How do I keep my flocks warm in really cold weather without electricity?

[Quacking ducks]

Hi, I was wondering, what I can do to keep my birds warm in really cold weather without electricity? This weekend it’s supposed to get really cold. Some of my birds are at the end of their winter molt and some seem a little weak. Thursday night when the cold is supposed to hit, I plan to take several hot water bottles out for them and give them extra clean straw. Is their anything else I should do for them to help keep them warm and not get frost bite? Thank you.

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

For frostbite put warm coconut butter, patrolum jelly, or vasaline, same difference on there combs and wattles. Extra straw is good too. Thats really all you can do but @Sally PB might have some other ideas!

 

[Mrs. K]

Do not bother with the water bottles, in fact quit worrying about the cold. What you need to do is keep them dry, and give them protection from the wind. So often when we worry about warm, we think close up the coop and trap the heat inside, after all we have been told that since childhood.

But with chickens - what you trap is the moisture. Think of being in a car, with a bunch of people, parked somewhere, (we will leave to the imagination what was going on) Almost immediately, the car begins to fog up. The moisture from the breath condenses on the windows and walls.

To keep chickens warm, keep them dry. Remove any droppings, have deep bedding that will absorb excess moisture from the droppings. Ideally have ventilation above their heads, warm moist air rises, and should be pulled out of the coop. I like at least a foot of air above their heads. Set the roosts up so they stay away from the wall. (Except for the rooster that leaned against it, no matter what, but he lived).

I tend to have trouble with frost bite, if it has been wicked cold, and then it warms up. Frozen poop is dry, when it warms up, it melts, produces excess moisture into the air, and that night it will freeze - that is what will cause frostbite - dampness and cold.

To be honest anything above -25 the will not really consider cold. I have gotten mine through -35 degrees F. And it really didn't phase them. We too are getting a cold spell Thursday. Saturday I put down fresh bedding. Not worried a bit about my birds.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

For frostbite put warm coconut butter, patrolum jelly, or vasaline, same difference on there combs and wattles.

No. Do not do this.
Frostbite is best left hands off before and/if after.

what I can do to keep my birds warm in really cold weather without electricity?

Do you have just ducks or ......?
Is this your first winter?

Pics of your coop and run might help here.

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

No. Do not do this.
Frostbite is best left hands off before and/if after.

I have done this with my flock for years and it has always worked.

 

[Quacking ducks]

No. Do not do this.
Frostbite is best left hands off before and/if after.


Do you have just ducks or ......?
Is this your first winter?

Pics of your coop and run might help here.

I have 8 ducks and 15 chickens. This is my 6th winter with ducks and my 2nd winter with chickens. I guess I just more nervous this winter because I lost my 2 favorite ducks last autumn and some of my other birds seems weak.

 

[Quacking ducks]

These houses are not still this clean
Duck house

Chicken house

Updated weather forecast

 

[Tahai]

in addition to the advice about keeping them dry (ventilation, good bedding, clean coop, no water inside...) you could add a little extra to their diet (just for the duration of the cold snap). Oats or other scratch will up the energy reserve they have to tap into to stay warm.

Regarding the weakness: Do they have access to grit with all your snow cover? (It occurs to me that might be a reason they are weaker right now?)

Have you checked for mite infestations or wormed them recently?

Have you changed your feed recently?

 

[Birdinhand]

I’ve read up quite a bit over the years and I’d echo the keep them dry and draft free sentiment, I’d add that keeping them well fed and a source of water they can drink (that’s not frozen are also helpful. Chickens are unusual in that, given adequate nutrition they are capable of cranking up their metabolism considerably to stay warm, which is why they survive molting in the winter time, most anything else would freeze to death being so exposed. Draft and moisture are the killers, imho, even at moderate temps. Chickens handle Alaska temps remarkably well, -25f even.

 

[Penpal]

Don't replace the litter. Add more over the top. The chemical reaction of the manure with the straw creates heat. Right now, straw would be better than wood shavings because it will break down faster.