Greetings from freezing Wisconsin

[Smidgelet]

I see you're from Canada how do ur chickens do?

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under MkePainter Welcome!

Happy to meet you, or anyone else for that matter, half way on the temperature thing .. melting here!

I too hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

If you would like to share pictures and stories of your flock, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out

Best wishes for the New Year!

 

[Amer]

Yesterday they said even though it was -2 windchills made it feel like -30, but to me, it felt like 20 degrees to me so, I don't know what they mean.

 

[OFChickens]

Hi guys! New member. I have 4 6-week-old chicks, my first ever. Two are Plymouths, one buff Orpington, and an Australorp. My father owns chickens down in Tennessee so he's a great resource for some things, but it's nice to have a wider community, especially for cold-weather concerns. As I write this, we've been experiencing single-digit temps with wind chills in the negative teens (UGH!) so I've had concerns. But there are lots of other things to learn too, so here I am.

It sounds like you have a nice mix of chickens. We also live in WI, and are having 8 day old chicks delivered in May. I'm reading up on how to best protect a few that we'll have next winter- a couple of silkies and a Mille Fleur d'Uccle (which is not very cold hardy). We were in Saint Germain, WI for a few days this past week and the actual temp one of the days was -25. It's "warmer" in the area of WI where we live, but this has been a cold run and it just seems extreme for them!

 

[bluebird]

Thanks for joining us! Our site has a ton of valuable information for you to benefit from. If you have any questions just send me a message and I’ll try to help. I hope to see you posting around the forums more!
-Blue

 

[bluebird]

 

[MkePainter]

Thanks @bluebird and @OFChickens! Thanks everybody!

It's been a terrible morning because I had to amputate a chick's toe... no choice. I posted the story in the "Injuries" section -- *here's a link if you're interested.* (I promise, no gory pictures.)

 

[Wickedchicken6]

I see you're from Canada how do ur chickens do?

They prefer it warmer for sure ...lol. It was -31 F and it warmed up to -27.5 F last night.

All my breeding selects are doing well. Only some of the older roosters have a touch of freezing on their combs. Some aren't showing any signs of freezing. Neither building is insulated and the rooster building is not set up for chickens. I have roosters roosting on metal but despite my best attempts they refuse to change where they're roosting. We put an infrared heater for Friday night when it was supposed to get down to -36 F, but only the Silkies are using it.

I have the youngest, smallest pullet hatched last this fall in the house in a kennel and I brought a few of my older, less aggressive Old English Game Bantams in as well. I also have a cull rooster who isn't cold hardy in here too. That's out of approximately 150 or so birds. These birds will go back out once the temps warm up...lol. They handle -13 F no problem. This cold snap is a tad harsh though.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Thanks @bluebird and @OFChickens! Thanks everybody!

It's been a terrible morning because I had to amputate a chick's toe... no choice. I posted the story in the "Injuries" section -- *here's a link if you're interested.* (I promise, no gory pictures.)

Oh, I'm sorry about your chick!I'll check out your thread.

 

[OFChickens]

They prefer it warmer for sure ...lol. It was -31 F and it warmed up to -27.5 F last night.

All my breeding selects are doing well. Only some of the older roosters have a touch of freezing on their combs. Some aren't showing any signs of freezing. Neither building is insulated and the rooster building is not set up for chickens. I have roosters roosting on metal but despite my best attempts they refuse to change where they're roosting. We put an infrared heater for Friday night when it was supposed to get down to -36 F, but only the Silkies are using it.

I have the youngest, smallest pullet hatched last this fall in the house in a kennel and I brought a few of my older, less aggressive Old English Game Bantams in as well. I also have a cull rooster who isn't cold hardy in here too. That's out of approximately 150 or so birds. These birds will go back out once the temps warm up...lol. They handle -13 F no problem. This cold snap is a tad harsh though.

Thank you - it's good to know how you're handling the harsh cold with them and what they can handle, especially the silkies. When you put them back outside once it "warms up," do you worry that they won't handle more moderate cold snaps because they've been inside? Or do the transitions not seem to affect them much?