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

[mlowen]

Do you do anything to keep their water thawed. If not, how often do you get water for them?

I bring out warm water each morning before I go to work. I have a black rubber 8 quart pan and a gallon iced tea jug sitting in it. When I collect eggs & check on them after work/dark, there has been a smidge of liquid water in there except when it's been in the single digits or below all day. They are laying & "talking" and scratching in the run & seem to be just fine--no heat, lots of ventilation.

 

[Bert2368]

I took a couple of 5 gallon home depot buckets, and turned them into heated and insulated waterers.



I installed "Gamma Seal" screw on lids:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0089QJQTS/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?pc_redir=1387601568

I put about 14' of Raychem self regulating heat tape (waterproof 6 Watts/foot output) around the bucket in 5 wraps:
http://m.ebay.ca/itm?itemId=271290477767

4 "chicken nipples" were installed in the bottom of the bucket:
http://popular.ebay.com/business-industrial-k-z/poultry-waterer/poultry-waterer-nipple.htm

And the bucket sides were wrapped in 2 turns of water heater insulation:
http://m.homedepot.com/p/Frost-King...ve-Water-Heater-Blanket-R3-5-SP90A/100170479/

Please note, this would be an expensive solution to the problem if you went and bought all of these materials new! I used to do property management, all of the materials except the buckets and chicken nipples were leftover or re-purposed materials I already had on hand-

It worked well, the nipples didn't freeze even when it was -10F in the coop.

 

[Cluckincanadian]

Looks good! Bert2368 water is such a huge problem in the winter. Today even with no wind its -30. 2 more months to go before warmer weather

 

[Bert2368]

I had to go back and re-cover the insulation. Bored chickens were pecking holes in it!

 

[Kernel Cluck]

I dont know about "happily".. but my girls saw -6 this morning. I checked today when home from work. No frost bite. have been working hard on removing moisture from the coop and it seems to be working.

 

[Lee Nelson]

I tried starting last year not heating the coop after reading the cons of heating the coop (greater possibility of coop fires, losing toes and parts of combs to frostbite, being hard on their systems, etc.) I have been very happy with it. And after some horror stories I have read about barn and coop fires, I sleep better at night. They sort of go into a semi stupor, sort of sleepy; but they are eating a lot and drinking a lot, and so far they are healthy. I have 42 hens in a 96 square foot floor space coop, and I know that chickens need between 2 and 10 square feet per bird, so I am at the maximum right now. I also know that each chicken produces 10 watts of heat, so I am pretty close to a 500 watt lightbuld right now. When days get warmer, around 30 degrees or so, I open up everything to get it aired out, and sometimes they come out, but at first I had to literally carry some out because they did not know how to process this new white ground! Today I opened up the coop and dumped a big bag of leaves in, and of course, the chickens went ballistic! They flew out of the coop and landed in deeper snow, and just sat there and did not know what to do! I had to actually pick up my Salmon Faverolle and place her back in the coop--she was so perplexed and confused and did not know what to do--her feet were not engaging with any ground! We live in Minnesota, and I don't believe that it has gotten below 15 below yet, but it certainly seems so with the wind chill sometimes! So this is the second year I have not heated the coop, and no losses in the cold weather. On the contrary, I have lost many in the summer due to the heat, and none in the winter due to the cold!

 

[NorthChicken]

It is usually in the -20F degree range here, but we are hitting -40F below zero tonight (that is without windchill, BRRR!!!). Days are anywhere from -20F to 10F for a high. I have 6 chickens in a 4x6 coop that is not insulated and I do not use any heat, I just have it stuffed with shavings and hay. They have a covered run sided with clear tarp, and they are always happy to go out to their run every morning. They go about their normal business all day, although I usually see them doing the flamingo with one leg tucked into their bellies when they are standing. Wouldn't say they are very happy about the cold, but haven't seen any frost bite issues. I am looking forward to spring, that is for sure.

 

[Scott H]

That's a beautiful picture NorthChicken!

 

[vwright0401]

After reading some articles on the open front coops in the 1920's I decided to leave the window on the east side of my coop completely open for the winter, covered with hardware cloth for safety, but allowing a much better ventilation. I had some issues last winter (my first with chickens) getting "colds" and ended up treating them with VetRX, this year so far, we've had alot more snow, and cold and haven't had the first sneeze, cough, snotty chicken nose in the bunch. My flock has access to free range any time they want, when the snow is completely covering the ground, they really have no interest in going outside and stay inside. I do feed them some scratch in the evening but I do not heat the coop at all. My daylight bulb comes on at 4am and I'm getting a very healthy amount of eggs every day. The roof of my coop faces, and is sloped to the south, it has a few of the opaque roofing material sections to let in more sunlight and the window on the west side of the coop is covered with Plexiglass so they have the light without the cold drafts. I'm in SW Ohio and all of our bad weather comes from the west. My coop is not insulated. I'm in agreement with the idea that they are very cold hardy and giving them artificial heat is more detrimental than helpful. I also think at this point that the fresh air, rather than humid air that builds up from chicken body heat is much better for them. I use the DL method and throw in anything from a head of cabbage to a bale of straw to keep them busy and dry. I really see a difference this winter as compared to last winter, as far as health of the flock. We are expecting some of the arctic cold next week to head this way, I will probably put in a fresh bale of straw, but that is the only preparation I plan to make at this point. I think they'll be fine... and happy.

 

[newbie coops]

This is the first year we have used no artificial heating in our coops, and temps have reached below 0 and they seem to be doing fine. We use the deep litter method of managing them in the winter, which helps to keep them sufficiently warm. Neither coop is insulated. Also, when we have deep snow, that acts as a sort of insulation inside the coops. They don't like walking outside when it's this cold though! This photo is from this past (seems so long ago...alas) autumn. They LOVE apples.