Freezing temps - should I keep chickens in coop?

[jochickenlady]

This design is so cool, I showed my husband, I love the heated sand.

 

[sarahandbray]

I have only been keeping chickens since August, but I haven't heated the coop at all yet!! It's hard not to, but I know they're fine. No signs of major frostbite and everyone is active and happy. They have a 10'X10' coop, 12'X8' dog run that's covered in storm windows (so let's light in but keeps wind out) and 15,000sf pasture. They have been out every day!! I pop the door at 6:30am and close it around 6:30pm. I figure that they know best?!?
Hoping their combs are ok tonight here in upstate, NY...I have 39 chickens, 9 of whom are roosters! Not sure I'm going to be Vaseline-ing 39 chickens...

 

[ducks4you]

My six EE hens are in a refurbished building as a coop. They don't have a pop door, so when I think that thy might get a draft, I put a heavy board in front of their entrance. Like for tonight. It's going down to to -8 F with a breeze, and even though the door faces due east, and a garage size building blocks all north winds, I want to eliminate any drafts. Everybody seems to be handling the cold ok. They laid 4 eggs today.
I'm sure that the openings high on the walls are keeping my makeshift coop dry and the humidity low.

 

[BarefootMtnGal]

It's supposed to get down to -15F tonight (with-30's WCF) I had ordered a 60w reptile heating lamp (porcelain coated heating coil-no light) and safety cage, which got stuck in transit today. I checked on my "kids" an hour ago... -3F in the coop so far, they stood up and stretched and gobbled up the li'l scratch I'd tossed in for extra warmth. So far so good. I think one is starting to molt, though... :/

 

[dmbnj]

It's supposed to get down to -15F tonight (with-30's WCF) I had ordered a 60w reptile heating lamp (porcelain coated heating coil-no light) and safety cage, which got stuck in transit today. I checked on my "kids" an hour ago... -3F in the coop so far, they stood up and stretched and gobbled up the li'l scratch I'd tossed in for extra warmth. So far so good. I think one is starting to molt, though...

I caved and put in a 150W ceramic heating lamp tonight. It hasn't made any difference in the temp inside the coop. My girls are tucked in for the night with beaks tucked in their feathers.

 

[RosieinKS]

We've had some very cold wind chills here in KS. Tonight it is 3 degrees. During the day today it didn't get above 20 and the wind chill was bitter cold. Our chickens always come out unless there is several inches of snow on the ground and the wind is blowing pretty strong. Even then if you clear a path in the snow for them, they prefer to be outside.

We have an electric water bucket plugged into our yard light pole, where our electricity meter is located. They come out and drink from it and scratch around the yard. Then they crawl under the coop, which is about 10" off the ground to get in out of the wind. You'd think if they wanted to be out of the wind, they'd go in the coop, but they only go inside to lay eggs during the day. Last year we ran a small space heater in their old coop, which is smaller than the one they are in now. This year we'll just add some extra bedding so they can get down in it if they get cold on the roosts.

Rosie in KS

 

[Zoom Zoom]

I need to start a new post but laptop down n dumb smart phone not giving me.option to.start a new post. Here's my question - we've had to keep r 6 mo old BO inside since dec 25th. Severe prolapse requiring surgery. Vet said keep her in till stitches removed then keep an eye on her for 24 hrs. She had another slight prolapse but it's been 3 days now with no more problems so think she can return to coop. So my question is - outside temps will be single digits until at least saturday. Since she has been inside for so long should i keep her in until temps are back in the low 30s (Saturday) or is it safe to put her out tomorrow if i keep an eye on her n bring her back in if she acts cold? I'm concerned with the abrupt temp change.

 

[BarefootMtnGal]

I'm leaning toward your keeping her in. Assuming your house is 60-70 degrees, a change to 30 is less abrupt than to single digits. JMHO

 

[yellowchicks]

I need to start a new post but laptop down n dumb smart phone not giving me.option to.start a new post. Here's my question - we've had to keep r 6 mo old BO inside since dec 25th. Severe prolapse requiring surgery. Vet said keep her in till stitches removed then keep an eye on her for 24 hrs. She had another slight prolapse but it's been 3 days now with no more problems so think she can return to coop. So my question is - outside temps will be single digits until at least saturday. Since she has been inside for so long should i keep her in until temps are back in the low 30s (Saturday) or is it safe to put her out tomorrow if i keep an eye on her n bring her back in if she acts cold? I'm concerned with the abrupt temp change.

I would keep her inside the house. What's a couple more days until the weather warms up a bit?

 

[iananderson]

Ours are just the same here in Norway where it can go 25 deg. C below. They are out of the pop hole as soon as it opens and prefer hanging out in the garden close to the house wall (admittedly looking pretty fed up) rather than staying in the run.

This years 'noobs' went bananas the first time it snowed and started to eat it lol!

Agree though that you need to clear a bit of an area, they are not too keen on walking on the deep stuff but then it is pretty powdery up here.