Dead chicken - too cold???

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Jenny421 said:
They do sleep together on a roost. I could smell a little ammonia yesterday but not that much. We cleaned the coop not that long ago. I added more shavings yesterday. The window we have is always open. We do have a door that we close. I could always leave that open too if you think more ventilation is needed. There is about a 3 inch opening all around the top edge of the coop (covered in hardware cloth). It’s hard to see in the picture because we painted the wire black. A humidity gauge is a good idea! They were all fine this morning when I let them out. I was hoping I didn’t find anymore dead ones.
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The ventilation should be 20% of the area, or so I have read. The moisture/humidity in the appalachians is very high. And if it did drop I do not know what effect it would have on the air currents in your coop. If predators arent a concern, maybe wait and see if any more die and always have the option to open the door. The rain-cold combo is tough, at least a little further north in TN I remember some brutal winters camping. As long as there is no direct cross breeze hitting them.
 
Banana01 said:
The ventilation should be 20% of the area, or so I have read. The moisture/humidity in the appalachians is very high. And if it did drop I do not know what effect it would have on the air currents in your coop. If predators arent a concern, maybe wait and see if any more die and always have the option to open the door. The rain-cold combo is tough, at least a little further north in TN I remember some brutal winters camping. As long as there is no direct cross breeze hitting them.
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The door is just to the coop. There is another secured door on the run part that we keep closed at night. Even if we open the coop door, they will still be safe from predators. I left it open tonight just in case humidity is an issue.
 
I’m near Atlanta and I’ve noticed that my birds have more trouble with the cold than I would expect. My theory is that here (and it would be more extreme where you are), because the temperature fluctuates so rapidly (70deg Monday, 20deg Tuesday, 60 Wednesday, 30 Thursday, 80 Friday… for example) they have a hard time adjusting. I feel like it would be easier if it was consistently below freezing.

I have my ducks in a large, uninsulated shed with windows and they are contained to about a third of it, it’s probably 15x30x10. There are only 8 ducks. I found these plugs online that “turn on” when the temp drops below the preset temp. I have one that turns on38/off50 and one at on20/off30. The first one is attached to the rafters via carabiners and metal chain and it hangs about 5ft up for ambient temp and hangs closer to the wall so there is plenty of room to get away from it. The second hangs about 4 feet up the same way on the opposite side. I have cameras in the shed and the ducks actively lay where they are comfortable.

I mostly put it up to avoid eggs freezing but I wanted it to be automatic and it seems to be working. The birds are comfortable and I think that because, even on cold days, it warms significantly, it doesn’t affect the birds too much.
 
Jenny421 said:
I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this question. One of our white amber star hens died in the coop last night. She’s about 9 months old. She was acting perfectly normal yesterday and I did not notice anything off with her. We got our normal number of eggs yesterday. I didn’t see any injuries on her body. We are in Georgia between Macon and Atlanta. It was rainy all day yesterday and it got down to maybe 32-35 last night. Could she have been too cold? The coop has ventilation around the top on 3 sides and a small window on one side. I’m wondering if we need to get a heater for the coop? We are using our brooder heater for the ducks because their coop isn’t as well designed and it gets colder.
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What exactly do you feed?
Dropping dead from fatty liver disease is much more likely than dropping dead from a cold night.
 
The coop appears to need more ventilation. Both based on visual reference, and the comment about an ammonia smell. Chicken's respiratory systems are surprisingly fragile - nature didn't build them to be in enclosed spaces. Even if the lungs weren't an issue, cool temps + moisture is a recipe for frostbite on the combs and feet, even if their down jackets generally do a very good job of protecting them - without heat - from temperatures we humans consider cold, intollerable, or even potentially fatal (to us). BYC has people in Canada and Alaska raising birds with no heat, ever.

Yes, temperature stress can be a problem for birds who haven't acclimated to broad temp swings (40+ degrees in a day or so - the daily 20-25 degree swing is normal for them) - but GA's heat and humidity (not as bad as my own) is more concerning than the occasional sub freezing night. Typically, a stressed bird drops from the upswing - heat - not the downswing to cool.

As Kiki observed above, plenty of "silent killers" associated with feed. Sadly, the local farm stores often give terrible advice, and some of the "old wisdom" is based on old conditions which are rarely present in a modern back yard flock situation.

Your birds need well ventilated, draft free housing. The general "thumb rule" is (per bird) 1 sq foot free ventilation 24/7/365, 1 linear foot of roost (below the level of the ventilation, so any winds blow above their heads), 4 sq ft of floor space in the house, 10 sq ft of floor space in the run. Seasonally, given your climate, you will want even more ventilation, or accept that your birds will sleep outside the hen house... Floor/Run space helps with social interactions - abundance is a social lubricant, more is better.

Hope that helps.

What DO you feed them? In what quantity? Scraps? Scratch? Treats? (again, quantities matter)
 
U_Stormcrow said:
The coop appears to need more ventilation. Both based on visual reference, and the comment about an ammonia smell. Chicken's respiratory systems are surprisingly fragile - nature didn't build them to be in enclosed spaces. Even if the lungs weren't an issue, cool temps + moisture is a recipe for frostbite on the combs and feet, even if their down jackets generally do a very good job of protecting them - without heat - from temperatures we humans consider cold, intollerable, or even potentially fatal (to us). BYC has people in Canada and Alaska raising birds with no heat, ever.

Yes, temperature stress can be a problem for birds who haven't acclimated to broad temp swings (40+ degrees in a day or so - the daily 20-25 degree swing is normal for them) - but GA's heat and humidity (not as bad as my own) is more concerning than the occasional sub freezing night. Typically, a stressed bird drops from the upswing - heat - not the downswing to cool.

As Kiki observed above, plenty of "silent killers" associated with feed. Sadly, the local farm stores often give terrible advice, and some of the "old wisdom" is based on old conditions which are rarely present in a modern back yard flock situation.

Your birds need well ventilated, draft free housing. The general "thumb rule" is (per bird) 1 sq foot free ventilation 24/7/365, 1 linear foot of roost (below the level of the ventilation, so any winds blow above their heads), 4 sq ft of floor space in the house, 10 sq ft of floor space in the run. Seasonally, given your climate, you will want even more ventilation, or accept that your birds will sleep outside the hen house... Floor/Run space helps with social interactions - abundance is a social lubricant, more is better.

Hope that helps.

What DO you feed them? In what quantity? Scraps? Scratch? Treats? (again, quantities matter)
Click to expand...
That does help. Thank you. They get an all flock feed and we have a bowl of oyster shell for extra calcium. They are free range during the day and we just leave their food in the run. They get scratch - one scoop (I’m guessing it’s about two cups) once per day for 14 (now 13) chickens plus 3 ducks. They also get scraps - it’s mostly leftover vegetables or fruit and some pasta. We eat fairly healthy so the leftovers/scraps usually aren’t junk food.
 
The general "thumb rule" is that treats (your scratch plus all kitchen scraps) should not exceed 10% of the diet, by weight, daily. Less is better. All Flock plus free choice oyster is a good plan, and my general recommend for the typical backyard owner, of the typical backyard flock, with typical backyard management.

Now...

Its claimed that the average chicken (no such thing - but bear with me) eats 1/4# per day. 14 chickens and 3 ducks, I'd be expecting you to feed about 4-5# daily. That means that the whole flock should recieve not more than .4 to .5# daily (scratch plus scraps). Two cups is almost certainly more than .5#. You want to cut back.
 
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