Precautions in the cold

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Lucylou

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Hi Everyone.

How's everyone coping with this bad weather & snow we're having down in the south (Osric you're probably used to it but we nesh southerners can't cope :lol: ) I'm wondering how to keep the chooks warm enough. I know they have a much higher body temp than we do & don't tend to feel the cold (its the wet & wind more that effects them) but I'm just a bit concerened they're OK.

is there any way of telling? The Campine was cold to touch this morning when she first came out of the house but don't know if this is significant. They are all complaining madly but they might just be chatting :lol:

I've cleared all the snow, as best I can, from the run (one & a half hours of toil, as it was about 6/7" deep, I hope they appreciate it!) but its more the warmth aspect that concerns me. They have plenty of shelter. What do you all do folks?
 
I always give Ready Brek done with warm water for breakfast on cold winter mornings. My chooks love it and it really helps them start the day having something warm to eat. Sometimes its just pellets soaked in hot water for a while before being mixed up and given in a bowl. But Ready Brek (store own brand equivalent) is their favourite.

Other than that, let them forage as much as possible, give them somewhere to shelter and as long as they can outside in the day to get the light etc.
 
Mine have been having something warm for breakfast every day for over a week now.Usually layers mash mixed with warm water,or ready-brek,this morning they had uncle ben's express rice(golden vegetable) done in the microwave.I add a tablespoon of bio yogurt to cool it slightly and a pinch of poultry spice.
I do know what you mean though Lucylou.
All my hens are piling into my lounge and spending the day in here,they go outside occasionaly for a minute or 2,then come back in.I worry though that they are cold at night.I'm going to add sheets of newspaper under their bedding to try and insulate their house more.I've added extra straw etc.,but,it is very cold so hoping they are all ok.
 
I'm having a bit of a job dealing with the snow here.

I've built an extra shelter which they've made almost no use of whatsoever! I've started putting some treats in there for them to tempt them in. I'm assuming they just need a bit of time to get used to it.

The original shelter I made them is being used now. I added some straw to lift them up from the cold.
The temperature never got above freezing the last two days so the fresh water started icing over quite quickly and needed bashing through. I'm pleased I've got more than one water feeder!
I'm giving warm breakfasts consisting of kippers, sweetcorn, porridge, salmon fishcakes, pellets, wheat depending on what I've bought for them at the time. They aren't doing much foraging as there's snow everywhere but if I clear the snow or trample it down they'll come out for a little wander before heading back for the straw.

More snow on it's way tonight!

Osric
 
I think the best thing I can suggest to everyone is to just have your chooks in your house with you....make everything a lot simpler and warmer for us....never mind the chooks :D .
 
I am curious. How cold are we talking here? I live in Canada (near Ottawa, Ontario), and cold for us is -40C or lower. The past two nights it has been -25C. My chickens are in a new 7'x13' pen with insulated floors, walls and ceiling with three windows for light and fresh air. Right now, fourteen chickens and two geese share the space during the night (geese are outside during the day when it isn't too nasty). The roosters are rotated in cages as I have too many and can't bring myself to dispatch them although I keep promising myself I will - someday). Every rooster has some un-caged time every second day all year long. Their cages are roomy and well littered with straw and they actually seem to prefer being in them this time of the year. I have a wide shelf built over the cages where I put extra food and water and where the chickens spend part of their day since they can't be outside. Their water freezes during the night but they seem quite happy and warm when I tend them first thing in the morning. When the sun is shining they love to sit where the rays can reach them.
The new pen is courtesy of my wonderful son and grandsons who built it this summer. My former pen was an old building not originally intended for poultry and had no insulation. I put straw bales everywhere and I suppose that helped somewhat but it was still very cold in there. The roosters froze their combs but otherwise were fine. If they are well fed and have the body fat to burn, are dry and sheltered, they can tolerate quite a lot of cold. Still, one feels sorry for them when one's fingers are freezing after a few minutes and they have to tolerate it for days at a time. I think were are all very happy with the new digs.
 
Hi Maryellen,

You've certainly got the really cold weather. Over here in the UK its nothing like that! Only a couple of degrees below freezing but we're not used to it & it always takes us by surprise :roll: Over the past few days we've had quite a lot of snow & as its only once or maybe twice a year we don't have the facilities to deal with it.

My chooks house is quite OK for our normal winter weather but the first night of snow it was windy aswell & it blew the snow everywhere & there was a tiny amount of snow even inside the house :o It had found a tiny crack round the door & managed to blow through the gap. They still come out during the day & were much happier yesterday as I'd put some straw down.Overnight the water freezes even when I take the containers under cover & the ground is solid! They don't like it all :)

The poor chooks had quite a fright when they came out of their house on friday morning & saw the snow. It was like a cartoon, the first one trotted down the ramp then came to an abrupt halt with all the others behind bumping into the one in front :lol:
 
At the moment it is -10 here at night,sometimes -12/-14,today during the day it warmed up to -4,their water isn't freezing every day with the added glycerine,but some days it has frozen.I never leave food or water out at night.
 
-25 is quite cold but it's a dry cold. It doesn't get that cold even in my wind swept village! Minus double figures isn't unusual though.
I was on a course a few years back and was chatting to a (very nice!) Norwegian lady who was complaining of the cold and I had a t shirt on. She said it's a different cold here. I wasn't sure what she meant until I visited Poland in winter a few years back. I prefer it as cold as possible, my joints stop hurting for a start. November and December is no fun and damp cold isn't nice!

I don't know for sure how resistant to the cold my hens are but they'll wander around in the snow for a little while then head back to the straw I've spread around, and the warm breakfasts I give them doesn't last long.


On a completely different and random note...

At age 38 years and 1 week I finally lost my last milk tooth! I just pulled it out! The last remnant of my youth is sitting next to my keyboard as I type and the right side of jaw hurts a lot. Maybe feeling the flesh tear away from the tooth as I pulled it out was a sign that it wasn't ready to come out yet :?

I hope this doesn't mean I'll grow up and start acting my age! :o


Osric
 
Osric said:
I hope this doesn't mean I'll grow up and start acting my age! :o


Osric
Click to expand...

I don't think there is any chance of that Osric :D .Happy Birthday for last week.
 
We get both here and when the humidity is high, it is a biting cold that penetrates your bones - or so it feels. I grew up on the prairies (West/Central Canada) and it was much drier there. When I moved here over 40 years ago I thought I would never be warm again :( One acclimatizes though.
 
Lydia said:
I don't think there is any chance of that Osric :D .Happy Birthday for last week.
Click to expand...

Cheers mate!

I put a new battery on my car at teatime. I take back what I said about the cold, it was vicious today! :shock:

Looks like my hens are getting used to the snow now but they're still sticking close to the straw.

Osric
 
Chickens can usually cope well in the cold - there are a few things though that I try to remember:

Water - they need it to drink :roll: - bring water containers in on really cold nights or cover them with old jumpers etc on nights without a really hard frost. I forgot last night...

Food - They need to eat more high energy food to produce more heat to keep warm - An extra scoop of corn will give them what they need.

Snow - So many people say Chickens are 'stupid' but in fact they are nervous to change. They get stressed easily by small changes in routine or food for example - Changing the floor to white is a huge change for them to deal with.

Cockerels with big combs :shock: they can freeze - usually the tips. This usually only happens (in the UK anyway!) when there's lots of moisture in the air in the coop. When the humidity of the air in the house is high and the temperature drops below freezing is when your cockerels comb is most at risk. This can also cause infertility. Cockerels - Frozen combs article

That's about all I do for them - they do of course have a clean, dry house with their normal food / grit in.
 
Here on the Great Plains we just went through a bad blizzard this past week. Winds of up to 60mph drove the snow in places that even the strong storms of spring doeasn't get wet.

The temps were in the 20F range, too lazy to convert tonight, but all told we only lost two birds. One was due to the weather as I found nothing else wrong with her and one was due to the strong winds blowing the coop door open and having a house cat make an attack. It injured two other birds but they will recover.

Through the winter we often have temps of close to 0F along with strong north winds. As Tim said keeping the birds hydrated is very important as well as upping their calories.

A dog house is what I use in most of my pens as shelter and on brutal nights an old blanket tossed over it is all the birds need to keep warm at night. I water in the morning, again at noon and in the evening when I get home.

Through winter I will boost the protien in the feed plus I give them Alfalfa pellets as well plus a little chopped corn (maize) to help them build up heat.
 
I've just finished reading 'Bantams' by Helga Fritzsche (it had good reviews on Amazon). I felt really bad as it says they can't tolerate low temperatures of 0 degrees for very long, and recommend you have a thermostatically controlled heater in the run, which I obviously haven't got. My girls are in an ordinary wooden arc, with the run of our garden during the day. They weren't keen on the snow we had recently (only an inch or so!) and Flo got scared and flew up on top of the (6ft) fence. After that, they preferred to stay indoors and couldn't really be enticed to come out until it had all melted. I ended up giving them food and water in the upstairs bit, as they didn't even want to come down the ladder.

Does anyone else bother with heaters? I know it's been cold but I'd worry about them overheating as it's only a small arc (I've got 3 Banties).
 
I forgot to add that apparently a very small amount of glycerin added to the water will prevent it from freezing. Don't know how true that is, and whether it'll affect the taste? :?
 
Hi Pony Girl,don't worry about a heater,if they are very wet I would suggest drying them,especially around their feathered feet(I do this to my 2 pekins and 3 sablepoots)so they aren't damp to go to bed.
Mine don't like getting wet and shelter when it is raining.
Yes,you can add glycerine to their water,it does help to stop the water freezing.It doesn't seem to alter the taste,mine all still drink it.
 
I haven't read 'Bantams' but I would disagree with the temperature (assuming we're talking 0 degrees C, not 0 degrees F), as long as they are fully feathered, have a draft free house that keeps them dry and the correct diet and water, they should be fine below freezing... our American / Canadian friends will be able to back me up on this I'm sure.

The other week it was -9degrees C here and I went to my growers at 5.30am, I was absolutely freezing and was in a hurry to clear the ice off the car and get to work. When I opened the house, I picked a couple of them up to give them a quick stroke (so they get used to me and become hand tame) and they were warm where they had been cuddled together. I held them for a minute or so to warm my hands!

Chickens will be nervous in the snow (unless they are used to it) because they are creatures of habit and the slightest change can stress them. Changing the floor from green grass to white snow is a pretty major change and they will be very cautious of the change.

I haven't tried the glycerin added to water but I'm sure Lydia? and Ozric? were talking about it somewhere on the forum. I put my water containers in my garage / house on cold nights and on frosty nights throw some old coats over the top of them to stop them freezing.
 
Over the past week since the snow first came, we've had snow, frost & rain in various combinations. I've discovered from this that my chooks don't mind the snow (after the initial shock) or frost half as much as the wet & rain.

I could see a change in them on the days it was frosty, compared to the wet days, visibly happier despite it being colder. They really don't like the wet!
 
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