Minnesota!

[KlopKlop]

Or like this? Geeze -

Looks like you've got it!

 

[gofeedthegirls]

I've used the reflective insulation board on the roof ends of one of my coops but discovered that if they can get to it, the chickens will eat it.  Not just a few pecks but the entire thing if they can.  Silly things!  They love foam insulation!

Mehh. Shoot

 

[NathanZee]

Hi Nathan, Thanks for looking into getting your hen a little friend, chickens like to be in flocks. if you can't find one, the dude at ramsey farm and garden might have a half english game bantam/half japanese something or other bandam. A juvinile, so cute! you'd have to call and ask though, it might be spoken for, or he might be keeping him. I saw it last week, he thought it was going to be a cockerel.

Okay thanks! I'm not sure how hardy japanese are, I want something that is somewhat self-sufficient.

 

[Cluckies]

I bought some of these non insulative reflective blankets to put around the roost last year, but I never used them, maybe that would work?

 

[holm25]

I am glad to see  someone of your generation is seeking out wisdom from people who have a lot of it to share!  You are a smart young man!

Thanks! I have yet to meet a kid who is into that stuff either. I think I get this stuff from my great grandpa. He loved farming and animals and my grandpa does to.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I have heard the most likely time to get frostbite is low 30s with high humidity... anyone?

Humidity!!!! There is the true culprit!
I have had some HUGE single comb birds out here. There are a few factors that come into play. How big the comb is. How thick the comb is. How damp/wet/humid the coop is. How cold the temps are. Cold alone doesn't do much damage on most, and none on many. When you bring moisture into the picture, THAT is what will freeze the combs.
Here is my 4-year old Welsummer cock, One-eyed Willie Nelson (only recently dubbed this name). Notice, he had no comb, no wattles (and missing an eye from fighting when he was in his second year). His second Winter, he was outside in the rain the day before the temp dropped to about 10-degrees. Half his comb froze, half his wattles froze. The next Winter, pretty much the same deal, rainy day followed by a huge drop in temps. The following Spring, the comb and wattles looked like this...gone. First they turn purple, then yellow as they fill with white blood cells rushing to the damaged tissue, then black as the tissue becomes necrotic. It is awful to see, and they even fill up like little balloons. DON'T drain, pop, mess with them in any way after this, just let Mother Nature take her course. Imagine touch a burn victims skin, it is about the same. You would think that after the first year with him having this happen, I would have made sure he was in. That is the drawback of raising a large number and having more to sell off when Winter starts, you run out of the best places to keep them.

I have also raised Black Minorcas and those combs and wattles are each as big as my hand. They suffered much less frostbite because the thickness of those areas is much greater than the Welsummers, therefore allowing more blood flow. The Minorcas never got more than the very tips nipped, under the same conditions.




I have tried Bag Balm, Vaseline and Vicks. It does help, but if you have moisture in the coop or on the birds, even that won't stop frostbite. The other place they get wet is dipping their wattles into the waterer.
Moisture comes from the build-up of poop too if you get too much freezing in and then it thaws is the worst from that aspect. It is also not good for them from a respiratory standpoint.

So, the moral of this story is KEEP THEM DRY. KEEP THE COOP DRY and you don't have to worry nearly as much about that cold giving them frostbite.

All that is about chickens. Turkeys.... had them live outside for two entire winters and didn't even nip their snoods because they tuck their heads under their wings. My first one insisted on roosting on a duck hutch and I finally gave up on putting him in at night because he would just get right back out and up there. He would have freezing rain a quarter inch thick on him and still just sit there.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I've just been reading on the turbine vents for those of us that have gabled roofs and not the simple slants. I think it would be almost worth it to do a roof cap that allows venting down the whole length of the peak rather than the turbine vent....Just read one thread and read one instruction thing for installing turbine vents. I'm overwhelmed already.

It is called a ridge vent, and if not installed correctly will just have snow blowing in and down on top of your birds. Sadly, that has happened in my building from the day it was built. Not by me, mind you. I stuffed foam up in it last year to stop the snow coming in. I have to do something better before it gets blowing again this year.

 

[KlopKlop]

Good morning, chicken friends!

 

[duluthralphie]

Good Morning


I am becoming disappointed in all of you. 2 posts in 14 hours is not acceptable! Please start yakking!

 

[Cluckies]

Good morning!

It is called a ridge vent, and if not installed correctly will just have snow blowing in and down on top of your birds.  Sadly, that has happened in my building from the day it was built.  Not by me, mind you.  I stuffed foam up in it last year to stop the snow coming in.  I have to do something better before it gets blowing again this year.
 

I wonder if you could do a tarp over it, lose enough to let air in, tight enough to block snow?