Worried about coming cold...15 below!

[notsooldmcdonald]

Well, I'm going a little radical with the upcoming cold. So far, my girls have done really well with the more frigid temps, but my rooster isn't handling it well at all. He has a really large, single comb, and has gotten some frostbite in spite of lubing him up with everything from vaseline to bag balm. When I saw him not sleeping on the roost, presumably to cover his toes (was my guess), I brought him inside. He won't go out again until I can reacclimate him in more reasonable temps (he crows at 4:00, 5, and 7 am, so this is a challenge).

He's just such a wonderful guy that I couldn't bring myself to do anything else.

The girls? Well, I make sure they have full crops, lots of clean/dry bedding and liquid water.


Good luck everyone!

 

[pattycake]

It's supposed to stay below zero here for a few days here, and neither my chickens nor I am used to that kind of temp (even though I grew up in Buffalo NY).

I'm about to go to the feed store and buy several bales of straw to pile around on the inside of the coop. It will make the space smaller, dry out the air, and block drafts (uninsulated coop). I have a red heat lamp, think I should switch to a flat panel, but don't want to spend the $$.

My rooster had terrible frostbite problems last year, but knock on wood, nothing this year. His comb must have toughened up.

 

[ams3651]

im starting to get worried too. I pretty much have the drafts covered, have to go out in a few and fix the plastic sheeting on one wall. My mom is bringing a heated dog bowl she has but not till thrusday. Im going to move my heat lamp from the waterer to the roost. I hope its enough. The highs the end of the week are predicted single digits and lower. They have already been penned up for several days, the dont like the snow. Im gonna have to go buy more oatmeal. Do they get down in the bedding when they get too cold. I notice several nest looking spots but not sure if they are just scratching.

 

[katrinag]

I added a bale of straw to the floor. I also turned there heat lamp back on. It is not the day time temps that I worry about it is the night time ones. But so far everyone seem to be fine.

 

[jvls1942]

well, I just got in from taking care of the birds.. It is minus -15 below

I am so glad I insulated the chicken coop.. it is 12 ft x 16 ft..
I have 55 laying hens and 14 very young royal palm turkeys in there.
7 of the baby turkeys(6 weeks old) are in a large cage with a 150 W heat light
that is all the heat for the whole coop.. the water was not even frozen.. the baby turkeys were not even laying under the heat light.. they were spread all over the cage..that is a good sign that they are comfortable..

my egg production is getting better each day, also.. we have 25 new pullets and they are even beginning to lay.. we are up to 24 eggs per day, up from 5 just a week ago..

like I said, I am glad I insulated..

........jiminwisc.....

 

[Mrs MIA]

We had 2 weeks of -35F. Once it stayed that low, they didn't venture out of the coop for NUTHIN. I had (at the time) 12 week old ameraucanas out there, and I kept an eye on them for signs of discomfort. They can handle it for a few days, but 2 weeks straight had me bringing in a few of the babies to make sure they didn't get frostbite. I did add a single 250w red lamp over the roosts, and that probably helped keep the coop in the +10F range. Only one case of mild frostbit toes on one of the babies who is now inside - everyone else is fine.
The only birds I did have some trouble with frostbite were the single combed Dorkings. Their coop was around 8-15°F, and by day 11 they finally succumbed, despite our best efforts. We wound up putting a 60w lamp in each of the pens so that they could huddle under it.

Best advice I can offer is to watch your birds carefully. The minute you see them not acting uncomfortable (scrunched down over their feet, not walking around, lethargic, huddling in corners), you'll probably need to add a little heat. But see how they do first. They might just surprise you.

 

[goddesses]

I'm in northern wisconsin and we will get that cold a day ahead of you. Today we layed down more bedding so there's at least 4 inches of it on the floor. We also threw in quite a bit of corn, in addition to their regular feeder food. The corn gives them something to do as we will not open the coop during the cold, as well as keeps the bedding loose. Be sure there is a water heater. We use a heat lamp anytime it gets to be 10 degrees or less at night. If it is sunny and cold the coop warms up since it faces south.

I have read about how greasing up of combs and waddles is a good idea, but we could never catch our chickens to do that, so......

stay warm

 

[vtchickenlady]

I'm in southern Vermont, not far from you. We use the deep litter method and the coop is insulated. We have been using a heat lamp the last couple of weeks at night only. It stopped the frostbite problems. We also stacked hay against the sides of the coop outside and the back side is up against a hill with snow piled around it. They seem pretty toasty and a lot happier. I try not to let the coop get below 20 before turning on the heat lamp.