How much trouble is a single comb in winter?

I have a remote temp/humidity sensor in the roost that trends the last 24 hours. last night it was like 15 degrees with 80% humidity out side, inside the roost it was 45% humidity and 42 degrees. the roost sensor is located on the outside wall across from the heating tube and element, so I am unsure if I may be seeing a colder reading then it really is in the roost. I am still tuning the adjustment for the heater as it has not got below 0 yet this year. I am going to move the senor in different spots in the roost to find out if I have a bigger temp differential then I am seeing.

Last night we got down to -11 with a windchill of -30. I closed the pop door on the coop for the first time this winter, since that was a 25 degree swing from the previous night with a strong wind. The pop door has a wind break and is below the roosting bars, so I've left it open to let them go in their covered run at their leisure and keep the ventilation going. I didn't want the girls (and boy) to be shocked by the temp change, so kept them in the coop until 8:30am when the temp got up to -5 and the wind had stopped. Fortunately the humidity also dropped with the cold front. It was 47% this morning.

I let the troops out this morning and they happily bombed into their run with no damage spotted on anyone, including the single comb girls. They're poofed up, it's definitely cold, but everyone's active and healthy. 7 birds in a 5'x6' coop with low humidity seems to have worked for them. They're stuffing their faces in the cold and I tossed some cracked corn to them to keep their weight up. Also keeps them busy turning over their run when their pasture is under ice and snow.

Interesting that -11 didn't result in frostbite, but the ice storm with high humidity and 13 degrees did get me some frostbite. Really puts the argument for moisture control into perspective.

I am lucky, or I guess my chickens are the lucky ones, Here in Sparks Nevada it really doesn't get that low in the winter. I have ladies that like to roost outside. So it's a good thing that it doesn't get really cold. 5 is the lowest that it's gotten so far this winter, and it rarely gets lower than that. I have plastic surrounding the outer coop for a wind block with an entire section opened for ventilation. Happy chickens. Cleaning the coop floor tomorrow, I want to keep the girls clean and healthy.

My chickens are wildly envious of yours right now.



This is one of my Easter Eggers that decided she wanted to stretch her wings. I found her on huddled on top of the coop and covered in snow. Good thing the girls don't mind handling, since I had to climb up on the coop to rescue her.

Catie79 said:

My chickens are wildly envious of yours right now.



This is one of my Easter Eggers that decided she wanted to stretch her wings. I found her on huddled on top of the coop and covered in snow. Good thing the girls don't mind handling, since I had to climb up on the coop to rescue her.

Click to expand...

Poor baby girl!!!