Chicken lovers in Western NY

[lovintheridge]

Ready for some sunshine and HEAT!!! Our family has raised meat birds before but never egg laying hens. How do they fair with all this bitter cold weather and the crazy amounts of snow? If you have any ideas as far as a good hearty egg laying chicken love to hear from ya. How do you keep them warm? Thermals lol

 

[NuthatchKnollChickens]

Greetings! I'm in Upstate NY. I insulated their coop and made sure I had plenty of south-facing windows (with a good roof overhang so the sun is kept out in summer) to keep the little darlin's cozy. I don't have electric to the coop, so no supplemental heat. Another feature of my coop that they love are the covered outdoor roosts -- they can be up off the ground and out of the wind, but still outside, when they feel like it. I used that clear plastic corrugated roofing material for the roof and sides of their "porch".

I have Buff Orpingtons and Speckled Sussex and am adding Barred Rocks this spring. The BOs and Sussex have been great in the cold - no problems at all and they've kept laying right on through the winter. I hear the Barred Rocks are very winter-hardy as well.

 

[pattycake]

Hey there, I'm just outside of Ithaca. There are a few of us here, we should start a chicken club!

My coop is uninsulated, and I've gotten my flock through two winters now with just putting a heat lamp out there when it gets into the single digits. They'd probably be fine without it, but I feel better!

You can see all my breeds in my sig line. I chose them all because they're supposed to be good winter layers. I get fewer eggs in the winter than in the summer, but still a lot.

 

[farmgirl0930]

I'm in Newark Valley, just a hop, skip & a jump from Ithaca. I actually have some nieces in Dryden & Fairfield. I have 5 silkies, 20 buff orringtons, 20 new hampshire reds, 40 jersey giant chicks going & about 16 silkie eggs due to hatch the 14th of march. That's along with a very understanding husband dogs,cats & goats!