- Apr 4, 2013
- 10
- 0
- 22
Okay so this is my first year with chickens and I have learned a lot but still have a long way to go. I had 16 chickens ranging from 5 weeks to 8 weeks old. We have a mix of Barred Rock's, Dominique's, Buff Brahma's, Buff Laced Polish and some Silkies. I woke up this morning to a very sad sight.
We ordered a coop from a local feed mill and it got delayed 2 weeks. It arrived yesterday and I was anxious to introduce our flock to their new home. We weren't counting on them being in the brooder for as long as they were and they more than outgrew it. The brooder was in our unheated attached garage and we hadn't used a heat lamp for at least a week.
Our coop is 6' x 8' and it has 8 brooder boxes. We covered the floor in pine shavings and moved them in and all seemed fine. I was a little worried because it is unusually cold here this time of year and was supposed to get down to 36 degrees but after reading some threads on here and knowing that they are all full feathered at this point, it seemed like they would be fine without a heater.
I went out to check on them before I went to bed and there were 3 - 4 huddled together in one corner and the rest (12 - 13 of them) were all crammed together in one of the brooder boxes. I didn't think much of it other than being impressed that they could all fit and figured that was how they were going to stay warm.
I checked on them first thing this morning and most of them were happily walking around the coop. I opened up the brooder box lid just to make sure everything was okay and there were two dead chickens. It was pretty upsetting. They are either Barred Rock's or Dominiques, I am having trouble telling the two apart. They were both pressed into the corner on the floor.
It almost seemed like with all of them piling into one brooder box that these two unfortunate chickens got smothered by the rest. When I took them out this morning they seemed really packed in there. Is this normal? Is there any way to stop them from doing it? When I saw them that way at night should I have done something then? Or is it more likely that it was the cold?
Any help or feedback would be greatly appreciated.
We ordered a coop from a local feed mill and it got delayed 2 weeks. It arrived yesterday and I was anxious to introduce our flock to their new home. We weren't counting on them being in the brooder for as long as they were and they more than outgrew it. The brooder was in our unheated attached garage and we hadn't used a heat lamp for at least a week.
Our coop is 6' x 8' and it has 8 brooder boxes. We covered the floor in pine shavings and moved them in and all seemed fine. I was a little worried because it is unusually cold here this time of year and was supposed to get down to 36 degrees but after reading some threads on here and knowing that they are all full feathered at this point, it seemed like they would be fine without a heater.
I went out to check on them before I went to bed and there were 3 - 4 huddled together in one corner and the rest (12 - 13 of them) were all crammed together in one of the brooder boxes. I didn't think much of it other than being impressed that they could all fit and figured that was how they were going to stay warm.
I checked on them first thing this morning and most of them were happily walking around the coop. I opened up the brooder box lid just to make sure everything was okay and there were two dead chickens. It was pretty upsetting. They are either Barred Rock's or Dominiques, I am having trouble telling the two apart. They were both pressed into the corner on the floor.
It almost seemed like with all of them piling into one brooder box that these two unfortunate chickens got smothered by the rest. When I took them out this morning they seemed really packed in there. Is this normal? Is there any way to stop them from doing it? When I saw them that way at night should I have done something then? Or is it more likely that it was the cold?
Any help or feedback would be greatly appreciated.
