Surviving Minnesota!

[Cluckies]

Looks like some minor frostbite on Sentry's wattles. When things got real cold this week, I went to a rubber pan with bird bath heater in It. Guessing while we were gone he got them wet drinking. Maybe I'll go back to a quart waterer that I swap several times.

The pan hasn't frozen at all outside, but I don't like the frostbite.

I've found that you may need to lift up the waterer, place it on a sturdy stand, cinderblocks or something. that way their waddles can rest against the pan and not dip in. my husband made a stand, i'll try and find a photo or 2...

 

[Cluckies]

PC?
Frostbite stinks. Even my PCs have some now.
The males on the right and left are the ones with frostbite. Middle one has been untouched so far.
View attachment 1221452

Is there any way to lower your roost? I've heard there should be at least 2 feet between the tops of their heads and the ventilation to try and avoid frostbite...

 

[Cluckies]

Tractor supply has huge pine flakes right now, bigger than i've ever seen. bigger than the ones at running @duluthralphie Also, they are pine. I don't know what the ones at runnings are, they didn't say, they don't smell like pine though...

 

[BantyChooks]

Is there any way to lower your roost? I've heard there should be at least 2 feet between the tops of their heads and the ventilation to try and avoid frostbite...

Not without un-installing the blocks for it... it's a baffled vent, no direct wind through it... when they're sitting it's about 1 1/2 feet to it. Camera angle's really odd there.

 

[BantyChooks]

A bit of a better angle here.

 

[duluthralphie]

Tractor supply has huge pine flakes right now, bigger than i've ever seen. bigger than the ones at running @duluthralphie Also, they are pine. I don't know what the ones at runnings are, they didn't say, they don't smell like pine though...

I need to run to TSC then...IN ER?

 

[Cluckies]

I do, but it is pretty high up above their head. it keeps the air around them a little warmer, still allows the ventilation to run up from the west side (which is lower than the east) and out. I do have a seedling mat hanging on the wall behind their roost, I think that helps keep the humidity down.

I used to think that the seedling mat did nothing, but one morning when it was pretty cold and I had not turned on the flat panel heater, they were all facing the wall for the slight heat. funny. The seedling mat is just barely warm, but keeps the wall behind them from getting cold.

Here is an old photo... If I remember I can try and get another later.

Yes, they are spoiled...

Got it...

 

[MNChickMom]

I need to run to TSC then...IN ER?

TSC in Little Falls has the huge flakes too. (Just Sayin)

 

[BantyChooks]

Got it...

View attachment 1221510

Too cute!

 

[Cluckies]

I need to run to TSC then...IN ER?

Yep, and it looks like little falls also,