At what temperature should I start shutting their window at night?

[kmlmgm]

Hi! This is my first go at chicken keeping, I live in upstate NY where the nights are starting to get chilly. Currently, my ladies have a big front wire-encased window on the front of their house. I keep it open at night for ventilation. It was 38 degrees here last night, tonight there is a frost warning. How cold does it get before I start shutting the window? No insulation otherwise on the shed and it is raised 3 feet off the ground.

 

[aart]

When the snow flies They have down coats and need to acclimate to colder temps by being exposed to them.

Just close windows to reduce any strong drafts, especially near roosts...but remember ventilation is just as (or more) important in cold temps as warm ones.

 

[jaj121159]

I would only shut the window if snow, freezing rain, strong winds etc. is going to be coming through the window. Maybe if it gets 15 or more degrees below zero. I second aart's statement on ventilation.

 

[aart]

I was just going to ask the same question. I have a coop with two front windows and a flip down vent window of the the back wall of the coop. The two front windows are across from the back vent. When should I start closing my windows?

Well, so then, question already answered, right?

 

[JackE]

I have the Lancaster Chicken Coop with Nesting Boxes 72" x 54" x 74" Red. This is the pic below. What do you think?

I would guess that the roosts are placed at the back of the coop. Seeing that those are not huge windows as they can only be opened half way, due to the top pane of glass, I would leave them open year round. The back vent you have, what are the dimensions of that? You may have to throttle that closed a bit, so you don't have cold air blasting through the coop. But, you do not want to close off everything. As you have read on the forum, you HAVE to maintain good ventilation. You don't want the chickens living in a wind tunnel, but you REALLY don't want them closed up in a sealed box in the winter. Nothing good comes from that.

 

[Messipaw]

this is interesting. Its from the Chicken Whisperer on FB!
The Chicken Whisperer · 71,628 like this
3 hours ago ·


Well, it's that time of year again when people start posting questions about keeping their chickens warm in the winter. This means it's time for me to post my opinion on the topic, which has not changed in over two decades, so here I go...Chickens have been domesticated for about 6,000 years, yet we have only had electricity in America for the past 125 years, and the chickens have been doing just fine for the past 5,875 years without a heater in their coop. When you wake up on the morning, and it's -10 degrees, what is the first thing you see when you look out the kitchen window? Tiny little birds flying around looking for food and water, and I can assure you that they do NOT have a heater in their nest up in that tree. Chickens have feathers to keep them warm, and they do a good job of doing so. Have you ever slept under a down comforter? I have never in over five years of broadcasting over 850 episode had a poultry expert including certified avian vets, poultry scientists, poultry professors, APA, ABA, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Society for Preservation of Poultry Antiquities, USDA, and other poultry experts recommend heating a chicken coop, and believe me, I have asked them all because I am so passionate about this topic. That said, this by no means you don't have to use some due diligence this winter to keep your birds healthy. I will post about this a little later. You can't argue with someone that says, "I will sleep better at night knowing that my precious chickens are warm ans toasty" so I don't. However, I will try to get them to at least use a safe heat source to prevent them killing their precious chickens with kindness. Every year I post a countless number of articles about coop fires that have been caused by an unnecessary heat source. Not only are their precious chickens all dead, but their coop has been destroyed, and is some cases even their own house or neighbors house was also caught on fire!!! In most all cases in the United States, including Alaska, a heat source is not needed in your coop! Yes, this includes Silkies and Seramas! However, if you still choose to heat your coop, PLEASE PLEASE, PLEASE, use a safe heat source! If you use a dangerous heat lamp, then incorporate several safety back up devices like once you clamp the heat lamp to something, duct tape it, and then spring clamp it, and then use a chain to secure it to the ceiling! Then, four things have to fail before your coop burns to the ground! The heat lamp clamp has to break, the spring clamp has to break, the duct tape has to fail, and the chain has to break all at the exact time for the lamp to fall into the shavings and cause a fire! Or, just spend a little more money and get a safer heat source for your precious chickens. I won't even get into the possibility of doing more harm to your chickens by providing heat, and then the power going out in the middle of the night, and you chickens are not acclimated to the cold due to them having a heat lamp every night. My basic point for this post is to let my fans know that in most all cases anywhere in America that heat is not needed in your coop. Please don't kill your precious chickens with kindness. Take it or leave it, but I will continue to be passionate about not using heaters in coops.

 

[aart]

Long Island NY

You'll probably have wind coming every which way, good thing you have some options to open/close windows/vents.

 

[Skfla]

Messipaw

I'm curious how many chickens you have in your coop (if you only have 1 roost I'm thinking 5-6 tops?). That can make a big difference.

If you only have a few chickens right now & you're very worried, you can turn the roost so they roost on the "4in" (actually 3.5") side. This will allow them to sit on their feet. If you want to experiment, leave your original roost the way it is and put in a 2nd 2x4 with the wide side up. Then see which they like better on the cold nights.

If your coop is already electrified you can put a 60-100 watt bulb (just a normal Incandescent bulb, NOT a heat lamp) in the socket-check what your socket is rated for- & set the timer to come on at about 3 or 4 am. This would typically be the coldest time of night. You will get a little extra heat from the bulb & the chickens would also start moving around. You can also give them some corn, etc (we call it chicken crack down here) at night & this would warm them up.

You may want to check their combs/wattles every couple of days if you're actually worried that its cold enough for frostbite.

Any of these would be fine but only if you're worried. To be honest, I would review the "chicken whisperer's" information & listen to his web-cast. I believe he still takes call ins/emails.

Good luck & let us know what you did & how you fared!

 

[CedarAcres]

I would only shut the window to prevent drafts or weather from getting inside, as others have said. Their feathers are amazing insulators!

 

[donrae]

What they said. The temperature really doesn't matter to chickens. Remember, folks raised birds in your area long before there was electricity! Dry is more important, and not having wind blowing on the birds.