Windchill and chickens being outside

[penella22]

As a new chicken owner, I'm struggling with this weather too. I'm in Vermont where our forecast is for -18 degrees F tonight, with a windchill of -38F.

I have a heat lamp in the coop, but it doesn't clamp very well even though it's brand new, and I worry about leaving it on overnight and starting a fire.

I also worry about leaving a heat lamp on and interrupting their day length. They don't sleep with it on, and I know they're sensitive to length of day so isn't it bad to have the heat lamp on at night?

I have extremely cold tolerant breeds; Wyandottes, an Orpington, two Amercaunas and a Welsummer. Th Welsummer has a single comb I worry about. My coop is part of the inside of a very sturdy garden shed though. Thinking I will shut the windows more than usual to reduce wind but leave the light off. Looking for advice or opinions from more experienced people. Thanks!

 

[JackE]

As a new chicken owner, I'm struggling with this weather too. I'm in Vermont where our forecast is for -18 degrees F tonight, with a windchill of -38F.

I have a heat lamp in the coop, but it doesn't clamp very well even though it's brand new, and I worry about leaving it on overnight and starting a fire.

I also worry about leaving a heat lamp on and interrupting their day length. They don't sleep with it on, and I know they're sensitive to length of day so isn't it bad to have the heat lamp on at night?

I have extremely cold tolerant breeds; Wyandottes, an Orpington, two Amercaunas and a Welsummer. Th Welsummer has a single comb I worry about. My coop is part of the inside of a very sturdy garden shed though. Thinking I will shut the windows more than usual to reduce wind but leave the light off. Looking for advice or opinions from more experienced people. Thanks!

I have all of the breeds you have, short the Welsummer. Believe me, they can handle the cold. Remove the heatlamp. All you are doing is running up your electric bill, and taking a chance on burning your coop down. If a bird knocks it down, or it just slips off, that's going to be a BIG problem. Check out the link below. It's an old book about open-air coops. It talks about the importance of fresh air flow/ventilation, even in sub-zero weather. Coops like those were used all the way up into Canada back in the day. On pg24, you can read about people keeping their birds in open-air coops in -40 temps. Don't worry, as long as your birds are dry and out of the wind, they will be fine.

http://archive.org/stream/openairpoultryho00wood#page/n0/mode/2up

 

[DogChickenDad]

I gathered all of the open air campers up and put them in the house, the wind is really howling and it is in the teens, it is good to know they are out of the wind chill.