BYC Café

[ronott1]

How often will you do this electrolyte supplementation before the polar vortex arrives? Every day?

Related thought... Friend with chickens says he uses an infrared lizard light (whatever that is) to warm the coop in the ultra frigid temps. Does anyone use something like that? Is a low of 0 F cold enough to warrant some heat in the coop, or not? I'm confident of enough ventilation, and I don't put any water in the coop.

My cockerel has some frostbite on his long floppily doppily wattles, and maybe a bit on a point or two on his comb. The girls' combs and wattles are all fine.

We do not get cold here so I do not have experience with heating coops, water fountains and etc.

 

[ronott1]

I am preparing some ACV water flush, it has helped in the past.

This annoying little critter has wormed her way into my heart despite all of her laborious whims, so I try to help her, as long as it makes sense.

Every now and then I inject her some Vitamin B12 i.m., as obviously she has some genetic issues with the uptake from food.

Have you had a fecal float test to see if she has worms?

 

[LaFleche]

Have you had a fecal float test to see if she has worms?

No, ever since I had some of my chickens defecate lots of worms shortly after getting negative fecal tests from the vet, I deworm them regularly. She was dewormed some 4 weeks ago.

 

[ronott1]

No, ever since I had some of my chickens defecate lots of worms shortly after getting negative fecal tests from the vet, I deworm them regularly. She was dewormed some 4 weeks ago.

It is nice to have a schedule!

 

[LaFleche]

It is nice to have a schedule!

Yes, it is. For my special birds every 3 month, for everyone else it is twice a year. For the chicks starting at 4 weeks every 6 weeks, which has reduced all kinds of other trouble immensely.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

How often will you do this electrolyte supplementation before the polar vortex arrives? Every day?

Related thought... Friend with chickens says he uses an infrared lizard light (whatever that is) to warm the coop in the ultra frigid temps. Does anyone use something like that? Is a low of 0 F cold enough to warrant some heat in the coop, or not? I'm confident of enough ventilation, and I don't put any water in the coop.

My cockerel has some frostbite on his long floppily doppily wattles, and maybe a bit on a point or two on his comb. The girls' combs and wattles are all fine.

Hey, Sally. I don't add any supplemental heat to my coops and we can get an low as -40°f, although that's rare. Ventilation is important, of course, but no drafts is also important.

Had to laugh at "floppily doppily" They will definitely get frostbite first, and worst, if anyone gets it.

 

[LaFleche]

Related thought... Friend with chickens says he uses an infrared lizard light (whatever that is) to warm the coop in the ultra frigid temps. Does anyone use something like that? Is a low of 0 F cold enough to warrant some heat in the coop, or not? I'm confident of enough ventilation, and I don't put any water in the coop.

No additional heat in the coops here, not even during the times we had weeks of -20 Fahrenheit with strong winds.

 

[Sally PB]

Meg, thanks for the encouragement. I really don't want to add heat.

The ventilation is about a foot above the birds' heads when they are on the roost. I lowered the roost for the winter for just this reason. So any cross ventilation (it's oriented north-south) is above their heads. And I put furnace filter material over the bottom half of the windows too, so it's probably more like 20-24" above their heads.

Thanks, everybody, for sharing your knowledge and experience.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Meg, thanks for the encouragement. I really don't want to add heat.

The ventilation is about a foot above the birds' heads when they are on the roost. I lowered the roost for the winter for just this reason. So any cross ventilation (it's oriented north-south) is above their heads. And I put furnace filter material over the bottom half of the windows too, so it's probably more like 20-24" above their heads.

Thanks, everybody, for sharing your knowledge and experience.

The risks of adding heat don't outweigh any benefits, in my opinion. I also don't want to burn any more electricity than we already do in winter. I do what I can to keep them from getting frostbite, but it has happened and I'm sure it will again. Luckily it isn't life threatening, unless it is severe and the tissue gets infected? I haven't had it that bad, but have had a floppy comb turn into a mohawk

 

[room onthebroom]

Meg, thanks for the encouragement. I really don't want to add heat.

The ventilation is about a foot above the birds' heads when they are on the roost. I lowered the roost for the winter for just this reason. So any cross ventilation (it's oriented north-south) is above their heads. And I put furnace filter material over the bottom half of the windows too, so it's probably more like 20-24" above their heads.

Thanks, everybody, for sharing your knowledge and experience.

I use the lizard bulbs inside my house for the baby chicks & I prefer them over the giant, red baby chick bulbs.

I don’t use anything out in the coops, but cold is not our issue here. We have to focus more on keeping the birds cool.

There are a lot of articles on here about the fire hazards of keeping heat in the coop. I definitely suggest reading those if/when you decide to add heat or not. There are also some clever ideas on how to secure heat lamps that can make them a little less dangerous.