Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Sylvester017]

Advice needed from my friends here.
Next week I have a 3 day spell of very cold weather forecast.
Lows forecast at 6°F/minus14.4°C and highs at 18°F/minus7.8°C.
I am worried. Particularly about Pooh and Calypso who are still molting.
Those of you used to those temperatures: @rural mouse, @Ponypoor you both must have experience, any advice?
My options are leave them be, they will be fine. Bring the molting ones in to the garage overnight and release them back out at dawn. In the garage they would be in a dog crate with a 2x4.
Put a space heater in a room in the barn and keep them there day and night. There are some roosting spots and the carpet there needs to be thrown out anyway. It is where I quarantined Eli and Babs when they first came here.
Any thoughts?

Thoughts? Don't park the car in the garage

 

[Sylvester017]

Well the garage is unheated but attached to the house so a bit less cold. The barn is not a heated building. My guess is a small space heater will keep the room just above freezing if set on low. And of course will cost a fortune!

Our winter house heating bills $$$ have surpassed our summer air conditioning bills. If our no-snow moderate climate zone costs this much to heat I can't imagine the struggle to heatup snowbound places! Plz be safe w/electricity !!!

 

[SimpleJenn]

This makes me feel very old.

You’re not old, You’re a CLASSIC

 

[Marie2020]

Thoughts? Don't park the car in the garage

Good advice or @RoyalChick . It will have a shower of not water but heaps of

 

[Sylvester017]

I put one in the laying box. The chooks love it. Thank God for Animal Planet!

A $5 mirror works for cheap entertainment here.

 

[Sylvester017]

So yesterday, you were all talking about old shows and anything of the matter. Here's a short film I really liked. I haven't watched it in several years. Yes, it's a children's film. Don't come at me.

Both my parents enjoyed Pink Panther and I started watching it 2 years ago and I still like the show but it's been a while since I've watched it.

I grew up w/all Looney & Disney cartoons today's society won't show current kids

This cartoon fits in w/all the cold weather we're experiencing.

 

[Sylvester017]

Here is the rough coop plan I drew up the other day. A 3x3 coop on top of a small run, would be perfect for brooding chicks until they are fully feathered.
View attachment 4027507
Dad won't be able to help me build it and hubby is working 7 days a week at the moment, so he picked out a different coop online for me
View attachment 4027511
It's soooo cute! And will be easy to insulate and set up with a brooder plate, small feeder, and waterer.

We also picked out a tractor for the meat birds.
https://farmandyardproducts.com/products/chicken-tractor-mobile-chicken-coop?variant=42566463258804

Hubby wants to pasture-raise them in our big field out back. We'll have to close and add a door to the coop part but it won't be difficult.

Wow! You are doing some serious planning!

 

[featherhead007]

How much baby aspirin should I give Coco? She’s in pain today, I can tell!

 

[Sylvester017]

This is an interesting perspective. Yes I can plug a space heater into the coop - even on the step just outside the human area. Sort of where I put the fire-escape when I have chicks.
I am not worried about frozen eggs as nobody is laying, but the issue is that because the Palace is so high and the ventilation so extensive, any heat just goes right up and out.
I wonder though if I could rig up a temporary roof over the roosts (tarp or cardboard) to trap heat. Maybe combined with something to deflect heat from the space heater into the coop rather than straight up.
Hmmm.

Space heaters inside coops...alarm alarm...chickens are strong flappers & space heaters can be easily knocked over. The safety shut-off is supposed to work when the heater is knocked over yet i had one heater where the feature didn't work when knocked over! TG it was a house heater & not in a coop!

 

[Sylvester017]

How much baby aspirin should I give Coco? She’s in pain today, I can tell!

@Ponypoor knows. My guess is half a baby aspirin since Coco is a big girl