Cold winter in PA and I have problems and questions.

[sangel4you]

ok, so please take note as I have posted about frozen water before and it always failed to be noticed **** I do NOT nor WILL I have ELECTRIC in my coop**** as my coop is in an open air barn that we rent and has no electric.

Anyway, keeping that in mine I have a few questions as it is much colder in PA these last few weeks than our winters have been lately and I'm not sure what to do.
I had thought my birds had been doing well in the cold, but we hit 4 degrees farenheit two days ago after a huge dumping of snow so it's gotten much colder than normals. Last year this time we were high teens to low 20's at night and mid to high 30s in the day. Not this year. Some days it's not getting above 24 degrees in the day time and very windy.
I went out at night to collect eggs and give them a bucket of fresh water tonight since I've not been out since this am but it was dark so I couldnt hang out long and its hard to see with my flashlight but first of all 4 of my 6 birds were down out of the coop instead of up in it half an hour after dark. Any ideas why they would suddenly not be going up to roost? The roo and the other hen made it up there I'm not sure why these four dummies didn't?
Also noticed there was one hen with black tips on the end of her coomb and the other3 three that their tips are white/yellow. Could check the other hen and roo. I'm assuming frostbite? (they're leghorns so I'm not all that surprised) I am going to vaseline them tmrw, anything else I can do to help that?
Also apparently it's getting too cold so I am thinking about putting a clear plastic around the outside of the coop on the two sides that get both the sun and the wind so hopefully it will absorb some heat and keep it in while blocking the wind. Has anyone done this with success?
Also on the lines of that, I hatched out some babies in Dec expecting this winter to be more like last winter. They are 7 weeks old and getting quite large, smelly, dusty, and noisey (ones a roo) for the house. I was planning on putting them out this past week but I just felt too bad for them to do that. However DH is pushing. Since they wont have any heat source bc I dont know of any heat source that doesnt require electric, when do you all think it will be ok to put them out with the others? When do you think they will be able to handle the temps out there. Unfortunantly it will have to be a sudden change, I cant wean them. The coldests it's been in here is 62. Which us MUCH warmer than out there. I don't know what to do. I gave a few of the chicks away and that person has them out in a coop with this weather but they have a heating lamp on them too.
Does anyone have ideas of a battery operated heat source or anything? Something I can use on really cold nights etc?
And most of the young ones dont have coombs yet but the roo does and I am assuming I should probably vaseline him daily. (the chicks are RIRxLeghorn)

Thanks in adavnce!!!

 

[Mrs. K]

I am in SD and we are COLD too this winter. We are much colder than you. As we are 15 below zero last night, I too do not have heated water, or heated coop. I take them warm water in the morning, and they are doing alright. I know they love ice chips, because when I am breaking up the ice, they often eat that instead of the warm water in the dish?? Go figure, crazy chickens.

The thing is my coop is not real big, so the girls warm it up in there pretty good. I have 8 chickens, and when I went to get the eggs tonight at dark, it was pretty warm in the coop with all of them in there. I don't know why yours are not going in, unless it not quite dark?

I do have a box, and a glass window propped up against the front in their run. They can get out of the wind, and all animals can take quite a bit of cold if they can get out of the wind.

Mine do have a bit of frost bite, but it is not bothering them, and i think it will heal up in the spring (if it ever gets here)

hope this helps

mk

 

[wildorchid053]

the vaseline is to protect them from moisture getting on the comb.. moisture = frostbite.. it isn't going to work like a hat to keep them warm.... as far as the chicks go since they are used to inside temps you can't just put them out there, until it is warm.. they don't have a winter coat like the other birds yet.. they will grow that next fall and their bodies will adjust slowly to the cold coming.. when the days start to warm up you can take them out for the day and bring them in at night.. can you possibly run an extension cord with a heat lamp for them? also they need to be kept seperate from the other birds.. they are still to young to be together with them..

 

[sangel4you]

Quote:
I realize that about the vaseline, sorry I didn't clarify why I was going to do that. As far as the extension cord, can't. It's about a mile away from my house, and the ppl that have a house NEAR the barn are also renting it (the whole area is owned by a big famer in the area and he rents out this section of land, the barn, the 2 houses etc) and they pay their electric and are in no way associated to me so I'm sure they wouldnt be too keen on letting me use their electric even if I promise to pay. As far as keeping them seperate, I would be. I forgot to mention I have a section underneath my coop sectioned off with wire so that when I DO integrate them I can just open the door to it and they and the older ones can come in and go out into the rest of the run. I figured I would just put a box in that section for them to huddle in and stay protected from any wind that might get in and to feel more cozy.

Mrs. K, I'm glad to know that seems to work for you, That makes me think the clear plastic tarp is a good idea!
Anyone know where I would get such a thing?

 

[sangel4you]

oh also, I guess I would POSSIBLY have the option of moving their box out into my shed (the 7 week olds) where it is still definetly cold, but wind free and draft free and warmer than in the barn. Do you think that would be ok, or would I still need to put a lamp out there with them? Just curious...because when the one apparent rooster starts to crow my father (they live with us) is going to have a fit LOL. The shed DOES have electric, but I also dont think DH will be too keen on having the electric heat lamp running all the time again after we finally got away from that with the price of electric so high now. To be honest, I didnt really expect to have any chicks right now in this weather- they were hatched as a fertility and still air experiment basically and wouldnt you know ALL the eggs I set were fertilized and made it to hatch? Only one didnt hatch out. UGH what beginners luck at the wrong time! Lol

 

[leenie]

I used clear heavy duty shower liners with re-enforced grommets over my coop. Keeps them pretty comfy and dry. It's amazing to me how much warmer it is in the coop with just the shower liners added over the majority of it. I heavily duct taped two curtains together and then used the grommets on the bottoms of each to attach to the coop. You can p/u shower liners at the dollar store if necessary though I got the delux versions extra thick. IMO anything to cut back on the wind which causes most of the chill.

 

[Backyard_Chicken_rancher]

Quote:
I realize that about the vaseline, sorry I didn't clarify why I was going to do that. As far as the extension cord, can't. It's about a mile away from my house, and the ppl that have a house NEAR the barn are also renting it (the whole area is owned by a big famer in the area and he rents out this section of land, the barn, the 2 houses etc) and they pay their electric and are in no way associated to me so I'm sure they wouldnt be too keen on letting me use their electric even if I promise to pay. As far as keeping them seperate, I would be. I forgot to mention I have a section underneath my coop sectioned off with wire so that when I DO integrate them I can just open the door to it and they and the older ones can come in and go out into the rest of the run. I figured I would just put a box in that section for them to huddle in and stay protected from any wind that might get in and to feel more cozy.

Mrs. K, I'm glad to know that seems to work for you, That makes me think the clear plastic tarp is a good idea!
Anyone know where I would get such a thing?

Have you ever thought about Building a coop near the house so you can run elc to it in the winter or as bad as this year has been bring them indoors in a Dog cage?
Have you put a tarp up at least? With as much snow as PA has been getting your lucky to even be able to get to the coop.

 

[sangel4you]

awesome thanks! This is prob a stupid question, but whats a grommet?

 

[leenie]

Grommets are those round silver flat rings with holes in them. These are the holes you use to attach your shower curtain to the pole with hangers. Have I made this more confusing now?

 

[MimiChick]

Another tip I've seen in posts is to make/build a huddle box for them. Some kind of smaller area they can go into and "huddle" together to keep warm. I've heard of using hay bales, cardboard, pieces of board, etc. Then, you could also use some kind of "hot water bottles". Large capped containers filled with hot water that you put in the coop at night to provide some extra warmth during the coldest times. You might even be able to keep the younger ones there in a combination of a huddle box with hot water bottles. Good luck.