How cold is TOO cold for a chicken?

[Wildsky]

Quote:
Perhaps you should look into those stock tank deicers... that sink to the bottom - then put a layer of wire or something (all under the water) on top of it so none of them can pull it out.

 

[cajunlizz]

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I do NOT envy any of you folks with those kind of temp's .

Thanks , BUT NO THANKS

 

[ChickenNOOB]

this is the most responsive post i have ever posted

 

[Mrs MIA]

I can tell you that at this very moment my enitire flock is outside in the dark.... at 8:25am... and it is 6.1°F. (-14.4°C for you Canadians and Aussies).

Yes... 6.1°F... that is not a typo. I had 7 girls sleeping outside all night... their choice. I cannot say it enough... if you let them acclimate to the changing temps without supplementing heat, they are FINE. Your hardest task will be keeping the water from freezing.

 

[Beekissed]

I might have to just let the dogs and chickens and the fish share the same water this winter!

The chickens always drink out of the dog's bucket anyway and its heated. The fish I took out of my waterfall pools for the winter got put in the dog's heated bucket and they are doing great! Weird, but great!

 

[basicliving]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

I can tell you that at this very moment my enitire flock is outside in the dark.... at 8:25am... and it is 6.1°F. (-14.4°C for you Canadians and Aussies).

Yes... 6.1°F... that is not a typo. I had 7 girls sleeping outside all night... their choice. I cannot say it enough... if you let them acclimate to the changing temps without supplementing heat, they are FINE. Your hardest task will be keeping the water from freezing.

This is my first winter with chickens, and my husband has been telling me exactly that - the chickens will acclimate and there is no need to provide heat in the coop. Thanks for posting this.

BTW - I just went to your "pictures" link and saw you have a SGD rooster named Duke. My SBD rooster is named Duke as well - and he's just as good looking as yours! I just love him. He's everything I ever wanted in a rooster.

Penny​

 

[momofdrew]

I have almost finished winterizing the pen,,,I am noticing a few areas that need fixing so we dont have drafts...we have been having over night freezes now for over a week...when I let the birds out into the yard the grass is rimmed with ice and it doesn't seem to slow them down...they run out and start their daily hunt for goodies...I find it cold but they seem fine with it...

 

[Oblio13]

According to the NOAA website, the city an hour south of us has a record low of -37 F. We see -20 fairly often. Our coops not heated and it hasn't been a problem so far, except for the need to exchange their frozen waterers for fresh ones a couple times a day.

 

[BeardedChick]

I am going to expand the coop next year and thought about trying to put in a composting heater... Just a barrel or something that I can keep emptying their manure pans into & turn to keep the compost aerated and happy.

Last year, I started an outdoor compost heap in Nov. and had it hot (120 f) through mid. Dec.

Prolly won't work, but it would be so cool if it did. And I'd be very pleased to have some good compost by Spring.

 

[LynneP]

I like this compost barrel idea. Will you have a convenient access lid to dump the daily offerings into the barrel? I have this vision of a piece of tubing fitted to the lid and going through a wall to the outdoors. V I would think that a metal compost barrel would get very warm, I hope you'll let us know how this works out!