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

[YourEggs]

-5 with a wind chill of -17 here on the eastern plains of Colorado this Monday morning. BBBBBRRRRRRR.........!

 

[bobbi-j]

Hey, Is anyone out there at this hour? I just discovered that 5 of my baby chicks haven't enough sense to go inside their coop to sleep tonite and it is going to be 22 -23 degrees. They are only 5 and 8 weeks old, not fully feathered. I have covered the outer pen with tarps but the coop has a light in it and peat moss on the floor. Stupid chickens! I prodded them with a pole and because they are sleeping it did not move them to go inside. I know it seems dumb but it is not easy to take the coop-pen apart to get to them and put them into the warmer area. They've only recently been inside in never colder than 50 degrees. Will they be alright or will I awake to 5 dead chickens??? Anybody know?

Did they survive the night?

 

[fasschicks]

It is currently -18 in southern Wisconsin with wind chills at -45 degrees (winds 20-30 mph for the next day or so). It is the coldest in Wisconsin for 18 years. My girls did pretty good through the night, but I left them in the coop today with food and water. They usually come down to greet me in the morning, but at -15 in the coop, they clucked good morning from their roost. Needles to say, they didn't look all too thrilled with the temps, but they all seemed to be doing fine.

Can't wait for the warm up at the end of this week!

Fass

 

[regenolds]

My chickens have not come out of the coop for weeks. They don't like the snow. They will come out in the morning to eat and drink and then run right back in. This morning the temp was -27 with a "feels like" -50 and we found a frozen hen. She had recently molted and hadn't fully feathered out. I had been keeping the heat lamp on for her but it still wasn't enough. We are all heartbroken here, she was our favorite. Now one has pretty badly frostbitten feet as well.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

My chickens have not come out of the coop for weeks. They don't like the snow. They will come out in the morning to eat and drink and then run right back in. This morning the temp was -27 with a "feels like" -50 and we found a frozen hen. She had recently molted and hadn't fully feathered out. I had been keeping the heat lamp on for her but it still wasn't enough. We are all heartbroken here, she was our favorite. Now one has pretty badly frostbitten feet as well.

Sorry to hear of your loss. Yes, The birds need their feathers to stay warm in these deadly temps. you might consider some of the hen saddles/ apron threads or bringing them in from this weather if you have any others that have been molting or suffering feather loss.

 

[ellend]

Our temps (Cleveland, Ohio--less than 1 mile from Lake Erie) bounce around like crazy. Nothing "gets used to" any temperature, here! One day it's in the mid fifties, next it's 4 degrees F.. Will be -10 tonight with wind. My little bantams are locked up with a wall-mounted Sweeter Heater! They hate cold, and won't even step in snow--they'll jerk their foot straight back off it and look for a bare patch to fly to. I know they need more ventilation, but this wind is really bad, and the weather will break in a few days, so my little coop is overly tight for the moment. (I clean waste out daily.) I've got the temp up to 38 now, and have to get to bed myself, as I work nights. During the night (while I am gone) it will drop another 14 degrees outside, so that should put them below freezing as it is. As SOON as it warms a bit and the wind dies down, I'll get more ventilation in there. Not a perfect situation by far; next spring I'll install a supplementary heat fixture for the REALLY bad days, and leave more ventilation open.

Re: "happy" cold chickens: mine will go out in the cold (not snow) but they huddle under the (raised) henhouse and look absolutely miserable!

Cat shelters: Styrofoam coolers work great. Cut an 8" hole (ferals won't use anything they can't BOLT out of) and put straw inside (not hay) tape the lid on with Gorilla Tape, and weight if necessary. They can be put inside a plastic tote, also, for increased stability and weather protection. A larger tote (for a "vestibule" area) with a smaller cooler inside (to contain heat) would be good!

The abandoned cats that hang by me were "lucky"--I got some 1-1/2" coolers from work!!! Score!

 

[bobbi-j]

My chickens have not come out of the coop for weeks. They don't like the snow. They will come out in the morning to eat and drink and then run right back in. This morning the temp was -27 with a "feels like" -50 and we found a frozen hen. She had recently molted and hadn't fully feathered out. I had been keeping the heat lamp on for her but it still wasn't enough. We are all heartbroken here, she was our favorite. Now one has pretty badly frostbitten feet as well.

First of all,

I live in MN, also, so I know what kind of cold you're dealing with. Sorry about the loss of your chicken. I'm concerned about the frostbite on the other one. Is your coop well ventilated? Too much humidity build-up in the coop is often the cause of frostbite. My chickens have been out of their coop once in the past few weeks, because they don't like the snow, and I don't feel the need to let them out when it's this cold. Their food and water (in a heated water bowl) are in the coop. Anyway, back to the ventilation. If you see frost on the insides of your walls, it's a sign that there is too much moisture in there. They need good airflow (but not drafts that will blow directly on the chickens) to keep it dry in there. My coop is an 8x16' shed, with an 8' high ceiling. I have one window tilted open about 2" at the top to help with ventilation, and I keep the pop door open unless it gets to double-digits below. It's also fairly well ventilated around the top between the wall and roof. Oh, and I also have deep litter on the floor. We use straw, and I have put 3 bales in there over the past couple of months, just to help keep it fluffy enough to insulate from the cold floor well, and to give them something to do. They love to scratch around in it! It's not quite a foot deep. I hope you can find a solution for your flock.

 

[regenolds]

I thought it was fairly well ventilated but I'm guessing it needs to be more. Its been so cold we haven't cleaned the poop out for awhile so maybe that is adding to the humidity? I have about 1 1/2 bales of straw in there, we keep the water in the run. I have my 4 other hens in the kitchen right now and will make a place in the basement or garage for them until Thursday when it will be 50 degrees warmer. Everyone keeps saying they don't need heat but the last couple days were ridiculously cold. I'm here to learn so I don't lose more!

 

[VioletandBodie]

the coldest they are happy at is probably 40-50's really happy around 70 anything lower then that we start getting the unhappy looks of "if you think im going outside your wrong"

 

[mlowen]

We have only gotten down to 14 below zero, F. I have five hens in a 10 x 20 foot coop & run that is very well ventilated. They look and act at -14 exactly the way they look & act at 35. I haven't even seen them puff up all that much. I've been pleasantly surprised at how comfortable they seem to be at temps that keep me wrapped up inside.