof. Well I've spent a lot of time this week up there nailing things back down. Especially most of today, Christmas day since this blizzard is supposed to hit tonight with more wind. Anyway they haven't needed any sort of heat this winter so far but this blizzard is a little scary. I know I've been wanting some snow but didn't really expect this much to come. I ran a long extension cord out to the coop and hooked up a heat lamp that I bought for a brooder i plan on making soon but the heat lamp isn't red So it'll be like a light in the coop too. Will it throw them off their sleeping schedule if it's left on all night or what will it do? There's no way to get a red bulb at them moment.

 

[citychickx6]

I looked up your forecast and it says lows down to 14 on Wednesday night. That is the lowest temp showing.
What breeds of chickens do you have in addition to the Aussies?
I too have Aussies and they have done fine even below 0.
The ones I had years ago were in the barn. Huge space so no real heat build up for them. We had an ice storm hit and lost power for 6 days. The high for the day was -3. They did well enough in that no one died from it.
Aussies are supposed to be a cold tolerant breed.
You may be fine with no added heat. Remember snow is a good insulator too.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I live in Canada today it is -4 Fahrenheit and about 1 foot of snow. No heat, No extra light, the Golden Comet coop is insulated with plenty of ventilation water was not frozen hard there this morning., I get 3 eggs a day from 6 hens that are going on 4 years old.

I also have homing pigeons and ring-neck pheasants living together who get the same treatment only their loft is uninsulated (my water there was harder than a brick this morning).


Just another day in paradise for my birds!

 

[SarahJaneB]

I looked up your forecast and it says lows down to 14 on Wednesday night. That is the lowest temp showing.
What breeds of chickens do you have in addition to the Aussies?
I too have Aussies and they have done fine even below 0.
The ones I had years ago were in the barn. Huge space so no real heat build up for them. We had an ice storm hit and lost power for 6 days. The high for the day was -3. They did well enough in that no one died from it.
Aussies are supposed to be a cold tolerant breed.
You may be fine with no added heat. Remember snow is a good insulator too.

Just the australorps. I knew they were cold tolerant didn't know that they were that tolerant. That's really good to hear. I'll be keeping an eye out on them tonight and if they're doing ok in the coop then i'll turn the lamp off by ten-ish it doesn't fell like its doing a lot of good anyway.

 

[citychickx6]

We were only 6 degrees outside this morning at 7 am. Inside my coop it was 20. That coop is a converted 8x8 shed the inside ceiling is 8 foot high.
I keep a thermometer inside and one outside so I can keep an eye on things. The ones I use also have humidity gauges on them.
My coops are not insulated and I had a window cracked for ventilation.
I read a lot about coops burning down and losing the whole flock as well. I decided not to add heat after reading about all that.

I am sure they will do fine. We are 15 degrees out right now and they are happily digging in their runs.

By the way Aussies are my favorite breed of chicken.

 

[CESpeed]

I'm planning on raising Aussies, too. I'm in Central Ark and right now I'm listening to sleet hit my window. I was considering insulating my coop when I buid it. With high summer humidity is this a bad idea if I have lots of windows?

 

[SarahJaneB]

We were only 6 degrees outside this morning at 7 am. Inside my coop it was 20. That coop is a converted 8x8 shed the inside ceiling is 8 foot high.
I keep a thermometer inside and one outside so I can keep an eye on things. The ones I use also have humidity gauges on them.
My coops are not insulated and I had a window cracked for ventilation.
I read a lot about coops burning down and losing the whole flock as well. I decided not to add heat after reading about all that.

I am sure they will do fine. We are 15 degrees out right now and they are happily digging in their runs.

By the way Aussies are my favorite breed of chicken.

I gotta run one of my thermometers out there! Ya'll are very encouraging though I'm glad my breed does so well in cold. Makes me worry a little less. I'm kindof worried about the wind coming in through the top of the coop where the ventilation spots are but the wind should be coming from the north and the ventilation is on the south side. I'm sure I'll be back and forth from the coop when the wind and snow hits so i'll know if any wind gets in. will try and cover the ventilation if it does. The ventilation spots were covered by the roof of the run before that dang windstorm. This storm isn't normal for us, so unprepared, I feel horrible

 

[SarahJaneB]

worried for nothing

The chickens did just fine. Wind was blowing hard and snow was coming down but they stayed nice and cozy in their coop. Thanks for the encouragement everyone! And btw this is my chickens first snow. They do not know what to think about it. Last I left them they were just staring at it, refusing to step on it

Hope they get used to it cause i want some pics of my little ones in the snow!!

 

[RonC]

We had a dusting of snow last night. The first the girls have seen. Closed off the ventilation I added to my coop for hot weather. Hung the brooder light fixture in the coop with a standard 75 watt bulb for a little extra heat. I know they didn't need it but made me feel better. They gave me a surprise Christmas present. I've gotten some larger egss before but this one takes the cake..The smaller egg is a normal sized egg not a dwarf. Bet somebody is sore.

 

[SarahJaneB]

We had a dusting of snow last night. The first the girls have seen. Closed off the ventilation I added to my coop for hot weather. Hung the brooder light fixture in the coop with a standard 75 watt bulb for a little extra heat. I know they didn't need it but made me feel better. They gave me a surprise Christmas present. I've gotten some larger egss before but this one takes the cake..The smaller egg is a normal sized egg not a dwarf. Bet somebody is sore.

Wooooow That's a big egg! We've had a few double yolkers but not one that size! I let my girls have the heat lamp till about 11pm but about that time I went out and sat with them while it was snowing and there was no wind or snow coming in and they were perfectly comfortable.

The heat lamp i had in there wasn't dropping the temperature so I turned it off so they could get some sleep.