Anna Ranieri
Crowing
Just finished read through your thread. Great thread, really enjoyed reading through it and picked up some good ideas too.How exciting! A new coop! I'll have to check out their plans. Not that I'm making one, just cause I like looking at them.
Hey, my thread asking about cold weather is a Featured Thread!!! Wow!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/opinions-of-cold-climate-chicken-keepers-needed.1289148/
I'm not using any heat so far, our lowest so far has been -3°C (26°f) but we are mostly ranging between 5°C (41°f) and -1°C (30°f). My girls are happy no one is showing any signs of being bothered at all. I check their combs everyday and all is well. Although I've had a lot of criticism about keeping them in a rabbit hutch, it's actually helping a lot as it holds in heat well. I have loads of bedding in there for them though just to make sure. It is very rare we get any lower than we are now but if we do we have already decided we'll bring them in with us. We have to be careful though because of Roo she gets over heated very easily. When we bathed the other three a few days ago, we brought her in too so she wouldn't fret about being without Lilah, we kept the heating off indoors so's not to risk unclimatising them but even doing that she got too hot and did so very quickly. I am sitting outside with them at present as it is dark and although I am using the yard light for them I don't leave them out on their own in case of night predators, it is 2°C (35°f) with a slight frost, I am absolutely freezing despite wearing several layers of clothing, they on the other hand are happily milling around foraging at leasure, showing no signs of wanting to go to bed yet but I am comforted by how well they are handling the cold - albeit that I might end up resembling an ice sculpture very soon lol.