calling for -40 tomorrow

[Granny Hatchet]

on a good note, i now have a house cat. lol

 

[Indianajeff]

i lost my ivory polish roo and even my babies have some frost.

Sorry to hear that...that was some brutal weather no matter how well we prepared for it, did what you could do.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

thanks, yes i did. a warm ups a coming !!

 

[Granny Hatchet]

im glad your chickens are ok. i am going to be doing some changes to my coop too come spring. #1, insulate, better elect. and some wall mounted heaters. at least thats my plan. was wondering how long your straw would last with some chicken wire holding it in place.

 

[Indianajeff]

dunno, i thought about that too, but the straw is going to deteriorate at some point, just not sure when. Then you would have to pull all the chicken wire and put new straw in....the wife mentioned it to me too, just not sure i wanna go that way.

 

[Indianajeff]

Well, I've made alot of modifications to the coop and run, in this kind of weather you learn real fast what is needed . It's -3 today and tomorrow with wnd chills to -25. Have fresh straw up in the coop walls again, which i find you have to change out about every week cause it starts to fall apart. The floor is about a foot deep with straw. Also took big blue tarps and nailed them over the run. I had bisqueen on the run originally but the 60mph wind gusts tore that off. I put bisqueen over the window, it allows light to come in and warm the coop better than the cardboard...lol. Had to get a new waterer, my 5 gallon heated waterer froze solid and burst, so I got a heated dog bowl. That thing will NOT freeze at all, night even the slightest film of ice on top, impressive. I've also been feeding cracked corn several times a day. This has been the most brutal winter I've seen since my childhood, and I'm 40, and it just so happens I have only been raising chickens since last February.....lol....what a winter for a noobie.

 

[CourtsCacklers]

Well, I've made alot of modifications to the coop and run, in this kind of weather you learn real fast what is needed . It's -3 today and tomorrow with wnd chills to -25. Have fresh straw up in the coop walls again, which i find you have to change out about every week cause it starts to fall apart. The floor is about a foot deep with straw. Also took big blue tarps and nailed them over the run. I had bisqueen on the run originally but the 60mph wind gusts tore that off. I put bisqueen over the window, it allows light to come in and warm the coop better than the cardboard...lol. Had to get a new waterer, my 5 gallon heated waterer froze solid and burst, so I got a heated dog bowl. That thing will NOT freeze at all, night even the slightest film of ice on top, impressive. I've also been feeding cracked corn several times a day. This has been the most brutal winter I've seen since my childhood, and I'm 40, and it just so happens I have only been raising chickens since last February.....lol....what a winter for a noobie.

This cold stinks-- Indianajeff! We are in Northwest Ohio so I definitely feel your pain! Just a word of caution on the heated dog bowl (not from my experience) but others reported that if your chickens get their comb in the water and then it gets too cold-- it is an easy recipe for frostbite. Like I said, I haven't had this issue and some have chickens with barely any comb like a couple of my silver laced...but I have just read some posts about it. Some people use those bows but make like a wire cone type thing for the top so that they can get the water but not put their whole head in! Good Luck--- the cold is setting in again!

 

[Indianajeff]

Never thought of that, thanks for heads up. Fortunately my chicks all have small combs.

 

[CourtsCacklers]

Never thought of that, thanks for heads up. Fortunately my chicks all have small combs.

I definitely wasn't saying that to be a know it all-- I don't even have experience with it.... I have just seen some very nasty pictures of frostbite on combs.

 

[yawningreyhound]

I'm in northern Indiana where we are getting 14-17 inches of snow by the time this storm is done, snowing like crazy now. Once the storm is over they are calling for ambient temps of -10 and with the wind chill could be -40. I have a very nice coop, it's non insulated....but....I put two bails of hay and broke them down to wafers and stuffed them between the 2x4 wall boards, and added about 15 inches on the floor. It looks a bit cave-like now...lol. Got food in the coop, cracked corn, and water...hopefully my chickens can make it through the next couple of days. I am very concerend but I've done all I can.

reading this late how did they do