Buff Orpington girl won’t leave nestbox in dead winter

[PrettyChicky25]

Is she staying in the nest box because she's cold?

 

[Estrella]

Is she staying in the nest box because she's cold?

No, she’s super broody and she’s a huge Buff Orpington, almost as big as our rooster. The coop is not that cold, but metal gets really cold and can cause freeze burns (black) on their combs at pretty mild temperatures, that’s why I don’t want her in the dog crate. They have a large coop, deep litter, and winter proofed enclusure that gets lots of sun/light during the day. She’s doing great, just came out of her broodyness and is happily back in the coop behaving as normal.

 

[Jaine]

I have had a Buff Orpington hatch 8 chicks on 19th Nov here in Scotland - she sat on and hatched them in the coop with the 2 roosters and 2 other hens having free access - the coop is off the ground so we made a runway so that when she brought the chicks out they would be able to get back in OK - all went well - even with the snow and -8C temps (I hear its much lower in Sweden though!) - they are now totally part of the flock - they free range and go into a polytunnel with straw on the ground and their water and feed in the day when its snowing or too cold to be outside so we are lucky we have that for them. Good luck with your hen

 

[Estrella]

I have had a Buff Orpington hatch 8 chicks on 19th Nov here in Scotland - she sat on and hatched them in the coop with the 2 roosters and 2 other hens having free access - the coop is off the ground so we made a runway so that when she brought the chicks out they would be able to get back in OK - all went well - even with the snow and -8C temps (I hear its much lower in Sweden though!) - they are now totally part of the flock - they free range and go into a polytunnel with straw on the ground and their water and feed in the day when its snowing or too cold to be outside so we are lucky we have that for them. Good luck with your hen

Oh yeay! Thank you for posting that! We occationally get -8 and lower, but where I live in Sweden (Stockholm) it’s usually around -4. This time I broke her broodiness and she’s back with the rest of the dinosaur gang as if nothing happened. But given that she went broody so early (10 months) and that it took 6 days to break her, I suspect it won’t be that long before she’s back at it. Did you supply extra heat, like a heatpad, heatroof or heatlamp? This is my coop setup.

 

[Jaine]

Oh yeay! Thank you for posting that! We occationally get -8 and lower, but where I live in Sweden (Stockholm) it’s usually around -4. This time I broke her broodiness and she’s back with the rest of the dinosaur gang as if nothing happened. But given that she went broody so early (10 months) and that it took 6 days to break her, I suspect it won’t be that long before she’s back at it. Did you supply extra heat, like a heatpad, heatroof or heatlamp? This is my coop setup.

Oh wow that looks amazing I would love something like that - in fact just discussing building some kind of shelter for the coop to stop the automatic door from freezing shut! - do they roost out on the bars at night or go into the smaller hut? All we have is a wooden coop which does have some insulation with an automatic door - it also has a nesting box inside the coop (not one of those outside but attached ones) and that was where she hatched the chicks, no heating at all. In November while she was sitting it wasnt too cold - around -2 but some days much warmer - it was when the chicks were around 3 weeks we had snow and much colder temps - they came out everyday whatever the weather - but there is a polytunnel for shelter and lots of foraging / bush coverage around.

 

[Estrella]

Oh wow that looks amazing I would love something like that - in fact just discussing building some kind of shelter for the coop to stop the automatic door from freezing shut! - do they roost out on the bars at night or go into the smaller hut? All we have is a wooden coop which does have some insulation with an automatic door - it also has a nesting box inside the coop (not one of those outside but attached ones) and that was where she hatched the chicks, no heating at all. In November while she was sitting it wasnt too cold - around -2 but some days much warmer - it was when the chicks were around 3 weeks we had snow and much colder temps - they came out everyday whatever the weather - but there is a polytunnel for shelter and lots of foraging / bush coverage around.

Wow, that's so interesting! I thought the small ones would not make it in the cold! Yes, some of my chickens roost in the green coop, my Swedish Flower Hens, Abdullah, and his ladies. The rest of the crew roosts outside in the covered yard. There are four nest boxes in the green coop, attached (American style), just as yours are. They also have an old crate from a French carboy in there where some of the girls prefer to lay their eggs. The one attached to the greenhouse in the picture I just bought cause I liked it; they don't seem to take any interest at all. I put a fake egg in there but so far, no interest. We'll see when my French and half-French ladies stary to lay. I let them outside every day but they never set their foot in the snow; they just stand in the door and look out. We have two automatic doors, one on the green hut (for extra safety if needed) and one on the covered yard that leads them out in the garden (from Kerbil). How many chickens did you get, and what's the roo/hen ratio? I hatched in hatcher and got 9 roos and 1 hen. Twice!

 

[aart]

I let a broody hatch during a frigid winter once, it worked out OK but I'd never do it again.
Temps got down to the negative F's, but luckily hatch day was a thaw in the 30's F.

 

[Jaine]

Wow, that's so interesting! I thought the small ones would not make it in the cold! Yes, some of my chickens roost in the green coop, my Swedish Flower Hens, Abdullah, and his ladies. The rest of the crew roosts outside in the covered yard. There are four nest boxes in the green coop, attached (American style), just as yours are. They also have an old crate from a French carboy in there where some of the girls prefer to lay their eggs. The one attached to the greenhouse in the picture I just bought cause I liked it; they don't seem to take any interest at all. I put a fake egg in there but so far, no interest. We'll see when my French and half-French ladies stary to lay. I let them outside every day but they never set their foot in the snow; they just stand in the door and look out. We have two automatic doors, one on the green hut (for extra safety if needed) and one on the covered yard that leads them out in the garden (from Kerbil). How many chickens did you get, and what's the roo/hen ratio? I hatched in hatcher and got 9 roos and 1 hen. Twice!

Thank you for this - i would love to see more pictures of the covered area if you can - did you make this yourself? i want to put both coops inside a covered area like this. Well with the roo / hen ratio when i hatched my first lot of barred rocks myself from mail order eggs i got 5 roos and one hen - second hatch i got 3 roos and 3 hens - and the first hatch with the buff hen (not sure what she is now) was 2 roos and one hen - and i am sure with this new hatch we have 2 roos and 6 hens - i would be very interested to know if cold weather may have played a part in more hens - or perhaps being in the coop with the roosters - however saying that i do need to get some pictures up and get them properly sexed. Just in the last 2 days we have had a lot of snow but they have all been out and about - even coming up to the house - heres a few pics of the chicks and hen from today and one of the coops - it is insulated inside! What did you do with all the roos?

 

[Estrella]

Thank you for this - i would love to see more pictures of the covered area if you can - did you make this yourself? i want to put both coops inside a covered area like this. Well with the roo / hen ratio when i hatched my first lot of barred rocks myself from mail order eggs i got 5 roos and one hen - second hatch i got 3 roos and 3 hens - and the first hatch with the buff hen (not sure what she is now) was 2 roos and one hen - and i am sure with this new hatch we have 2 roos and 6 hens - i would be very interested to know if cold weather may have played a part in more hens - or perhaps being in the coop with the roosters - however saying that i do need to get some pictures up and get them properly sexed. Just in the last 2 days we have had a lot of snow but they have all been out and about - even coming up to the house - heres a few pics of the chicks and hen from today and one of the coops - it is insulated inside! What did you do with all the roos?

That is so cute, moma hen with her chicks in winter! Yeah, I also see 3 roos and 3 hens there. Ok, so what did I do with all the roos? 1st time I actually sold every single one of them, and kept one; he is gigantic and very handsome, I’ll post a picture. The second batch I sold to a farm nearby who keep free rangers for meat. I have read somewhere, don’t know how scientific it is, but some univeristy did an experiment where they hatched at slightly different temperatures and got morw hens when they lowered the temps, only by 0.5 degrees to 37. Their theory was that roo eggs didn’t develop as well with the slightly lower temperature. I’ll post a few pictures here. Last one is coop at night, my neighbours call it the space ship.

 

[Jaine]

That is so cute, moma hen with her chicks in winter! Yeah, I also see 3 roos and 3 hens there. Ok, so what did I do with all the roos? 1st time I actually sold every single one of them, and kept one; he is gigantic and very handsome, I’ll post a picture. The second batch I sold to a farm nearby who keep free rangers for meat. I have read somewhere, don’t know how scientific it is, but some univeristy did an experiment where they hatched at slightly different temperatures and got morw hens when they lowered the temps, only by 0.5 degrees to 37. Their theory was that roo eggs didn’t develop as well with the slightly lower temperature. I’ll post a few pictures here. Last one is coop at night, my neighbours call it the space ship.

Thank you your set up looks so welcoming and cosy, we are working on plans - really want something just like yours but a bit higher to go right over our coop and our other coop too - your roo is very beautiful - they are such magnificent creatures its a shame its so hard to keep them. Thats great that you got the roos homed, for my first hatch we lost 2 of them to next doors dog and we kept 2 my barred rock rooster is enormous too - we call him Colossus and his brother Goliath - for the second hatch i sold all 3 of them - ah so yes it might be more hens for me this time as it was colder when she hatched them. I have got some more photos here too - the other 2 roosters outside the house are hybrids from the buff hen and the barred rock male. They have to go soon . I will get some of C and G tomorrow - they look quite different.