Hey Northerners: What is the absolute coldest air temps your chickens have experienced happily!

[lalaland]

I leave their pop door open most of the winter, but they have no interest in going out when it's that cold anyway, so I shut it just to keep some of the cold out. It's been so dark and gloomy here, I don't even know if they're leaving the roosts. I'm sure they are, since their food and water are disappearing, but I don't think it's for long. I know they're roosting when I leave for work, and the last couple of days have been by 4 or shortly thereafter like yours. I put a light in on a timer, just to give them a little more light during the day.

yeah, I finally gave up this morning and put feed and water in the coop. I figure it is going to be below 0 windchill today, and for the next week in the -20 range with windchills in the -30 or worse range.

Hopefully the temps will get closer to zero.

If I had extra outlets. I would add light for lights sake on those overcast days. At least it is sunny today!

 

[happylittlehens]

My girls made it through -14 last night. No heat and no insulation in a 6 x 8 wood coop. I have about 6" of straw on the floor which helps keep it a little warmer. They were up and moving about when I took them out some warm water this morning. Not even a touch of frostbite on the leghorns! I'm impressed with what these birds can handle.

 

[azygous]

It's 4F here today. My chickens aren't happy, but they're coping with it. They are mostly standing around on one leg in small groups, not moving around much.

I heat the sleeping portion of the coops just enough to bring the temp above freezing. (To make it easier to clean in the morning)

 

[shmccarthy]

We had a solid week last year where it was -15 and that's not including the windchill... My birds were not "happy" per say but they were still fine.

 

[fishnet1971]

My coop never gets below freezing! Good insulation and yea a 125 watt heat lamp if needed. It's been -10 outside n my coop stays above 32. They don't mind going outside down to mid 20s with no snow.

 

[DLV58]

This is our first flock and winter, so far so good, our lowest has been 3
my girls sure do poof up, they look so fat and funny!

 

[Kids and Chicks]

I'm in Colorado too and in a serious cold spell. It was -9 when I got up this morning and it's only hit a high of 10 today. This is our first year with chickens so I'm learning as I go and have made a couple of mistakes I think. We had a flock of 3 but lost one last month (Mareks?). The other two seem great. My coop is only 1 X 2 with two perches. The girls sleep next to each other and we added lots of extra straw on the floor to help keep them warm.

It was kinda windy the other night, so I hung a "curtain" in front of their window to keep the wind out and closed their coop door. The top corner was open to vent. This morning both chickens had a little frost on their backs!!! I felt horrible. Should I leave that window open to vent better? I'm wondering if their breath added too much moisture in the air.

We don't have electricity out there, so we have 4 small LED lights and 2 small 1.5 watt lights that run off batteries we turn on for 5 hours each night. (They were laying great but one went broody so we had to break her of that, then the other stopped laying and hasn't started back up yet. So no one has laid in a week. There's lots of extra feathers in the coop so I'm wondering if the one is going to molt now. Still trying to learn....) I know that isn't much heat being put off by the lights. I'm thinking of moving them into the dog kennel in the garage tonight as it is supposed to be super cold again. They aren't used to being handled though so I don't know if the stress of catching them is worth the extra warmth in the unheated garage or if it would be better to leave them outside. I did put Vaseline on their combs and waddles this morning to prevent frostbite and will reapply again this afternoon.

They seem okay outside and are scratching and perching. We have clear shower curtains up on two sides of their run to block the wind and hold in some heat plus the run is covered. I gave them warm crumble mash this morning and threw down some scratch too.

Here's a picture of our setup in case anyone has advice on whether I should keep that window uncovered, even in -10 temps.

 

[farmchickutah]

Well, this morning when I went out to feed it was -25. The girls were up and moving around in the coop, I doubt they will go out in the run though. I don't have a heat lamp on them. I am just having a hard time keeping the water from freezing up. And I am not a northerner, I'm in Southern Utah!

 

[Callous]

Western Washington and we have mid-Teens, My two Egyptians are still lying I’m afraid with this cold snap they may stop. Right now they are all out in the run running around with their feathers all puffed out.

 

[donrae]

I'm in Colorado too and in a serious cold spell. It was -9 when I got up this morning and it's only hit a high of 10 today. This is our first year with chickens so I'm learning as I go and have made a couple of mistakes I think. We had a flock of 3 but lost one last month (Mareks?). The other two seem great. My coop is only 1 X 2 with two perches. The girls sleep next to each other and we added lots of extra straw on the floor to help keep them warm.

It was kinda windy the other night, so I hung a "curtain" in front of their window to keep the wind out and closed their coop door. The top corner was open to vent. This morning both chickens had a little frost on their backs!!! I felt horrible. Should I leave that window open to vent better? I'm wondering if their breath added too much moisture in the air.

We don't have electricity out there, so we have 4 small LED lights and 2 small 1.5 watt lights that run off batteries we turn on for 5 hours each night. (They were laying great but one went broody so we had to break her of that, then the other stopped laying and hasn't started back up yet. So no one has laid in a week. There's lots of extra feathers in the coop so I'm wondering if the one is going to molt now. Still trying to learn....) I know that isn't much heat being put off by the lights. I'm thinking of moving them into the dog kennel in the garage tonight as it is supposed to be super cold again. They aren't used to being handled though so I don't know if the stress of catching them is worth the extra warmth in the unheated garage or if it would be better to leave them outside. I did put Vaseline on their combs and waddles this morning to prevent frostbite and will reapply again this afternoon.

They seem okay outside and are scratching and perching. We have clear shower curtains up on two sides of their run to block the wind and hold in some heat plus the run is covered. I gave them warm crumble mash this morning and threw down some scratch too.

Here's a picture of our setup in case anyone has advice on whether I should keep that window uncovered, even in -10 temps.

Sounds like they need a little more air flow, if they had frost. It's so tricky, getting enough air flow but not wind blowing on them, you just kind of have to play it by ear and be ready to change things up some. Open the window and see how they do.