Live in a Very Cold Winter area? Post link to your personal page here!

[cicene mete]

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Unfortunately, my chickens live in a pen in the barn. It is not insulated, and although I have heat lamps, the heat is not contained in the way it would be in a coop. All I have is cardboard above the lamps and to the sides of their roost to keep it somewhat contained. I'm really worried it's good to be too cold for them. Keeping them in a pen in the barn has been great (relatively safe, lots of room), but it's going to be very cold in there tonight.

In the future, I'm thinking I should build some kind of structure like a little cubicle around their roosting ladder to keep the heat a bit better. Any ideas would be welcome as I'm a city slicker and have no idea what I'm doing half the time.

The flower pot was a great idea. I'm definitely going to do that.

 

[LynneP]

A perimeter of extra hay bales is good too provided you can do that safely. Old exercise pen for dogs, with strips of cardboard woven through the wire, that sort of thing. Even a wooden crate, large dog kennel with excess bedding, cardboard box for appliance. It all depends on what you can safely provide. I understand your concern only too well and if the power goes out you need a backup plan. And be extra-cautious about fire hazards, things have a way of shifting and blowing- doors blow open, lofts come undone...check, check, check

 

[Catalina]

I bit the bullet and bought a heated waterer today. I got by last year without one, but This year is sooooooo much colder!!!!

I also bought some Timothy grass (it was right next to the waterers -impulse buy!) for the girls. They loved it! It was expensive $3.49 for a tiny bale, but it smells so fresh and I like to spoil them!

 

[LynneP]

Good for you! Think of it as pampering yourself as much as the birds. Hauling water when you know it will freeze is the most tedious work of all. Your birds will love that bale and later in the winter you might want to get a bag of timothy alfalfa chunks- the shortened stalks give them a treat and the stuff is absolutely untreated. You can also soak the chunks in hot water and daub things like yogurt on or in it. Even for the cold-weather states and provinces it's been unusually severe and prolonged. We're going into a 5-day blast and none of the animals are going out, tough they have natural light. The elderly horse is very unhappy about it but at least I'll have him at the end of this.

Air temp today -14C and going down; wind chill -23C; overnight expected to be -27C with wind chill -41C, then it gets worse. Ugh. Coop was -2C this morning (comfortable) but this will not continue.

 

[patandchickens]

We were down to -33 C (-27 F) again this morning by dawn. I actually put the horses in the barn overnight (only happens a couple days a year - they basically live out 24/7) but stupidly when I saw it was only -22 C at 5:15 a.m. I had my husband turn them out before he left for work. So basically they got put outside just *as* it started to get real cold

Oh well, they're fine, and at least they got to spend the night inside and take a lying-down nap on some comfy shavings. The older TB is not *enjoying* this weather but he's fine, given a warm blankie and big shed and lots of hay.

They'll go in again tonight (supposed to be even colder, eep!), and possibly stay in for the morning too if we get the high winds that are forecast.

The CHICKENS otoh are perfectly FINE -- their building is still about -7 C or thereabouts (+20 F).

Stupid weather!

On the bright side this *ought* to be the worst of it. Second/third week of January is usually the coldest, and I am not sure we have had any February temps below -25 C since we've lived here. So once we get past tomorrow, things start getting better. Uh, on average. Slowly.

Pat

 

[chica-z]

Quote:

-22F here last night, -41F windchiiiiilllllly. And the girls opted to go outside and scratch around today. My eyebrows felt like they were frosting over when I went out this morning, like one big unibrow!

 

[luvmygirlsinAK]

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Keepin' my fingers crossed for you, Pat!!

Meanwhile, we've got rain predicted, with a light misty rain coming down at times-makes for an interesting trip into town when the road's frozen!! To say the least!!!

Yesterday I had to go into town 4 times while my van was being fixed, and the drizzle had already started. Quite a number of vehicles in the ditch, especially pick-ups-so glad we decided not to drive the pick-up yesterday even though it would have made it so I wouldn't have had to go into town so many times!!!

_30 F. predicted for monday.

I'll definitely be glad when winter is over this year!!!

 

[FrontPorchIndiana]

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Your kidding?!! Mine looked at me as if to say "What? Were you born in a barn? Close the dang door!" No way were they going out.

 

[Catalina]

Mine begged to go outside, so I opened the door (Honey was chest butting the door -silly girl). They went out for about 2 min. and then zipped back inside, sat under the heat lamp and gave me dirty looks, like "What's the big idea!?! It's COLD out there! Why did you let us out?"

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

I've got a doz heritige turkeys who will not go in, they roost in the pine trees and on the wood piles, there is a lg heated water bucket and a 50 lb covered feeder always full, this morning it was -19 i'm not sure what the wind chill was. they where by the door this mornng walking around. Every morning I go out hoping not to find turkey ice cubes. Tomrrow morning it going to be even colder.....burrrr......wind chills around -40