winter

I have Wyandotte chickens that are 2 months old, they now live in their coop outside. Tonight is suppose to get into the 20’s, which is the coldest they will have encountered. Do they need a heat source, or will they be ok in the coop for the night?

Getting ahead of myself for this, I have 1 and 2 week old chicks and I'm a first time chicken owner in MA. I know chickens lay little to no eggs in the winter, but is it "better" to give them the heat and light so they lay throughout the colder months, or to go more natural and let them to have...

Lots of questions here so apologies in advance but appreciate any insight. We moved into a new home that has a coop. Coop has been empty for over a year but was left pretty dirty from previous owners. We are interested in and have been researching starting our own flock and utilizing the coop...

So I let a broody hen incubate eggs during the winter, a risk I know. I candled them on day 16 and all was good. I was planning to move mama and her eggs to a private brooder on the evening of day 17. Unfortunately in the afternoon of day 17 she was kicked off her nest by other hens and the eggs...

(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens? Yes. Got them almost 2 weeks ago. 6 baby orphington chicks (2) How many chickens do you have right now? 6 (3) What breeds do you have? Orphington (4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens? I love farm animals...

I just got 6 baby orphingtkn chickens. I believe I got them when they were about two weeks old. They are going on 3.5-4 weeks now and I’m not sure what to do with them with the winter weather. We live in a cold climate so right now in February it’s 30-40 degrees in the day time and about 20...

Hi all, We unexpectedly lost our first chicken last week. We have no idea what happened, I found her in a nesting box. At first I thought she was asleep. We then wondered if we lost her to cold, but the other 2 chicken in the coop were toasty and warm when I grabbed them. I probably...

*edited to add photo references* (Including a photo of her “condo” as I like to call it…) She is a singleton khaki campbell duck born in March of last year. Her companion unfortunately died of a fox attack this past summer. :( She has about 6 inches of pine shavings inside of a cardboard...

Hello! First time chicken owner heading into the winder months. Is supplemental heat needed or recommended in single digit nighttime temps? We’re located in Tennessee and are having a stint of unusually cold weather (0 degrees to -1 predicted as the night time low, teens during the day). My...

This weekend the temperatures in my area will be about negative 10 degrees. l am really worried about my ducks and if their coop is ok for this weather. Usually they free range and at night they go in the enclosed part of the coop with the door shut. When it's cold I keep them in the pen but I...

Hi, I was wondering, what I can do to keep my birds warm in really cold weather without electricity? This weekend it’s supposed to get really cold. Some of my birds are at the end of their winter molt and some seem a little weak. Thursday night when the cold is supposed to hit, I plan to take...

Asking more because I'm curious then concerned. We've had our 6 chickens (5 hens and 1 rooster) for almost 2 years now. This is their second winter (we live in Vermont and have pretty cold winters). Last winter they spent a considerable amount of time out in their run. This winter they are...

The temperatures have dropped in the negatives recently and I'm worried my 3 silkie pullets may be too cold. It's usually around -1°C to -7°here. One night it went down to -10°C. That night I brought the 3 pullets into my garage. I already found one pullet dead last week. My concern is that...

Hello duck owners - I have three female runners that are a few days away from 20 weeks old, so seemingly on the cusp of being in the egg-laying age range. However, it’s also almost December and we are in western VA so it’s chilly and obviously days are getting quite short. Has anyone experienced...

Hello! I have a concern about a couple of my chickens health this winter and I'm hoping some more experienced people can give some advice.... I have a bantam rooster and his favourite hen sleeping inside our house at night. This is due to the neighbours disliking early morning crowing... So...

Is it worth it to order hatching eggs through the mail in November? (I live in Virginia) I want to order quail hatching eggs but should I take the risk of them getting chilled? Does anyone have experience with how much this will affect the hatch rate?

Recently, I realized one of my hens was a rooster. I have eggs that I think are fertilized. How long should I keep them inside? How old do they have to be in order to live outside in the middle of winter with my other chickens?

Do any other Northerners have experience with seramas in the winter? Here in the Boston Area, the coldest we get is about 0ºF to -5ºF, but we have sustained temperatures in the teens. I have three birds that are basically the Caribbean version of seramas, and I'm worried about winter with them...

Hi guys! I am NEW to raising backyard chickens in the Central Florida area. I have Polish (6weeks old), Easter eggers and Green Queens (7 weeks old). I’ve been loving this journey of learning something completely new and am really enjoying the community around raising chickens!! I’ve...