- Jan 3, 2014
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Hi everybody,
I've been lurking for a while and have gotten so much good information from this forum - thank you! I now have a question about cold weather...
My husband and I live in Nashville, TN and we are not used to highs at 16 degrees and nights down to 2! And now that we have chickens, we are worried to death about them! We have 2 tractor coops - one with 3 Bantam hens and an Americauna rooster and the other just has one Sultan hen. (Originally, the Sultan was with two Silkies, but they turned out to be roosters and were very mean to the Sultan, so we gave them away. The Americauna rooster intimidates the Sultan and she doesn't get too close to him. He doesn't like it when she gets inside his run).
Anyway... Our tractors are well built but not insulated (except for pine shavings). There is no good place to put a heat lamp inside either house. I think we should put the chickens in some kind of box in the garage on these super cold nights, but my husband thinks that will get them "used to" the warm, and then they will get sick when they go back out into the cold or won't be able to handle the cold.
Can these kind of chickens survive this cold weather, especially our precious, sweet Sultan, who is all by herself in her house? Just so you know, we let them free range as much as possible during the day and the Sultan hangs out (cautiously) with all the rest of the chickens.
Any advice you have about these kinds of chickens and and their ability to be in such cold weather is much appreciated!
Thank you!
Carol
I've been lurking for a while and have gotten so much good information from this forum - thank you! I now have a question about cold weather...
My husband and I live in Nashville, TN and we are not used to highs at 16 degrees and nights down to 2! And now that we have chickens, we are worried to death about them! We have 2 tractor coops - one with 3 Bantam hens and an Americauna rooster and the other just has one Sultan hen. (Originally, the Sultan was with two Silkies, but they turned out to be roosters and were very mean to the Sultan, so we gave them away. The Americauna rooster intimidates the Sultan and she doesn't get too close to him. He doesn't like it when she gets inside his run).
Anyway... Our tractors are well built but not insulated (except for pine shavings). There is no good place to put a heat lamp inside either house. I think we should put the chickens in some kind of box in the garage on these super cold nights, but my husband thinks that will get them "used to" the warm, and then they will get sick when they go back out into the cold or won't be able to handle the cold.
Can these kind of chickens survive this cold weather, especially our precious, sweet Sultan, who is all by herself in her house? Just so you know, we let them free range as much as possible during the day and the Sultan hangs out (cautiously) with all the rest of the chickens.
Any advice you have about these kinds of chickens and and their ability to be in such cold weather is much appreciated!
Thank you!
Carol
