Pullet Died, did she get too cold?

[Corey NC]

I have a SLW/BO pullet between 12-14 weeks old that I found dead this evening when I went to close up, she couldn't have died much before I came down as her neck was still limp and had not stiffened yet. She was on her back just underneath the lowest bar of the roost as though she had been just sitting on the lowest bar, died and fell backwards.

Here are the surcumstances, I did not go down to close the coop doors last night because I feel asleep after an extremly long day and did not wake up until this morning. So when I woke up this morning is was snowing/sleeting/raining and it has countinued all day like this so this morning I looked out and I could see all the chickens and everyone seemed alright so I decided not to go down and check on them.

I left around 1 and did not get back til 5 and when I went to go and lock the chooks up for the night I found the pullet and I realized the banties (where this pullet was) coop had run out of feed since I'd last checked it (wed. morning). FYI our temps have averaged between 30 - 34 degrees today.

So I've figured that she was wet and cold and died of Hypothermia (what are signs of this?).

Is there anything I could of done for her? If I came down to check on her earlier all I would have seen is a cold wet chicken just like all of the others what would have distingished her as "near death"? All the other chickens seem just fine if a little wet and cold, how can I prevent this in the future?

 

[BantyChickMom]

Corey you can put a heat lamp out there for them.

I just moved 8 out of the house about 2 weeks ago, just as it warmed back up in the 60's and 70's. They are 2 and 3 months old and I was concerned about the cooler temps so I have 2 heat lamps in a 7 X 7 X 3.5 pen that is wrapped with plastic on the sides, the top is covered.
Yesterday I put in 2 bales of stray in the middle to hopefully act as a barrier to help keep the heat on one side and make it a little warmer.
I checked on them a little earlier today and it was about 45 in there.
I also bought 2 more heat lamps, 250 watts each, just in case it needs to be warmer.
The lamps i have now are only 150 watts each.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Corey NC]

I can't there is no way to run power to it, it is a good ways away from the house.

 

[tiffanyh]

Corey--
My temps are in 10-20C and everyone has always been okay. i would think it would have to be colder for 30-40 to affect her, even if she was wet. But I guess if she got wet enough, maybe. I guess as long as you can keep it dry they should be okay in low temps. I have no heat in my coop for 3 years, so dont feel to bad about not getting heat out there.

Sorry about your chickie!

 

[countyroad1330]

So sorry about your chickie.

My temps have been in the 20's a couple times this winter, and mine are doing fine. I'm gonna bet there was something wrong with her that you just didn't know about, and probably couldn't have helped. Is their coop covered enough to keep the wind out?

 

[Corey NC]

Are all of your chooks full grown that are surviving in the 20* temps, she was only 12ish weeks old, that may have been the problem though she always was small than my full blooded buff orp from the same hatch.

 

[MissPrissy]

Sorry about your loss but I would suspect something was going on prior that caused this. Chickens are hearty in general and those temps shouldn't have had too much effect on her.

I don't really advocate heating coops but on the very coldest of freezing temps without having electricity you could try boiling water in gallon jugs wrapped in thick towel to add some heat to the coop as well as giving them a scoop of cracked corn in the late evening.

 

[Stormhorse23]

my chickens are in their coop (plywood walls) and have been fine in negative temperatures. its pretty tight in there, so i guess they keep each other warm.

 

[picklespickles]

it really could have been anything. don't feel bad because you skipped one night. sorry that she passed.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I thought I couldnt get power to my coop eiterh when we built it becasue it is at the back of our lot but my dh ran power off the box my air conditioner was using outside , he made a breaker box thingy with an electrical wire to an extension cord plug thingamagig and I ran a long cord from that to my coop. You could ask someone that knows electrical things if it can be done and then I use those red heat emitting light bulds from petsmart so I have 200 watts of heat in a closed up "A" frame coop at night and they are pretty cozy. See if it can be done from your air conditioner unit outside. I plug a fan in during the 95 - 100 degree days in the summer. sorry about your loss. Darlene