Single digit temps...will my critters be okay?

Well, we didn't drop into single digits during the night. I don't think we even hit the teens!

I put a yellow light in their "house" and I did give them extra corn yesterday evening. The snow is supposed to hit in a couple hours, but I've gotten everyone as prepared as I can. Now all I can do is keep my fingers crossed.

I know, I'm a worrywart about my critters.

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It depends on how the critters are conditioned. If the dogs lived inside & you threw them out into that, they would struggle. If they are outside dogs, they will love that weather, best thing for them.

Wind is the enemy, not the actual temp. Down to minus 10 over nite isn't bad, but any wind will get to some of them.

Chickens are dumb, and have skinny exposed bits. Might be hard on them with an open side. Bunnies used to cold and able to burrow in bedding and out of wind should be ok.

Be real careful with heat lamps and temp cardboard, straw, buildings. As snow melts aroundor blows in, and soaks carbord or straw, you could get sparks and flames. Happens a lot every year.

I'd be concerned of the chickens.

I live in Minnesota, it was minus 12 last night, we had minus 40 windchills a week ago.... Little experience.

--->Paul

My dog's water gets put in an upside-down frisbee. Whatever water freezes in it is easy to crack out.

Boy that sure wouldn't work with our one year old GS! She'd most likely die of thirst while she carried the frisbee around..

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Yes, I was (am) concerned about that so I was very careful last night to rig the trouble light (not a heat lamp...has a 60 watt bulb) so that it is not touching any cardboard, etc. I turned it off for the day.

Biggest issue now is keeping water for everyone. Hubby brought me part of a round bale of hay and the pens are full now. I just need to put some in the dog houses and everyone is good to go. I hope!

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I suspect it depends a lot upon what the animals are used to. Animals here live with cold winters. They put on extra heavy winter coats (or down).

I live with this weather, so all animals have proper shelter, a way to get water to them, and enough calories in their feed. Also, varieties are chosen because they do fine in my weather.

I'd worry about some animals from a warmer climate that are experiencing their first untypical deep freeze weather. They just aren't acclimated to it and might need more assistance to get through it.

Exactly! Three of my chickens have never been in cold weather of any sort. The two dogs are used to being outdoors and so is the rabbit. The ducks I'm not worried about. The three drakes are out there right now standing in their pool and it's frozen around the edges.

Everyone has the best shelter I can provide now. The dogs have hay, as does everyone else. The chickens are having a blast scratching through the new hay. The ducks are freaked out because I've been messing around in their pens. The rabbit was munching on his food when I came in. Everyone currently has water and I'll be going out again in two hours to check water again.

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My neigbors keep 20 or 30 chickens on a string outside with no shelter. Single digits last night and not one froze, I was hoping.

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"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence"
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It was single digits here last night and 18 degrees this morning. We have 2 dog houses. One on the covered porch that is covered with a waterbed mattress cover and another dog house that sits on the ground facing south.

Where do you think we found out little mixed breed beagle this morning? Sleeping on the front porch (facing north) in one of the rocking chairs. I swear she could live by herself with no problems. Our other dog was hunkered down in the house on the porch.

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Sleet, then snow started here about an hour ago. Ground is already covered and it's coming down hard and fast. I went to give warm water to the outdoor animals and the chickens had already gone to bed. Guess they aren't as dumb as I thought! Temp has been a steady 29 all day so I think we'll all be okay. Dumb horses and Huskies are still out in it!

The dog houses face South. One's an igloo type and one is a wood house that my Daddy built many years ago. The dogs also have access to the back porch and we have one end blocked with a piece of plywood so that it's only open to the South. That's where I piled them some hay. My dryer vent is there and I'm doing laundry so they are getting some heat....if they'd get on the porch!

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Our chickens are in converted horse stalls. No tops.
We've had temps way lower than yours and the chickens do just fine, in fact they do better in winter than summer. I don't do anything to warm them up at all. No extra hay, no extra anything. We do give them water in heated dog bowls. They're cheaper to run than heated chicken waterers. You probably don't need them there with your temps as long as you break the water in the morning and at night.

Oh, thaw the eggs on the counter before cleaning or putting them away. I've only had one egg break from freezing this year. Once thawed I can't tell the difference between a frozen egg and one that's never been frozen.

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No eggs to gather today. All three hens and the two ducks laid yesterday, but nothing today. Guess they were to busy keeping warm!

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How do you do thier hot mash (for the birds)?

Also we are having the same weather here. It was 4 degrees night before last. My chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys all did fine. They have houses and a tarp over thier pens. My dogs are all indoors. The barn cats always find ways to keep warm, one cat hates to be indoors and has a house on the porch. I don't have rabbits now, but I would rather see them in 8 degrees than over a hundred degrees. Years ago I lost two rabbits to heat stroke when it was 104 degrees one day. They had shelter, were also in the shade and had water. I didn't know at the time about giving frozen jugs of ice : (

The most important thing is plenty of food and fresh water at least a couple times a day.

It's not the cold you need to worry about so much as the drafts, Ravenlost. Make sure that all the animals can get in out of drafts, with plenty of hay and straw for warmth, and they'll be fine.

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Trailrider, I just mix their layer pellets with hot water. They love it.

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http://hickahala.blogspot.com/