Did my chicken freeze to death?

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
And many times even with a necropsy. Where you have livestock you will have dead stock. If there are no symptoms of illness, nutrition and environment are accounted for I wouldn't worry about it further. Death happens.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If it happens once, don't worry about it too much. Obviously look at things, but don't obsess about it. If it happens again soon, look a lot closer and consider a necropsy. Your county extension agent should be able to tell you where to get one. In some states it is pretty inexpensive and in some, it is not. If you take one in, it needs to be immediately frozen or taken in immediately.

I've had that type of thing happen before. One is dead without a real clear explanation of why. Sometimes I suspect she flew into something on her way down from the roost and broke her neck or something like that. If it is sudden, it could easily be a heart attack or stroke. In some cases, I have no possible explanation. I just don't always know what happened.

If you can smell ammonia in there, I'd give real strong consideration to cutting out a large area at the ceiling-line on an inside wall away from that partially covered window and cover that with hardware cloth to keep predators out. Many of us say chickens can handle cold pretty well, and they can, but I always try to add, IF they have good ventilation.

 

[BigBadRooster]

Haven't been raising chickens for a long time so I'm no expert but I'm from Canada and the weather has been way colder than what you describe in your orginal thread and I have had no problems due to the cold exept that they have stopped laying. My theory is that they spend more energy fighting the cold so the laying stops. Anyway I wouldn't worry about the cold they can take alot more than you have describted it may affect there laying but it won't kill them especially the breed you speak of they are hardy if I'm not mistaken.

Have an egg-xalent day.

Cheers,

 

[ECBW]

I am also of the opinion that the temperature was not the culprit.

Having said that, I used to keep high vents open then fret over the cold draft.

This year I installed a combo thermometer, barometer and hygrometer in the coop. On the very cold and/or windy days, I would keep the coop buttoned up. I have noticed that the humidity stayed pretty consistent with outside air. Maybe it is because the coop is not insulated and has seams and crevices, circulating enough air.

Oh yes, when it get that cold, the poops would freeze and are relatively odorless.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are not going to get the humidity lower inside the coop than outside unless you have a heat source inside or some other way to dehumidify the air. What you prevent with decent ventilation is a build-up of moisture and ammonia. By knocking the breeze off them to avoid wind chill effects, that is all it usually takes for the vast majority of us on this forum.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I can't add much to what Ridgerunner has already said. That's pretty much what I would say. I know it's hard when you don't know what happened, but sometimes it's really hard to say. Sometimes, it wasn't anything you did and nothing could have prevented it. It's good that you're asking, though. Whatever the cause, it wasn't from the cold.

The one thing I'm curious about is where your hens were living before the last few days that they were in the barn. Did you have them in another coop or did you just get them?

 

[annie3001]

Sorry for your loss.
I have our heat lamp on all the time, and its 20 degrees maybe colder right now here in ct.
Thats our choice to run it all the time. I always have a back up light bulb, incase one go's out.
sometimes death in chickens is just unknown.
I had a hen in the summer, just die, didnt even know she had issues. could have been internal problems. you could bring the dead chicken to a vet and have it examined (for a fee of course).

 

[Tracydr]

I would work on improving your air quality issue. Either dry out the coop, increase ventilation, deepen the bedding, add some lime or all of the above.
Could have been a lot of things but if you're smelling ammonia and keeping the chickens cooped up you're going to start having respiratory problems.

 

[KidDynamite]

thanks for all of the replies.

I took out the insulation insert we had built for the second window - so now I have 1 window (interior to the barn) open, and 1 half blocked with plastic sheeting. This should definitely improve the airflow.

I hadn't even considered that the air quality in the coop wasn't good - we were so focused on temperature.

 

[Jay262]

Ventilation is important heat in coops isnt. Birds die due to inproper ventilation. I live up north in canada and even my silkies have vent holes up near the roof of there coop for the air to blow through. (silkies as many of you know arent a cold hardy bird). Mine all get along just fine and our average temps are twice as cold as your getting right now so dont worry about the heat lamp heat is irrlevant to chickens its more for us then for them. Ventilation is key make sure the coop isnt damp or having bad smell of ameonia. There are so many reasons for a bird to just die without a autopsy im gonna say you may never know on this one.