Integration mishap- pullet with bloody head

[My1stChickens]

Integration is going super well-- they are spending several hours out in the run together, with both groups having access to the coop. I still separate at night.... Two of the younger group have started laying- Bernice and Fancy. Sadly this winter weather is going to put a cramp in all this good stuff. Today it was 60. Tomorrow it rains til the temps drop, then it will be ice or snow. Friday low 22, Sat down to 8, Sunday high of 20 low of 14-- and still snowing. Monday the precipitation stops but we don't get up to freezing. So tonight I moved them all to my horse barn. I don't trust integration enough to confine them all together, so each group has a stall with a makeshift roost, water, feed, makeshift laying boxes, a snuggle box. I will use the LED panel heaters behind the roosts. If the barn gets too cold, I will use red heat lamps in those fixtures with a wire basket to make a small warm spot available. I know lots of chickens would handle this-- but these chickens have not acclimated to anything close to this kind of weather. They've had mid-20's with LED heat, but seriously, we've been 60-70 degrees and this is just too dramatic. Once the storm is over we'll be high's around 40 and low's mid-20's -- they can go back to the coop and run for that. Hopefully a few more days of full integration in the run, and I can remove all the dividers in the coop. Life will be SO much easier when that's the situation.

 

[My1stChickens]

Saturday- it was 19 when I got up, and has pretty much stayed there all day. will drop to 10 overnight, but they say we'll get back up to 19 tomorrow before back down to 10. The chickens are quite annoyed to be in the barn, they probably think it's still 65 and sunny outside. The barn has not been less than 37 so far. The sun TRIED to peek out a bit today and it was enough to hit the greenhouse panel windows, and raise the barn to 41 so I was grateful.

Louise cut her foot on a wire (I had wired a heat lamp and she made a spazzy move from a platform and grazed it with her foot-- if I had not seen it I'd be baffled but I was there to witness it) Her foot is hurt, but I can't catch her except on a roost so I'll clean it up and bandage it when it gets dark. I hated to let her walk on shavings and straw and no doubt step in poop, but opted not to terrorize her by trying to catch her with a fishing net. I'll just clean it good, slather with antibiotic ointment and hope for the best.

I was going to use heatlamps during the day if needed, but got skittish about it just in case someone did something stupid. So instead I set up water heater plates, on top of 16" square concrete pavers, elevated on sturdy horse ground feeders. One is working for sure, the other requires double checking when I got out again. (both brand new in the box, could have got a dud)

Still have about 65 hours to go before we get above freezing. Yesterday they were miffed and I only got one egg. This morning I had 4-- two from new layers, plus two big girls that had not laid yesterday. By afternoon those SAME two girls laid again. I guess they had their legs crossed holding back but are not caught up.

Get chickens, they said. It will be FUN they said.

 

[Bawkbok]

but opted not to terrorize her by trying to catch her with a fishing net.

Sometimes to catch my non catchables, I toss scratch on the ground and when they are face down in the dirt hoovering it up, I snatch up whomever it is I'm trying to catch. If you're quick, it works. I do this only when I need to see someone immediately vs. waiting for roost time. Just sharing what works for me.

It IS fun. It's also work and time consuming and of course, rewarding in ways beyond yummy eggs. You're doing great.

 

[My1stChickens]

When I was younger, I was quick enough to catch one greedily eating. But between bad knees and imperfect balance, I waited til she roosted. Had all my supplies out and ready- nonstick sterile guaze, antibiotic ointment, strips of 1" wrap and even some paper towels for cleaning the wound. Caught Louise on the roost, took her to the supply table and better light... examined foot carefully. Checked the other foot in case memory failed me on which foot she hurt-- but no it was FOR SURE the left foot. Checked it again. Rearranged the bird to check both feet from a different angle. There was NOTHING, NADDA. No cut, no swelling, no blood, nothing. I think the damned bird maybe stubbed her toe or something, but she did not require any medical attention. That was the good news last night. It had gotten really slick and somewhat uneven due to snow drifts. I decided the back porch was just too treacherous, so to avoid a fall, I was going to drive from the garage to the barn. The barn is a 300' walk from the back door-- but going by car made it maybe 1200'. I made it halfway before I was stuck. Tried everything I could, to no avail. Walked to the barn, reset the timers on their heat panels to 12 hours, then back to the care to try some more. I had to call for help. Dear friends came, dug a tiny bit under each front tire, and with two of us pushing, the car was unstuck within about 4' and backed the rest of the way back to the garage, and pulled it in. So embarrassing. But grateful for good friends who oddly just get a kick out of rescue missions during bad weather.
This morning it was 10, -6 with windchill. Barn was 35. The sun peeked out for a bit, and barn warmed up a few more degrees. So no supplemental heat, just water warmers. Midday check, lights out check and one more late night to reset the panel heater timers to last through morning, and make sure my elderly hen is in front of the heater, not off to one end of the roost.

Tomorrow no better but the next day will be.

 

[My1stChickens]

Monday: it's up to 28! and the sun has but out for most of the day, which does a miracle when it hits the greenhouse honeycomb panels of the barn windows on the East side. Barn was 32.5 this morning (not bad since the low was 10) but I just did mid-afternoon check and it's 50 degrees in there! Hens are happy. Last night I suspected a third pullet had started to lay, and today confirmed it-- I had 3 little eggs in their stall, in various shades of brown. Tomorrow it's supposed to get to 40. But I have approx 8" of frozen stuff on the ground, except for the drifts, some of which are a foot, some are more. I'm hoping to move them back to the coop on Wednesday, but I would like to have some decent melt so there is bare ground in the run even if parts are still iced over. Just have to wait and see. Ordered a third panel heater, since it's clear all 3 of the 8 month olds covet a spot in front of a heater that's really not big enough for 4. And the elderly hen needs it most. So I'll hang two for the four of them back in the coop to ensure the old girl is not deprived of her spot in front of the heater. (Twice during the storm, she was at the end of the roost far from the heater and I had to rearrange things)