Molting chickens + -30 windchills…

[GAchickiemama]

I am a new chicken mama, please don’t judge. I know a lot of people have been worried about the cold. I live in NW Georgia and it hasn’t gotten below 20 degrees yet, but tonight/tomorrow it’s supposed to be below 0 with -20 to -30 windchills. We built our coop, and it’s sturdy and well ventilated but not insulated, there are 7 chickens and they are all less than a year old.

I was going to let them ride it out and just keep an eye on them but half of them are molting with hardly any feathers on their necks. How will I know if I need to bring them inside?

I’m planning on letting them sleep in the coop and then checking on them in the morning and feeding them in the coop. The worst of the wind and low temps are supposed to hit at like 5am through tomorrow. Thoughts? Advice?

 

[CrazyChicken360]

They might just be fine in the coop but if you’re that worried you could have a heat lamp at the roof of your coop pointing down on them.

 

[21hens-incharge]

How big is the coop?
Heat lamps are very dangerous but even more dangerous in small coops where the chickens can or are more likely to bump into them.

Wind chill and standing air temp are quite different things.
As long as they can be out of the strong winds they should be able to weather cold air temps even while molting.

If they are indeed less than a year old they aren't molting. Do you have a bully in the flock or a rooster?

 

[Chickeeaholic]

I am I the same boat. Zero degrees and wind chill of -20 to -30. I have a sturdy draft free coop but it isn’t insulated. It usually stays 10 degrees warmer than outside. I have two molting and 6 12 week olds. My others are fully grown and feathered. Right now I just have a panel heater for the young ones and 2 molting. I’m going to keep an eye on my other girls and if they show cold stress I have a heater for them (oil filled radiant heater secured in a metal drum) ready to go. I’m going to move them to a warmer building in a dog kennel if we loose power.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Do you have any pictures of the inside of your coop? My chickens have always survived with temperatures near zero or below for the short time in winter that it gets that low here. They need some ventilation at the top of the coop to release humid air from breathing, but they need to have no direct wind blowing on them during such low temps. Do they roost? Are they wide roosts? Make sure they have plenty of dry bedding, and they need to have thawed water all day long. You can use electric heated dog water bowls or bring water out to them a couple of times a day. If you have a basement or warm garage, you can move them temporarily but make sure the temps are not too warm for them.

 

[Cat Ballou]

Hi, there. I’m in the same area as you and carefully watching the weather. Sounds like you have a good plan. My weather app is reading 45 at midnight, 39 at 1 am, 33 at 2 am, then 28, 23, 19, 14, and leveling off at 11 degrees at 7. I reason that the coop will retain some portion of the previous hours temperature and won’t be the same temperature as outside, but I just got a thermometer to monitor the actual coop temperatures. I think this morning will be marginally better than the next several mornings where there will be very low temperatures going into each night.

I fed my chickens tonight so I don’t have to expose them to 11 degrees in the morning. There’s enough for them to eat all day tomorrow. Then tomorrow evening I’ll feed them again for all day Saturday- taking advantage of the highest temperatures we’ll get throughout the weekend.

To avoid risk of fire, I also bought handwarmers to throw down. I’m not sure what I’ll put them them in to keep the chickens from tearing them up. Maybe paper bags??

 

[21hens-incharge]

Hand warmers are not a good idea loose or in paper bags. Chickens will make very short work of paper and I don't think hand warmers are edible.

 

[Eggcessive]

Hi, there. I’m in the same area as you and carefully watching the weather. Sounds like you have a good plan. My weather app is reading 45 at midnight, 39 at 1 am, 33 at 2 am, then 28, 23, 19, 14, and leveling off at 11 degrees at 7. I reason that the coop will retain some portion of the previous hours temperature and won’t be the same temperature as outside, but I just got a thermometer to monitor the actual coop temperatures. I think this morning will be marginally better than the next several mornings where there will be very low temperatures going into each night.

I fed my chickens tonight so I don’t have to expose them to 11 degrees in the morning. There’s enough for them to eat all day tomorrow. Then tomorrow evening I’ll feed them again for all day Saturday- taking advantage of the highest temperatures we’ll get throughout the weekend.

To avoid risk of fire, I also bought handwarmers to throw down. I’m not sure what I’ll put them them in to keep the chickens from tearing them up. Maybe paper bags??

Make sure they have thawed water all day.

 

[GAchickiemama]

Hi, there. I’m in the same area as you and carefully watching the weather. Sounds like you have a good plan. My weather app is reading 45 at midnight, 39 at 1 am, 33 at 2 am, then 28, 23, 19, 14, and leveling off at 11 degrees at 7. I reason that the coop will retain some portion of the previous hours temperature and won’t be the same temperature as outside, but I just got a thermometer to monitor the actual coop temperatures. I think this morning will be marginally better than the next several mornings where there will be very low temperatures going into each night.

I fed my chickens tonight so I don’t have to expose them to 11 degrees in the morning. There’s enough for them to eat all day tomorrow. Then tomorrow evening I’ll feed them again for all day Saturday- taking advantage of the highest temperatures we’ll get throughout the weekend.

To avoid risk of fire, I also bought handwarmers to throw down. I’m not sure what I’ll put them them in to keep the chickens from tearing them up. Maybe paper bags??

Thank you! Had to reply and let you know your username was my nickname growing up!

 

[NatJ]

tonight/tomorrow it’s supposed to be below 0 with -20 to -30 windchills.

Windchill only matters if the chickens are in the wind.
So if the wind cannot get into their coop, the wind won't affect the chickens inside the coop.

Of course the windchill matters to you when you go out to check on the chickens, and it will matter to the chickens if the chickens go out into the wind. I suppose the wind might also blow into the coop when you open it to take care of them, but that will probably be a short enough time that you don't have to worry much about it.