How cold is too cold to let my girls into the run?

[notachickennut]

If they go out it's not too cold. I have found if chickens get cold they will do everything they can to get warm (included trying to climb into my lap, even with me standing up )

 

[buckbye]

Hi neighbor, I'm in NW CT as well, and I swear my chickens prefer to go out and forage when it's cool and damp, even raining and storming. Easy for them to find all sorts of tasty creepy crawly things. They're hardier than you would think.

 

[Shadylady2u]

wow this is a great site for info.
thanks every one.

I wonder if anyone can tell me what animal
would take the head off a chicken but leave
the head and the body so it wasn't for food.
Something got in the pen and house and killed
just one young chicken

 

[what did I do]

wow this is a great site for info.
thanks every one.

I wonder if anyone can tell me what animal
would take the head off a chicken but leave
the head and the body so it wasn't for food.
Something got in the pen and house and killed
just one young chicken

If you look on the pest board you will find lots of info on raccoons and the damage they cause. It could be a skunk or a hawk too.

 

[buckbye]

^ I borrowed it from the library, so I don't have the book at my fingertips, but Harvey Ussery's "The Small-Scale Poultry Flock" had a good section on how to read a "crime scene," that is to say, how to deduce what type of predator you're dealing with based upon what parts of the carcass are eaten, mangled or removed.

 

[pmpkinchick]

Hi neighbor, I'm in NW CT as well, and I swear my chickens prefer to go out and forage when it's cool and damp, even raining and storming. Easy for them to find all sorts of tasty creepy crawly things. They're hardier than you would think.

Where in CT are you? I'm new to this chicken addiction. I have high hopes of breeding my own flocks. Its great to connect with fellow "chicken" people, most don't get it. How big is your flock? I only have 6 EE's (12 wks) and 8 Australorps (5 wk roo, 3 wk unknown). I want more!!!!!!!!

 

[sbhkma]

I have 5 chicken about 3 months old also am new to owning so I could be wrong abouabout their age. I live in aArizona where its gets to 117' we have built a coop with fans and misters in the runs. But is it still too hot

Put frozen water bottles in the waterer for them. Mine also love having a pan of cool water to stand in and cool off. I bought a stainless steel pig slop pan that's about 4" high and big enough for 3 chickens at a time. They love their little wading pool! I have a cover on the run and the pool is in the shade. Of course, mine get out from 10am to dusk as well and they have a wading pool that catches the drip water from my A/C so they always have fresh cool water in it on the shady side of the house. I'm in South Central TX so it gets hot here too. Not 117, but still plenty hot. I hose my horses off when it's over 100.

 

[Tamara119]

wow this is a great site for info.
thanks every one.

I wonder if anyone can tell me what animal
would take the head off a chicken but leave
the head and the body so it wasn't for food.
Something got in the pen and house and killed
just one young chicken

Several kinds of weasels may do this. Often they drink the blood and eat very little flesh. My first 7 chickens were rescues from a farm where they couldn't stop a weasel from killing at least one chicken per night.

 

[bruceha2000]

Hello, I am new to chickens and have 7 EE chickens about 12 weeks old. They love being in the run but weather in CT is rainy and cool. I don't know if I should let them out or not. They keep going to the door because they want to go out. I don't want to lose any or have them get sick, any answers will be greatly appreciated. Thank you

i let my chickens free rage everyday. it's their choice wether they want to get wet, if its raining, or if they want to stay in the coop(though they never do)

Oh, I NEVER let my chickens free rage. If they do it is because they are broody and that isn't good for them (or my egg supply) since I have no rooster and they have no fertile eggs to hatch.

Typos can be fun sometimes

I agree with everyone else. The birds have an inherent knowledge of how much grit to swallow, how much oyster shell to eat and when and what to do if they are hot, cold, wet. About the only thing they can not do for themselves is control the wind. That is why you can have NO DRAFTS in their well VENTILATED coop. Wind blows the feathers and the result is a winter coat full of holes.

Assuming rain doesn't get into the coop through the chicken door (and if it does, redesign with a roof over it and side walls or something) leave the door open any time they don't NEED to be locked in the coop (mine are always locked in at night or if we are not home). They will come and go as they please. Plus, since their food and water is frequently in the coop, and the nest boxes almost certainly, you want the door to the coop open.

Chicken in the rain (nearly 2 years old). Her choice, not mine! I was in the up hill side of the bank barn working on a project and staying dry. I have no feathers! Here she is at the front of the barn about 100' from the door into the down hill side of the barn (the coop is down there in what was a horse stall). She made a run for it when the rain got heavy, then came back out when it eased up. She laid a 90g egg the next day.

Put frozen water bottles in the waterer for them. Mine also love having a pan of cool water to stand in and cool off. I bought a stainless steel pig slop pan that's about 4" high and big enough for 3 chickens at a time. They love their little wading pool! I have a cover on the run and the pool is in the shade. Of course, mine get out from 10am to dusk as well and they have a wading pool that catches the drip water from my A/C so they always have fresh cool water in it on the shady side of the house. I'm in South Central TX so it gets hot here too. Not 117, but still plenty hot. I hose my horses off when it's over 100.

I was going to post something similar. You definitely need to give them cooler water than ambient 117F. And DO use 'block' ice not ice cubes. The more surface area, the faster it melts. The goal isn't to give them "iced tea" temperature water, just bring it down to 80 or 90 so it cools them a bit from the inside.

You might want to do what I did but for the opposite reason (I got the idea from someone here on BYC

):

I built a PVC and saddle nipple water pipe. The "source" is a 5 gallon drink cooler, dual wall (with a sheet of open cell foam between I think). For me it is so I can heat the water in the winter to keep the nipples from freezing. For you it would be to keep the ice in the cooler from melting too fast. If you have the cooler in the shade and especially if you have a well (the water won't be more than 50, maybe 55), you probably won't have to put ice in all that often.

I found this link for people in hot areas, the poster is already following some of the advice:
http://www.southernstates.com/articles/poultry-care-heat-stress.aspx

though this line could be misunderstood if you forget the context of the article:
"A chicken’s normal body temperature hovers near 104 to 107 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s not difficult for them to maintain a healthy body temperature when the air is at least 10 to 15 degrees below that.".

They also have no problem maintaining a healthy body temperature when it is 10 and 15 (and below) BELOW ZERO Fahrenheit. I think what they are trying to say is that heat stress is something to watch for when the air temps get over (doing the math) ~ 94F.

Several kinds of weasels may do this. Often they drink the blood and eat very little flesh. My first 7 chickens were rescues from a farm where they couldn't stop a weasel from killing at least one chicken per night.

I believe weasels mostly play vampire - they get on the bird's back while it sleeps and bite the back of the neck and drink the blood. Heads off, very little if any, of the bird eaten usually means raccoons.

 

[fmledford]

The leg issue is tricky. Its not bumble foot,or a tendon. It seems like the hip area. She/he had had a limp since we got it. But doesn't appear to be in pain. Of course these are my first chicks (from TSC) and this will be the 3rd one that won't make it, and 1 has really crooked toes. I will buy my chicks from breeders or people I know in the future.

We had a Welsummer chick that was a couple weeks younger than our other chickens. When we went to clean the brooder some of the larger chickens got a bit spooked and knocked the Welsummer head-over heels. She somehow injured her leg and could not walk. It also seemed to be a hip injury, as I could not feel any bone breaks or tendon problems. I think she was about 2-3 weeks old when the injury occurred. Anyway, we hobbled her feet with a band-aid for a few days and made a little chair for her to eat and drink from because she couldn't stand up. I think we had the hobble on for about 4-5 days, if I remember correctly. When it looked as though she was trying to walk, but the hobble was making it difficult for her we took it off and she has since made a full recovery. I should mention we initially separated her from the rest of the birds and watched her for a couple days to see if the leg situation would take care of itself. When it did not get any better, we took action. She is still seperated because she is so much smaller than the other birds, but hopefully we will be able to introduce her back to the flock once she is bigger.

I should mention that I am new to chickens and only took these actions after reading extensively about chicken leg problems. I don't know if what we did was the proper thing to do, but it did work.