Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, It's cold outside!

[Standard Hen]

That mid-western cold is on it's way to New England as we speak, can feel and see it in the air. My birds go out no matter what the weather and have no problems ,they like it all. Had major hawk problems yesterday, that last heavy snow stuck to all my netting on the tops of the pens and had major damage and was starting to collaspe, had to cut them all away to let the snow down. Wouldn't you know the next day, yesterday,the hawk knew it and killed one and wounded another. My daughter managed to save that one, Luckily she had the day off from work,,,she said the hawk would not leave so she got two huge tarps and tied them down over the pens until we can get some wire, obvioulsy the netting does not do well with a thick wet snow. She did an awsome job! Now this bitter blast is on the way to freeze it all like one big ice cube. No hawk today, I guess the blue tarps kept him away, never even saw him at all. But the bird that he got was a sweet sweet little bantie mix, he never got to eat her as my daughter got there and he flew away to a nearby tree. LOL,,now this ended up being all off topic but yes, my birds go out no matter what the temps or weather.

 

[EweSheep]

Brrr! It is 16 degrees as of nearly four o clock CST PM and had to go out twice a day to fill their hot water and clean out the poopy rubber buckets out for them. I just put out some cooked mixed veggies and oatmeal with a bit of soggy bread and they eagerly ate it all up. Now darn wild birds are getting into the coop more and more often and I sur ehope I dont get cocci or any pesky diseases from them! They are getting into the doggy door, makes me wonder if I should get some shredded cloth on the door to keep them out but some of them warblers can access to anything if they got a mind to do so!

The white Silkes are wanting to get out but they are in their own cages due to the pecking order going on.

I hope the cold weather let up a bit...we have been enjoying the warm weather we had couple weeks ago! Now I want that warm weather to arrive to stay!

 

[s6bee]

I live in Upstate NY where the temps get pretty darn cold. The chickens tend to go out till it gets to about 15-20 degrees, but the winds are so strong here now I don't think they know it's colder and they may get frostbite on thier combs. We just shuffled them into the coop and plan on keeping them in there tomorrow. I may open it up a little to get some air, but I doubt they'll go anywhere.
We broke down and got a heat lamp. Since we have a small tractor coop, we only needed a small bulb, but all my husband found was for reptiles and it's called a "moonlight" bulb. It produces heat, but will not effect sleep mode? Has anyone used this before? They will have reg. light on come 4 a.m. for "daylight".
They also dont' seem to be eating as much since the colder temps came along, is this normal?

Thanks
Steph

 

[seminolewind]

It's very hard to remember how cold it gets for you guys when it's been around 70 degrees every day here in Florida. Sorry

 

[Scrambled Egg]

No snow discing (sp!) because it kept raining with the snow and most of it is gone this morning! Guess I'll have to go visit Smitty's Farm for real snow!

 

[Henrietta23]

Smitty's Farm :

It's only single digits this morning, but I think it has warmed up to 10 degrees now. Of course the weather says it fells like -2 degrees.

I've left my flock of 16 in their 8 x 10 coop this morning. How many people let them out when it's this cold? I think the wind is 10 mph. I think the high today is going to be 24 degrees. Brrrrrrrrr!

Thanks,
Kim

Mine will stay in today. We're a little warmer than you, supposed to get up into the teens but the windchills will be around 0-10 degrees. My two girls don't come out much when there's snow on the ground anyway. They got a spaghetti squash and some other stuff in there to keep them from getting bored.​

 

[Henrietta23]

Quote:
Hey neighbor! My dogs pack down the snow too and the girls still won't come out. My old BR hen hates the cold and the young mutt doesn't seem to like it much either. My son used to love to follow the chicken tracks in the snow. He is very disappointed in these two!

 

[hoosierhen]

The high in E central Indiana today is supposed to be 13 F. It is currently -1 F. The wind chill is -17 F. I wish they would cancel church so my mother would stay inside! I will take her today if she's that determined.
I'm having a quick cup of coffee, and then it's out to the coop to see how the chickens did last night. I have 2 thermometers out there -1 in the indoor run, and one in the henhouse/roosting area. Will let ya know how well 2 heat bulbs, deep litter, and 13 chickens did at raising the temp in there.

 

[stilwellchick]

We are here in eastern KS, about 30 min. south of KC. It was zero last night. My coop is a Tuff Shed 6'x6' with a 250 watt red heat bulb inside and a heated water dish. I have 6 large breed hens in there. This morning it was about 12-15 degrees in there so that's how much heat the bulb and hens produced. I opened their little door and kept the big door shut. They all came out for the scratch but then went back inside. Weather report sayes it will get up to 20 today and I will let them out to range in the fenced 1/2 acre but with snow and ice everywhere I don't think they will find much except it is good exercise for them.

 

[wischickenlover]

We are at -22 this morning. No, that's not the wind chill either. That's the ACTUAL temp. Our HIGH today is 2 degrees! Now THAT"S cold, baby!!