OHio ~ Come on Buckeyes, let me know your out there!

[ShayBaby]

Thought I'd leave this here. Someone came up with a great idea of a map of "chicken sitters". So if you need to go away from home, you can check the map to see if anyone is nearby, and/or pin yourself on the map (you have to sign into a Google account to be able to pin) as a potential chicken sitter. I've added myself.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/845677/map-of-potential-chicken-sitters#post_12569387

 

[big medicine]

The bigger risk to chickens in really cold weather is making your coop too tight. They put off a lot of moisture through respiration, if coop does not have enough ventilation/ air exchange, this humid air greatly increases chance of respiratory/lung problems, and frostbite.

As long as they don't roost directly in a drafty area usually healthier than in a too tight coop.

 

[misfitchick09]

Ive got 4 heat lamps in my coop to keep my silkies warm and the lamps have been in for over 2 weeks now i check in the morning and night

 

[TERRY4]

Ive got 4 heat lamps in my coop to keep my silkies warm and the lamps have been in for over 2 weeks now i check in the morning and night

I was told by more than one chicken person, not to use heat lamps. Hope it'll be ok. Our chickens are doing fine without. Just use cracked corn, etc. I mentioned what I feed a few times now. Are those chickens not very hardy? What's your coop like?

 

[ShayBaby]

I'll be rigging up a single heat lamp after all in my big 8x12 in a bit. My LF aren't affected by the cold at all, nor the ducks, and strangely neither were my bantam modern game pair.. but all my other little banties (a couple dozen of them) seem miserable. Shivering, not wanting to move, small appetites.. I think I got to a couple of my little roos just in time. They're inside now. DH said he'd run a whole new line out to the coop and install a switch so I could turn the lamp on whenever I wanted, but I really don't want to use it more than necessary. Hopefully no longer than just this weekend/early next week. Hopefully one lamp only heats just enough to raise the temp a few degrees so they're not spoiled to the cold. And I'll be rigging it up tight so it can't fall. Nervous nervous.

 

[loveourbirds]

silkies arent the most cold hardy of chickens, i would recommend heat lamps for them - red lamps.

the big issues with using light for heat (we do it here), is over stimulation - and if you only run one lamp and it blows, they get chilled.

if you run white lamps 24-7 the chickens become over stimulated, laying very well for the cold temperatures; and using alot more feed. when you turn the lamps off, it forces a molt that kills your egg production. when i turned my lights off last summer i went from about 8 dozen eggs a day out of that barn, to maybe a dozen (a day) in less than a week. red lamps seem to help as the chickens will sleep under red light, consuming less feed and not laying as much. make sure they can get away from the lamp, if you put your hand under a red lamp for a few seconds you wont feel much heat. if you leave it there you will get a burn in a matter of minutes.

to avoid the lamp blowing and the chickens getting chilled, use 2 lamps on opposite corners of the coop. that way if one blows there will be a backup. now for the other down side - be prepared for a power outage with either propane heat, or a generator.

if you can "lower the roof" of the pen it helps too, i have some 8x8 pens with a peak at 3 feet. on these pens if i block the wind on 3 sides and keep plenty of bedding in, i never have comb freeze.

as big medicine mentioned, make sure you have a draft- and feed some cracked corn late in the evenings on these cold nights. the corn probably works better than lamps for most breeds.

bantam breeds, light weight breeds, and breeds with large straight combs are less cold tolerant than others. if you have a pen of buckeyes or brahmas, corn would probably be all you need- as long as they can get out of the wind.

 

[loveourbirds]

shaybaby - fluctuating the lights on and off with the weather will mess with laying, some people say up to 6 weeks. in this cold weather its probably better to leave them on (you can turn them off in the daylight hours on warm days to help the electric bill). this is just an opinion, take it as you will

.

running a 250 watt heat lamp for 24 hours costs approximately $1.00.

 

[chicknmania]

Our barn is big and it's so cold! We have two heat lights out there for them to get under if they need to. I'm not so worried about our chooks who have weathered several winters, but I am worried about our newbies, especially the Ameraucana pullets and the Silver Laced Wyandottes. Our new Barred Rock pullets don't seem to mind, but I hope the cold doesn't bother the others, we already lost one Ameracauna pullet, before Christmas, and I think it was due to the cold. brrrrh, hardly anyone is moving around! I brought them warm water for their waterers this evening and they had extra cracked corn in their dinner...

 

[blessedchick]

The cold coming in the next few days is going to be BRUTAL! So far my LF have been doing just great roosting tightly together and foraging happily in the daytime. I have upped the amount of corn in their diet and also added more BOSS. Calf Manna goes into everyone's feed bowls as well.

The Silkies have been a tad less enthusiastic, but so far so good with just the same feed additives as the LF. For the next round of negative temps (-20 predicted here on Tues!) I will add more straw to the Silkie coops and give the younger ones access to their Sweeter Heaters - infrared heaters without the danger of fire. I buy the yellow "bug lights" from Lowes to use in place of the red heat lamps. The heat lamps are just too much of a fire hazard for me to risk it, so I get the yellow lights (easier on the electric bill) and ceramic reptile warmers for additional warmth without the risk of fire. I have only put lamps and ceramic heaters in the coops one other time, but I'm breaking them out for sure! The babies, "special needs" chickies and young juvies are all coming inside for this spell of freezing temps. I also make sure that there are at least 4 birds/pen for "puppy piling". They will all get warm oatmeal/turmeric/scrambled egg casseroles for dinner and warmed fermented feed for breakfast. Fresh water with probiotics and vitamins in heated dog bowls - FF kept from freezing by serving it in bowls placed on electric candle warmers ($5 Walmart). And lots of prayers for them to be happy and warm when I check on them in the morning (probably a couple of times during the night, too)

Everyone PLEASE be careful and safe with these plunging temps! I'm praying for all of my fellow animal lovers!!

 

[chicknmania]

What does the calf manna do?