EE's and cold weather....

[JodyJo]

I am about to invest in 10 EE pullets...how will they fair this winter in a cold Colorado as far as egg laying go? We can dip down into the -20's.

Any advice?

 

[SterlingAcres]

I live in the mountains of Pennsylvania. It's gotten as cold as -18 from what I can remember and I had EE's that laid all year long, no issues.
Good luck

 

[schellie69]

My EE bantams did good in our cold winter since they have pea combs you don't have to worry about frost bite as much. Just watch them and make sure that their coop has good ventilation and yet is draft free. I did not get any eggs this winter but I did not use any artificial light either. You could use a light to extend the day which might help with eggs. I think all hens are different Good luck and have fun with your new chickens.

 

[True Grit]

Mine just started laying Oct 23 and laid well all winter. They stayed out in the plasticked run all day except for the 4 or 5 coldest days. My coop is insulated and I have a heat lamp set to come on at 20 degrees and stay on til 30 degrees but even with the lamp it sometimes got down to 8 degrees in the coop, just depending on how cold it was at night. I put straw down in the run and that is much warmer than the sand underneath. I do highly recommend putting plastic around the run, leaving ventilation at the top. They can't take the wind.

 

[featherz]

My EE's did fine in -26F, no heat. It was sub zero most of the winter here and no problems.

 

[JodyJo]

Quote:
sounds good, we do have a heat lamp we used this winter with my other chickens, ended up being all roos, so we sold them and are starting all over with these...thanks for the info.

 

[chickened]

Mine layed well in the cold but the EE's never came close in production to the BO's or Austalorps.

 

[Chickenkate17]

It doesn't get too cold here, but my EE is my BEST EGG LAYER! I consistently get an egg a day, even 2 sometimes!! However, she is my loudest hen too.....

 

[kittycooks]

I have an EE in Minnesota. My last flock was all EE's. They are really sweet birds. They are cold hardy but like truegrit I wrap the run in plastic and have two plexi windows for ventilation. 10 birds will produce a lot of heat on their own. I have a flock of eight birds and just their body heat kept the 8x8 run 10 degrees warmer than the outside temp. There is one 100 watt night black heat bulb in a small enclosure (4x2x3) in the coop and that was 20 degrees warmer than outside temp. The birds used it as a warming house but preferred to sleep out in the run. On the weeks it was 30 below they made little nests in the straw bedding and slept a lot.

I had eggs until December when my current EE went into molt. She started laying again in January. I don't use extra lights but others have mentioned simply adding a string of LED christmas lights on a timer is enough to keep them laying.

 

[BWKatz]

I live in SC and everyone I know with EE here went w/o eggs when it snowed and are just now starting to get eggs again. Mine still hasn't started back laying. ALL of my others , Polish and leghorn layed thruout the winter.