General cold question

[Fnyfce51]

Hi, all ! I live in central illinois and this weekend we are looking at some very cold weather. Negative 30 ,possibly colder, and up to 55 mph winds.. 1) i have 8 week old babies in my unheated garage. Should i temporarily put the heat lamps on them untill the worst is over? Will the sudden extra heat and subsequent taking it away hurt them?
2) my other 16 are split between 2 prefab ( worst buy ever ) coops. They are surrounded on 3 sides by wooden fencing covered in tarps and the 4th side is halfway up with plywood .. should i stay business as usual or do i need to keep them in coop? They will need water but i assume that will freeze, even in the coop, and the heated water cannot be put in the coop.. i am worried i will come outside to chicken popsicles.. how do i make sure they are okay? Thank you in advance for any answers/advice !

 

[azygous]

Your chicks should be okay in the garage with a heat source where they can replace any heat they lose. It doesn't matter how cold it gets as long as they can warm up when they feel chilly. And be sure they do not run out of food and water. These latter items provide essential elements so they are able to maintain their body heat.

The adult chickens also must be provided a constant source of food and water for the same reason. Chickens are heated more from the inside than from the outside. Providing shelter from wind chill is crucial. So is adequate ventilation to prevent the water vapor from their respiration from condensing on their exposed tissue and freezing causing frostbite. But there must not be any direct drafts. Twenty below is a pretty drastic departure from normal night time temps, so an added heat source would be helpful since they are likely not acclimatized to such low temps. It needs only to generate enough heat to keep things riding just above freezing, though.

 

[Mrs. K]

The pre-fab coops do worry me a bit. That is going to be cold and is Illinois rather humid? The big problem you are going to have is in an effort to keep the wind blowing through the coop, you are going to be shutting down the ventilation. Generally speaking those little pre-fab jobs do not have enough ventilation as is.

16 split between 2 pre-fab coups...those birds if confined are going to produce a lot of moisture, with their breath and poop. A lot of moisture, that in small confined places cannot evaporate. That can make for damp chickens. Damp chickens are cold chickens,

So how big are the pre-fabs? Maybe I am imagining much smaller coops than they are. If they are on the small size - could you put them in the garage? It would be a mess to clean up, but the garage is going to be less drafty, and you would not need to shut up the ventilation.

Do remember, it is more important to be dry and have wind protection. Chickens that are dry and have wind protection are very capable of keeping themselves warm, unless you have some of those very fancy breeds.

Mrs K

 

[Fnyfce51]

All fence is covered in tarps, 1 tarp per panel for thickness.. the runs are gone( couldnt get in it to clean ) the dark wood has a door now. The left side is plexiglass and plywood half up..it leads to my carport. It is now covered twice with aviary netting . Currently there is no way to move the coops . This is the only area my city would allow them.
These coops were rated for more than what they could hold and i wish i had known that earlier but another will be built come spring/summer. I have another smaller diy coop in the garage for the 8 week olds and they now have 1 heat lamp. Since it is a metal coop there is low risk for fire ( i realize the risk is there).. not optimal but the eco plate i purchased does not work well in cold temperatures ( perfect for house/garage that are heated ) . Grey coop has 3 ventilation windows and dark wood has 2.. there are places that didnt flush and i have blankets over those areas.. heated water and 3 different feed stations .. any other things i might have missed i could do before the storm?

 

[Fnyfce51]

I have buff orpingtons, cinnamon queens, green queens, rir, wir, easter eggers and cream legars, 2 barnyard mixes ( austrolorp colors) and a saphire gem.

 

[Mrs. K]

I am rather afraid to ask, but how many chicks in the garage do you have? With chickens, more is not always better, and I think you have a bad case of chicken math. The horrible truth that most of us come to realize, the hard way, is what is more than enough room, when they are chicks, rapidly becomes not enough room when they are older.

As you have stated, they number of birds they are rated for is way over stated. But really if that is the space, the yard I am estimating it to be about 10 x 15 feet - give or take? You are very apt to be in some very ugly chicken behavior before spring. Long term, (and I realize you didn't ask this, it is my two cents, take it or leave it) you really need a coup more like a small shed, say 6 x 8, which will leave you with a run about 7 x 10 and that would be a very nice set up for say 8-12hens - give or take. Which is still quite a bit less than the number of hens you currently have.

Unless you just have bantam breeds, then you can get by a little tighter.

As for your chickens right now in this storm, I think they will be alive when the storm passes. They may get crabby and mean with each other, and you might get some frost bite. I don't think they will turn into popsicles, chickens actually suffer more with extreme heat. But I do think, that winter is just getting a good start, and your problems are apt to multiply with ugly chicken behavior.

I think in the long term you may need to reconsider your number of birds, in the set up you currently have.

I can tell you are really trying to do what is best for your chickens. I too, have been there. What I discovered was that it is more important to have less chickens that are happy and getting along, verse more chickens than is good for my set up.

Mrs K

 

[Fnyfce51]

That is where they stay at night or will be unattended while i run errands. My property is 140x 40 and completely fenced in. They free range unless i will be gone for an extended part of day. Per city law, they must not free range for long without supervision. Also, per city codes of 4 sq foot per bird i can actually have 30 ( as long as the prefabs go and a new shed takes its place 8x8 actually ) .. however the 3 coops will not be sufficient, i agree, which is why i mentioned I would be getting a bigger shed for them. There are none past 4 months old as I started end of august, so they are not at the size they will be come spring. I have a little time leeway. My chicken math was appropriate but my research on prefab vs shed conversion was inadequate.

 

[Fnyfce51]

It's not that i don't appreciate your concern .
I grew up on a farm with chickens. I remember feeding them and grandpa culling, the early mornings and having to gather eggs. However , i don't remember the worry of keeping the littles warm, grit, predators, which litter was used or best, how to integrate and harsh winters.
I researched and made the compliance officer visit 3xs to make sure i followed the rules to the letter and they were well taken care of. I found this and other sites to research their care and comfort. I did not see that prefabs were garbage for long term care. A mistake i will rectify because i love my birds..all 20 of them.
The staggered ages are because i had a batch come doa, so i waited for replacements.
It felt like you were shaming me rather than advising .

 

[Mrs. K]

I did not mean that at all. I did say that I can see you are doing the very best you can for your chickens, but I should have started with that. In my defense, I only saw the yard you showed me with the coops.

I am rather a long term poster here, and I have seen many people come here in very similar positions as to you. Seriously, those pre-fabs should be made to change their numbers.

I did not mean to shame you, I meant to warn you. 4 month old birds are coming into adult behavior, and adult chicken behavior can be ugly. I hope that your birds will not act that way, but if they begin to do so, it is probably due to the current space they have now.

Do know, that an 8x8 shed is good for about 16 chickens if due to winter weather, the birds will need to be confined during winter storms as in Illinois. The standard often used here is 4 square feet for each bird in the coop, and 10 square feet in the run.

Best of luck,

Mrs K

 

[rosemarythyme]

None of the ventilation is open in those photos - are they open and protected at this time? These coops are woefully under ventilated even in the best case scenario. Frostbite is caused by a combo of temperature and moisture... without enough ventilation moisture building up inside can cause frostbite as low as just around freezing temps.