Coop Fire - New shed - extremely cold - seramas

[FlyingNunFarm]

It looks like you have a plan in place but I wanted to say hello.

About an hour NW of you.
(Super jealous you are so close to a Menards)

Sorry about the fire but so glad your birds are safe. I don't even bother to open the coop door. They refuse to go out and now it's buried in snow.

I worry about my little ones too. Not as small as seramas but still, babies to me. When I check on everyone in the day I do a "pit check" on random birds. Basically I stick a finger in their arm pit (wing pit) and feel how warm they are. It's always toasty!

Shovel your way out and keep us all posted on the new coop reno in spring.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

This is a good thread to show how to secure a heat lamp

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/heat-lamps-properly-secured-pictures.1288457/

 

[WVduckchick]

Found one of my silkied seramas huddled in a corner yesterday evening, very near death. Brought him inside, held him for a while, put him under a heat lamp and prayed that he would survive the night. He did! All the others seem fine, but this guy didn’t have anyone to cuddle with, as he is the outcast in a bachelor pen of mostly bantam cochins who hate him.
(Our temps were very close to zero night before last, and barely warmed up at all yesterday)

He still isn’t out of the woods, but some inside time should bring him around.

Last night and this morning:

 

[Redhead Rae]

Found one of my silkied seramas huddled in a corner yesterday evening, very near death. Brought him inside, held him for a while, put him under a heat lamp and prayed that he would survive the night. He did! All the others seem fine, but this guy didn’t have anyone to cuddle with, as he is the outcast in a bachelor pen of mostly bantam cochins who hate him.
(Our temps were very close to zero night before last, and barely warmed up at all yesterday)

He still isn’t out of the woods, but some inside time should bring him around.

Last night and this morning:
View attachment 1649504 View attachment 1649505

Poor little dude. However, even if you did have a heat source out there, he probably wouldn’t have been allowed near enough to it to benefit from it.

 

[WVduckchick]

Poor little dude. However, even if you did have a heat source out there, he probably wouldn’t have been allowed near enough to it to benefit from it.

Most definitely, because he never even goes inside the coop. I think it had a lot to do with his silkied feathering, the fast/drastic drop our temps took, and the fact that he stays outside alone.

 

[NNYchick]

Found one of my silkied seramas huddled in a corner yesterday evening, very near death. Brought him inside, held him for a while, put him under a heat lamp and prayed that he would survive the night. He did! All the others seem fine, but this guy didn’t have anyone to cuddle with, as he is the outcast in a bachelor pen of mostly bantam cochins who hate him.
(Our temps were very close to zero night before last, and barely warmed up at all yesterday)

He still isn’t out of the woods, but some inside time should bring him around.

Last night and this morning:
View attachment 1649504 View attachment 1649505

I hope your little guy is better today. We were at -21F this morning and -10F in the coop. These new Seramas are proving to be tough little girls. I was going out every couple of hours all weekend to check them as we were near or below zero they were showing no signs of being cold. I wish the hens would not have gone broody but when ever I pulled back the curtain I got a growl and they are coming out to eat. The pullets snuggle under my silkie boys at night so I stopped disrupting them to put them by the cozy coop panel as I felt like they were warmer snuggled in the silkies, when I lifted them out they were toasty. During the day they are running around eating and scratching or napping snuggled with the 14 week old silkie growouts in the straw. I did have to bring a my silkie broody in with her chick that hatched on Thursday as every time I was out there the chick was under her but chirping loudly and I noticed she was calling it to eat but it just kept going under her. They are doing well in my unheated spare room that stays between 35-40 degrees.

 

[Aleelupton]

It looks like you have a plan in place but I wanted to say hello.

About an hour NW of you.
(Super jealous you are so close to a Menards)

Sorry about the fire but so glad your birds are safe. I don't even bother to open the coop door. They refuse to go out and now it's buried in snow.

I worry about my little ones too. Not as small as seramas but still, babies to me. When I check on everyone in the day I do a "pit check" on random birds. Basically I stick a finger in their arm pit (wing pit) and feel how warm they are. It's always toasty!

Shovel your way out and keep us all posted on the new coop reno in spring.

We do love Menards! We will absolutely keep everyone posted on the coop Reno! I'm super excited to get it done. Hoping to have everything painted and installed before April 1st because we have chicks hatching that day and we want the broody pen to be finished.

 

[Aleelupton]

Sorry that your coop burnt down !! Is it confirmed that your heat lamp is what caused the fire? If so how was your heat lamp fastened in the coop? Any info you could give or pictures of your setup prior to fire would be great.

We aren't positive that's what happened, but was likely the problem. We have a prefab pet innovation extra large coup with attached run. In the coop there were 4 nest boxes and two roosting bars. We added an addition roost bar higher up and then another board to attach the heat lamp to. We have a pet plate warmer attached to the wall. In the attatched run was their feeder and heated waterer. The wires from the lamp, waterer, and heat plate all ran out the back of the coop to a receptacle. Our guess is that the light somehow fell and the protective barrier popped off allowing the light bulb to touch the pine shavings. The coop and attatched run were in a large fenced in pen about 40'x20' with bark chips and leaf debris on the ground.

 

[Aleelupton]

Found one of my silkied seramas huddled in a corner yesterday evening, very near death. Brought him inside, held him for a while, put him under a heat lamp and prayed that he would survive the night. He did! All the others seem fine, but this guy didn’t have anyone to cuddle with, as he is the outcast in a bachelor pen of mostly bantam cochins who hate him.
(Our temps were very close to zero night before last, and barely warmed up at all yesterday)

He still isn’t out of the woods, but some inside time should bring him around.

Last night and this morning:
View attachment 1649504 View attachment 1649505

Poor guy This is something I worry about with our little ones.

 

[RoosterML]

Our guess is that the light somehow fell and the protective barrier popped off allowing the light bulb to touch the pine shavings.

How was the light held in place? With the clamp itself? Or was something else used?