I raised broilers in Alabama back in the 70’s. When chicks go from a hatchery/brooder-house, into the natural environment their instinct is to bunch together when scared or cold. Consider they don’t have their mother to brood, teach, warm them and they aren’t fully feathered. I remember one situation where we lost gas/heat overnight in one of my chicken houses and a cold front came through. The next morning I discovered that they had bunched up into piles like yours were doing and I had a lot of fatalities. Many had smothered that were on the inside of the piles while many that had been on the outside of those piles had frozen.
You could do that, but tarps do make a lot of noise when the rain hits them, so that could scare chickens and stress them out. If it’s one of those cheap blue tarps, don’t use those, because if it rains hard, a lot of the water will spray right through those. And just make sure that you don’t see a law that shelter too much, and prevent air circulation.
I raised broilers in Alabama back in the 70’s. When chicks go from a hatchery/brooder-house, into the natural environment their instinct is to bunch together when scared or cold. Consider they don’t have their mother to brood, teach, warm them and they aren’t fully feathered. I remember one situation where we lost gas/heat overnight in one of my chicken houses and a cold front came through. The next morning I discovered that they had bunched up into piles like yours were doing and I had a lot of fatalities. Many had smothered that were on the inside of the piles while many that had been on the outside of those piles had frozen.
we are in michigan too. cedar springs!
Is it bad to cover the top with tarp for the night just in case it rains?
You could do that, but tarps do make a lot of noise when the rain hits them, so that could scare chickens and stress them out. If it’s one of those cheap blue tarps, don’t use those, because if it rains hard, a lot of the water will spray right through those. And just make sure that you don’t see a law that shelter too much, and prevent air circulation.