Dead Birds

[Sydney65]

Currently -15°F here with a 6 mph wind. It dropped from 32°F this morning to zero in one hour. Snowing now. Guineas are staying inside today.

What's the temp in your coop? Someone was concerned abt reading a sudden 15° temp change could kill them, but I only found material related to parrots saying that. Numi's pretty sure this is all a mistake & she should be going back inside now..

 

[R2elk]

I don't have a thermometer in the coop. Tracks in the snow indicate the guineas were out in the -14⁰F temps today.

It is currently -16⁰F.

I have not lost any guineas to the cold.

My turkeys are outside on their roosts.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

What's the temp in your coop? Someone was concerned abt reading a sudden 15° temp change could kill them, but I only found material related to parrots saying that. Numi's pretty sure this is all a mistake & she should be going back inside now..

Last big cold spell it was -10 to zero F for several days. No heat in the coop and south walls are wire, so coop temp was close to that. Guineas were fine.

 

[R2elk]

It got down to -40⁰F this morning. The guineas were fine. The high today was -7⁰F. They did venture out this afternoon but spent most of the day on their roosts.

The turkeys were also fine after spending the night on their outside roosts.

 

[R2elk]

It was probably 0⁰F on the south side of the coop.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

It was probably 0⁰F on the south side of the coop.
View attachment 3356957

Such pretty birds! I the coral blues.

 

[Sydney65]

Mine are "fine", but they aren't dancing for joy. More like rushing the back door before it closes.

 

[Sydney65]

I don't have a thermometer in the coop. Tracks in the snow indicate the guineas were out in the -14⁰F temps today.

It is currently -16⁰F.

I have not lost any guineas to the cold.

My turkeys are outside on their roosts.

Nooooo. There must be an acclimation factor to consider. Mine won't step outside the run now, and it opens onto brick pavers, so very little snow bc it melts. Oddly enough it's the 2 jumbos who spend the most time in the coop. Everyone else ventures out during the day in and out of the coop to the run. Mochie and Willow are runner ups, but they're still small compared to the rest, so it makes sense that they would chill faster. None had a hard molt.
Maybe not enough fat on them yet,or bc it's their first winter- the jumbos 2nd, or that our winters are primarily mild in comparison to yours so they don't insulate as well when they molt? In any event, the heat only bumped it to 20° in there. Sometimes Willow is shivering. She's all about being picked up and snuggling into my fleece now.

 

[R2elk]

Acclimation is very important. I do not provide supplemental heat to adult birds as it interferes with their ability to become acclimated to the ambient temperatures.

This year the ambient temperatures they acclimated to and did fine with were from -40°F to 103°F. Fortunately it didn't happen overnight but a 40°F to 60°F temperature change on a daily basis is not uncommon.

It was -40°F on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 22. It was 47°F the afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 24 for an increase in temperature of 87°F over a period of about 54 hours.

When the cold front blew in there was a drop from 32°F to zero in about 1 hour.

All of my poultry lived through it fine.

 

[southwind00]

Acclimation is very important. I do not provide supplemental heat to adult birds as it interferes with their ability to become acclimated to the ambient temperatures.

This year the ambient temperatures they acclimated to and did fine with were from -40°F to 103°F. Fortunately it didn't happen overnight but a 40°F to 60°F temperature change on a daily basis is not uncommon.

It was -40°F on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 22. It was 47°F the afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 24 for an increase in temperature of 87°F over a period of about 54 hours.

When the cold front blew in there was a drop from 32°F to zero in about 1 hour.

All of my poultry lived through it fine.

On the dec 23 my temps went from 42°F and rain to -17°F snow and 40 mph winds( with lots of higher gusts) in 17 hours. Coop is tight and Christmas eve morning I went out to check the water and they were all subdued but when I spread some more wood chips out they kind of livin'd up a bit so I threw a couple hand fulls of millet out in their run and most went out for a little bit and went out during the day some, but the wind was brutal. Today was 7 and they loved the treats. No heat in my coop.