Gerty0630
Songster
This Is going to be my first winter with chickens - while I've read up on plenty of things I need to do, I still have a couple questions for the BYC community. I live in Michigan where winter got down to -17 last year in the polar vortex. Normally it does not get that cold but it's not uncommon to be in single digits and negative temps. I understand the dietary needs in the winter, I have a heated water base for the coop, all that jazz. Rig up some sh*t so they don't get bored... My question is - do chickens want to go outside of the coop in the winter, or should I attempt to let them outside during the winter? Of course on warmer days, yes, but if it's going to be a week of 10 degrees do I even bother trying to allow them outside the coop access? I have ducks as well and pretty much the majority of last winter they just stayed inside 24/7.. No interest in going out into the bitter coldness.