Heat Lamp - and Chickens won't go to bed

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MIChickandGuinea

MIChickandGuinea

Songster
Jun 28, 2017
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Western Michigan
I don't usually use a heat lamp, because we have a nice coop with good ventilation, proper wide roosts, and draft protection, and that's usually fine for the ladies. But we've had a long cold spell, and we're headed into extreme cold, like -25 F and gale force winds. So in advance of that, I (CAREFULLY, SECURELY, using a drill and heavy gauge wire and carabiners - they should NOT get knocked down!) hung a couple of red bulb heat lamps from the rafters of the coop. It's been dark for hours, and MOST of the chickens have settled on roosts. But some of them are still running around like it's party time... Anything I can do to help them settle down? I thought the red bulb was supposed to help with that???
 
Lacy Duckwing said:
First off, they probably think it's still daytime.
I don't use heat lamps on full grown hens during the winter, because of I lost power, I could also could loss my flock.
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I normally don't use heat either - they've been fine as low as a brief trip down to -15 F the other day. But it's supposed to be much colder AND have crazy winds tonight and tomorrow. More than half of my flock are bantams, and they're just SO little. I won't keep the heat in for very many days - because I don't want to condition them to warmed sleep. But at this point, I think that even with heat, it will still be a VERY cold night for them. I'm just trying to take the edge off. I had one bantam rooster nearly frozen to death on the coop floor this morning. It took him 6+ hours to come back to life, and even now, I'm not sure he'll make it long term. So ... I'm worried about the extreme cold.
 
I almost lost my bantam rooster last winter. I have him hot oatmeal. He came back to life, the old guy. After wards I put a small cage in there and covered it with a old comforter with the deep-litter method. This year, in April, he will be 5years old. I don't think I've really had it get that cold here in Maine. (-15 degrees)
 
Lacy Duckwing said:
I almost lost my bantam rooster last winter. I have him hot oatmeal. He came back to life, the old guy. After wards I put a small cage in there and covered it with a old comforter with the deep-litter method. This year, in April, he will be 5years old. I don't think I've really had it get that cold here in Maine. (-15 degrees)
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Ours was very far beyond being able to eat. He was unconscious - I thought he was dead at first, but he did a few little movements that let me know he was still living. We had to blow dry him with gentle heat for an hour and then leave him under a heat lamp for about 2 more hours before he started moving around. We dropper-fed him electrolyte water for a while, and eventually he perked up and started eating and drinking on his own.
 
MIChickandGuinea said:
Ours was very far beyond being able to eat. He was unconscious - I thought he was dead at first, but he did a few little movements that let me know he was still living. We had to blow dry him with gentle heat for an hour and then leave him under a heat lamp for about 2 more hours before he started moving around. We dropper-fed him electrolyte water for a while, and eventually he perked up and started eating and drinking on his own.
Click to expand...

How sad. I'm glad your rooster came back to life.
 

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