One cold Silkie - help!

[songbirdfarms]

OooKay chicken problems...I have a flock of six, five are buff orp Silkie mixes and one (Roo) named Beau is a full Silkie. Until recently one of the mixes (Claire) roosted in between nesting boxes nightly with the Beau and everybody else roosts on the roosts a few feet up. Now that they’ve grown to full size Claire can’t fit well with Beau and is trying to roost with the rest leaving Beau by himself, and northern Michigan winter is coming on (we will have snow by months end and are already dipping into thirties at night). This doesn’t leave time (due to quarantine time) to bring in another full silkie and, what to do with poor Beau who’s gonna freeze???

 

[Lunafarmchickens]

OooKay chicken problems...I have a flock of six, five are buff orp Silkie mixes and one (Roo) named Beau is a full Silkie. Until recently one of the mixes (Claire) roosted in between nesting boxes nightly with the Beau and everybody else roosts on the roosts a few feet up. Now that they’ve grown to full size Claire can’t fit well with Beau and is trying to roost with the rest leaving Beau by himself, and northern Michigan winter is coming on (we will have snow by months end and are already dipping into thirties at night). This doesn’t leave time (due to quarantine time) to bring in another full silkie and, what to do with poor Beau who’s gonna freeze???

It's good that he is sleeping between the boxes instead of out in the open, be sure to keep lots of bedding in the coop. Try feeding them warm foods like cooked oatmeal (unsweatened) that usually helps. Make sure the coop isn't too drafty, you might consider covering any windows with a tarp or a thin peice of wood. If worst comes to worst you could use a heat lap in the area where he sleeps. Silkie's are hardier than the seem though, the fluff does a decent job of keeping them warm, as long as he isn't shivering and acting lithargic he should be ok.

 

[aart]

OooKay chicken problems...I have a flock of six, five are buff orp Silkie mixes and one (Roo) named Beau is a full Silkie. Until recently one of the mixes (Claire) roosted in between nesting boxes nightly with the Beau and everybody else roosts on the roosts a few feet up. Now that they’ve grown to full size Claire can’t fit well with Beau and is trying to roost with the rest leaving Beau by himself, and northern Michigan winter is coming on (we will have snow by months end and are already dipping into thirties at night). This doesn’t leave time (due to quarantine time) to bring in another full silkie and, what to do with poor Beau who’s gonna freeze???

Maybe you need to rearrange your roosts?
Pics of inside of coop, with dimensions, might help garner some suggestions.
Birds keep themselves 'warm' as long as they are dry and out of any too strong drafts.

 

[Zach123]

Our silkie hen decided she didn’t want to go in the coop one night a week or two ago. Nighttime lows have been in the 20’s and 30’s (one night last week it was 11*) I found her the next morning gleefully pecking around the yard with a nice layer of frost on her fluff just as happy as a clam.

I don’t encourage this by any means, but I wouldn’t freak out too badly as long as he’s in the coop at night.

 

[songbirdfarms]

Sooo, I spoke to the owner of his parents, who also used to own my coop, and it turns out he has a case of Lazy Roo! I’ve since been putting him on the roost at night, where he will stay but not choose to go Thank you for all the suggestions!