Canadians check in here....

[ChickenTenderKesha]

Happy holidays to you and everyone else!

what part of Canada are you in? I
I’m in southern Ontario and it was a green muddy Christmas with a slight chill. It’s getting cold again though

 

[itsasmallfarm]

Happy holidays to you and everyone else!

what part of Canada are you in? I
I’m in southern Ontario and it was a green muddy Christmas with a slight chill. It’s getting cold again though

am from Saskatchewan.

we where like -4C which is pretty nice weather for this time of year here.

 

[ChickenTenderKesha]

It was in the positives here, only single digits but we had a few days leading up it was 10-11C. Only just started to drop last night but it hasn’t been cold enough to really freeze things again yet unfortunately.

I hope you are enjoying the nice weather you have, and keeping warm when it drops back down. My father worked out in Saskatoon for a few months a handful of winters ago, your winters are less wet than ours if I’m remembering correctly? Does that make it different for any winterizing done to the coop/run?

 

[itsasmallfarm]

It was in the positives here, only single digits but we had a few days leading up it was 10-11C. Only just started to drop last night but it hasn’t been cold enough to really freeze things again yet unfortunately.

I hope you are enjoying the nice weather you have, and keeping warm when it drops back down. My father worked out in Saskatoon for a few months a handful of winters ago, your winters are less wet than ours if I’m remembering correctly? Does that make it different for any winterizing done to the coop/run?

to be honest am not sure.

we just winterize for very cold weather. and i think we are classified as a dry cold if that makes sense. not sure about that 100% though.

 

[ChickenTenderKesha]

to be honest am not sure.

we just winterize for very cold weather. and i think we are classified as a dry cold if that makes sense. not sure about that 100% though.

Yeah the “dry cold” rings a bell in my head so that must be what your winters are referred to as. Do you get snow?

 

[chickens really]

Good day fellow Canadians. Jeepers it's cold in Alberta..
-27C here dropping to -34C Sunday night..

 

[thelastrabbit]

Needing some advice from my Alberta family on here. We are in year two with a flock. Began with runners and they did fine last winter. Now we have chickens as well and I felt like I agreed with the “no heat lamp” crowd until this week. Stopped at Peavey Mart on the way home and grabbed one. Now I’m feeling nervous about it but also happy I don’t wake up to a frozen flock. Can anyone reassure me it’s ok or did I freak out and make a mistake?

 

[chickens really]

Needing some advice from my Alberta family on here. We are in year two with a flock. Began with runners and they did fine last winter. Now we have chickens as well and I felt like I agreed with the “no heat lamp” crowd until this week. Stopped at Peavey Mart on the way home and grabbed one. Now I’m feeling nervous about it but also happy I don’t wake up to a frozen flock. Can anyone reassure me it’s ok or did I freak out and make a mistake?

I run heat here for my Birds. I have always used heat lamps.
Your actually not too far from me either.

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

As you said, it's personal opinion.
I don't live too far either and I don't heat. They become less active, eat less and huddle more, but they do fine. I have one coop with insulation and one without. I have to admit that there was no frostbite in the insulated coop even during our -40 cold snap last winter. The boys in the uninsulated coop did get frostbite on their toes, but I think that a large part of that is because they kept standing in their water. Even my bantams, including a silkie, have made it through several winters unscathed.

 

[RoosterRules]

I am three hours north of you, I don't use heat or insulation for my Brahmas and Orloff Roo. Their coop is never warmer than outside but minus wind. It is a broken record but if your birds are dry they can deal with even extreme cold. I don't keep any water or snow inside my coop to ban as much moisture as possible from their coop. I leave their heated water bowl outside. Better than heat is south-facing ventilation above their roosting bars. I use the StressAid vitamins and electrolytes from Peavey Mart as a boost during winter, but this may be just a placebo treatment for my own worry about them. I give fish meal, bones with marrow and eggs during their hard molts just prior to winter. I cull weak birds prior to the cold because it is too cruel otherwise. On very cold days I make warm mash for them before roosting time, they appreciate it so much and I think it might be beneficial.