Baby its cold out side!

[Fred's Hens]

Quote:
Barred Rock, RIR, New Hampshire crosses. All originated for cold hardy.

 

[happyhensny]

Going to be very chilly here tonight, -25* or so. No heat lights but at 3:30 am I have a 75W bulb turning on-don't know how much good it will do in a 12 x 24 coop.

 

[Miss Lydia]

okay next question- where is the 45 parallel?

 

[fratmor]

thanks to all that replied. They are 22 weeks old so they should be fine.

 

[Vt-ridgerunner]

The 45th runs right across northern Vermont. Suppose to be -40 tonight. Weatherman said it's the coldest in years....ya think

 

[owler]

This is my first winter with chickens and mine are only 11 weeks old. The last three morning it has been around zero outside. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was 20 degrees warmer in the coop. I have deep litter on top of linoleum. I have heard that you don't get real composting action unless the litter is on dirt but there must be some composting going on to generate the heat.

 

[Trishkabob]

-25 this morning....really, this is not fun. Brought hot grains out to las muchachas but they weren't too interested, which is a first. It was steaming, maybe too hot...but the steam wafting in to the henhouse from the door where I set it may be what is causing frostbite more than the cold itself. That's a dilemma.
hang in there everyone, it is good to check in here and have reinforced the idea that these animals are hardy and are ok...I am the one having the difficulty trusting that! Maybe with more experience next winter will be mellower.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I feel for you all up north, we are right on the border of this massive frigid weather... I'll be thinking about you all in the next couple of days.. Hope you warm up soon..

 

[MimiChick]

Well, it was -11 here this morning and the coop got down to -2 (I think that was only after the pop door was opened though). All the girls came outside, even the 2 in hard molt. I have the coop positioned so that it's in direct sun most of the day and I have some plastic panels on that side to create a little greenhouse effect. It's about 10 degrees out now, and the coop is 26 inside. I have a raised coop and have a good bed of hay under it for the girls to snuggle in if they want. I also have deep litter inside the coop. Most of the time, the girls hang around in the sunny spots just inside the plastic panels. They all seem to be doing just fine in this weather. The only time I keep them inside is if the weather is really bad; blizzard conditions. Other than that, they come right out in the morning and stay outside all day. Guess they're more hardy than we realize.