Respiratory ailment, quick killing, 1/4 flock, older hens

[IamRainey]

Glad you don't have Newcastle to deal with.

Could it be the brutal cold that's simply too much for some more vulnerable birds? Is insulation or cutting down on the volume of space so they could maximize their collective body heat a possibility? Are there other safe animals that could be in there with them like cows or goats to generate additional body heat?

How do you keep their water from freezing? Is that technology something you could expand upon to generate some heat?

My grandmother lived in Maine and had her cows in uninsulated barns back in the early 1900s. I don't believe she ever kept chickens.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Glad you don't have Newcastle to deal with.

Could it be the brutal cold that's simply too much for some more vulnerable birds? Is insulation or cutting down on the volume of space so they could maximize their collective body heat a possibility? Are there other safe animals that could be in there with them like cows or goats to generate additional body heat?

How do you keep their water from freezing? Is that technology something you could expand upon to generate some heat?

My grandmother lived in Maine and had her cows in uninsulated barns back in the early 1900s. I don't believe she ever kept chickens.

While it may sound nice to cut down on space or even add animals to the coop to produce heat, depending on the coop set-up that may not be feasible and could potentially exacerbate the problem.
In winter, we tend to want to close up chickens, but they fare much better with space and plenty of ventilation. It seems counter-intuitive, but a good deal of fresh air needs to enter the coop and pull moisture and ammonia from the air. Respiratory illness and distress can be seen in flocks that are closed up in coops/spaces that have poor ventilation.
A chickens breath is moist, their droppings are moist- this contributes to moisture held in the coop if not properly ventilated. Excess feces generates ammonia and birds can suffer from respiratory distress and ammonia toxicity and cause problems.
Respiratory diseases can be in dust/dander in birds, so in confined spaces, a lot of times there can be outbreaks.

Anytime birds can have access to plenty of fresh air/ventilation it is best. Adding other animals to a confined space would just add to more moisture and feces to the coop.

 

[IamRainey]

Thank you, Wyorp Rock. Your point is well taken and I'm glad you cleared that up!

I'm still wondering though if the large loss of birds was due to extreme cold and what practical way there might be to add some heat.

 

[Cyprus]

Can someone with more knowledge than me confirm or deny if the systems compare to that of vND?
Fwiw, vND is carried in wild bird populations as well which, here in WI being a testament, are at least present in the upper midwest. It could be in Maine.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you, Wyorp Rock. Your point is well taken and I'm glad you cleared that up!

I'm still wondering though if the large loss of birds was due to extreme cold and what practical way there might be to add some heat.

Your question is valid about extreme cold, this is why testing would be important.

Can someone with more knowledge than me confirm or deny if the systems compare to that of vND?
Fwiw, vND is carried in wild bird populations as well which, here in WI being a testament, are at least present in the upper midwest. It could be in Maine.

No way to know without testing. A lot of respiratory ailments can look very similar.
Environmental conditions also need to be considered.

 

[Liddy]

I had 63 chickens at the peak, late last fall. A friend got out of the chicken-tending business for the winter and gave me her last 6 hens. They arrived in early November and I quarantined them for 6 weeks without incident. I knew I had too many hens and over half were 2+ years old, so I began culling them in early December.

The flock is now down to 36 hens. I know that ITL is highly contagious and I kind of think if that were the infection I would have lost more than 1/4 of my flock. The sources of the current hens are varied....some came from a local feed store, which gets them from from Mt Healthy Hatchery; some are homegrown, hatched in a friend's incubator; some came in a Cackle Hatchery Surprise Package 3 years ago; and the last 6 acquired in November were hatched a year and a half ago under a broody across town. There is contact with crows, which I see going in and out of the coop shed occasionally now, gleaning spilled feed and scratch. I have actually seen them fly off with eggs in their beaks, probably from eggs laid outside (in warmer weather).

I do not heat my coop. The hens have been inside since the first heavy snowfall back in December. They love to eat snow but they HATE to step in it! In years past I have opened the north pop door during the day once the snow rose above it, and they ate at the wall of snow for months, until they had eaten enough that the roof load sliding off might have engulfed them and I kept them in until the metal roof was clear. (Many animals have disappeared in similar climates during the winter, to be discovered under melting snow piles come thaw.)

Water is dispensed from a 5-gallon Lowe's bucket with 4 poultry nipples in the bottom, suspended on chains from the ceiling. Said bucket contains a birdbath de-icer in the winter. On really frigid mornings (when temp drops below -10 overnight) the poultry nipples will often freeze. I go out then with a cup of warm water filled to the brim and it takes only brief contact to thaw each one. The resulting water riots keep it flowing until the next night.

As for sending birds south for necropsy, Orono is a 2-hour drive from here. I have had no deaths (other than offing another pesky squirrel in the garage) for over a week now. The carcasses are frozen in the garage in sacks, waiting until I believe they aren't needed for anything. It's been so cold up here that they were frozen within an hour of expiring. I shall give them a call next week and see if frozen birds are of any use.

Let's see if my file upload works...



The rear section is the original coop, measuring about 10' x 12'. The window faces west and I only close it when there is driving rain or snow, and then once the storm passes I open it again. It's been half-open for the past 2 months. The level of the snow not far out there is about 2' above the window sill. The chickens roost off to the sides on those bars during cold weather. There are 6 nesting boxes in that area, with flaps I can lift to gather eggs without entering the coop.



This is the view from the front of the coop shed, looking back to the rear window and pop door. (The front portion of the coop can be partitioned off, which is where I kept the meat birds last spring.)


A slightly different view from the front. The front area of the coop is 7' x 8'. Between the front and rear areas there is what used to be a corridor 4' wide that became incorporated when I combined the coops. That has a small raised cage where I keep any chickens that have to be kept separate for any reason, such as cleaning them out before butchering or if they need a bit of time healing if Pick No More doesn't do the job. I have a Polish I may have to sequester there for a bit if the bullies don't leave her alone. (Since she'll be in there by herself, I'll provide an adult version of Mama Heating Pad on low.)


The coop shed from outside. This front window is also always open. Since it faces east, I don't close it at all. The front area holds bags of feed that are watertight, an old cooler filled with scratch, a workbench with tools, the trash barrel, and bales of Koop Clean. The snow can whirl around in there all it wants and it won't hurt anything.


The coop shed closed for the night...the door does not latch right now. (A friend loaned me a trap for the weasel, so if it goes in there, I might get lucky!) You can see the snow we're dealing with this year. The fence around the Henitentiary is 6'. The depth in the side yard is higher, where the tractor blower sends the snow from the wide driveway.

I hope this helps!