Super cold weather!

[llombardo]

All I do is a double check of everything. Is the food full, is the water thawed, is the coop door secure, is the bedding clean/dry/full, is everyone there and active and perky by day, is everyone in the coop on the roost by night? That's it. They do just fine. Chickens can't feel the "wind chill" when in their coops, there is not wind inside, the temp is the temp.

I brought mine in. I do have rabbits out there and I could not get into the run today. Everything is ice. I had to bri g several buckets of warm water to melt a small area to open the gate. They have heated water bottles but it doesn't help if I can't get to them.

The netting is really low due to the weight of ice. I am so putting up a roof over the run. Lesson learned.

 

[spiritpots]

All I do is a double check of everything. Is the food full, is the water thawed, is the coop door secure, is the bedding clean/dry/full, is everyone there and active and perky by day, is everyone in the coop on the roost by night? That's it. They do just fine. Chickens can't feel the "wind chill" when in their coops, there is not wind inside, the temp is the temp.

This is what I've been doing as well and everyone seems to be doing fine. There's a touch of frostbite on the comb of my brown leghorn, which doesn't surprise me as the breed originally came from sunny Tuscany. No sign of frostbite on the orpingtons or maran, though. I've heard mixed comments about applying vaseline, etc. to the comb to prevent frostbite but have opted not to do anything at this point. If you have any recommendations regarding frostbite please let me know. Thanks!

 

[PirateGirl]

This is what I've been doing as well and everyone seems to be doing fine. There's a touch of frostbite on the comb of my brown leghorn, which doesn't surprise me as the breed originally came from sunny Tuscany. No sign of frostbite on the orpingtons or maran, though. I've heard mixed comments about applying vaseline, etc. to the comb to prevent frostbite but have opted not to do anything at this point. If you have any recommendations regarding frostbite please let me know. Thanks!

I know that once there is frostbite you cannot reverse it and it's best not to touch it and just watch for overt signs of infection. As far as the vaseline thing I've heard it argued both ways and have never seen any science or study to back it up one way or the other I have a lot of winter where I live so I chose my breeds accordingly and don't really have any big combs in my flock. Even the few single combs are on the small side on heavy bodied birds.

 

[Ms Chicory]

I use a plastic heated dog dish in my coops. So far, they have kept up wiht the cold. (I've been using them for many years.)

I was thinking of trying a dog dish, I have a heated small bucket also, I was just worried if they would get their feet in it, did you ever have that problem?

 

[RumneyRoost]

I was thinking of trying a dog dish, I have a heated small bucket also, I was just worried if they would get their feet in it, did you ever have that problem?

I’ve got a heated dog dish and it’s been great. I put a couple bright rubber duckies in it as a little reminder to the girls not to step in it.
I do dump it every day or two because they kick dirt in it. But it’s never frozen, even down to -33C. My heated horizontal nipple waterer was always getting frozen nipples below -10C. Being in Canada that was basically every day in Jan and Feb.

 

[bobbi-j]

I was thinking of trying a dog dish, I have a heated small bucket also, I was just worried if they would get their feet in it, did you ever have that problem?

I have not had problems with them stepping in the dog dish. I know of another BYCer that puts a gallon jug of water in their dog dish so their roosters don't end up dipping their wattles in the water when they drink.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

This is what I've been doing as well and everyone seems to be doing fine. There's a touch of frostbite on the comb of my brown leghorn, which doesn't surprise me as the breed originally came from sunny Tuscany. No sign of frostbite on the orpingtons or maran, though. I've heard mixed comments about applying vaseline, etc. to the comb to prevent frostbite but have opted not to do anything at this point. If you have any recommendations regarding frostbite please let me know. Thanks!

Musher’s Secret is the wax that they use on dogs’ paws in Alaska... It’s supposed to work wonders for the birds too as it doesn’t contain any water and isn’t as sticky as Vaseline. You might be able to get it at your local pet or feed store or it’s avaulable on Amazon.