HensInTheForest
Songster
So it’s going to be literally the coldest night of the year here so far with lows around -15.
We always do a head count each night in the coop just in case.
Daughter comes in the house to say more than half the birds are still in the run and door is closed for the night. What???
Every night for 2 months they all tuck themselves in. I was out there earlier as they were aLL starting to file in for the night to pick their spot. Well I guess not all!
Our only real solution is to carry them way around to the front of the shed into the barn where their coop is and do it that way. With the temps I didn’t want to reprogram the auto door or mess with it in any way. Nope. Besides we have to shove them into a long dark tunnel it doesn’t go well in the dark.
We got 10 inches of snow in addition to the 10 already on the ground, so very thankful that my husband spent 3 hours outside plowing our paths all around.
So at -7 we bundled up ourselves and took them one by one, then 2 by 2 in arms and carried them around and popped them in.
The run was at 5 degrees when we went in. They were sitting on the roost bars in 2 groups of 6 all tight and in formation.I left roost racks in from summer but never thought it would be an issue. obviously they roost and walk on them all the time during the day hours.
So interesting they would pick tonight to try to sleep out. Literally no wind or breeze but still.
Right now it’s 30 in boxes, 16 in coop and -3 in the run. It’s -12 outside. The coop did raise up 2 degrees within minutes of the birds being added so that was interesting.
They keep us on our toes!
Watching the local bird threads on my FB roll past with so many people freaking out about the temps and their birds. So many are yelling no heat others are selling heat lamps. Wow it’s like chicken 1984!
One lady brought hers into the dining room. Yikes! You would think it would be harder for them to readjust to the freezing cold again after warming up to 70. Is that a real thing?
Anyway thanks for reading our silly winter story.
We always do a head count each night in the coop just in case.
Daughter comes in the house to say more than half the birds are still in the run and door is closed for the night. What???
Every night for 2 months they all tuck themselves in. I was out there earlier as they were aLL starting to file in for the night to pick their spot. Well I guess not all!
Our only real solution is to carry them way around to the front of the shed into the barn where their coop is and do it that way. With the temps I didn’t want to reprogram the auto door or mess with it in any way. Nope. Besides we have to shove them into a long dark tunnel it doesn’t go well in the dark.
We got 10 inches of snow in addition to the 10 already on the ground, so very thankful that my husband spent 3 hours outside plowing our paths all around.
So at -7 we bundled up ourselves and took them one by one, then 2 by 2 in arms and carried them around and popped them in.
The run was at 5 degrees when we went in. They were sitting on the roost bars in 2 groups of 6 all tight and in formation.I left roost racks in from summer but never thought it would be an issue. obviously they roost and walk on them all the time during the day hours.
So interesting they would pick tonight to try to sleep out. Literally no wind or breeze but still.
Right now it’s 30 in boxes, 16 in coop and -3 in the run. It’s -12 outside. The coop did raise up 2 degrees within minutes of the birds being added so that was interesting.
They keep us on our toes!
Watching the local bird threads on my FB roll past with so many people freaking out about the temps and their birds. So many are yelling no heat others are selling heat lamps. Wow it’s like chicken 1984!
One lady brought hers into the dining room. Yikes! You would think it would be harder for them to readjust to the freezing cold again after warming up to 70. Is that a real thing?
Anyway thanks for reading our silly winter story.
I should have went with 5/8”. I had to put a tarp across the side of the coop the wind is hitting and that helped a lot.
