Saturday, January 18, 2014

Re: [CHICKENS-101] Chickens in the cold

 


Oh my!  That's a lot of work!!
 
I'm in a pretty sheltered spot, the wind mostly just goes over the top, and I have a good wood henhouse.  No, I do not provide heat or light, although they do have a nice big window that faces due south.  It's usually nice in there, even when it's pretty cold.  I just don't expect eggs this time of year.  
 
Yes, those combs will get frosted, but it will heal.
Hang on, this winter won't last forever.  
Cold spells come and go in slow waves.  I'm in western NYS, I think it's going to get here about Tuesday.
 
Good luck,
Diane S.
   
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2014 11:30 AM
Subject: RE: [CHICKENS-101] Chickens in the cold

 

Hi All, I cannot start a new post with this darn yahoo group so am starting with Cold chickens.....Last week it was minus 40 windchill here in lower Michigan then after 3 days of that.the temp rose to almost 50'. Our neighbor lost his coop .His chickens knocked the heat lamp down and it burned the entire building to the ground. We have never used  heat lamps and after the neighbors sufferings we never will.                       What my husband and I have done( because we have 5 different coops with over 60 chickens) after everyone has gone to roost,we take them down and place them in both plastic and metal, very large dog crates with lots of wood chips in the bottom. We pack the chickies in pretty close then cover them with either a sleeping bag or blanket to keep the heat in. They are not too tightly packed but they huddle together closely and the large crates give them plenty of headroom and lots of ventilation.yet keeps the body heat.It looks like we will be packing them again in the next few days as the minus temperatures are back. Before packing them this way, some of the Orpington roosters had frosted combs but everyone is alive and well so far.I applied vaseline several times to rooster combs(even with pepper) but most still froze so when its cold it is COLD!  Kathy Tomlinson in SUPER  C C C C CCold,  Maybee Michigan




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