Worried about coming cold...15 below!

[chubbydog811]

NH here...
i hadnt even thought about the poor chickens for later this week! though i dont worry quite as much, because both the coops are draft free, and insulated.
What does greesing their combs and wattles do? Just prevent them from cracking in the cold? or is there other reason? What do you grease them with?

 

[CityChook]

Hon, I live where it's gonna get cold again, too. Yes, colder than usual. Give them the light for a few days. If you don't want to leave it in there after it warms up, then take it out. It will help you sleep at night. Just make sure it's mounted securely so there's no fire danger. Good luck.

 

[jhm47]

We are now in a blizzard. 6" of new snow, along with the 38" we already had, with winds up to 45 mph. Temps predicted to be in the -25 degree range for the next few nights. This is not unusual weather for us during this time of year. As to our birds, we feed them well, and usually supplement them with a small amount of cat food, or some type of high fat treat. They love it, and it does help them to maintain their temps in these extreme cold days. We do have some that freeze their combs/wattles, but many are not affected at all. We have SLW bantams, so they have rose combs. Our RIR bantams will freeze their combs more readily than the SLW's because the RIR's have fairly large, single combs. We do not provide them with artificial heat sources, just bed them and feed them well. Good luck!

PS. Winter can end any day now. I'm ready for spring!

 

[digitS']

I have a tight, insulated room in the coop. There's no heat and when outside temps drop very low, water will freeze.

During the subzero nights & days we had in December (it warmed up

!?!), I was using a very small waterer and thawing it indoors 3 times a day. The birds had fresh water by 7 AM, after 4 PM, and around 8 PM. They have light in the coop from 6 AM to 9 PM (only an 11 watt bulb).

Deep dry litter, draft-free coop, plenty of feed, and fresh water . . . Oh, and pick up the eggs a couple times each day - they'll freeze, otherwise

.

Steve

 

[bearz]

My hubby piled up tons of snow on 2 of the 4 coop sides. The 3rd is only a foot away from our shed so protected from wind and the 4th is the side with the door, and the snow there is halfway up the building. We figure this will help insulate the coop, like an igloo.

He also tossed out more straw and I'll toss some out tomorrow morning too. The thicker the floor bedding the better, I'm finding.

 

[patandchickens]

A.J.'s :

I read your ventalation page. I worried about the curtains you talk about. do they come in different colors. That is just one example of the problem I have with reading the well thought out and well planned instructions the page contains.

Who on here has a ventilation page talking about curtains?????????

I s till do not know the difference in a draft and a ventalation. to me they are one and the same. I suppose a draft might be in a space that would cause dirrect cold to be on a hen. where a vent would be a more organized draft.

There, see, to you they are NOT one and the same. Same with chickens.

If it blows cold air on a chicken and makes the chicken chilled, it is bad and we call it a draft.

If it introduces fresh air but not blowin' right at the chicken, then it is good and we call it ventilation.

(You can use whatever other words you want, of course, but the basic idea remains.)

The rest of your post completely baffles me.

Look, if you need more ventilation in your coop, just go and cut some vents in it, k?

As your grandma would undoubtedly say.


Pat​

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Sure, absolutely. Windows are not always the ideal way of doing it, though -- they are more apt to be creating a breeze at the chickens, and unless your windows can be opened from the *top*, you are letting out less-warm and thus less-humid air. A simple system that works real well is to have a number of good-sized vents at the tops of all 4 walls, with closeable flaps/sliders/etc so that you can close down whichever ones according to the weather. This way, the air that's going out is the warmest and thus most humid air in the coop, so you are getting maximum 'bang for your buck' so to speak. But if your coop is designed so that cracking the windows works well for you, then certainly keep doing it

Have fun,

Pat

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Our new coop has a peaked roof with open space under the eaves for ventilation. Since we're getting single digits here this week, I covered the openings. It is not air tight and I can remove the covering in the warmer weather. But, it removed the ready blowing of air up under the eaves.

To me it is ventilated reasonably well during the cold months if some air can and will move in and out of the coop, it's drafty if you can feel a breeze anywhere in the coop. In the summer you may want that breeze.

I just put rolled up newspapers in the spaces and covered it with an old shower curtain. The chickens can't get up there (They do try) So it should be fine.

They have a heat lamp too. It makes me more comfortable than it probably does them, but if they get chilled they can go roost under it and get a warm up. There is also a white light in the coop on a timer and I have one hen that I find laying directly under it all of the time.

It doesn't feel all that warm there to me but she seems to like it there.

 

[jvls1942]

I figure going n and out the coop a few times a day is enough air exchange to keep the humidity down.. I do have one 3"x7" hole that never gets closed.. My wife wants it closed up, I never got around to it..

our minus 15 weather is here .
luckily the wind that was predicted has not started yet..

I have not been out to the chickens today yet..

they are in an insulated coop so I am not worried..

no drafts except for that one hole.. (let's call it a vent).

 

[momofdrew]

it hasnt dropped below zero yet and my chooks are out in the yard...we do have weak sunshine...my coop and run has a few feet of snow piled up ontop of the straw I put around the outside for insulation at the beginning of the winter... I will add more shavings and straw inside the coop and keep an eye on the waterer...extra treats also ... I brought my setting hen in today as she hasnt left her eggs to even drink because of the cold...