How cold is TOO cold for a chicken?

[BeardedChick]

Er, I'm in Colorado. It's been 28 or so in the morning. The hens happily pile out of the house and run straight into the frozen garden to fool around in the morning.

No one hangs out in the nice insulated coop where there's always food and water.

They are WAY more cold tolerant than me. Think about it - they have head to toe down suits.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

This is my first winter with chickens and sometimes it can get to -35 or lower here! BUT I have relaxed a little knowing those folks in Canada have chickens and they do just fine

it has gotten as low as 25 here at night and the chickens threw off enough heat to keep the coop at a whopping 40 degrees

with NO heat lamp. I keep a thermometer in their coop that I can read from in the house. I got it at walmart.

 

[birdnutz]

Seramas are not cold tolerant though. I'd keep an eye on your boy to see how he's taking the cold.

 

[mjdtexan]

bbrrrrr. You guys who live in climates that get below 32 on a regular basis are crazy. bbrrrrrrr, it makes me cold thinking about it.

if it gets 40 here (does not happen often) I feel like I am freezing, makes me miss Phoenix

 

[DLS]

dang y'all got tough birds . My southern hens was all fluffed up when it got down to 69 last night

 

[BeardedChick]

I do feel sorry for the wild quail and turkeys that live out in the woods on those frozen, starry nights.

My neighbor feeds them all winter and you have never seen such porky wild quail.

 

[jmeeter88]

I live an hour east of Syracuse, NY and don't plan on heating the coop... I will most likely install a heating pad under the waterer though.

 

[SarahFair]

Quote:
Aha I live about 85 miles from atlanta and mine were all puffed up! It wasnt even that cold

 

[BeardedChick]

I think they are just fluffing up to let the hot air get away!

Mine puff up all summer, too.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Someone else mentioned this once before, but think of the chickadees that you see outside all winter... they don't have a heated coop to go to sleep in every night. I put my 6-8 week olds out in the main coop/pen when we were dipping into the 40s at night. We now routinely dip below freezing and beyond and the chicks/chickens are just fine. Added a little extra corn to the diet now, but no heat in the coop yet. All their down-covered bodies keep the coop so warm I haven't even had to chip out the waterer yet.

Biggest thing is going to be ventilation. They generate a LOT of moisture. But we see -30 to -40F most winters for a month or two, never getting above 0F, and I ALWAYS see the birds outside.

Y'all worry too much.