Wool hen, but maybe snow?!?!

[beela]

I have 20 1 week old chicks in our new outdoor brooder. We live in New Orleans, so chilly winters, but not super harsh. Brooder is draft free and well ventilated, it is also sheltered on 2 sides by a fence and the tie in to the existing run. We are using a wool hen this year as there is no power to the coop and I cannot run an extension cord out there. We got them this week from the feed store, and they seem to be doing really well. Running around, eating, pooping, all good. Except that we just got a forecast that includes the possibility of snow for the first time in uh, like a decade (ok probably like 5 or 6 years). I was prepared and expecting temps in the 40's and 50's (that's what we usually get in early winter), but now I am concerned that I will not have enough heat for the babies. I have a Hot Water bottle out there with them now, but I am looking for advice on thermal mass and if I even need to be worried about them. Our wool hen is an old Styrofoam cooler with a doorway cut out and an old felted wool sweater cut up and hanging in strips anchored by wire. I covered the foam with fleece so that the chicks couldn't peck and eat it. I can continue with rotating hot water bottles, or i have a camping dutch oven (cast iron with legs) that I could preheat and or fill with boiling water to create some thermal mass in there and give the chicks somewhere super warm. So, I guess i am just wondering what y'all would do.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'd be worried about the boiling water. Anything you put out there should not be hot to the touch. It might shed enough heat to kill them. How many chicks? The more chicks, the more heat they generate. Can you bring them inside for a few days, or even nights, and put them back out when day time temps allow? Perhaps use an appliance box or any large cardboard box in the house? give them just an other week or so, then re-assess. I've never used a wool hen, but others have. Hopefully they will chime in.

Is there any way you can run a GFCI extension cord to the coop? I brood my chicks in a grow out coop using MHP and heavy duty extension cord with GFCI outlet at the house, all outlets and plugs are weatherproofed.

 

[beela]

I'd be worried about the boiling water. Anything you put out there should not be hot to the touch. It might shed enough heat to kill them. How many chicks? The more chicks, the more heat they generate. Can you bring them inside for a few days, or even nights, and put them back out when day time temps allow? Perhaps use an appliance box or any large cardboard box in the house? give them just an other week or so, then re-assess. I've never used a wool hen, but others have. Hopefully they will chime in.

Is there any way you can run a GFCI extension cord to the coop? I brood my chicks in a grow out coop using MHP and heavy duty extension cord with GFCI outlet at the house, all outlets and plugs are weatherproofed.

Thanks for the reply. I will heed your advice and skip the boiling water/dutch oven. Bringing them inside really isn't an option, and we are really only looking at 2-3 days of below 50*f, then we will probably be back into the sixties for the rest of December. (My back yard has a micro climate and usually climbs about 10*f higher than forecast temps on clear days) As far as running an extension cord, my two 70lb catahoula mix dogs make that not only unreliable, but unsafe. The dogs don't have access to the coop and run, but the only location to run the cord from is in an area that they have access to, and because they are still dog toddlers (just over 1yr), they still chew EVERYTHING. Even if the cord didn't short or pose an electrocution/fire hazard once chewed, the risk of sudden heat loss in the brooder (really more of a mini coop at 6'x3' x3.5' tall) makes it unreliable. I do have a thermometer in there and right now, with outside temps in the 50's, their brooder is in the 60s. I also have a 5 gallon cambro(very large seal able plastic container) filled half way with hot(not boiling) water and wrapped in a towel inside the brooder, and a smaller hot water bottle at the front of the wool hen. Also, there are 20 (twenty) chicks in there, so they should be able to generate enough heat in our typical winter. I think I may have panicked a bit this morning while my toes were cold, but i would still love to hear other off grid or nontraditional way to create heat in the brooder. I also have a broody silkie, if anyone has any advice on how to or if i should even try to introduce her to the chicks, I am listening. Thanks again y'all!

 

[lazy gardener]

 

[beela]

Ok y'all, between checking out the weather version of byc, and my kids begging, pleading and cleaning/rearranging their room to make space, the babies are coming inside until this weekend. The forecast is slowly changing from may be a little snow, to will snow all day on friday. The drama and stress on our other animals to bring the chicks inside just got outweighed by the potential of snow accumulation. Guess I better get the dustbuster out.

 

[beela]

Also, (I know i am essentially talking to myself here, but this info might be helpful to someone else in a few months/years if they search wool hen) I had to rework my hen this afternoon because no matter how carefully I arranged the fleece the chicks were able to peck at the styrofoam. I took the wool strips and looped them through a milk crate I had on hand, then I covered the milk crate with the fleece. I will probably place the new wool hen in a tote or something similar when I move it back out this weekend/next week so that it has more insulation, but for inside of a 70*f room, I think it is more than adequate warmth and protection. Especially considering the girls behavior. So, now we wait for the almost mythical snow from the warmth of the house, well except when I have to go out to tend the big girls in the big coop. Lol. I will try to get some pictures of the whole set up when my phone is charged. Thanks for being an amazing void to shout into!

 

[lazy gardener]

Not a void. You'll sleep better.

 

[aart]

but this info might be helpful to someone else in a few months/years if they search wool hen

Would be even better if you added detailed pics of your 'wool hen'.

 

[beela]

So life takes lots of time lol, but I'm back with pictures.
This first pic is the rework of the wool hen for inside the house. It worked perfectly fine for inside the house where the temps never got below 70*f in the room they were in. (The cover for that outlet was replaced right after I took the picture, we painted that room the week before). This is a milk crate with wool strips and a fleece cover.

This picture is the wool hen with a wooden huddle box over it for more protection in the outdoor brooder. The chicks had no problem popping in and out of the handle holes in the milk crate at this size. They stopped using the hen and switched to huddling beside it the next week, so I took the hen out and left the huddle box for a week.

This picture is from the 21st of December, and they have almost doubled in size since then it feels like. They have feathered out really nicely Which is a really good thing since we are now under a hard freeze warning for the next 4 days. I swear our winters are usually mild! I feel like I owe everyone in the Southeast US an apology for bringing this cold by brooding outdoors with no electricity. On this day it was like 70*? I don't remember, but my kids are in shorts. Hahahahahaha.

Because of the deep bedding, plexi over Windows (not over ventilation at roofline) and added draft proofing the brooder coop is keeping a steady 10-15*f warmer than outdoor run temps, and run temps are running 2-5*f over overall temps due to shelter from coop to coop and an 8 ft fence behind it all.

My chickens and chicks are pretty upset that their subtropical paradise has turned into actual winter, even if it is only for a week.

 

[drumstick diva]

I'd be upset too