Bringing the flock inside during winter storms

[aliemoose]

My coop doesn't have the best insulation and there's a large blizzard coming tonight with a big wind chill and the temperature expected to be in the negatives at times. My family and I became very worried for a small flock of four withstanding the weather. So we decided it would be a good idea to bring them inside for the brunt of the storm instead of making them fend for themselves in the below freezing temperatures.
In order to make this happen we our giant dog crate that we use when we take our dogs on planes or long car trips. Tonight I single-handedly managed to haul all four fowl into the house from their outdoor run and stuff them all into the crate. I left some food in there for them and in the morning I'll bring in their water too.
I guess I was just posting this to let other small flock owners know it's okay to bring in your birds and not to feel alone and maybe even ask for some advice when bringing them back outside. I hope I didn't stress them out too much or shock them by bringing them into such a warm house.

Wishing you all the best this winter!

 

[pkelley]

I'll be anxious to hear how they do. I was wondering if I should bring mine in. They are in a coop in a barn. So out of the elements. I thought about putting them in our heated shed, but worry about the big change in temperature. Best of luck! Temps are going to get really cold here in Illinois too.

 

[Mammachix]

I'm pretty sure that if I brought in 20 hens and 5 obnoxious guineas into our laundry room my husband would put ME out in the coop! Here's to hoping that they do okay tonight. It's supposed to be negative ten to twenty here (near Albany, NY). I am trusting that all the folks from Canada that say they will be fine are right!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Good for you for looking after your birds. An extremely cold weather front would be a shock to them and you are right in that the fewer the bodies in the coop, the less warm it is for them.

They are tropical birds and I was just reading about one little chicken who lost both feet from frostbite through a cold snap, bless her soul. The owners saved her life and now she is recovering.

Some people have coops built like a house would be built, and others have boards slapped together with little breezes (this describes one of my coops). Some areas are humid and very cold (high risk of frostbite) while other areas have dry cold. Go with your gut feeling on your chickens, always!

 

[ten chicks]

My ten birds(6 are silkies) have been living in my house for weeks already,they are in a mudroom converted to a coop and are very happy. I have temps of -42 C with wind chill - 52 C,too cold for my girls/boys,and my coop is heated. They will stay inside until spring,go out and back inside with the A/C when it is too hot.

 

[hensintheHOUse]

We didn't keep them outside below 30F. We used to keep them in the garage until the early Spring. It was little trouble to clean up, and let them out during the daytime to get some fresh air..
But, our backyard is very wild that we can often see wolves and foxes in the cold winter. So that was the another reason to keep them inside.Although we had only 5 chickens in total.. so it was not difficult...

 

[Mammachix]

Sadly, looks like my rooster got a couple of spots of frostbite on his wattles last night. I went and bought a space heater today. It's supposed to be negative ten to twenty tonight again. It is up to 23 degrees in the coop, so hopefully he will do better.

 

[hensintheHOUse]

Sadly, looks like my rooster got a couple of spots of frostbite on his wattles last night. I went and bought a space heater today. It's supposed to be negative ten to twenty tonight again. It is up to 23 degrees in the coop, so hopefully he will do better.

Yeah, I hope so too. Here will be negative 3-0 F tonight.