Chicken and the Extreme cold

[PirateGirl]

First I would say that provided your coop is wind proof and draft free the wind chill does not count towards the temperature your chickens experience, they are not in the wind.

I have found my birds sometimes seem uncomfortable when it is below zero F. If it is below 0 and windy, they will choose to stay in their coop for most of or all of the day. I check on them often and bring them food and water in their coop (not the norm for me, I generally keep food and water in the run), and watch and make sure they come down from the roost to eat/drink and are active within the coop. Being active helps keep their body temperature up.

Every chicken is different, and while my flock has done ok without heat/insulation, it does not mean they will always be fine and it does not mean that your flock will be fine. I did lose a young (maybe 8 week) chicken once that I attribute to cold and the stress that put on her. Some birds are more sensitive than others and weak for various reasons, maybe they are old, maybe they have had an illness in the past or respiratory problem that surfaces when stressed, maybe they are a tiny frizzle bantam, you name it. The most important thing is to check on them often and learn the behavior of your birds. What is normal for them? What is not normal for them? A lethargic bird is not a bird that is healthy and strong. Let the flock dictate when they may need heat. If they need heat, your goal should not be warm, like the inside of your human house, your goal is warmer than the outside air temp. Maybe if it's well below zero you want you coop to stay at at least zero. There are passive ways to help keep the coop warmer... a dark color roof, water jugs in the coop, more mass will retain more of the sun's warmth and take longer to cool off at night. Also collect eggs often, they will freeze solid and split open pretty quick at those temps. When the ground is frozen, provide a dust bath.

 

[Well Seasoned]

@Well Seasoned Are those your normal average winter temps or just last year's fluke? We all had extreme negative temps that we weren't used to last year.

We see those temps every winter. Last winter the temps were in the negatives even during the day for almost a month. Doesn't typically last that long, maybe a week and a half- but almost a month it was cold. We're windy too! Wind chills way colder!

 

[aart]

The most important thing is to check on them often and learn the behavior of your birds. What is normal for them? What is not normal for them? A lethargic bird is not a bird that is healthy and strong.

I use observation as well. Brought a couple in last year that weren't fairing well during a cold snap, just for a few hours in the slightly warmer attached garage. Gave them a drink of Save-A-Chick electrolytes/vitamins, perked one of them right up and she was fine for the rest of the winter....another one I waited too long(day 4 instead of day 2 of lethargic behavior) and she died.

 

[PirateGirl]

I have admittedly kept a chicken in the bathtub overnight. It's not the norm, and 99% of the time they are totally fine in the cold, but you have to watch closely when the extreme cold continues for days on end. The other time that's tricky is the random cold snap super early in the season because they haven't totally acclimated yet... generally the temp slowly drops through fall into winter and gets gradually colder and they slowly get used to it, but freak storms can be a bit shocking!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The higher elevations in the Adirondacks are close to ours. I will pickup some Vaseline for this purpose. Thanks!



What kind of low temperatures do you see?




Thanks! What kind of radiant heater do you use?

We can see a few weeks of -20's with -40's wind chills, on occasions even a bit colder. A few winters we have gotten -60 wind chills. Definitely isn't usual. Your temperatures sound a bit colder, so I can't say if they would be okay, but if housed correctly and allowed to acclimate to your temperatures as they fall I would assume they will be okay.

Roosters will often have a bit of frostbite, as well as a few big combed hens. I even have a few that lose toes. Everyone makes it okay though and frostbite doesn't generally set them back too much.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I will also say that on those weeks of bitterly cold temperatures my birds will often sit hunched and look cold. I bring out warm water to drink and will make a warm mash of their ration and oatmeal for them to eat.

I also throw out scratch of cracked corn and black oil sunflower seeds which gets them moving and warming up. Any amount of sunshine is appreciated to warm up too.

I also give mine some afternoon scratch too so they have something more substantial to digest overnight. I have never lost any birds to being cold. My shed always had an open east facing doorway. We definitely block all prevailing winds, and put out hay to stand on and forage through.

 

[aart]

I also throw out scratch of cracked corn and black oil sunflower seeds which gets them moving and warming up.

Also a good way to assess their mobility and/or lethargy....
....a bird that won't readily go for treats isn't doing well.

 

[snow5164]

As @PattyNH does a thermostat is as important as the heat source .

I have long weeks of very cold weather with wind chills adding ( subtracting) 20 more degrees... windchill does matter because that tells you what the weather would feel like on your birds skin.

You could wire in a light socket and use a low wattage heat bulb , or even a 100 wattbulb . We use a 1500 watt barn heater with a fan , it can be set to 1000,1200 or 1500 Watts . The fan also has three speed settings , it’s on a thermostat set to 0’C (32’F). Farm type stores tsc, peavey mart have barn heaters

We have two 8x8 foot coops side by side , we took out the dividing wall and added chicken wire two years ago, now we can heat both sides with one heater.

I’d rather be prepared, set it low just above freezing and they’ll still go outside on mild days if your run is wrapped in poly to stop the wind , I also add straw on top of snow in run

 

[BantyChooks]

Similar climate here. I don't use heat in those temperatures, but some birds definitely don't do well in it and a few of the less hardy ones may die. If I see a bird doing poorly, I will bring it inside for a few hours for a 'reset', put it out again, and make a note to process that one next spring. I wouldn't mind having some heat in the coop for those temperatures, just to take the edge off and give them a place to warm up a bit, but it's a fire risk that I'm not willing to take at this moment. I find that cockerels and cocks are more sensitive to cold than hens, and DP, full-size layers with good feathering can take practically any weather you throw at them.

 

[BantyChooks]

Also a good way to assess their mobility and/or lethargy....
....a bird that won't readily go for treats isn't doing well.

A warning: make sure that's not all you use as a test. Last year I only did that for a while [tossed food] instead of watching them and I missed a cockerel that was doing poorly. Found him fallen off the roost the next day, nearly dead and with frozen solid comb/wattles and toes. Poor bugger.