Would you heat silkies?

[akitafriendakita]

I'm in central Wisconsin. Last winter, a few of my silkies lost toes. I ended up having to keep like 4 of them inside for weeks in my basement which was quite the mess. I changed up the plan this winter, I moved them inside my shed so they're not touching snow anymore. Their coop is completely insulated from drafts now. I routinely check their feet for any frozen poop stuck to them or whatever else.

Would you maybe do radiant heat in the coop or no? I really want to avoid the same issue this winter because if any of them get frostbite, they have to stay in my house for like two months until the toe heals and it's not great to deal with (having all that dander inside.) Tonight, is the first night below 0F (going to be -5F or so) which is usually when the frostbite happens so just curious. I know silkies aren't quite as resistant to cold so I'm not sure how other silkie owners handle it.

I always hear no heat, which was fine for the first winter for me - but then next winter they lost toes so it doesn't always seem to work!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi!

We're in Wisconsin too. We raise and breed silkies. We do heat our coops and growout pens.

For one coop we use an oil-filled radiant heater by NewAir. We've had that for many years. On it's nearly lowest setting, it keeps the coop to 40F - ish. This one has to be fenced or put where chickens can't touch it as it can get hot. I had one under my desk and know it can smart a bit.

In the newer breeding coop, we bought this one as it was a larger area to heat than the other (12'x20'). It was hard to find one that would go down as low as 40F, and wasn't digital. We didn't want digital because should the power (Alliant) go out, digital ones won't come back on themselves.

For the growout pens, we use Cozy Coop radiant heaters. Those don't heat their hutch/mini-coop, but they give them a place to snuggle up and warm up.

We use horse bedding pellets in all of the coops, and DIY nipple buckets so no open water. Lower humidity helps prevent frostbite.

 

[ChickQueen77]

I have a heat lamp in the coop for my silkies and I turn it on when it gets really cold.

 

[akitafriendakita]

Thanks for the tips guys. I have them in my shed (in their coop) so that no wind is hitting them. Small amount of heat in the shed. I bring them inside sometimes to just check over their feet for issues (wet frozen poop on the toes.) Pick off or wipe off any poop, make sure they're dry then put them to bed.

Maybe once a week I've been doing a warm communal foot bath with them in my garage, drying them - especially if it's going to hit -5F at night. I'll probably just sleep them in my basement or garage if it hits -15-20F again at all this winter because that's when they got frostbite last time.

They're sleeping on dry bedding right now rather than bars just because it seemed to help. I change the bedding every five days or so and pick frozen manure out of it so they're not sleeping on little frozen poop balls. Working out so far!