First winter storm & lessons learned

[TJAnonymous]

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.

My ducks were just as dumb as yours apparently. They have a huge coop, plus a run-in where their food & water are located. There is also a repurposed child's playhouse out there were I padded the ground inside with a thick layer of straw. Did my ducks use any of it? No... Their dumb a**es squatting down in the complete open and shoved their beaks into their feathers. Luckily no one got frostbite but it was just senseless in my opinion. I think I'm of the same opinion as you... I'll just lock them inside the coop next time and not give them a choice. My only issue is water. I'd have to rig up a heated waterer for them inside which would mean buying new stuff. Their current water bowl is a large rubber tub with a heated metal ring that keeps it from icing up. I wouldn't want to put an open water source inside their coop during a deep freeze. Too much moisture potential there....

 

[Krugerrand]

My ducks were just as dumb as yours apparently. They have a huge coop, plus a run-in where their food & water are located. There is also a repurposed child's playhouse out there were I padded the ground inside with a thick layer of straw. Did my ducks use any of it? No... Their dumb a**es squatting down in the complete open and shoved their beaks into their feathers. Luckily no one got frostbite but it was just senseless in my opinion. I think I'm of the same opinion as you... I'll just lock them inside the coop next time and not give them a choice. My only issue is water. I'd have to rig up a heated waterer for them inside which would mean buying new stuff. Their current water bowl is a large rubber tub with a heated metal ring that keeps it from icing up. I wouldn't want to put an open water source inside their coop during a deep freeze. Too much moisture potential there....

I had one of these in the run:

I had one of the nipple freeze over. Until I fix the crosswind in the coop, I will have to accept blame for that - considering that at least one nipple did not freeze.

I ended up using a non-heated closed bucket of water in the coop with these same horizontal nipples and changed out the water every 2 hours. My hydrometer readings where not showing any increase in humidity having that in there compared to outside.

 

[FBMcrazy8]

My ducks were just as dumb as yours apparently. They have a huge coop, plus a run-in where their food & water are located. There is also a repurposed child's playhouse out there were I padded the ground inside with a thick layer of straw. Did my ducks use any of it? No... Their dumb a**es squatting down in the complete open and shoved their beaks into their feathers. Luckily no one got frostbite but it was just senseless in my opinion. I think I'm of the same opinion as you... I'll just lock them inside the coop next time and not give them a choice. My only issue is water. I'd have to rig up a heated waterer for them inside which would mean buying new stuff. Their current water bowl is a large rubber tub with a heated metal ring that keeps it from icing up. I wouldn't want to put an open water source inside their coop during a deep freeze. Too much moisture potential there....

I agree. My plan for their water is what I did when they were in the house to keep water from going everywhere. I take a water or milk jug and cut 2 holes in it. The holes are high enough that they can get their head in but still be able to get the bulls under water. I will just have to check their water again every 20/30 min. Though I’m sure I could cut down on that but I would rather break it open more often. And with it being a jug it’s actually easier to break, at least I think so.

Mine didn’t suffer frostbite either, though I’m still not sure how. We had to bring them inside and our goats. Our goats were so froze that they could barely get any noise out when they tried talking. Our ducks were froze solid. Originally when I put them in the coop (which took FOREVER) there wasn’t a whole lot of snow, but my husband went out and it had gotten worse. He said he picked them up and they were like ice cubs. Luckily the chickens were doing good once they were in the coop. Which again took forever. It stays about 10 degrees warmer in there than outside.

The pictures are before it got too bad and the wind was only at about 20mph. But you can see exactly where the ducks and chickens hung out. The goats stayed in their house but unfortunately we didn’t have it as weather ready as we wanted it when it hit.

 

[FBMcrazy8]

I had one of these in the run:
View attachment 3366993

I had one of the nipple freeze over. Until I fix the crosswind in the coop, I will have to accept blame for that - considering that at least one nipple did not freeze.

I ended up using a non-heated closed bucket of water in the coop with these same horizontal nipples and changed out the water every 2 hours. My hydrometer readings where not showing any increase in humidity having that in there compared to outside.

I wanted one of these for my chickens but unfortunately right before this hit, the bucket I have my nipples on busted wide open on the bottom and I could get it fixed in time.

 

[micstrachan]

We went from 56* to -6* in a matter of hours. (Wind chill in the -20s) No way my girls could handle that! I brought them into a spare bedroom in the house. Put up a huge tent, lined it with a tarp and dumped in pine bedding. Cracked the window a bit, and my girls sat out the storm at a perfect 42*. Clean up was easy each day, my house wasn't covered in dust from chickens, and whole tarp bundled up at the end and dumped in the run. I also hung a bird seed bell in there to keep them occupied. Was so easy I'm upset with myself for not thinking of doing it this way before!

Good move!

 

[orelsi]

I have an old space heater in the garage where they live. It's all metal, very sturdy and stable, no way to start a fire or harm them. When it drops below 5c I switch it on from inside the house. It keeps the temp above freezing and comfy up to 10c.

 

[MandaRae]

This Winter has been crazy! Even peeps in the "warmer" states got it this year. We are used to it here in Pennsylvania and I hate the trek out to the coops in the winter. Every year I say "Let's move somewhere warmer" lol
We had about 3ft of snow then it all thankfully melted this last week. The ice was the worst. I pretreated all the chooks for upper respiratory with herbal tonics and made sure they had warm meals right before bedtime.
I have plans for a hoop house to attach in the winter so they aren't stuck inside the coop constantly.

 

[thlayli]

It was certainly a learning experience! All of my chickens are 2 months and younger, out in the coop and enduring the cold. I was worried about the younger ones, they were about a month old when the storm blew in. I'm in Iowa like OP so my temps were hitting -9 without the wind chills. I've never had to deal with something like this before, and my coop was inherited from the previous owner of the property, but it's held up very well and overall there was very little drama, since I closed the ventilation on the prevailing wind side of the coop and I had a heated waterer (which still froze over! I had to knock the ice out when I refilled their electrolytes)

One chick was clearly chilled on the first day of negative temps, though, sitting on the ground all puffed up, listless, with eyes half closed. She wouldn't even move when I got close to her, let alone eat. I have Backyard Chickens to thank for saving her -- it's because of all the reading I did on the Mama Heating Pad that I got the idea to build a little cave with their brooder (which I had retired when I moved them to the coop) in a corner of the coop. Once she was under it, she perked right up! Not ten minutes later she was eating and wandering around with the rest of them. I left the cave in case any of the others needed it, and everyone came through with no problems. It was certainly nerve-wracking for a while there, though!

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I have quite a few chickens. Somewhere between 60-70. I have 3 large coops, a 6 ft x 8 ft goat house, 2 shed run-ins, a repourposed child's playhouse, and a large domed doghouse all within my large 125 ft x 32 ft run. Despite all those places to stay out of the wind, I had about 10-15 chickens who insisted on staying exposed out in the cold during the day. Most never left the coops which all stayed dry and even decently warm (although I never measured the temp it felt at least 20 degrees warmer inside the coops). I had 2 roosters with large wattles and combs who ended up with frostbite on their wattles only. I believe this occurred from them getting wet while drinking. Both of these roosters were in the bunch who chose to hangout outside in the cold.

Anyone have any advice on how to prevent frostbitten wattles in the future? I can't think of anything practical other than to perhaps bring them indoors next time...

I haven't read all the way through these posts yet but in case it was not suggested... My Roos have long wattles as well, and I coat them with some Vaseline so when they get a drink, the water beads & drops off, keeping the skin protected. I reapply it as needed, sometimes weekly sometimes daily, I check them over daily when I collect eggs anyway so no big deal. Offer a little palm full of mealworms or scratch before you sit him on your lap to apply Vaseline & very soon he will come to love the routine (at least mine do).

 

[Liz Birdlover]

This Winter has been crazy! Even peeps in the "warmer" states got it this year. We are used to it here in Pennsylvania and I hate the trek out to the coops in the winter. Every year I say "Let's move somewhere warmer" lol
We had about 3ft of snow then it all thankfully melted this last week. The ice was the worst. I pretreated all the chooks for upper respiratory with herbal tonics and made sure they had warm meals right before bedtime.
I have plans for a hoop house to attach in the winter so they aren't stuck inside the coop constantly.

Every winter I swear I want to move southwest!

Cold is one thing but cold accompanied by wind...omg please, I can't stand it & neither can my aching arthritis. Wind sucks!!!