I am looking ahead to our first winter with chickens up here in New Hampshire. We have 11 chickens that are 15 weeks old.
This area pictured is about 1/4 of my (unheated) barn and is 15'x8'. One wall to the right has hardware cloth, the rest and ceiling are full wood walls. They also have an access door to an outdoor 12'x9' run.
Forgive me because I am new and learning...I realize chickens can withstand a cold environment, but what is the limit to how cold?
Also, do I understand correctly that if the temperature stays warm enough, chickens will continue to lay normally? Or was I misinformed?
This barn gets pretty cold in the winter with concrete floors and it's drafty. We would like to provide them with something (other than the brooder heat plate that does nothing) that can heat this area just to a "comfortable" level.
Does anyone have a similar setup/situation? What did you do?
This area pictured is about 1/4 of my (unheated) barn and is 15'x8'. One wall to the right has hardware cloth, the rest and ceiling are full wood walls. They also have an access door to an outdoor 12'x9' run.
Forgive me because I am new and learning...I realize chickens can withstand a cold environment, but what is the limit to how cold?
Also, do I understand correctly that if the temperature stays warm enough, chickens will continue to lay normally? Or was I misinformed?
This barn gets pretty cold in the winter with concrete floors and it's drafty. We would like to provide them with something (other than the brooder heat plate that does nothing) that can heat this area just to a "comfortable" level.
Does anyone have a similar setup/situation? What did you do?