Hey Northerners: What is the absolute coldest air temps your chickens have experienced happily!

[one old chick]

I'm in Colorado too and in a serious cold spell. It was -9 when I got up this morning and it's only hit a high of 10 today. This is our first year with chickens so I'm learning as I go and have made a couple of mistakes I think. We had a flock of 3 but lost one last month (Mareks?). The other two seem great. My coop is only 1 X 2 with two perches. The girls sleep next to each other and we added lots of extra straw on the floor to help keep them warm.

It was kinda windy the other night, so I hung a "curtain" in front of their window to keep the wind out and closed their coop door. The top corner was open to vent. This morning both chickens had a little frost on their backs!!! I felt horrible. Should I leave that window open to vent better? I'm wondering if their breath added too much moisture in the air.

We don't have electricity out there, so we have 4 small LED lights and 2 small 1.5 watt lights that run off batteries we turn on for 5 hours each night. (They were laying great but one went broody so we had to break her of that, then the other stopped laying and hasn't started back up yet. So no one has laid in a week. There's lots of extra feathers in the coop so I'm wondering if the one is going to molt now. Still trying to learn....) I know that isn't much heat being put off by the lights. I'm thinking of moving them into the dog kennel in the garage tonight as it is supposed to be super cold again. They aren't used to being handled though so I don't know if the stress of catching them is worth the extra warmth in the unheated garage or if it would be better to leave them outside. I did put Vaseline on their combs and waddles this morning to prevent frostbite and will reapply again this afternoon.

They seem okay outside and are scratching and perching. We have clear shower curtains up on two sides of their run to block the wind and hold in some heat plus the run is covered. I gave them warm crumble mash this morning and threw down some scratch too.

Here's a picture of our setup in case anyone has advice on whether I should keep that window uncovered, even in -10 temps.

I think your idea of putting them inside your garage is a good one. I would put the whole wooden coop inside the dog pen and leave the door open so they can go in and out of the coop whenever they want. I would also put shavings, leaves on the floor of the dog pen for them to play in. We have our chickens in a coop 4 x 8 x 4 inside our main barn. The coop is made from lattice. For the winter we have put old horse blankets on the top (our horses go naked during the winter) to keep whatever heat they generate in the coop. we have a small door cut into the outside wall of our barn that leads to a very large outside covered pen. Inside our barn we have one window we leave half open from the top, but is protected from the wind due to a run-in for horses being directly outside of it that is walled on three sides. We have good air going through the barn but no wind. We have our chickens, ducks and guinea fowl all housed inside the main barn. We have elctric waterers for everyone. I think your chicken coop would fair better inside the gararge. No heat lamps, but maybe electric waterer and leave the door open to get better ventilation. This is only my opinon. Your coop is very cute but I fear that a really cold and windy wintery day with lots of snow may bury your coop and therefore limit your access to your hens. I don't know about you but I like to be able to tend to my flocks with ease especially in really bad weather. Again, this is only my opinion, Good luck

 

[RedDrgn]

We're in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, so not technically "north", but our flock went through day time temps in the low 20s and nights in the single digits before without issue. So far, our roo's big single comb has also never experienced frostbite. This week we'll be having overnight temps in the low- to mid-teens, and we're not worried about it. Our coop is unheated, single-sheet plywood construction with no insulation and we leave half of the vent holes open all winter.

 

[maurerwerks]

We're in New Hampshire and I think it's gotten down around -20F since we've had our chickens. They have a snug coop with deep wood shavings. We keep the southern peak open for ventilation, but there are no drafts. I open their pop door every day except when there is a blizzard - they get to choose whether they should go out or not. We never heat the coop - we live back in the woods and lose power occasionally and if I had chickens that were used to being in a heated space, I'd have dead chickens.

When I start to worry about it, I think of my grandmother and her chickens. She moved to a farm in Vermont in 1911 with no electricity, and her chickens were all healthy and happy. Needless to say, it got pretty cold there.

 

[Chachi]

Okay, down here in Texas the humidity is through the roof. So the cold just feels colder. This past week we had a cold front come through. Temps went from 70's to 40's in about an hour. Then the wind picked up to about 30mph. The front was a day early. Four of my five girls were easily put in the greenhouse. Then Raquel just would not be caught. So I left her in the cold windy weather. I was out in that mess winterizing my home. Then it began to drizzle. I was cold, wet and just wanted to be finished so I could go inside and get warm. I kept and eye on Raquel. She went from running around and scratching to laying down and trying to stay warm. After about two hours she was ready for some warmth. So I get her caught and into the green house she goes. I had put a small heater in there to make sure to keep temp up. It was not more than thirty seconds and Raquel was in front of the heater getting warm. I was laughing when she turned around and started warming her backside. I just mentioned to her be careful not to close or we will have Roasted Chicken! And on cue the other girls all squaked. I just walked away and she was still warming herself. I haven't had any more problems getting her into the greenhouse when the temps start to drop.

 

[mike.kerr]

Mike.Kerr
in Kerrville, TX SOUTHWESTERNER......... Sorry, I didn't notice this was aimed at Northerners till on site. I am in the Hill Country region of Central TX. They are in a decent poultry shed, wood floor and a light down to 20F ............. daytime freerange over a half-acre happy and active at 25F.

 

[scubatoad]

I am not a Northerner, but were just frozen over in the DFW area for several days with temps in the teens. I did not add the heater to the house this time after the shocking electric bill we received last winter. Leaving the upper vents open, we created a loft using 2 x 4s and plywood and then used a tarp to create an area underneath where the chickens would have options. I then piled up hay in the loft area and all over the floor and used 2 x 4s for roosts above the loft floor. Most of the chickens hung there at night but they ran all over the place during the day.

Their 8'x8'x8' house stayed a good 10-15 degrees warmer than outside. I only closed their outdoor access the day it did not go above the mid-20s. They have all been doing fine and have steadily produced eggs throughout (they have a light from 5:30a-6:00p). Other than having a bit of cabin fever after the first couple of days they were acting normally and have actually been more affectionate towards me. Maybe they know I was freezing my tush off winterizing their space so they wouldn't.

The ducks have actually been swimming on the pond when it isn't frozen over although they wouldn't venture out of their house the first day it snowed. I think they were freaked out by all of that weird white stuff but they got over it.

 

[Doll Maker]

We aren't in the "North", but it's sort of felt like it. We had one night that we were -2 and our girls did fine. We have no heat in the coop, but it is fairly well insulated. They just all cuddled up together and next morning came out of the coop lively and just fine.

 

[Scott H]

To all you "Southerners" posting, my girls are ecstatic that our temps have climbed into the mi 20's.....

 

[stpaulchickens]

Metro MN - yesterday & today have highs at zero or lower and wind chills -15 to -25. I'm miserable, but my 3 chickens seem OK. They are even spending a fair amount of time outside in their run during the day. I do have half of it wrapped in plastic to help w/ some wind gusts. They aren't doing much, but the two that lay eggs have been laying about every day or two still. Our coop is well insulated and we don't use a heater (just a heated water dish).

 

[Westwind]

Colorado Springs here. We've been in the cold snap that others have mentioned. My girls have been fine. They have deep litter in the coop and get no additional heating. I don't close them in as their run is secure. They come and go as they wish. Even on the coldest days (single digit highs) they are outside. I did make them oatmeal on the cold mornings and they enjoyed it.

I have 3 Barred Rocks, 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes, 1 White Wyandotte and 1 Red Comet (my best layer).