First winter with chickens: others have me feeling guilty about not heating. Going to be -3 & -16

[bobbi-j]

Next time one of your chickenless friend or family members says anything, just direct them here. We'll set 'em straight for you!

 

[Cpolanco3]

@bobbi-j what kinda purtiful chicken is that in your avatar?

Me likey.

Claudia

 

[bobbi-j]

@bobbi-j what kinda purtiful chicken is that in your avatar?

Me likey.

Claudia

That beautiful boy was a Brahma/EE cross - a lovely example of the joys of raising barnyard mutts. You just never quite know what you're going to get. Unfortunately, he was nabbed by something one night when DH locked up the chickens early and the rooster got locked out. I do have his son, though, and I think he is even prettier than this one.

 

[goldfishes]

That was a beautiful rooster. I really wish we could have kept ours. That is the one bad thing about having city chickens.

I'm very happy to report that it was -2F this morning and all of the birds are just fine! In fact, all 3 that are laying laid eggs. And one bird just started squatting again this morning! Speckles is still a little raggedy looking, but she is eating and drinking like everyone else. Luckily, she is getting a lot of warmth by sticking close to others.

We did notice that they are slow to eat and drink in the morning when letting them out, but they perked up within a short time. The biggest challenge has been dealing with the trips to keep fresh water to them. It's an art learning how to carry water without slipping on ice and snow... I've been giving them a wet mash (layer feed) and it makes me feel better knowing they are getting some other form of water.

So thanks for the words of encouragement. They were most appreciated especially since I got the riot act again right after reading this thread. It gave me the courage to trust my gut and your all's advice on leaving well enough alone.

I am still very apprehensive about tonight's double digits, but I'm feeling encouraged by the fact it is 6F right now and all the birds are in the run roaming around like an ordinary day. Here's hoping the best for tonight.

 

[snaffle]

goldfishes... I grew up on a farm. The chicken houses were just that. No heat... often no electricity... no water heaters. The chickens were just fine

Our hen house finally got finished in April. It is insulated with lots of venting. I have electricity in there and a heated dog dish for the water.
Temps got down to -8 last night and not one chicken acted chilly.

My cochin banties are in a stall in the barn. Heated dog bowl for water.Open sides on the stall which means that pen is pretty dog gone cold.

I have never had anyone in our area talk about a heated hen house. If they did... I am pretty sure people would call them crack pots or even worse lol ... fanatics would be more like it.

As someone said earlier... send those people here...

 

[bobbi-j]

That was a beautiful rooster. I really wish we could have kept ours. That is the one bad thing about having city chickens.

I'm very happy to report that it was -2F this morning and all of the birds are just fine! In fact, all 3 that are laying laid eggs. And one bird just started squatting again this morning! Speckles is still a little raggedy looking, but she is eating and drinking like everyone else. Luckily, she is getting a lot of warmth by sticking close to others.

We did notice that they are slow to eat and drink in the morning when letting them out, but they perked up within a short time. The biggest challenge has been dealing with the trips to keep fresh water to them. It's an art learning how to carry water without slipping on ice and snow... I've been giving them a wet mash (layer feed) and it makes me feel better knowing they are getting some other form of water.

So thanks for the words of encouragement. They were most appreciated especially since I got the riot act again right after reading this thread. It gave me the courage to trust my gut and your all's advice on leaving well enough alone.

I am still very apprehensive about tonight's double digits, but I'm feeling encouraged by the fact it is 6F right now and all the birds are in the run roaming around like an ordinary day. Here's hoping the best for tonight.

Next time that happens, just smile and nod, and know you are doing the best thing for your chickens, and that *those people* don't have a clue!

 

[justplainbatty]

Remind your family and friends that wild birds get NOTHING anywhere on the Earth but manage to live through it all! Wild birds wake up on a pile of sticks, in a tree maybe and have to spend each day searching for food and water. How spoiled is a chicken to have 4 walls and a roof and food and water on demand!

 

[goldfishes]

Thank you all!! I can't tell you how glad I am to have found this site full of wonderful people that gave me much needed support and advice. The news reported it was -14F this morning (another site said -8.)

I am happy to report all chickens are doing well! They came trotting out this morning straight to the warm mash and braved the coldest day like champs. Speckles is shedding even more feathers, but is showing a nice downy coat underneath already. She was protected well by the others and is even going off on her own in the run. And happy news, my fourth girl, Tina went into lay on the coldest day!

The best part of the whole experience is learning how they are indeed hardy birds. I felt awful but kept telling myself what you all wrote: provide what is needed for the birds, not what makes me feel less guilty. What a big relief it is knowing that my birds won't have to worry about power outages or a potential fire and are happy and healthy!

 

[yellowchicks]

Our days here have been in the single digits, go down to minus at night plus windchill. I too worry about how cold my 8-month old chickens can tolerate, even though they hang out in the run all day long like nothing is different. Our insulated coop has so many vents, even with most windows closed, the inside temp is barely a few degrees higher than the outside temp. No wind draft though. I know that I have done everything I could to keep the girls warm in terms of winterize their shelter, provide fresh warm water daily, make them hot oatmeal in the mornings and evenings, I still worry.

Last night's temp dropped down to -3F. Compare to some of the people here who regularly experience -20F or -30F, that was nothing. I still couldn't resist to set up a large dog crate in the garage "just in case". All night, I looked at the temperature and humidity guage, thinking that maybe worst come to worst, I would just throw in a ton of hand warmers into the coop, or put them in the garage. I went to the coop to checked on them at 2 AM with a flash light, got a couple stink eyes for waking them up. This morning, except for one frozen egg, all four chickens looked happy and they have no frost bite. They came out walking around on the ice, skating a bit when they couldn't stop. It was just another miserable freezing day for the humans. Guess the chickens were just fine.

 

[goldfishes]

It's fantastic how resilient these birds are, yellowchicks. I'm still amazed at how wonderful they are doing in single degree and even below zero temperatures. One is mid molt and is shedding left and right and even she is doing great. She has found that she can make a nest in the deep litter to warm up and hangs out in the coop more often, but other than that, she is handling the temperatures just fine. It is comforting seeing new pinfeathers coming in, though.

I am grateful to you all encouraging me to stick to my guns about not heating. Two days ago, we lost power for nearly four hours! The chickens didn't even realize this fact and spent the time doing chicken things like scratching and pecking around. It is yet another reinforcement that I made the right decision.

Here's hoping they continue to weather the winter just as well as they are doing today.