Cold Temps

[Lothar1974]

Hello, I live in MN and we have some cold nights here, a few nights already at -5 and worried about the nights and days that will hit -20 or worse. I insulated my coop with reflective insulation roll material and stacked hay bales arounf the bottom and sides as much as possible. The ventalation seems good as far as I can tell , I havent seen any moisture on the window in the coop. I have 8 inches of pines shavings on the bottom of the coop. But I have noticed my girls have some slight start of frost bite on there combs. Wondering what else I can do to help with low temps? we have a larger run for them, wrapped in 4 mil clear plastic twice to keep wind out but the top is ventalated well. Just worried and looking for advice. Thank you!

Insulation inside coop

 

[cherrynberry]

Have you tried heat lamps?

 

[cherrynberry]

Nice coop by the way! You seem to be doing a pretty good job but it seems pretty cold where you live

 

[3KillerBs]

This is an excellent article about cold-weather chicken housing: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/cold-weather-poultry-housing-and-care.72010/

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Generally frost bite is caused by cold temps + too much humidity. It might behoove you to put a hygrometer in your coop so you can better see how good your ventilation really is.

 

[Lothar1974]

Have you tried heat lamps?

I have not, I have read so many conflicting things about heating the coop. I was at one point opting for a dog house heater thats safe and would be mounted so not near the girls or pine shavings, have also been looking at the Sweeter Heater to put above the roosting bar. Not sure of either as I only have one electrical cord going out to the run for the heated waterer. Was also looking at the Prima Heat Lamp.

 

[cherrynberry]

I have not, I have read so many conflicting things about heating the coop. I was at one point opting for a dog house heater thats safe and would be mounted so not near the girls or pine shavings, have also been looking at the Sweeter Heater to put above the roosting bar. Not sure of either as I only have one electrical cord going out to the run for the heated waterer. Was also looking at the Prima Heat Lamp.

Yeah it can be a bit risky...then try out what the others have stated

 

[Mrs. K]

Do not use a heat lamp, unless you are an electrician and wire it in, even then, most chicken houses have a lot to cause a fire. It is more important to think DRY than warm.

Lovely house, what makes you think you have frost bite? I would be quite surprised to see it in that set up. The bedding looks clean and dry, lots of space away from the walls and ceilings. It looks good to me

 

[Lothar1974]

Do not use a heat lamp, unless you are an electrician and wire it in, even then, most chicken houses have a lot to cause a fire. It is more important to think DRY than warm.

Lovely house, what makes you think you have frost bite? I would be quite surprised to see it in that set up. The bedding looks clean and dry, lots of space away from the walls and ceilings. It looks good to me

Well it looked like the start of it, white-ish on our green egger and our Australorp. We put some bag balm on their combs, which the of course is black from my raised garden they are going into. I made winter area for them in the garden.

I think they maybe got the frostbite on the days it was -4 , again was just the tip of one of their combs on 2 girls. But worried about the days ahead that will be -20.

 

[RojoMarz]

I've read that you shouldn't put bag balm, Vaseline or basically anything on frost bite and that it's better to leave it alone.