hi im new and have a question

[jdw2476]

hello all i am new to this forum not from reading it but as a registered user lol i have a black austrolope and a barred rock hen...i lost my best buddy rudy roo my rooster a rhode island red in the cold front we had on thanksgiving he refused to go in the chicken coupe and froze to death im still sad over it i love my chickens....anyway i live in texas deep east texas that is and tonight is going to get down to 28 degrees since my ladies always refuse to go in the coupe i lockled them in and left the window cracked a bit for air it is filled with cedar shavings which i like better than hay so i figured i did the right thing and they will get used to the coupe hopefully i checked it for any predators and it was free and clear its a giant coupe made out of 3/4 inch plywood with 2 doors and a window i also have a bantam rooster and a bantam hen (japanese)i read they cant deal with cold so i put them in a bird cage and covered the cage with a blanket and put them in the laundry room please note my laundry room is an add on with no door but they are out of the winds so i figured i did the right thing and they will all be ok for the 28 degree weather and high winds we are having tonight correct?????i had to manually put my barred rock and austrolope in but i had them since baby chicks and hand fed them since they were babies so was not a problem picking them up as they will fly to my shoulders and perch on me anyway lol

 

[ghillie]

First

secondly - cedar chips are not good for chickens. need to replace them with another type of shavings like pine or aspen.....

 

[jdw2476]

glad you told me that will they be ok for the night? and ill get some different shavings tomorrow???i was told cedar shavings are ok for adults but not for the baby chicks the shavings im using are for like hampsters got a giant bundle of it for free the man i got my coupe from used it for his please let me know if this is ok as i dont want to lose my pets to something stupid and uneducated on my part

 

[jdw2476]

just called my boss he is a rancher and will give me a free bale of hay and ill remove the cedar tomorrow so hopefully i didnt harm my pets this is the first night they have been exposed to it as they wouldnt use the coupe before and its old dried out chips so the smell is gone

 

[ingyann]

I am new here too....it looks to me like u r doing everything right for your pets, remember we all learn from our mistakes and then do better because we KNOW better. Its just like Dr.Phil says: we do the best we can with what we know at the time! Thats why this forum is so wonderful for all we poultry lovers. It sounds to me like u r up against some really nasty weather, keeping them inside is no doubt better than having to scramble around in the evenings trying to catch them. Is there anything that could be keeping them from wanting to go inside to roost for the night? Lots of perches, some high and some low, and even an orange crate or 2 is nice so they all get a favorite spot to rest. Is any one pet blocking the door perhaps? I seem to have that going on right now with my Milles. Anyway....i am grateful for all the helpful and entertaining folks on this site! God bless us, everyone.

 

[ghillie]

As long as they are fully feathered, they can handle 28 easily. But, they do need to be in a ventilated but wind & draft free area. It was down to 5 degrees here last night with some gusty winds and my birds are just fine. There are several posts on here about cold hardiness. Do a search on here for the cedar chips and cold & you will get plenty of info....

 

[Catstar68]

As long as they are away from drafts, you would be amazed at the low temps that chickens can tolerate as long as they are fully feathered. They do have down jackets, after all.
That said, i live in NC now and we rarely get the temps that the Northerners get. It gets into the 20s and we all think it is another ice age.

Growing up in NY we had chickens and they did fine during the winters.

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

No cedar chips. But the chickens will like to be inside for the night. Really with only two a dog house sized coop would be good. Course fully feathered chickens would also be fine outside in those temps but I am always nervous about the other critters who would love to snack on chickens if found.

 

[Judy]

The wood fumes, cedar or pine or whatever, need to get out of the coop. If the cedar is aged and has little or no odor it's a lot less likely to be harmful than fresh stuff. They need the ventilation high in the coop to let their own humidity and ammonia out anyway.

I am wondering why your chickens avoid your coop. Lice/mites, mice or a snake or other critter, not enough ventilation, a draft on the roost -- there must be something. Just cracking the window may be the problem. See here, if you haven't found this: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=283365&p=1

Are you sure the roo froze to death? Sounds pretty odd at that temp; chickens are well insulated.

 

[jdw2476]

im not sure what happenned to the roo i know my run is 100 percent secure so it wasnt a predator the temperature on thanksgiving dropped from 80 to 34 in 2 hours with hard rain and gusty wind so im assuming that drop in temp so quick and the fact that he wouldnt go take shelter and he was soaked from the heavy rain caused him to go into hypothermia and die which is what i assumed cuz im thinking feathers that are soaked with water on top of heavy rain and winds and fast temperature drop thats what did it