Rooster, Hen & Me All Squawking

[Sanguine]

Hokay,
I have a great water heater in the smallish coop, lots of hay on the raised wooden floor, lotsa pine shavings on the roosts--but after I added a light, they won't go in at night. The bulb holder had a warning: Made in China and wash your hands after handling as the lead will cause birth defects. Christmas night was going down to 6 degrees, so I thot to risk the lead until I can try and find something else, altho they all seem to be that same silver finish that is so toxic! My old, non-toxic one died awhile back.

So tonight, they kept piling out of the coop--into the freezing dark--very odd. Then, when I got them to go back in, the rooster faced the wall and kept crowing. He often crows facing the coop walls. What? I know he crows when folks visit, and for general communication, but...

Earlier today, gathered some new eggs and the hen who laid them went back and sounded like she was crying, she was so upset they were gone. She still seems in shock, just stares into space. Is this emotional trauma or the lead paint?

Otherwise, everything is fine. Are you sure they weren't brain-damaged being at 95 degrees for weeks on end as baby chicks? My other hens could let themselves out of the coop in the mornings with a little push, these wait for me to open their door.

 

[Tala]

everything has that warning.

I promise that your chickens haven't been lead poisoned from being in the same coop as a light socket that was made in china.

They probably just aren't used to the light. Are you using a red bulb? Then it's too bright they can't sleep under it or are just freaked out by it. The light is also what makes the rooster crow.

Obviously they are doing fine outside without the heat, maybe you don't even need it.

Seems like it's causing more trouble than good.

 

[Kittymomma]

I agree with Tala. Also, we were down in the single digits a couple of weeks ago with highs in the low-mid 20's. That is crazy cold for here in the NW, but my chickens all did fine in their unheated and unisulated coop. As long as there are no drafts and you have good ventilation I think they'll be fine without the light.

 

[Sanguine]

Thank you for your quick replies! Will hike back out and turn off the light--Kinda thot of doing that when all this happened earlier, it does not really add much warmth--75 watt! The rooster crows outside the coop usually--just always facing it. It's like he crows AT the wood, with his beak about an inch away from it. But good lookin--wheee.

It is not the socket, but the wide, round kind of metal cuff reflector that is painted with the lead paint. I know a friend of mine found that warning on a heating pad--really hard to not touch the cord/controls of a heating pad--or to remember to wash your hands each time you do! Especially for somebody pregnant, for example, who could have a child with a birth defect. Nobody talked about folate when I was young, now and then a baby just had spina bifida. And you think of those Chinese factory workers...the warnings are in English.

I work with patients who have developed horrible diseases due to exposures to stuff--it seems unimportant until you know somebody who suffers from something like that. Like, who used to worry about tick bites when we were young?

Is it common for hens to mourn having their eggs vanish?

 

[gsim]

Non of my pullets mourn for egg losses that I have noticed.

I have read of putting a heat lamp under a clay flower pot and in a clay saucer, and maybe up on a couple of bricks. You get the heat without the light. In fact, it does not have to be a heat lamp, but can be a common incandescent bulb Would take several in a larger coop. Might make the difference in frostbite of the comb or not tho.