First winter storm & lessons learned

[aart]

Anyone have any advice on how to prevent frostbitten wattles in the future?

Were they drinking from open waterers?

Yep, open waterers are the usual culprit, but mine like to nosh on snow banks and that will do it too.....tho much milder than a water dip.

Saw someone suggest using chick waterers, smaller trough reduces wattle dips.

 

[J n J Chickens]

The arctic cold & wind has arrived in Iowa. Temps well below 0F, windchill in the -40F, winds gusting 50 mph and several inches of snow. Checked the birds this a.m. to find snow had blown in through ventilation on west side. Birds had all retreated to east side of coop. East side was dry but some birds did have snow on them.
Moved birds to the (unfinished) coop inside the barn. Laid down fresh, dry bedding and straw. Filled up food dishes and got water going. Threw a heat lamp in one corner just in case anybody needed it. Everybody appears to be moving around. May be a little frostbite here and there. Will monitor and plan to keep in the barn coop til spring. Should be able to finish it up today and get the doors on so its secure for night time.
Kind of a scare but I think the birds will be fine. Its a darn good thing we had the barn coop started, which was actually just going to be an add on. It may now serve as their winter coop. We also know now we have to cover ventilation in snow/high winds. I think furnace filters will do the trick. Heres pics of the 4-5 foot drift in front of the coop. Should have put up snow fence. Another lesson learned.
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It was pretty brutal for awhile. We are from Iowa as well. We we’re happy we put tarps up on top, the N and W sides along with some square bales around the bottom of the run. Left one side open. Worked great. We also have a heat light on a timer in the coop. Turd, our maturing rooster, got a bit of frost bite on the tip of a couple waffles. Not bad though. Thanks for sharing!

 

[ChickyWhicky]

It was pretty brutal for awhile. We are from Iowa as well. We we’re happy we put tarps up on top, the N and W sides along with some square bales around the bottom of the run. Left one side open. Worked great. We also have a heat light on a timer in the coop. Turd, our maturing rooster, got a bit of frost bite on the tip of a couple waffles. Not bad though. Thanks for sharing!

Glad you fared the storm ok! Both of our roosters have frostbitten combs and a few of our hens do as well. Gotta love Iowa weather! I think we would have fared better if we would have just gotten our ventilation covered up BUT now we know for next time.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Were they drinking from open waterers?



Maybe take this opportunity to cull poor survival instincts out of your flock and don't let these fellows breed?

Yes, open waterers because they share their water source with my goats.

I don't want to cull them because they are good roosters otherwise. Both have attacked foxes that have tried to attack the hens while free ranging. That's worth its weight in gold.... And in the 20 yrs I've lived in the Deep South, this is the first time it has ever gotten this cold. My chickens have never gotten frostbite before. Ever. I'm hoping this is a once in a generation event... But if not, I wanted reasonable options on how to prevent this type of injury. So far I've got:

1. Keep roosters with big wattles inside the house (garage) until it passes.

2. Keep all chickens locked in the coop.

3. Keep a heated bucket with water cup in a shed closer to the coop than the open waterers. (Hoping the roos would choose this water source over the open water source.)

 

[TJAnonymous]

I DID lock everyone in the coop because the run was not protecting from the wind direction as I had planned. And, my two older chickens were stopping my two younger chickens from getting into the coop. (still not fully integrated) I also failed to consider them choosing to act like dummies. All four huddled into a single nest box. But, apparently while the coop has great ventilation, the next box does not have ventilation for four and two of them got some frost bite.

My two lessons: 1) block wind better in the run. 2) if they try and huddle into a nest box, close it off. They need to do their huddling where there's more ventilation.

Poor things.... Could you give them a heat source on their roost so they don't want to leave it?

My run is too large to put up a wind block on the fencing itself. That's why I have all the various structures placed around the run. In bad weather, they have places to spread out and get out of the rain, wind, sun, etc...

 

[Folly's place]

Roosters with big single combs and large wattles will get frostbitten in very cold weather, it just happens. And water dishes are a problem for them too when it's very cold.
Inside suddenly at room temps won't be great, but a more protected garage or something, maybe.
When we have 'interesting' weather, it's a learning curve, for sure.
Mary

 

[TJAnonymous]

Roosters with big single combs and large wattles will get frostbitten in very cold weather, it just happens. And water dishes are a problem for them too when it's very cold.
Inside suddenly at room temps won't be great, but a more protected garage or something, maybe.
When we have 'interesting' weather, it's a learning curve, for sure.
Mary

Good point. When I say "inside the house" I'm specifically thinking of the garage or sunroom. The sunroom is still cool because of all the windows but it is warmer than the garage. Per your point, it's probably a better idea to put them in the garage instead.

 

[Crazy_Beautiful]

That is a great idea about garden cloth. It’s a bonus to find second life for things.

I used old window screen on my ventilation holes to stop the snow from coming in.

 

[Krugerrand]

Poor things.... Could you give them a heat source on their roost so they don't want to leave it?

My run is too large to put up a wind block on the fencing itself. That's why I have all the various structures placed around the run. In bad weather, they have places to spread out and get out of the rain, wind, sun, etc...

I'm planning on better wind-proofing the run. It's great from the primary wind direction, but this one came just off from that and I wasn't ready for that. Plus, I wasn't ready for the newer pullets to be forced outside.

I'm also planning some mini-structures inside the run to help provide extra shelter.

 

[FBMcrazy8]

Just seen this so obviously late on a lot but I learned a lot too. I’m in western Illinois. I kept reading how chickens are animals and would figure out to get out of the weather and go into their houses. WRONG. I gave mine a choice before it got real bad. Half of the chickens went outside and stayed ALL day. Granted they were somewhat sheltered from the wind but it was still too cold. The ducks came out and went under their house where they were getting hit directly by the wind. All of these guys had windbreakers but none were smart enough to figure it all out. So lesson learned….if it gets this cold again…don’t let them decide.

And I too had snow going into my coops. I ended up putting plastic over the ventilation in both the duck and chicken coops. I was able to stop a lot of it but what I did was take the plastic and cover the openings and staple the 2 sides and the bottom. This left the top open to keep air flowing but slowed the wind down and stopped the snow. Unfortunately the way the duck coops ventilation is, I wasn’t as successful. There was snow all over inside their coop. So that night they came inside the house for a few days until it warmed up and it wasn’t such a shock. However our house was cold anyway. We just bought the house last year and with it being so flat we took direct hits to the house. No windbreakers and the trees we put in to help aren’t big enough yet for that. We had snow blowing into one of the old windows we hadn’t replaced yet. Anyway, we replaced the bedding in the duck coop and I now have a better plan to keep snow out of the coops but also keep ventilation. But with 60mph winds and snow blowing, if there is ANY opening, it will find a way. I even had snow find its way into my metal feed cans. And yes the lids are tight. Rain won’t even get in them.

I currently have a few hens with frostbite on their combs but that is it for them. My rooster has frostbite on his comb and on one foot. I’m still learning how to treat the problem on his foot. All of the blisters have popped, some of the older blisters that popped shortly after the storm has started turning black. But he is the only one to suffer so much. This shows his foot and the progress so far. I haven’t taken any other updated pictures since that last blister popped. But the swelling has gone down some. He has started using it less than he did when I first brought him in. But that is to expected.