Cold Weather Chickens

[Callender Girl]

@karwhit1, my avatar coop is an Over EZ model from The Shed Yard. I bought it used -- and at a significant discount -- from a couple who said they got it at TSC. It was on Craigslist because they fell victim to chicken math and their flock outgrew it.

It is extremely well built. When the derecho came through Iowa last year, half a tree fell on it and only slightly dented the metal roof. I did make one alteration. I installed hardware cloth over the exterior of the windows; the previous owners had screwed on what looked like wire shelves from a refrigerator which surely would not have prevented mink from getting in.

 

[Lwaddle]

I put Vaseline on the combs each day. I am in Texas and we are having “historical” cold snap this weekend and next week. Temps 10 and below with 3 to 7 inches of snow. The walls of my chain link fence is covered with tarps. Top covered with shade cloth, extra hay in coop and winter jacket on the Omlet coop. They seem to be surviving!

 

[Bound to Sea]

I put Vaseline on the combs each day. I am in Texas and we are having “historical” cold snap this weekend and next week. Temps 10 and below with 3 to 7 inches of snow. The walls of my chain link fence is covered with tarps. Top covered with shade cloth, extra hay in coop and winter jacket on the Omlet coop. They seem to be surviving!

They will be just fine.

 

[Pandemic pandemonia]

I am sorry I replied to someone earlier that chickens don't need the heat now since we are experiencing extremely historic cold temperatures. They are supposed to be ok but the negative temperatures are prompting me to add brooder bulbs and space heaters to my enclosed pens. I hope everybody can keep their birds alive and keep safe. Thanks for chatting about this issue.

 

[superfoot53]

I live in Wisconsin and as you can imagine it gets pretty cold here in the winter. We are currently in the middle of a cold snap and the temperature has been in the negatives every day. We have a radiant heater in their coop at night and it stays on during the day so that they can go up there anytime. It’s not that much warmer but it is out of the wind and if they perch right by the heater they can warm up a little. They have tarps on their run to keep the wind out as much as possible but they like to sit right where there is no tarp and watch everything that’s going on in the yard, which isn’t much right now. My question is, how cold should it be before I lock them up in the coop? I have only done it one day this year when it was about -20 windchill but today it is -16 windchill. Does anyone have a certain temperature they wait for before putting them all up in the coop? I know it’s not good for them but frostbite isn’t good either!

We’re in southwestern Indiana and having a cold snap with single digits and negative wind chill. A few years ago I would put a hooded heat lamp inside the coop for such occasions. One day the lamp came loose and fell into the straw. A slow small fire started and luckily I got it before it burned too much. The chickens were okay but I never used a heat lamp again. I have one of those oil filled heaters that looks like a radiator so there is no chance of fire. I open the small door every morning and they all come out to eat and drink and walk around the pen or sometimes free range but with the snow and ice they don’t tend to stray far from the coop. I close the door at dusk when they are all back in the coop and they’re good for the night.

 

[walleye19]

Well...it got down to -18 last night here in South Dakota. Chickens were ready to get out in the run right away this morning...they seemed perfectly fine after a cold night with no supplemental heat!

 

[Happy hen lover]

I live in Wisconsin and as you can imagine it gets pretty cold here in the winter. We are currently in the middle of a cold snap and the temperature has been in the negatives every day. We have a radiant heater in their coop at night and it stays on during the day so that they can go up there anytime. It’s not that much warmer but it is out of the wind and if they perch right by the heater they can warm up a little. They have tarps on their run to keep the wind out as much as possible but they like to sit right where there is no tarp and watch everything that’s going on in the yard, which isn’t much right now. My question is, how cold should it be before I lock them up in the coop? I have only done it one day this year when it was about -20 windchill but today it is -16 windchill. Does anyone have a certain temperature they wait for before putting them all up in the coop? I know it’s not good for them but frostbite isn’t good either!

If the wind is really bad mine won't go out or they hunker under their raised coop. So it's been minus 0 wind chills last few days and if the sun is shining they want out. They hate being wet on top of cold so if it's wet and cold I don't force them out. I leave the door pulled up a little so they can get out if they want. Their water is inside so they're always going back in and getting warmed up doing THAT.

 

[Happy hen lover]

We’re in southwestern Indiana and having a cold snap with single digits and negative wind chill. A few years ago I would put a hooded heat lamp inside the coop for such occasions. One day the lamp came loose and fell into the straw. A slow small fire started and luckily I got it before it burned too much. The chickens were okay but I never used a heat lamp again. I have one of those oil filled heaters that looks like a radiator so there is no chance of fire. I open the small door every morning and they all come out to eat and drink and walk around the pen or sometimes free range but with the snow and ice they don’t tend to stray far from the coop. I close the door at dusk when they are all back in the coop and they’re good for the night.

I live in SW Nebraska

 

[Happy hen lover]

We’re in southwestern Indiana and having a cold snap with single digits and negative wind chill. A few years ago I would put a hooded heat lamp inside the coop for such occasions. One day the lamp came loose and fell into the straw. A slow small fire started and luckily I got it before it burned too much. The chickens were okay but I never used a heat lamp again. I have one of those oil filled heaters that looks like a radiator so there is no chance of fire. I open the small door every morning and they all come out to eat and drink and walk around the pen or sometimes free range but with the snow and ice they don’t tend to stray far from the coop. I close the door at dusk when they are all back in the coop and they’re good for the night.

I have one of those heaters and wondered about using them.I have a new hooded and caged metal bulb holder that is wired up to ceiling. I put an old 60w bulb in and have left on 24 hrs lately with this cold and it keeps their coop above 0 right now it's 13 in there and they seem fine. It's -6 and real feel of -15 . I give them extra corn right now to stay warm .

 

[Happy hen lover]

I have one of those heaters and wondered about using them.I have a new hooded and caged metal bulb holder that is wired up to ceiling. I put an old 60w bulb in and have left on 24 hrs lately with this cold and it keeps their coop above 0 right now it's 13 in there and they seem fine. It's -6 and real feel of -15 . I give them extra corn right now to stay warm .

I'm in SW Nebraska.