How cold is TOO cold for a chicken? - Page 25

Considering that if it does get this low

If it gets 20 F here, can my silkies be ok without a heat lamp? We have no outlets outside...

Your silkie will be fine if it has somewhere to go to get out of the elements.

I too live in NY southern tier and don't use heaters. we keep their water warm by way of a bowl heater set on a timer.
the hen-house is well insultated and we have a homemade solar heater that pipes in some warm air. if you go to mother earth news magazine archives and look up their soda can solar panel, the instructions are very easy for the novice handyperson - we use two actually - one for the coop and one for the dogs house.

I've been reading the "how cold" threads with great interest.  It is currently 5 degrees F outside, 12 degrees F inside the coop.  That's with one of those pet outdoor heating pads in the coop.  Not sure if we could get a heat lamp to work - not a lot of height in the coop.  The chickens have had this for a few nights/days (it's been down to -7 so far, colder than normal for us) and seem OK so far - most of them jam into the next box and are very packed together and the two dominant hens are on the heating pad when we check.  We have hardy chickens (Rhode Island Reds, Australorps, Plymouth Rocks and Easter Eggers).  There seems to be so much range between heat and not heat at various temperatures but I haven't seen much about the temp in the coop.  Should we be trying to keep the coop from going below freezing? 

Thanks.

Jill

I would, and I do, but that's just me and knowing what my birds are most comfortable with. My sweetie roo does not ldo well in cold but tolerates summer heat well. Hen Ellie seems less troubled by cold  and more troubled by summer heat. I use a ceramic heat lamp(provides heat but not light) and set a timer to go on and off through the night depending upon what the low temps will be. I try not to make the differential between outside temp and inside temp too extreme but I never let it get below freezing (actually, due to good insulation it rarely drops below 40 degrees even when it's way colder outside). During the day, the birds get to choose where they want to be. Since I only have two, body heat does not help like it would with a bunch of feathered souls, so that's another factor in my particular situation.  I've known BJ roo for something like 8 years now so he seems to thrive in the conditions provided. JJ

The problem with heating your coop is - what happens when the electricity goes out?  Your birds can't handle the cold.  They really don't need heat - as I've said, look at the wild birds, they have no shelter other than branches of evergreens.  As long as your birds are draft free and dry they'll be fine.

and what about the eggs?

I put a heat lamp on a thermostat in my coop.  It turns on at 35 and off at 45 and keeps them just cozy enough:)  The water does not freeze, nor do any eggs left in the nestboxes.  I live in MI where it gets pretty miserable so it gives me peace of mind that my ladies are comfortable.  It would be hard for me to enjoy them from the comfort of my kitchen if I knew they were outside freezing.

Last winter I had my chickens in a 4 ft by 6 ft coop with an attatched dog kennel run (6 ft wide by 10 ft long) with 3 sides covered in clear plastic and tarps, the roof was also covered. The coop and run were up against the back of our house so I left that side open for ventilation. I added 2 bales of straw to the run because it was on our concrete patio and I didn't want their feet to freeze. I had a heated dog bowl in the run and lots of feed available out there as well. I ran a heat lamp 24/7 in the coop leaving the pop door open during the day so they could go in and out as they pleased. I also had a few bales of straw stacked in the run for them to perch on which they loved. When the windchills here reached -40 for a long stretch I noticed they were starting to suffer. I paniced and brought them in the garage for the rest of the winter. I have nothing but bantams so I feel that they can only tolerate so much cold. This year we have built them a coop in our garage with a heater in their coop (garage is only partially insulated) They are not allowed outside during winter because they prefer to stay in so we made the rest of the garage area their run adding lots of straw to the floor. SO far it has only gotten a little below 40 degrees in there and about 50 in the coop area. They really seem to enjoy it much more then they did the outside coop and run not to mention how much easier it is for me to get the chores done and not have to worry about the multiple waterers freezing or the younger chicks in there. Our flock has grown quite a bit since last winter and the 4 by 6  coop wasn't enough room for them all anymore. I also have a few flocks of seramas which I bring in the house over winter.

I don't know if you've seen it yet, but I've done a page ('cold coop' link in .sig below) that discusses that question and things you can do about it.

Pat