How cold is too cold?

[TimonHens]

Your bedding looks very inviting nice place to take a nap.

My first coop had a hard first winter and I did crazy things like use pieces of carpets on the floor to create insulation. I made these sections of flooring out of pieces of plywood/insulation/carpets that I wrapped in plastic and made like a puzzle floor. It sounds nuts and it was a lot of effort to keep clean, but we all survived.

First thing I did when spring came was insulate the underside of the floor on the coop with styrofoam and I nailed up some leftover floating wood floor to hold it in place. I continue to insulate that floor from underneath every spring. Cold floors are the hardest thing in a coop.

I uh...may have gone out before dawn on Saturday with a blanket and some freshly heated rice wraps and propped myself up against an uncut bale and snuggled my two little girls til the roosters woke up.

I love that my coop has an underneath, but there was a lot of one footing happening.

Spring clean out is going to be epic.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

I uh...may have gone out before dawn on Saturday with a blanket and some freshly heated rice wraps and propped myself up against an uncut bale and snuggled my two little girls til the roosters woke up.

I love that my coop has an underneath, but there was a lot of one footing happening.

Spring clean out is going to be epic.

That's precious. I would temporarily snuggle a chicken before bringing them inside. A super cold chicken will probably tolerate the human contact and tell you when they are done. By slapping you, lmao!

 

[Kanekoded]

I feel like if i put a heater under my chickens they will never leave the warmth, therefore causing them to move around less and becoming victims of fatty liver or something. Also, making them less tolerant of the cold. A heated floor would be awesome in an emergency type situation tho. I get nervous because fatty liver is the #1 cause of death in Connecticut chickens. I am always doing anything i can to get them to move it, move it! There were a couple days in the past week that noone wanted to come out to free range. It was because of wind mostly. Those days, i make toys to stimulate. I wrap a small amount of treat/scratch into newspaper balls and they have fun ripping them apart. I love a scratching chicken. Good luck!

In all the years I've been keeping chickens, I've never heated my coops and I live in a rather cold state. With that said, I do worry about their feet as twenty or so years ago I had a chicken lose her toes to frostbite. I started with heating pads under cardboard to give them a way to warm their toes then I found the heated dog house mats and have been using them ever since. Thankfully, I've never had issues with my chickens wanting to hang out on the heated floor all day. In fact, they'd rather be out in the cold run than cooped up in the coop. I literally have to hang veggies above the mats during super cold spells to make them "remember" to go in and warm up their feet. Anyway, the mats don't throw off a lot of heat, no more than a heated dog bowl does and in the past 20 years I haven't had any more of my chickens get frost bitten feet - so it works quite well.

 

[catballou]

I have 2 that hate to be picked up.

Mine havent been eating a lot i dont know why. If i hand feed them they will eat a ton, i dont know whats their problem.

Is their food in a colder spot? I would try putting a bowl of food in a different location. Maybe it's frozen hard? I'm just trying to think of any reason.

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

In all the years I've been keeping chickens, I've never heated my coops and I live in a rather cold state. With that said, I do worry about their feet as twenty or so years ago I had a chicken lose her toes to frostbite. I started with heating pads under cardboard to give them a way to warm their toes then I found the heated dog house mats and have been using them ever since. Thankfully, I've never had issues with my chickens wanting to hang out on the heated floor all day. In fact, they'd rather be out in the cold run than cooped up in the coop. I literally have to hang veggies above the mats during super cold spells to make them "remember" to go in and warm up their feet. Anyway, the mats don't throw off a lot of heat, no more than a heated dog bowl does and in the past 20 years I haven't had any more of my chickens get frost bitten feet - so it works quite well.

Agreed, dog and humans are lazy and will sit next to a warm fire all day, but chickens are just too hard working and will rush out at the first opportunity. They only stay inside if they can't stand the cold.
Fatty livers & such are more a breeding issue. If you have broilers and try to keep them longer than they were bred to be kept they have issues, but chickens that run around won't (from what I have seen and read), unless, maybe, if you fed them something like a turkey grower feed that is high in fat.

You don't need to keep an eye on them to prevent laziness... Can't be done... There are too many places to scratch in a day... And who knows how many grubs there might be! Just waiting... Calling to be eaten!

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Is their food in a colder spot? I would try putting a bowl of food in a different location. Maybe it's frozen hard? I'm just trying to think of any reason.

Its in the feeder in their coop. If i hand feed them they go crazy. i also spread some around the straw and their coop and they started eating, the feeder is metal i think that may be why.

 

[Kanekoded]

Agreed, dog and humans are lazy and will sit next to a warm fire all day, but chickens are just too hard working and will rush out at the first opportunity. They only stay inside if they can't stand the cold.

Fatty livers & such are more a breeding issue. If you have broilers and try to keep them longer than they were bred to be kept they have issues, but chickens that run around won't (from what I have seen and read), unless, maybe, if you fed them something like a turkey grower feed that is high in fat.

You don't need to keep an eye on them to prevent laziness... Can't be done... There are too many places to scratch in a day... And who knows how many grubs there might be! Just waiting... Calling to be eaten!

I completely agree. To my knowledge, I've never had a chicken with a fatty liver...however, I also don't feed my birds junk food or table scraps and over the years, I've had little to no issues with sick chickens. I feed/treat with the sole purpose of strengthening their immune systems. And when they're healthy, they're moving around and on a mission.

 

[TimonHens]

I cannot describe how adorable my favorite's snore was! My bantie girls are a study in contradictions. Most likely to go off exploring as soon as possible and last to return and least likely to survive low temps and predators and very people-y in different ways.
For any and all of them I get a sense of preferring to be frozen than cooped so I am glad I built large even as I question overall soundness. Since winter is just starting, I guess I will be discovering more ways to maintain them in spite of themselves.

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

I am glad I built large even as I question overall soundness. Since winter is just starting, I guess I will be discovering more ways to maintain them in spite of themselves.

Bigger is better in coops. I love being able to get everything in the coop. I am currently using the new (unopened) bales of straw and wood shavings as insulation by placing them inside the coop until needed. They block the parts of the coop that are less insulated. I like keeping the grain and feed in buckets in the coop, otherwise it becomes an issue with my spouse. (Why is the space his things take up vital, but mine is clutter? )

And it gives you lots of latitude if you get an attack of chicken-math.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Bigger is better in coops. I love being able to get everything in the coop. I am currently using the new (unopened) bales of straw and wood shavings as insulation by placing them inside the coop until needed. They block the parts of the coop that are less insulated. I like keeping the grain and feed in buckets in the coop, otherwise it becomes an issue with my spouse. (Why is the space his things take up vital, but mine is clutter? )

And it gives you lots of latitude if you get an attack of chicken-math.

Love how you think!