How cold is too cold?

[Chinachik]

 

[Chinachik]

It is amazing how God give all his creatures ways to survive. This is a picture of two Periquin Hawks nest. Almost 100 feet high. They stay nice and cozy and are kind enough to let me know that they keep a close eye on my chickens. From this very cold weather I have learned you definitely need to check the water every 2-3 hours and your eggs. Would like to thank all you wonderful folks for all the info. Merry Christmas and Happy Chicken New year from Tennessee.

 

[Nomibird]

The real feel is negative 48 here with the wind and it keeps dropping our coop is warm without supplimental heat, but my dog can barely be outside for 2 minutes without freezing. Neither can i. I have straw and put the heat plater in there and none of them are acting as if its cold. I give them lots of extra protein in the winter, corn and more.

It is now up to 7 degrees. One Australorp puts its head out this morning and went back in. No one came out. At twelve noon, I put food in the coop, the girls all greeted me, but one is wanting out in the wind. At 1, I could stand it no longer since no one had anything to drink since yesterday morning and I put a small bowl of water in the coop. They immediately went over and started drinking. I think that all of them being young, just don’t know what to do sometimes. All ten of them are a early March hatch and have no older hens to help. I think they will be fine and tomorrow the temperature will return to a fairly normal temp for them. We will see. One of them did lay an egg today.

 

[Bobfein2005]

Last night in the coop. 7 chickens piled into a nesting box. Amazingly tough birds.

 

[Jerry Dog Man]

Was minus 8 here this morning. Everyone is fine, door open but all stayed in all day. My feeling is if a chickadee or wren can live with no coop, my chickens will survive just fine in their draft free coop. I just make sure they have food all the time and before nightfall I give them some corn. Have a heated waterer and all is good.

 

[JoeInPA]

My four chickens have been in their unheated coop all day. The run has 4 mil plastic about 3 feet high to keep the wind off of them but they don't seem to want to risk being outside. It is currently -5*F and wind chills are at -30*F.

They all seem to be okay, although I'm sure they would prefer it was a little warmer. I haven't seen them come out to eat or drink but I haven't been keeping a constant eye on them either.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

It is now up to 7 degrees. One Australorp puts its head out this morning and went back in. No one came out. At twelve noon, I put food in the coop, the girls all greeted me, but one is wanting out in the wind. At 1, I could stand it no longer since no one had anything to drink since yesterday morning and I put a small bowl of water in the coop. They immediately went over and started drinking. I think that all of them being young, just don’t know what to do sometimes. All ten of them are a early March hatch and have no older hens to help. I think they will be fine and tomorrow the temperature will return to a fairly normal temp for them. We will see. One of them did lay an egg today.

2 of mine laid eggs. Forgot to go collect. Mine were fine today in negative 35 they were all born in March. Definitely go out a few times a day if you can, i went out 6 times but is only takes a minute to get to my coop. I also only have 5. I think they should be ok, dont let them come out and also shut the door so they cant. Blocka any wind that can get into their coop, also food, water are essential straw and extra protein helps

 

[Momma-Hen-Misti]

Hey guys! I live in the UK and have been experiencing cold weather the past few days. Last night was -6 Celsius which I havent seen for a long time. Its currently snowing and supposed to be between -6 and -7 tomorrow night. I have 5 ex battery hens and 6 ducks (live separately). I am not worried about the ducks as they seem to be doing okay. However my chickens have not been happy for the past few days, they seems to be very stressed by the cold. They are okay during the day when it warms up but early in the morning, they come out and dont really move. This morning one of the girls became very stressed by the cold and she did concern me but she is okay now. All my hens are very very skinny, and 2 are in moult. My vet believes they are just naturally skinny and small as we have done everything to check illness in some of the hens and nothing has come up. Due to how small and slim they are, I dont think the cold wether is suiting them well. I delivery hot porridge/wheat/corn in the mornings to help perk them up but I am really worried about them. Ive read that I shouldnt bring them in of a night as this can mess up their ability to cope with the cold wether, but where do you draw the line with possible death? They arent as hardy as the ducks and I am scared they will get too cold in the night. They have atleast 10inches of bedding and we have packed it up the sides of the coop walls, we even have blankets over the coop to. We dont have the option of running electric down to them so cant use any type of heaters. Any advice as to wether I should leave them out or bring them in?6q

It was -4°F in my chicken coop all night last night & they all did fine. (These temps aren't our normal either)1 is shaking her head today but I'm wondering if she might have gotten some frost bite yesterday because our wind chill was -23°F & she came out of the coop during those temps.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Yea it got to negative 48 last night. They all are fine this morning but its to cold for me to even be out there for a few minutes and the wind.

My australorp has a very small spot that is more than likely frostbite.
Edit: on her comb, i was told not to treat this because they have no nerves in their combs so they wont feel jt.

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

I honestly don’t know but I have seen it more then once. I helped 2 different times getting them free. (Talk about stressed birds ) I have wondered myself how it happened. All I could think was maybe their feet were wet! The worst I have seen is one of them frozen to a roof OMG that was a tough one.

it just might be too cold a surface for her feet to warm up. If she grasps on to a surface and it stays cold, her flesh will attach to it.

"In frostbite, body tissues become frozen, and permanent damage may happen if the affected area is not treated promptly. Amputation of a body part may be needed in the most severe cases. Most commonly, affected body parts include the nose, ears, fingers, toes, cheeks, and chin."

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org › ...
Frostbite | Johns Hopkins Medicine

On the bright side this ends soon for most of you... Winter here has not really started. The real cold begins in January and goes to May