Help Frostbite Is Starting

[Kovalciks Chickens]

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I will try that thank you. I have 4 baby japs that are their chicks but i incubated the eggs. Should I stick them in with the adults for extra body heat since I only have 2 adult japs?

 

[greathorse]

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it is in the 40s r so in the day and sometimes at night it drops to 20s F. he did not get in a tussle because he is all by himself with a hen and i have 4 baby japs that look like it may be developing already.

I would guess at those temps they are still OK but I am sure it will get much colder than that in Michigan. I still really think that if you have plenty of straw bales to stack around the coop it should be a great insulater. They build those stray bale homes nowdays and I know the R value is very high.

I did not know Japs were that susceptible but with the pronounced combs and such it is understandable.

 

[kcravey]

I saw a hay bale coop somewhere! (Mother Earth news?) It was really cool looking ... They set up @ 4 on each wall and then used about 4 pieces of lumber going across on top for support for the hay bales on the roof. You can stick the roosts in the 3rd bales, leave a little opening for them to get in/out and voila! warm winter hut!

 

[greathorse]

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Now that makes so much sense. sounds like a very low cost breeder pen. Use it one season bedding the next. In our relatively dry climate a year on straw bales and they would still be quite usable for bedding. Now I am looking for inexpensive straw bales.

 

[theFox]

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Now that makes so much sense. sounds like a very low cost breeder pen. Use it one season bedding the next. In our relatively dry climate a year on straw bales and they would still be quite usable for bedding. Now I am looking for inexpensive straw bales.

You can mix up some mortar to coat the straw bales on the outside and mix up some plaster or use wallboard mud and plaster the inside after which you'll have a windproof highly insulated coop.

PS use the mortar around the bottom of the place on the inside to stop the bedding from rotting away the plaster/mud.

I may try this come spring for a second coop to raise replacement birds in.

In my current coop I have a tile floor and a tiled baseboard. I have a pile of pine shavings on the floor and I won't have to clean or remove any as it is composting in place. The rest of the coop is made of 2x4 with both exterior and interior plywood sheathing. No cracks and no drafts. The temps here have been in the 20's the last two nights and I don't expect to have any issues with the birds I have and the cold. I will likely get to about -20 overnight by the time winter really hits.

 

[greathorse]

I guess you would have the normal predator proofing to do as welll

 

[kcravey]

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I would love to play with just one bale and see how it turns out. Ive seen them put chicken wire over the bails, then plastering it.

Around here though, we have HAY bales - not straw bales. Think that would still work???

 

[kcravey]

oh also saw one, where they put hay out on the thick snow for the chickens to walk out on to protect their feet. Course I never see snow here in texas, but looked really interesting!

 

[Kovalciks Chickens]

thank you all for the great ideas i will try to post images of my chicken coop so we can get better ideas and help out others with the same problem. What does anyone think about putting the babies in with the adults?

 

[cutrite]

You could also avoid frostbite and the infection thats sometimes come with it by dubbing the combs and wattles as we do gamebirds. Nothing worse than a frostbit comb to ruin a sharp rooster's looks.