INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Faraday40]

Our roo got some frostbite last winter.
He did fine until we hit a few nights of -30'F, then he got just a little frostbite on the tips. (Started to heal & we got hit with another arctic blast.)

A few weeks later. He lost a little wattle, but things healed up well on their own.

By spring, he looked great again.

I learned to simply let things be and make sure ventilation is good.


A few years ago we had Tank. Look at that massive comb!


During that winter we were hit hard with 5 days straight of below zero highs. (Nights went down to -40'F)
It started to heal a little & a month later we got hit with another 4 days of subzero highs. All the chickens were miserable!


There's really not much you can do. The black scabs eventually fall off & new, shorter, rounded comb points appear.

Here he is after the 2nd round of subzero highs.


Tank ended up looking better in April (sorry no pics), but in the long run things didn't turn out well for him. His behavior was unpredictable & my mother was dying in the hospital. After all of that, I didn't have time to deal with a rowdy roo and needed my kids to care of the chickens. My handyman took Tank to freezer camp.

 

[Lengerich Farms]

Thanks @Finnie! We got five today, and we also lost the rooster, again. He was roosting right by the door, and used my back as a springboard to freedom. With the snow on the ground, I was able to track him farther than before, but still lost him. Hopefully he'll remember where the warmth , food, and single ladies are haha.

I've had a weird egg the last two days too. It seems that it's not forming completely at the peak, and is weakened, causeing small fractures. Yesterday I saw one and though it had something stuck to it and ended up pulling of part of the shell, so that went to the dog, but I got another one today. I'm thinking possibly calcium deficiency? I grind up our used egg shells and give them to the hens, but I plan on getting some oyster shell as well.

Also got my weigher/grader today. The one on the scale is the one in the previous picture, so I'm fairly certain it could be from a younger girl who just started laying.

 

[Faraday40]

Thanks @Finnie! We got five today, and we also lost the rooster, again. He was roosting right by the door, and used my back as a springboard to freedom. With the snow on the ground, I was able to track him farther than before, but still lost him. Hopefully he'll remember where the warmth , food, and single ladies are haha.

I've had a weird egg the last two days too. It seems that it's not forming completely at the peak, and is weakened, causeing small fractures. Yesterday I saw one and though it had something stuck to it and ended up pulling of part of the shell, so that went to the dog, but I got another one today. I'm thinking possibly calcium deficiency? I grind up our used egg shells and give them to the hens, but I plan on getting some oyster shell as well.

Could the egg have dropped onto the hard bottom of a nest box? (or cracked from deep freezing?) My hens like to fuss with the bedding & sometime kick too much out leaving a nearly bare bottom in the center.

Hope that crazy roo comes back in tact. In these temps, my flock is staying put inside the insulated areas of the coop/run. The only outside they see is when they sun themselves in the window. The door is still opened each morning, but they're choosing not to step outside. I even shoveled paths for them through the 10" of snow last weekend.

 

[Lengerich Farms]

Could the egg have dropped onto the hard bottom of a nest box?  (or cracked from deep freezing?) My hens like to fuss with the bedding & sometime kick too much out leaving a nearly bare bottom in the center. 

Hope that crazy roo comes back in tact.  In these temps, my flock is staying put inside the insulated areas of the coop/run.  The only outside they see is when they sun themselves in the window.  The door is still opened each morning, but they're choosing not to step outside.  I even shoveled paths for them through the 10" of snow last weekend.

That's the thing, I've got a nesting box that sits on the ground, really just a roof and two walls made of one by, and that's where this ones laying them. No other eggs are turning out like this, but this is also the smallest of the last two days drops.

I hope he comes back too! Crazy bird smh. I'll probably get a call from the neighbor tomorrow; "Your rooster is in my yard again!"

My girls want out, but I was under the impression to keep them from the snow to keep them from getting frost bitten. I haven't let them out yesterday or today as there was snow on the ground.

 

[Faraday40]

That's the thing, I've got a nesting box that sits on the ground, really just a roof and two walls made of one by, and that's where this ones laying them. No other eggs are turning out like this, but this is also the smallest of the last two days drops.

I hope he comes back too! Crazy bird smh. I'll probably get a call from the neighbor tomorrow; "Your rooster is in my yard again!"

My girls want out, but I was under the impression to keep them from the snow to keep them from getting frost bitten. I haven't let them out yesterday or today as there was snow on the ground.

Having extra calcium available is never a bad thing. Mine are on layer feed but also have oyster shell & recycled egg shells available on the side. My girls strongly prefer the egg shells. I also noticed that one of my hens just always had thinner shells. They were stronger in the winter when she had to eat the layer feed, but they got very brittle in spring when she chose her own diet from the yard instead of eating the feed inside the run. When I tricked her into eating more calcium by hiding it in treats, her eggs improved.

I'm convinced that my chickens are wimps. They barely went outside in Dec. & haven't stepped outside since we got the last snow. I see people post pics of chickens in the country snow, but mine must be urban birds. They sometimes step out as I clean & fill the feeders, but they're all back inside long before I'm finished. Therefore, I do not worry too much about it. However, I do worry about the coop ventilation. In winter you may want to keep out cold & try to close everything up, but you actually need to allow excess moisture a way to escape in order to prevent frostbite. Don't have big drafty areas, but some vents above where the chickens roost works well.

 

[Indyshent]

That's the thing, I've got a nesting box that sits on the ground, really just a roof and two walls made of one by, and that's where this ones laying them. No other eggs are turning out like this, but this is also the smallest of the last two days drops.

I hope he comes back too! Crazy bird smh. I'll probably get a call from the neighbor tomorrow; "Your rooster is in my yard again!"

My girls want out, but I was under the impression to keep them from the snow to keep them from getting frost bitten. I haven't let them out yesterday or today as there was snow on the ground.

New layers often have oddball eggs, but that one might have frozen. It happens a lot with nesting boxes on the floor (they're the coldest).

Maybe you should rehome Wylde? I had to do that with some birds that refused to stay in my yard, too. I have neighbors several doors down who let their chickens roam the streets, and lo and behold some loose dogs took them out after a year or more of them roaming. I'm not even that lucky and/or my birds aren't that wily because dogs have taken out a number of my birds--even in my yard! As is, we've pretty much decided that we'll have to clip the turkeys or leave them in the enclosure all the time. My youngest sometimes lets them out when he's trying to get eggs or fart around while he's evading homework and chores. They like to sneak over to my anal neighbor's house and eat the cat food he leaves out for the roving bands of feral, stray and just plain hungry cats in the neighborhood.

 

[Finnie]

A while back I posted a photo of my heated waterer. Well since its down in the single digits today, I thought I would post a photo of how it looks right now. The top, empty half is frosted up, there is a bridge of ice in the middle, but all the rest of the water is liquid and available for drinking. [/IMG] Unfortunately, I did see that my Langshan rooster's wattles did get all wet when he was drinking. . So I should probably remove that watere on bitter days like today. At least the heated bucket with horizontal nipples is going great.Sam

@Finnie This is the same way I do my waterer with [COLOR=FF0000]ONE EXCEPTION THAT KEEPS WATTLES OUT.[/COLOR] I put grit in the bowl deep enough to bring the waterer rim up to bowl rim level or a little above. Put water in the grit to conduct the heat. Then set the waterer on that. The reason he is getting frostbite on the wattles is that the way you have it set up he still has to put his face down into the water to get to it because it is down inside the bowl. [COLOR=FF0000]Bring the bowl up to level (or a little above is best) and no more wattles in the water.[/COLOR] This isn't the best photo but you can see that the waterer is sitting high up in the bowl. It's sitting on the grit/water. [COLOR=FF0000]I actually have mine up higher than shown in this photo as it's still a little low.[/COLOR] Funnel keeps them from standing on top

Well, I guess I can now say that it must be the wide "trough" area on this green waterer I'm using that is the reason for them dipping their wattles. I raised it up using some non-clumping kitty litter. It's now up at the same hight as the rim of the dog dish. But they all seem to be dragging their wattles in it. @Leahs Mom I think yours must work so well because it is smaller. I don't have a smaller size heated dog dish, so I guess I will just have to replace this one with another horizontal nipple one. Which, by the way, had the metal pegs frozen shut this morning and I had to pry them loose with a screwdriver. It's 3* out there right now! I got the nipples working again, but I'll have to be going out there periodically today to check them. @Lengerich Farms I hope you get Wylde back.

 

[Finnie]

Oh, I just noticed Leah's mom has a stack of bricks under hers. I will raise mine up with bricks and see if that helps.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Finnie
Did you say that HORIZONTAL NIPPLES froze? I've never had horizontals freeze. But the vertical do for sure.

On your dog dish - would it be possible to use the grit and water in it to raise it up? @hoosiercheetah did that with a larger waterer and last I heard it worked okay for him.


This is a photo from @hoosiercheetah from this post: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/730582/indiana-bycers-here/36660#post_14566505

 

[Lengerich Farms]

I think this is the rooster I'm going to get rid of