Have you ever had a chicken freeze to death?

[annmarie]

Since many of us are dealing with or about to deal with the latest "arctic blast" or whatever they're calling it, (Not much of a blast in my opinion!) I'd love to know how many of us have had a chicken freeze to death, and if yes, what were the circumstances.

 

[Buff Hooligans]

English Chick just lost two of hers yesterday due to being exposed to a draft in the coop... So sad.

 

[Wildsky]

I think it was Equibling that lost a few as well, not sure why.

Mine have been fine, even with the messy ducks in the coop - and we've been pretty darn chilly here in Nebraska.

 

[BeccaOH]

My friend lost 2 during the last cold snap when it got down to 3 degrees. But she has had a real hard time getting her free range chickens to use her coop. These 2 roosted out on the dog pen fence and froze stiff overnight. Another survived by cuddling up to the lab dog. If you have proper housing for them to use where drafts are controlled and where they can huddle together for warmth, then I wouldn't be too worried. I was thinking this morning as it is 2 degrees how all those little sparrows, cardinals, chickadees, etc. seem to survive just fine -- though they do flock to the feeders to fuel up on cold mornings.

 

[horsejody]

I have some 9 week olds that I recently moved to the coop. They are in a cage separated from the others and have 2 lamps on them. It has been in the single digits here, and they seem fine. Those 2 lamps and the body heat from the chickens keep the coop fairly nice. There is a rabbit that is currently housed in the coop, and her water dish wasn't even frozen this morning. A lot of credit has to go to the construction of the coop. It was originally a summer kitchen that was built in the 1930's, and there are no drafts.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

I had a cinnamon queen find a cozy place under a propt up board.
Problem was it was right next to the barn wall and there is a space to the outside there. She was on top of concrete and when I removed the board, there she was. I am guessing she passed due to freezing to death.

 

[BeardedChick]

I lost one that was very sick to begin with. Have not lost any healthy ones. I'm in Colorado.

 

[jvls1942]

years ago I had chickens in an uninsulated coop. I had an 8" concrete block holding up the nests.. one of the chickens squeezed herself into one of the holes in that block.. I do not know how long she was in there, but when I found her her feathers were frozen to the cement.. and the cement block was frozen to the floor.. she lost a few feathers on the extraction operation, but after a warm drink of water and some food she snapped back to normal..

happy ending..

 

[Biddieacres]

With this cold are people leaving them in the coop and not opening the pop door? Is that too much of a draft?

 

[Opa]

I have an automatic door opener/closer on my coop. Once I figured that everyone was getting in a night I quit doing bedcheck. About a month ago when we had our first real cold spell with lots of wind, one of my BO's got shut out. I found her the next morning lying next to the door. Now I'm back to doing bedchecks.