Anyone's hen actually ever freeze to death?

[TreeHugger]

My chicken house is insulated. It's still COLD in there. In fact the only difference between outside & in the chicken house is that they never get wind chill. The first few years I had chickens I did hang up heat lamps in the chicken house. However, I woke up at least once a night to check & make sure it wasn't burning down. I did away with the heat lamps but I do keep a heated waterer in there so they don't have frozen water.

The only bird I ever lost to the cold was one that got left out in an ice storm. Apparently the poor thing couldn't get up the ramp to get into the chicken house once the storm started.

 

[ivan3]

I've seen a photo of a large flock of chooks frozen to the ground (ice storm Kansas), but that's it.

We're looking forward (absolutely NOT!) to wind chill temps thursday of -25° - -35°F. They will be staying in the coop and I'll change out the 15W (just so they can see early in the morning) with a 150W for a couple days. They are well acclimated to the cold (worry a bit about unacclimated, sun happy chooks to the south that'll get a moderated shot of this), but a day in that sort of wind might yield some carcasses.

ed: oh, it's been at or below zero every night for a while (no heat in coop excepting chooks and 15W light.) they don't like it, but they are otherwise just fine.

 

[chicknjane]

I'm in PA it gets cold, but not that cold. I don't think its even gotten below 20 degrees yet. I remember reading somewhere that chickens can tolerate temperatures below zero. But after reading so many posts about winterizing coops I was concerned, this being my first winter with chickens. But, after nearly roasting my 25 pullets last night when the heat lamp got knocked from its hook and burned a hole in the coop floor, I'm convinced the OP is right. My chickens are more likely to roast to death than freeze to death.

Needless to say, I'll be saving myself $20/month on the electric bill by not running a heat lamp for my chickens.

 

[Imp]

In the past people have posted that they had chickens die of the cold. I haven't seen that posted yet this year. I suppose if they got untreated frostbite that could cause death from infection.
I'm in the mild Seattle area so I don't have to worry about the extreme temps. But I do have heat in the coop.

Imp- They need it while their fur coats are at the cleaners.

 

[chickenshagg]

My mother-in-law lives in Sweden and has chickens. Her chicken coop is a 200 year old two horse stall/barn. The barn is built from whole logs and is half below ground. I know it gets a lot colder there than it does here in the midwest and she keeps a heat lamp in there for them during the winter.

I have a well built coop that is only partially insulated but is wrapped in Tyvec so there are no drafts and it is well ventelated up high. But with temperatures in the single didgets this week and the lows expected to be below zeroe I went ahead and hooked up a heat lamp for them tonight. It was already dark when I got home so the chicks were inside up on their roost when I went out and hooked up the lamp. When the lamp turned on my rooster started making a bunch of noise and then a couple of my older girls jumped off the roost and started moving about. I went ahead and left them alone and went back out about an hour latter to check on them. I only looked through the window but they were all back up on their roost but looking around wide eyed. The heat lamp is a red bulb so I hope it does not keep them up all night.

 

[dwegg]

great post...thank you..and something to think about.

As I am new to chickens just in the last months I was (am) very worried about the temps. we are having right now. I rushed out and bought them a heat lamp (secured by a chain.) today and also wrapped the coop with some landscape fabric to stop drafts.

It is good to know that chickens can withstand low, low temps...BUT these are animals that rely on me for their welfare, and just like my three dogs...sure they could SURVIVE out in this weather at night but do i let them just because they can..no they sleep on my bed with me (the dogs not the chickens!).

I would be very upset if I let them spend miserable nights merely surviving in below freezing temps for nights on end, let alone if something happened to them...and yes I will spend tonight waking up to check on them to make sure I haven't burnt them down with the coop! but I spent last night waking up to check on them BECAUSE I thought they were cold and might not make it!!

I feel better that they will be a little warmer and comfortable tonight and this week. I will take the lamp away when these temps. go back to a normal winter temp. here.

but this post was good to know and hear from others.

 

[Akane]

Chickens survive a lot of damage. You will see posts of lost combs, toes, and occasionally even a chicken with no foot. Just because they don't die doesn't mean bad things don't happen. It seems more often other complications from the cold cause them to be put down later or they go through lots of pain getting healthy again. I lost some young chickens to the cold but not adults. I have had nearly my whole flock with frostbit combs 2 winters now and this year a damaged toe. Before electricity many of the breeds we have in the north would not have been kept. Most of the breeds we see today wouldn't even have been heard of so that's not really a good argument. However there aren't too many breeds that can't take down to 0F if they are acclimated to it.

 

[Overeasyplz]

I have moved my hens to a large wooden shed that has ventilation at the roof's edge. I put a hanging light in it, a 65 watt bulb, so they could have light. They were in a tractor but the snow was getting too deep. They really were fine but I was worried. bonus though, they had stopped laying in October, but the last two days I have gotten two eggs! I was only getting one every few days and by the time I had found it it was frozen. but no frostbite, no frozen toes. I just gave them fresh straw every other day to keep them busy and warm.

 

[OccamsTazer]

A story about chickens and cold:
Last Feb I got my first chickens. I have lots of animal experience but these were my first poultry. A friend of a vet I worked for gave me 8 young banties, feathered out but still young. I now know that these banties had *never* been handled and were completely *wild*, but at the time I was picturing happy friendly (relaxed) birds. This was not what I had in my possession
So I got home, placed the pet carrier on the ground in front of my new coop, and opened the door with a sort of "Be free, my cluckies!" sort of joy. The hateful birds ignored the coop, ignored the corn, and fled immediately into the nearby pile of cut-down bamboo forest.
I was very sad at my miscalculation.
There was no getting them back, every time I came near they fled deeper into the pile. I went to bed. The next morning I awoke in complete horror at the first and only snow of the year. I ran outside, expecting to find my lovely new birds dead in the bamboo, but they were alive! Soaking wet, furious, and moving slowly, but alive!

Let me just highlight here that you haven't lived til you've chased chickens in the snow, wearing a bathrobe, at 6:30am. I threw them in the coop and slammed it shut. The birds never warmed up to me, but six days later they eventually ventured out to forage.

Epilogue: the batch ended up being almost all roosters. We kept the prettiest one, his name is Cap'n Nasty, and my giant Leghorn roo is terrified of him

my banty roo

 

[SilkieTime]