Dr. Mary's Sermon on Cold Weather
I know I am largely preaching to the choir here (thank goodness), but here goes.
On a different site, a lady posted today that she lost a Silkie chick and a Polish chick to the weather. She is NOT in Indiana, but lives in a state with very similar weather to central/northern Indiana. She did not have a proper coop built. She kept them in a greenhouse. Sigh. She did so many less-than-optimal management things that she got mad at me for making completely sane suggestions that I just gave up trying to help. For example, besides living in a greenhouse without a proper coop or henhouse, she let the Silkies sleep in nest boxes on the ground. Baby Silkies. I don't have Silkies, but I know they are NOT "cold hardy" birds. Sigh again.
On the subject of frostbite, I think that can happen to anybody. It happened to one of mine the night I rescued her from death when the "mean girls" kicked her out of the henhouse entirely last winter when it was even colder than it was last night, so she lived in the garage for 3 months last winter. (But for the lighting, it cost us nothing but a little more trouble cleaning out her crate every few days, and she laid eggs like there was no tomorrow.) I am not going to bring her in this year. She has to make it on her own, but I feel confident she will. She is still near the bottom, but she sleeps in a nestbox inside the intermittently heated henhouse now, and it keeps her from being bullied. She also wears a nice chicken saddle. (BTW, @Leahs Mom thanks for the other link!)
While frostbite isn't the end of the world, it
IS painful. Very painful while that tissue is dying. My hen couldn't stand to have her entire comb touched until her little spot smaller than a lentil completely healed. So if you are seeing frequent, regular, or severe frostbite, especially causing substantial loss of combs, wattles, or especially TOES, please rethink what you can do to change your management so it doesn't happen that often. A chicken that has lost most of its toes and is walking around on stumps or little nubs may be a live chicken, but it's not a comfortable chicken. It is going to develop arthritis in its legs and what's left of its feet because those toes not only grab onto perches, they spread out the bird's body weight when they stand. Chickens need their toes. Do you see chickens often standing on one leg, like a flamingo? Nope, because it's too much weight on one leg for more than a minute or two.
There is more to consider than the question "Did it live?" Consider "How does it live?" Some birds are really tough and can survive most of what mother nature (and we) throw at them. Others can't. Even if you don't consider your birds pets, or even semi-pets, if you are raising them for income, you need them to do well, too. You can't sell show a bird with frostbite or missing digits for a reason.
No matter what management style you adopt (heated vs. unheated, fully enclosed vs. free range), there are always things that all of us can do to make life for our birds safer, healthier, and more comfortable. We have made changes and improvements every single season of the four years we have had chickens to make them comfortable, happy, and productive.
<Puts soapbox away.> Thanks for reading, and please take this in the spirit in which it is intended.
