how cold is cold for chickens?

[N2tropicAL]

i keep reading about cold hardy varieties and coop designs for winter protection....and i have a few questions.

ive just gotten started with chickens and was wondering should i be worried about winter cold problems here in central alabama? we can get quite cold on a few occasions each winter. will i need a completely closed coop/henhouse for my 10 chickens?

i turned my parrot avaiary into a chicken coop. amazingly, i raised parrots outdoors for many years without an enclosed building or shelter i have a tall bamboo grove to the north that breaks the north wind. will this be enough proection? i do have overhead roofing to keep the aviary/coop dry.


also, at what temps do chickens have problems? i rarely drop below 20F in the winter.

its hard to think about cold now that its almost summer, but i want to be prepared.

 

[DarkWolf]

In central Alabama, you aren't going to have issues with cold.. You should be good to go.

Are you doing a coop?

 

[cw]

yea i more worried with the heat in al

 

[N2tropicAL]

basically, i have a 12 x 12 aviary that is also 12 ft tall. i could enclose a lower corner for protection. i also have to worry about alot of heat and humidity, so i was thinking about just putting 2 walls up on the corner enclosure and leaving the other two walls open.

btw, i let them free range during the day and close the door at night. now they roost on mounted limbs in the aviary.

 

[CityChook]

Just for some comparison, my coop got down to -5F this last winter. And that's WITH heat and insulation. I think you'll be a-okay.

 

[mcliff3]

Quote:
Guess I don't have to worry about getting chickens in Massachusetts!!!!

 

[Judy]

N2tropicAL, you should find this thread interesting:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=163417

You will need ventilation in both summer and winter in our heat and humidity; you will need little or no protection from cold. My coops have LARGE areas of wire instead of parts of the walls. I did hang a couple of sheets of plastic in the middle of winter, but they probably didn't need it. I have a small fan running now.

 

[SimplyForties]

One of the members from Alaska posted about it being -30 there in the winter. 10 chickens put off a lot of heat. We need to worry more about hot weather coops than the cold!

 

[dun chick]

I really did not lose any chickens due to cold in pa, you have to really be sure coops are sercure though. Predators in efforts to stay warm may really try to get in to stay warm, then feast. I lost about 30 chickens this past jan, had a coop that I thought was fairly secure but coons didn't. We have a better predator proof home for our chickens now.

 

[redoak]

Last December one night the low dropped down to negative 5 F (predicted was positive 10 F). One of my 2 large combed roosters got frost bite on the tips of his comb. The other rooster and all the hens were fine. After that night I used a heat lamp is the temp dropped below 0.