Did I make a big mistake- One Wimpy Chicken

[TriciaHowe]

My blue silkie is the bully of the whole bunch LOL! She will put any of the large hens down and peck them right on the head if she doesn't like what they are doing or get in her way while she's eating. I can't comment on the cold tolerance since we are in Fl. but when it gets below 32 I put the heat lamp on. I don't have an enclosed coop though. Mine is all open air.

 

[libbyhan]

swordgeek- We're practically neighbors! I bet the temps are about the same, too- thought for some reason we were more North than you. My coop is north facing and tucked behind our house. Except for a noreaster, they will have low wind. But, they only get am sun. We have the roof insulated so far, but plan to insulate the whole thing. We have ridge vents running on all sides- we'll likely close those up tight on the coldest days, but leave 1-2 open to keep good ventilation generally. We also have a window that can be closed up tight.

Pic attached- taken before we installed the window on the left side of the face- and before the run.

There is an outlet right next to the coop- I bet that we will have a heat lamp out there on bitter days. We haven't worked that through, yet. Why did you shut your heat off at night? I would have thought that I'd turn it on at night only?

Yes, we were without power for 15 days in December of 2008. It was horrible for us, but we fared better than others. My husband works at a school and had to go to work- day care was closed (no power) so I lost about 2 weeks of vacation time. THAT was a drag, too. We talked about 'what ifs' with regard to losing power for a long time with chickens- they'd likely end up in the basement where it was at least 30 with the generator. I think I have PTSD from that time!

 

[NarleevilleClucks]

I had gotten two bantam silkies, a bantam Seabring, and two buff orpingtons (standard) to add to my flock of 4 standards. The two silkies would have been killed. Ima Chicken and Yora Chicken were either blind or dumb, and slow as death. Luckily I have a co-worker who has a bunch of bantams and they are happy with his flock. We were all sad to see them go, but they really were extremely slow and defensless. They are better off now. Good luck!

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Lots of good advice here, especially swordgeek and chicmom... follow it and I think things will be fine... and, yes, my silkies were a bit slow on the uptake also.