Cold col, what is too cold

[Chicks Galore3]

I give mine something hot to eat/drink every morning and night. It hasn't gotten below zero yet, but I'm wondering- What tempature should I add something to keep them warmer- --20? 0? -10? (I am SURE I will get lots of different answers...)

 

[Rooster Rules]

I give mine something hot to eat/drink every morning and night. It hasn't gotten below zero yet, but I'm wondering- What tempature should I add something to keep them warmer- --20? 0? -10? (I am SURE I will get lots of different answers...)

"hot cocoa" and porridge that is just right I suppose.....LOL
Bantams or standard sized birds, coop type, inside coop temps, etc.Most state below 0f, then add some heat to take the edge off. However I am no expert, all my Grandparents, never had "heat", supplement for their chickens here in Manitoba,they all survived, they were not pets but farm animals producing food/eggs.......

 

[laura877]

So is it bad to add heat for the chickens? We are in CO and it is dry here... We have 7 chickens in a smaller coop and they all perch inside together. We have a heat lamp set up in the coop and a heated water base. Do you or anyone run a red heat lamp to increase egg production or to keep them more comfortable when it gets below freezing? I have heard that when it gets down to around 10F you should use a light on a timer for 8 hours at night in the coop. Any thoughts?

I don't know if this has been answered yet as I just found the question and haven't read thru all the post yet. I have just a bulb ( the new curly ones) in my 8 x12 ' coop that comes on morning and night for a total of 14 hrs of daylight. I also feed wheat to my girls. I got away from this and egg production dropped to 2-4 eggs a day. Once I turned the timer on for the lights and started feeding wheat, my egg production has gone up to 6-11 eggs a day. I'm in Michigan so its not that cold yet. We have had snow but it didn't stay that long. Also my roost or perches are tree limbs that are big enough so that the chickens toes are more spread out vs having a small perch where they could wrap their toes almost all the way around it. The problem with the small perch is that when they sit down to keep their feet warm, their toes are on the underside of the small perch and they can then get frostbite. I also have an old closet clothes hanger/shelf hung up. Most people wouldn't know what I am talking about back back in the 1950's you could buy these metal closet rods that you nailed to like a 1 by 10 or 1x 12 to become a shelf/clothes hanger rod. I just hung it upside down and it now becomes a shelf with a lip. I put sraw or shavings up there and they can nestle down on this shelf.

 

[laura877]

Hi, all.

This is SUCH a great learning experience for me. I'm planning on starting my small flock (approx. 6 laying hens) and because it's getting plenty cold here in NH and making me think of keeping them warm next winter, I keep thinking of questions to ask you seasoned veterans and those who live where it gets real cold. Because it gets dark so early, do the hens go to roost as dusk approaches? Do they just either stay indoors when it gets cold and if they venture out, will they automatically go back in the coop as the light diminishes? I get home from work when it is full dark. I'm afraid the startle them into heart attacks by shutting the coop door when I get home if they've gone to roost! Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Mimi
Nashua, NH

Min, at about 4 or 4:30 my chickens start meandering to the coop or barn. I've got almost 60 free range chicks/chickens and some roost in a small stall, others roost in a broodmare stall or on the walls of the stalls, and many go into the coop. In the winter when its really cold or windy or snowy, they will just stay put. If they are in the coop and its been snowing a lot, they might try to come out and wade thru the snow. If we have made tracks like with the tractor and just walking, they will follow the tracks and walk around. If its cold and snowy, they might just stay on the floor of the coop. I have feeders in their along with a waterer on an elelctric base so they have more then enough food and some luke warm water. The others in the barn are spoiled. The barn is actually a 60 x 156 barn/indoor riding arena. So they have plenty of space to run aorund and still stay dry.

Chickens are like horse, they are creatures of habit. I go out after dark to check on them and they know that everynight I will close up the coop. Sometimes I go in but not normally. Animals with fur or feathers stay warm by fluffing up their fur/feathers and by doing this is traps warm air between the shafts of the feathers or hairs. Thats why they look so much bigger in the cold weaher. Along with they have grown extra feathers to do this. I recently butchered some roosters and I swear they were all feathers. Their skin was so warm that I didn't even have to put them in boiling water to pluck them. I hope that doesn't gross you out but its part of having too many roosters and feeding your family.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

That was definitely a great reply to my irritated mind set in regards to the occaisional need for heat and if and when to use it if need be. You are definitely on point about commercial habitat and housing. But I do know that they maintain a very well monitored temperature control which was my point of concern. Currently I have an inside and outside thermometer. The key purpose is to make sure my inside coop temperature doesnt drop to the outside frostbite state that you have mentioned. Is 18 degrees C the lowest temp the Germans suggest you should let it drop to? I'm looking for a norm in coop temperature guidelines that people can work with in climates that have severe winter temperatures below freezing. Ventilation, humidity and bedding are all good tips, but not the complete answer.

the research wasn't saying that 18 degrees C -- 64.4 degrees F-- was the lowest they could go. The problem is that the information for commercial coops isn't "how cold can it get" --it's "what's optimum laying temperature?" and those are two different things. Remember, in a commercial layer house, that's a closed environment. Those birds never see the sun--there are no windows. They have a controlled lighting scheme and a controlled temperature. The research was done in and for those commercial houses. My point was that the research on temperature isn't really applicable to our backyard flock.

For backyard flocks, I was unable to find any recommendations about heating at all. I could find size, ventilation, nesting boxes, lighting--but no temperature. I have found reference to lowered fertility in roosters when combs are allowed to freeze, but frostbitten combs aren't caused solely by temperature--it's dependent on temperature + wind + moisture, as well as whether or not the bird has good circulation in its comb.

Every single source I've looked at in the past couple of days has said that chickens can handle the cold, and -20 is the temperature that's been called out by several sources as the lowest chickens are OK with. I don't have all those sources right in front of me, because I've been doing a lot of internet reading and not saving the pages afterwards, but here are some of the most recent ones:

Virginia Cooperative Extension: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...2IDYBQ&usg=AFQjCNG_NBtbweRRSRzOnbRVfBGwPgqsZA
Mother Earth News: http://www.motherearthnews.com/ask-our-experts/chickens-and-cold-weather-zb0z10zblon.aspx
Small Stock Journal: http://www.ubuilderplans.com/node/18
Barnyards and Backyards: http://barnyardsandbackyards.org/2011/02/02/afew-cold-weather-chicken-tips/
That German information on poultry barns: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...2IDYBQ&usg=AFQjCNG_NBtbweRRSRzOnbRVfBGwPgqsZA


I dont' know tons about chickens, but I know lots about cows because my family owns a largish dairy and I've milked cows all my life. My father is a very well-educated man and he uses the latest research to guide his management decisions, and we often have various universities visiting our place and using it as an example for their classes (Ohio State and Cornell this past summer). Cows do MUCH better in cold than heat. Cows suffer in the summer. They hate it any time the temperature goes above 72 degrees F, and would like it better around 65 degrees F. For the cows, in summer we have huge fans directed at the animals, and sprinklers that help to keep them cool, and we adjust the rations to help their bodies produce less heat. Heroic efforts, in other words. In the winter--windbreaks. That's it. And you'd better believe that dairy cattle response to temperature is well researched! Temperature has a huge impact on milk production. Heat = lower milk, but cold doesn't bother them much. Cows' ear tips can freeze if it's below freezing, windy and wet, but that's about the worst that happens to them. Even with no heat in the barn and the "walls" being large curtains that are put up to block the wind, I can only think of one cow in the herd that is missing her ear tips (out of 350)--and it was her fault, because the doofus likes to play in the waterer and gets her head all wet.

Animals' bodies adapt to cold rather well, as long as we don't mess that up for them by treating them like people.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I give mine something hot to eat/drink every morning and night. It hasn't gotten below zero yet, but I'm wondering- What tempature should I add something to keep them warmer- --20? 0? -10? (I am SURE I will get lots of different answers...)

Some people feed some extra corn, thinking it is a "hot" feed. This is actually a myth, but it's a common one. Couldn't find anything about poultry and corn, but here is a short article on corn as a hot feed in horses: http://www.extension.org/pages/33855/is-corn-a-hot-feed

What you should feed them is a balanced layer ration. Remember, chickens are tiny things in terms of body weight, and anything extra that you feed them unbalances their ration. I used to have a parrot, and, while this is a little more extreme because of a parrot's much smaller size, my avian vet used to caution against too much people food--at a parrot's size, even two grapes messed up his nutrition for the day.

Make sure that they have fresh feed and clean, not-too-cold water in the evening so that they go to bed hydrated and with a full crop. The digestion will produce some warmth.

 

[Rooster Rules]

My Banties were all snuggly this morning,outside temp was 8f, with a -12f windchill, it howled all night, inside of insulated coop was around 32f. Water was just starting to freeze, changed water, added food.
I then went to Winnipeg Airport YWG, boarded a plane for Ottawa Canada(our nations capital), it is 64f and cloudy here, very strange for Dec 4.
My chooks are at home with My Wife and Kids, will be home in 2 days.
Give em heat if needed, and don't if not needed, good ventilation, food, they will let you know if things are not well, this day and age, no need to make them struggle, if technology can help, just be wise and safe about it.
If I did not live in Alaska type climate, would only use heat sparingly.....all the best.....RR

 

[aoxa]

My Banties were all snuggly this morning,outside temp was 8f, with a -12f windchill, it howled all night, inside of insulated coop was  around 32f. Water was just starting to freeze, changed water, added food.
I then went to Winnipeg Airport YWG, boarded a plane for Ottawa Canada(our nations capital), it is 64f and cloudy here, very strange for Dec 4.
My chooks are at home with My Wife and Kids, will be home in 2 days.
Give em heat if needed, and don't if not needed, good ventilation, food, they will let you know if things are not well, this day and age, no need to make them struggle, if technology can help, just be wise and safe about it.
If I did not live in Alaska type climate, would only use heat sparingly.....all the best.....RR

Wow! That's some nice weather they are getting. We've been above freezing since Sunday. Expected to be relatively close to that mark until at least Thursday, but is not getting that cold (23F).

 

[Our Roost]

You residents from Canada are confusing the issue with fahrenheight verses celsious. 18 here in Michigan is reported in fahreheight "DEGREES"!
So 18 IMO is "CRAZY" to you. Convert that! In the U.S.A. it is either reported above or below zero "DEGREES". Thank you for mentioning celsious!

 

[Rooster Rules]

You residents from Canada are confusing the issue with fahrenheight verses celsious. 18 here in Michigan is reported in fahreheight "DEGREES"!
So 18 IMO is "CRAZY" to you. Convert that! In the U.S.A. it is either reported above or below zero "DEGREES". Thank you for mentioning celsious!

Say what.............LOL