In Virginia we are usually ok with unheated coop and temps into the mid teens. BUT end of this week forecast is for an unprecedented minus 7-- a huge change. Is it a terrible idea: to take them off the roost at night and keep them in pet crates for a day in our heated basement? My thought is to keep them quiet, dark, warm, alive. Thoughts? Thanks!
I'm in Florida and of course we do not get weather as cold as you, but we just did the same thing last week when temps were supposed to drop. We didn't want to take the chance that any of my son's hens (for show) would get to could. So we crated them in the garage for the night and put them back out during the day.
They stand more of a chance of staying comfortable if you leave them in the coop. They are much more acclimated to colder weather right now than warm. Throughout the winter, they have been growing their down coats that they don't get to take off. So, if you take your down-and-feather-covered bodies that are made to trap warm air to their bodies and keep them warm, and put them in your heated basement, they will become too hot and that's far more of a problem than too cold. Just make sure they're protected from the elements, your coop isn't wrapped up tight so they can have plenty of ventilation, and keep changing out their water. I live in MN and we've been having 30+ degree temperature changes for the past couple of weeks. My chickens are fine in their unheated coop. They are much better off cold and dry, than warm and humid.
So helpful! We will ( try to) grease the combs and pray. Maybe even the forecast will not materialize!
Keep them dry & the wind off of them & they will be fine. I think we might have hit the low teens ( for a high ) today. Chickens were out of the coop by 7:30 a.m., and didn't go to roost until 5:00p.m. Yours will do fine. If it makes you feel good...give them some carbs before they go to roost ( rolled corn ).
Greasing the combs is unnecessary. Make sure your coop isn't overly humid and they will be just fine. We've had temps in the double-digits below zero (think -20) and have yet to see frostbite on our birds. We don't have any with large combs, though. I have, in the past, had large-combed roosters who would have the tips nipped. Nothing serious, though. I should correct that. Nothing serious after I learned that they don't need to have a heat lamp and I shouldn't keep the coop buttoned up tight. Before that, we did have frostbite problems.
Hello from PA. I think it was around -15 yesterday morning. There's no heat in my coop, the windows are always open (although not as far when it's this cold), and the hens are fine, with no frostbite on combs or wattles. So - I think your birds will be fine in their coop. Make sure there is no draft directly on them, and they will keep each other warm. A handful of scratch in the evening is helpful as well. I agree that bringing them into the basement is not necessary, and may cause them to overheat.
We are in Maryland near DC. It was 3 degrees when the crazy snow came through two nights ago. My girls have a hen house, but slept outside on the roosts in the open section of the run. They had a little bit of snow on them by morning, but hopped up and began happily scratching for snacks come daylight. No issues and they looked quite content.
