Cold col, what is too cold

[mpopp]

Sad beginning of our day, my kids ran down to see if the chickens were ok, they came back up to the house crying, seems our little silky bantee was laying her head down on the fresh wood chips and just shivering...... They were sure she was dying.......

So after getting them off to school, went down to check on the girls, there she was sitting there, but with her head laying down on the wood chips, poor girl must have been freezing all night....... Picked her up to see if she was ok,........ And this was under her..... Her first egg!!!! She was exhausted, probably a bit confused..... She didn't get into the nesting boxes like our others???

My silky hen did the exact same thing when she laid her first egg. She went straight into the most isolated corner she could find in the coop and sat there the entire day until she laid her egg. After that she went right back to being the little diva she is.

 

[aoxa]

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

My thoughts exactly!

I was reporting in Fahrenheit

 

[chicken gal]

Sad beginning of our day, my kids ran down to see if the chickens were ok, they came back up to the house crying, seems our little silky bantee was laying her head down on the fresh wood chips and just shivering...... They were sure she was dying.......

So after getting them off to school, went down to check on the girls, there she was sitting there, but with her head laying down on the wood chips, poor girl must have been freezing all night....... Picked her up to see if she was ok,........ And this was under her..... Her first egg!!!! She was exhausted, probably a bit confused..... She didn't get into the nesting boxes like our others???

Just in case you were wondering..... Left to right-!gold laced wyndedott (Cindy), New Hampshire red (Goldy),and next to them- introducing her first egg.... Is our silky bantee (Sunny) then finally our Americana (Arrowhead)

Love the picture!!

 

[chicken gal]

I remember when we first got these little beepers back in march, I was all negative (saying things like "Why did we do this? I have too much to deal with stupid chickens") now I find myselfnheading down to my coop as soon as I get home to check on "my girls".
Last weekend I built a cover over their run, cause I didnt want my girls walking around in too much mud.
now it's falling below freezing. I just went and checked on the birds and my little bantee silky, she looked so cold........ Little cold girl....

How cold is too cold? Do I need to give my girls some kind of heat??? I insulated their coop, but it still feels so cold.................

Good job for insulating it. But you might want to put a heat lamp in there. Also you can put a thermometer in there to keep track of the heat in there. It is like 30-40 degrees in the chicken coop when it was 11 below. But chickens also create a lot of there own heat and think that is pretty cool. There is this person I know and he doesn't even insulate the coop or puts a heat lamp in the coop. Now that is just cruelty. The best thing you can do is put a heat lamp in the coop. I live in Alaska and it gets pretty cold. So you might want to take my advice.

 

[Emmapee]

I guess I spoil my chickens, because I have an infrared bulb in their coop to keep them warm in the winter. Its right above their water to keep it from freezing, but I figure if it's cold enough to freeze the water, then my girls are probably chilly too.

 

[hannah67]

77 jester you should try putting a couple heat lamps up they will be abe to huddle under thoes if they get to cold that is what we did at my school but my chickens at home don't have that and they just huddle with one another alot t stay warm i thing i will put a heat lamp im mine at home sson too.

 

[chicken gal]

My chickens have two heat lamps.

 

[chicken gal]

I guess I spoil my chickens, because I have an infrared bulb in their coop to keep them warm in the winter. Its right above their water to keep it from freezing, but I figure if it's cold enough to freeze the water, then my girls are probably chilly too.

Me too. I keep one of my heat lamp over my water.

 

[Our Roost]

For those of you that are commenting and using heat lamps there is an alternative that works almost as well for me. I am using Halogen flood lamp bulbs. They put off more heat than a regular light bulb but are less expensive to operate than a heat lamp. I use two 75 watt bulbs which are about the same as one heat lamp bulb of 250 wattage but cover a larger area and still use less energy. They warm the roosting area mostly when I find it necessary to have them on.

 

[chicken gal]

Well I am going to a feed store today and they normally have heat lamps.