Freezing temps - should I keep chickens in coop?

[CedarCrestFarm]

What a perfect coop set up! Love the heat lamp warming the sand and floor above; brilliant! (Sand is sure the way to go) Lucky flock indeed.

 

[Talithahorse]

I have a question. I know that many chickens have adapted to the cold and if they are like other animals I have worked with, they adapt to the conditions that are maintained. But... I have southern chickens, who on a cold day might see 20 degrees less than 5 days a year. I am a little concerned about 3 days below freezing with wind chills in single negative digits. (I know... I know... you northern folks would call me a wimp.... yep I am a wimp... thats why I live WAY South of the Mason Dixon line.) These chickens are not acclimated to the cold per se'. How long does it take for the chickens to adapt? To prepare, I have put extra hay in the nest boxes, extra bedding on the floor and rotating water containers so they have water. I am mostly worried about my single roosters (who don't have a friend to cuddle with), since they can't seem to get along with their brothers. Other than that, I will feed them all they want and hope for the best.

 

[darina]

Yup, chickens are tougher in the cold than most people expect. I am still trying not too be too much of a "mother hen." I had one that when I first got her, she decided she didn't like me as much as I liked her and spent a week roosting in the neighbor's pine tree. The rain didn't bother her at night because of the evergreen boughs. My tough little banty hen!

 

[cluck n stuff]

I know how you feel I got my chickens ducks guineas and about 120 pigeons lol so that means heat is not an option but I do have 1 heat lamp mainly for lighting. where I live we've had a 5 day streak of -45 windchill!!!! And my chickens were out everyday. So what JM getting at is let them out if they want IF u have a small door. Let them out threw the small door but the chickens will go in if its getting to cold for them and the small door is for not letting the eat go out and the wind come in.

 

[cluck n stuff]

Some people heat some people don't if you don't heat the chickens will get accustomed to the cold. The bad thing about heating is if its cold and you loose power in the night the chickens will die of shock because they haven't gotten used to the cold....just a tip

 

[Duke6017]

We are experiencing below freezing temps here in MD and got a decent snow fall yesterday. I noticed mine all chose to come out of the coop, but they didnt care much for walking on the snow. They stayed under the coop where it was dry and laid in the dust. This is also where their food is. But there was not one foot print in the run where the snow was laying. I even opened up the run to let them out, which usually is like opening up the flood gates as they come flying into the yard, but none of them were interested in stepping on the snow. Maybe I have wussy chickens! lol. I added some straw throughout the run so they could move around some more. Once I did that they got to walking around and scratching in the straw. I am still having fits with my watering system though. In the summer I built an bucket/hose/pipe system using chicken nipples. This allowed me to fill the water up from outside of the coop/run. However, I knew that would not be a viable option this time of the year. I did some research and reading and decided to try the red screw in nipples directly to the bucket while adding a bird bath de icer to the bucket. I had read from quite a few that it worked well. Up until this point it has, but I noticed yesterday that the nipples had frozen (the water in the bucket was still open). I broke them loose and filled up the bucket and this time I lowered the de icer all the way to the bottom of the bucket. Hopefully being in closer proximity to the nipple it will help keep them just warm enough from freezing. Originally I was worried about having the heat source resting on the plastic bottom of the bucket, but after using it for a few weeks and feeling how warm it gets I am not concerned. We shall see......

 

[mrskenmore]

I agree on letting them come and go as they please. They seem to figure it out even though we don't understand how they can stand the cold! I don't heat the coop since I would worry about losing power and then them not having heat. I will also be placing clear plastic around the bottom two feet of the run so they have a wind break since it will be going down to -25 with windchill and gust of up to 40 mph here in the next few days. I also keep there food and water in the run so it gives them motivation to get out of the coop each morning.

 

[Jaxdrisc]

Thanks you!!

 

[RonP]

But more important than temperature as everyone says is humidity. We have a temperature and humidity tracker - our happy zone is between 40% and 60% humidity. If it's higher than 60% humidity and it's not raining, something is wrong.

Beautiful coop!

If your humidity level is not close to equal, inside and outside the coop, you should correct your coop ventilation.

During cold weather, for cold hardy fully feathered birds, a dry environment is much more important than a warm coop . .

 

[WthrLady]

Currently 0' with a windchill of -26....it's been much colder already this winter.

Girls are out playing. No heat in the coop.
They can go in if they want.