Cold weather preparations for chickens and broody hen

[Orpingtons43]

I was wondering if I could use leaves or some type of bedding and put cardboard and a tarp over my coops would it help the chickens stay warm? Also, my neighbor had a bantam EE and she went broody in a hole on the side of my yard where apparently she had been laying eggs. I told my neighbor she was in my yard and his reply was, "I don't want that STUPID chicken you can keep the dang thing" I was kinda offended by that and told him what he needed to be told. So do I let her keep setting she is appoxamatly on day 16/17? I am just trying my best to keep the animals warm in this cold weather. I have already put the dogs and my rabbit in side my house. So I don't really have room for 50+ chickens so any suggestions would be great and I DO NOT want to use a heat lamp unless ABSOULUTLY needed. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Welshies]

They will be okay! It is below -4°F (-20°C) here and my chickens don't have a heat lamp, excluding my little chicks. If that hen has her chicks, she will need to be brought inside if your temperatures get below -10°C

 

[Orpingtons43]

They will be okay! It is below -4°F (-20°C) here and my chickens don't have a heat lamp, excluding my little chicks. If that hen has her chicks, she will need to be brought inside if your temperatures get below -10°C

Thank you! I just hear so many stories on how people's chickens froze to death and it was getting extremely cold here. But thank you that saves be a lot of time and worry knowing they can stand the cold and I will be sure to bring her in when she has her chicks! Thanks again!

 

[LoriL]

If you really don't want the chicks she's sitting on, I personally would remove the eggs from the nest now and bring her inside. Run a Craigslist ad or something to find her a new home that wants a broody to raise chicks. If you decide to keep her, I don't think you can easily integrate her unless you have room to cage her inside the coop for an introductory period, and then you'll just have a non-productive broody hen who doesn't want to stay in your coop either.

 

[Orpingtons43]

If you really don't want the chicks she's sitting on, I personally would remove the eggs from the nest now and bring her inside. Run a Craigslist ad or something to find her a new home that wants a broody to raise chicks. If you decide to keep her, I don't think you can easily integrate her unless you have room to cage her inside the coop for an introductory period, and then you'll just have a non-productive broody hen who doesn't want to stay in your coop either.

She is the sweetest little hen. I will probably keep her and her chicks because I am getting a coop built very very soon and until then I am going to keep her and her babies in our guest bedroom until they are old enough and I get the coop in so I am keeping her.

 

[LoriL]

I'm glad you have the room to keep her anyway. I have a cochin that goes broody all the time, but she is the sweetest too! We have no roosters so her effort will always be in vain, and she's cranky when broody, so I always break her of it as soon as I notice. Wouldn't be happy if I had a whole flock like her though, LOL! I need dependable layers.

 

[Orpingtons43]

I'm glad you have the room to keep her anyway. I have a cochin that goes broody all the time, but she is the sweetest too! We have no roosters so her effort will always be in vain, and she's cranky when broody, so I always break her of it as soon as I notice. Wouldn't be happy if I had a whole flock like her though, LOL! I need dependable layers.

That would be pretty hard if you had a whole flock that did nothing but brood all the time! I just was going to try new breeds this spring and then she was here setting on eggs and the chicks should be EE hen X Black tailed buff Japanese bantam. And it looks like she has quite the pile of eggs so I MIGHT end up selling some of the chicks depending on how many hatch.

 

[Orpingtons43]

One more thing if the temp does go down even more that it already has and I bring her and her babies inside can I feed them crushed crackers if I can't get to the feed store? because I heard they were closing down some of our roads today until the roads aren't as frozen solid with ice.

 

[LoriL]

If you have some oatmeal or cornmeal you could mix them with a little water, or bread, scrambled eggs and cooked rice would all work in an emergency for feed. It's been near and below zero here, too, but at least we've not had ice to deal with also! Good luck with your new little ones! Chicks are so sweet!

 

[Welshies]

I advise staying away from bread. It is hard on their digestive system. Grower feed or maintenance feeds work in a pinch as do whole grains.