Cold chickens.....when to use heat lamp?

[Phoenixxx]

Hokum Coco: my favourite and most clever girl is half chantecler She's not my best layer but was laying 4 days on, one day off like clockwork; since it got cold she cut back to three days on, one day off which is still pretty good! (I mark the hens' days off on the calendar )

 

[Hokum Coco]

Hokum Coco: my favourite and most clever girl is half chantecler

She's not my best layer but was laying 4 days on, one day off like clockwork; since it got cold she cut back to three days on, one day off which is still pretty good! (I mark the hens' days off on the calendar

)

I still think Chanteclers are the best dual purpose breed from my experience especially in cold climates and at butchering time. They are making a comeback in the back yard theaters people are getting into as of late..I do not have any at this juncture however.

 

[Phoenixxx]

I still think Chanteclers are the best dual purpose breed from my experience especially in cold climates and at butchering time. They are making a comeback in the back yard theaters people are getting into as of late..I do not have any at this juncture however.

where in NB are you? Www.activelifefarm.ca breeds chanteclers; they're in londonderry, about an hr, maybe less, from amherst, NS.

I can't believe how cold it got! I was just out looking for eggs and the icy breeze coming in through the doggy-door was rendering the heatlamp useless. Since none of the chickens have even the slightest inclination to go outside, I closed the little door. Any colder and I might just bring them all in the house! Oh, the hubby would SO love that

 

[Hokum Coco]

where in NB are you?

I plan to replace half my flock with Chanteclers in the spring. I know a backyard breeder who lives in Riverview (suburb of Moncton) who has them. A week or so ago I got the chance to purchase pullets for $5.ºº a bird in River Hebert. I could not pass up that deal. I got 25 birds kept 7 and sold the remaining at a profit. If it was not for that I would probably raise nothing but Chanteclers this spring.

Thanks for the heads up on the other breeder Murphy's Law might happen I earmarked the link.

Yes Phoenixxx that is not far from where I live maybe 2 hours at most.

https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en
.

 

[RedDrgn]

We're heading into our third year of this "chicken thing", and while we've had temps ranging from teens to mid-20s for 1-2 weeks at a time without issue, tonight through Saturday is going to be the most brutally cold weather our flock will have ever gone through. Temps will be dropping down into the upper single digits tonight, not leaving the teens tomorrow, and heading into the low single digits tomorrow night, and then rising to mid-20s on Saturday....not to mention the 40-50mph winds and an anticipated -1 to -3 wind chill.

Our coop is not insulated, but all but one of the 8 vents can be sealed, and I plan to do so when I get home this evening. The two that will remain open are one each on either story of the coop and the coop itself is sheltered from the winds we'll be getting by our house so I'm hoping that will be enough ventilation to prevent high humidity and increased frostbite risk while not making a constant draft over the chickens. Our rooster's comb is definitely a concern; I'm thinking about moving him into the garage overnight tonight and tomorrow night.

Their waterer is a nippled 5-gallon bucket with a bird bath heater in it and on whenever temps are below 37. It's held it's own in the low-20s before, but it's only a 40W heater and I expect to find frozen nipples by morning. So we'll be fighting that for a few days and will need to increase our egg checks, because we have a few girls who are laying and if the eggs freeze, they're a messy loss. I'm pretty sure they'll all pull through fine as they're all winter-hardy breeds and we will be paying extra close attention to them and bring any we feel we need to into our garage. It's an attached, insulated, but not heater garage and it's rare that it gets below freezing in it. We shall see!

 

[ali d 1985]

Hi, im in England and its about 5•c outside. We have the chicks inside at the moment but i just wondered if it was too cold to put them outside yet? They are 16 weeks old. Any help would be great. X

 

[Phoenixxx]

Hi, im in England and its about 5•c outside. We have the chicks inside at the moment but i just wondered if it was too cold to put them outside yet? They are 16 weeks old. Any help would be great. X

My 2 newest additions are the same age. I brought them home when we were around minus 5, minus 10 degrees celsius and they went straight into the unheated coop with the others. We're minus 18 right now, -25 or so with the windchill, and I only gave them a red lamp just last night at -13○c. The young hens are dorking/houdan crosses so half hardy, half french They're doing just fine!

 

[Phoenixxx]

Oh, I should add that the temperature difference between inside and outside might matter. I don't know, hopefully one of the experts here can say. But if your house is a toasty 21 degrees, it might be a bit of a shock getting moved to a chilly 5 degrees. Not sure about chickens, but this is a great way to kill fish, lol!

 

[ali d 1985]

Tha

...

Oh, I should add that the temperature difference between inside and outside might matter. I don't know, hopefully one of the experts here can say. But if your house is a toasty 21 degrees, it might be a bit of a shock getting moved to a chilly 5 degrees. Not sure about chickens, but this is a great way to kill fish, lol!

 

[ali d 1985]

...

Tha

Oh, I should add that the temperature difference between inside and outside might matter. I don't know, hopefully one of the experts here can say. But if your house is a toasty 21 degrees, it might be a bit of a shock getting moved to a chilly 5 degrees. Not sure about chickens, but this is a great way to kill fish, lol!

Thank you.
I was going to start imtroducing them to the outside for small amounts of time before leaving them our there but wasnt sure if i was chancing it too early? X