surviving the cold?!?

[lcwmt]

Last week a lot of folks in the Mid-West and Eastern states were posting their serious concerns about dealing with the impending Polar Vortex. My understanding is that y'all got some serious cold but are warmed up again. Is that true? How did your chickens do?

Here in the Rocky Mountain West, we were not impacted by the Vortex, instead have had typical, for us, weather extremes.
e.g. Friday the high was 45 above zero. Saturday, everything shifted to sub zero overnight and either sub zero or single digits above zero for the daily high. We have an accumulated 14" of snow here since then.
Friday the flock was mucking around the place, in the grass, in the mud! Today we had to shovel out the path to the coop door.

This morning it was negative 15 in the coop at 7 a.m. The sun is out now but we are not expecting a warming trend. It is 0 at 4:30 p.m.

My flock of 11 has two heated water containers, an un-insulated coop and covered runs, and can free range at will. This week they have elected to stay in the coop (except for the two birds that want to lay in the nesting box of their "grow-out" coop. Silly girls).

They get supplemental cooked grains, mealey worms, BOSS and some scratch grains, along with their balanced feed. These high calorie feeds are alternated. Their preferred supplement is cooked grain (quinoa or brown rice).
Their least favorite thing is scratch grains - and in that mix, corn is what they leave behind. go figure <LOL>.
I check for eggs a couple of times a day, and check on the birds more often than that. They are fine! They do not all huddle together and there is no indication of bullying. When I check in or refill feed or water, there are happy chicken cooing sounds. At dusk everyone is at roost.

My take aways:
Choosing cold tolerant breeds works for me.
Sufficient interior space is a very good idea. There are days they do not want to leave the coop at all and need to be able to huddle up or get away from each other, depending.
Keeping a shelter without supplemental heat or light has allowed these birds to be able to adjust to extreme temperature variations. Plus, we avoid the fire hazards associated with heat lamps as well as the health hazards that might result from power outages.
We are looking at another week or two of sub zero temps. I'm hoping the flock continues to manage as they have so far.

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

My birds did fine in south western Indiana. A little frostbite but nothing major.

 

[NNYchick]

We had a blizzard with 35” of snow, polar vortex, spring day at 50 degrees and an ice storm all in one week. Just another winter in Northern NY for us. I’m used to the drastic changes. I have my setup so my Silkies and Seramas stay in all winter with enough room. I give scratch just before roost when we are going below zero. My serama hen that decided to be broody in the same box as my Silkie got a little frostbite bite on the top of her comb but everyone else is good.

 

[MissChick@dee]

4* this morning @ 8:00am
High of 27* this afternoon.
I’m so done!
This is typical winter for me.
I felt so bad for those who endured the polar vortex. I too would like to hear how it went for them.

 

[Mrs. K]

I have a shelter in my run, with some old shower doors making a little sun porch. Mine have tended to huddle there, but this afternoon, one was roosting in the corner, catching the last of the sun.

We are -3, got to a high of 1. Some of my combs look a bit grayish, but mine are active and vigorous.

Mrs K

 

[sharkerbaby]

My girls made it through mostly unscathed. At the height of the event we had a record cold day where the HIGH temp was -12 and the low was -28 (those are actual temps not "real feel" or wind chill temps). a few of the chickens may have minor frost bite on a few tips of their combs but otherwise everyone's fine, including my one silly lady who thought it was a grand idea to really dive into her molt just a few days before the cold blast!

My coop is unheated with no supplemental light and the only "winterization" I did was to cover 3 sides of my attached run with clear shower curtains. I do have a heated waterer and feed bowl (i ferment my feed) and both worked perfectly even at the lowest temps.

The humidity inside the coop was equivalent to the outside humidity and the walls, ceiling, and windows were not damp nor frosty in the morning. However, I did notice two or three of my girls appeared to have small patches of frost on the tips of their back feathers. The only thing I can fathom is that while they slept with their heads tucked into their feathers, this was a result of their breath moisture freezing almost as soon as it escaped their feathers and settled onto their backs? If all my girls had frost patches I would attribute it to a coop condition but since it was only a few I concluded it must be due to individual situations or differences.

I was quite surprised to see all of my chickens spend at least a few hours in the wind protected attached run with most perched and basking in the sun or scratching and pecking at the ground the majority of each and every day. I did have two adventurous ladies who trampled through the shoveled path to peer into my back door and beg for treats a couple times. The first time 5 of them made the trek and I could tell some of them regretted the decision and were showing signs of cold fatigue. They wouldn't even follow me back to the covered run with the shaking treat can so I had to pick them up one by one and carry them back to the covered run.

I also should mention that i did heat up their feed in the morning. I also gave them more high calorie scratch and provided a mid afternoon treat of warm oatmeal as well as a just before roost time handful of cracked corn.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Our polar vortex last week was -42 real temp at its coldest point. I did bring in the premier lamp and cozy coop flat panel heater for those nasty days. I’ve got reflectix on my walls (silvery bubble wrap) and snow bunked up half way up the coop outer walls. . -5 inside the coop. The girls stayed pretty active feeding. I’ve seen birds just stay roosted with minimal eating and drinking. -20 F coop. That’s not a nice coop. It’s ok for a day or two. But I’ve seen a winter of it and it was wearing on the birds. I added heat.
They make metabolic adjustments I’m sure and grow extra down at the base of their feathers. But I’ve also heard of dead birds underneath roosts after temperature extremes. I’ve got the means to take cruelty out of the picture for them safely.

Another key to keeping them warm is keeping that water open as much as possible. They seem to go through the water when it’s cold. If it’s polar vortex weather. I’m adding electrolyte ( Merrick’s blue ribbon) to help with stress.

 

[aart]

Yep, survived...maybe even thrived.
Got lots of eggs...and lots of frostbite amongst my single combed birds.
Had no seriously cold stressed birds, I attribute this to giving them rolled oats soaked in Sav-A Chick electrolytes/vitamin solution every other day.
We had negative singles and teens air temp lows with -30°F wind chills and 18" of snow
preceded by an ice storm.
Birds stayed in coop for 4-5 days.
Then we had a few days of thaw with 50°F highs and rain, so 100% humidity.
I changed out about half the bedding yesterday, it was so damp, before the temps plummeted again....now we have high winds with neg windchills and a bit of snow, birds will stay inside again today.
<shrugs> it's winter.

 

[lcwmt]

aart said: <shrugs> it's Winter.
Yup!
Today we are back in double digits above zero! a welcome break that is expected to be short lived. Today will be a good day for freshening up the coop.
One thing that is helpful *here* is our low humidity,. Even when snow gets in nothing gets soggy, the humidity in the coop is about what it is outside and often lower.

It is helpful and reassuring to read how other folks manage the extreme winter weather. Thanks for chiming in.

 

[Mrs. K]

We hit -18 last night, but the sun is shinning and we are suppose to get above 0, next week is cold with highs in the low 20's and teens. But here too, low humidity. With even the slightly longer days I am getting more and more eggs each day. Little tricky to keep them from freezing.

Mrs K