How cold is TOO cold for a chicken?

[LittleHouseDreams]

I'm so glad for this thread. I think we just have to get the right kind of breed for our necks of the wood and trust in that. I'm in NE Ohio and choose a cold hardy breed (BO). I do worry since I'm a newbie but I keep telling myself that if a sparrow can make it all winter then so can my hens in an unheated hen house. I think old timers would laugh at us for worrying so much

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[DawnSuiter]

Its been getting colder & colder here.
I had 5 free ranging roosters right now (3 who are now locked in a small crate awaiting their fate tomorrow). Yesterday the big 3 decided they wanted no more of the "other" two and chased them off... the sweet one aka. Blue ran off and I couldn't find him anywhere. Black, the other one, was smart or brave enough to run to the freedom coop and hide from the big bullies.

But Blue was gone all night. I actually teared up worried about him, we searched the woods, the perimeter, everywhere we could, out with ski gear to keep us warm & flashlights in 18 degree weather. We had the dogs trying to track him too, but not one of the 4 found him anywhere!!!!!1 I was so worried!!! He's only 4 months or so old!!!!!!!!!!! All I could think was "Chicken-cicle", poor Blue....

We gave up and hoped for the best, I mean he is used to sleeping out of doors, they have a roof but that's about it, and this morning while readjusting the hen house water heater, Blue came strolling up behind the hen house & he was fine. Everything is frosty & frozen except Blue... I was SO relieved!!!!! I promised him that I would NEVER let those big buff bullies get him again, and so they are now awaiting their big meeting with the deep freezer tomorrow.

The moral... it dropped to 12 degrees last night, and while great for skiing, made me worry about my chooks. Turns out, they are ok... their waterers though... that's a different story!

 

[farmnut]

Quote:
Hello Wildsky. i'm moving to NE and would like to know if you keep your flock in the barn or a coop? Is there any insalation or not post a picture if you can. I'm looking in Hubbard, near South Dakota

 

[DawnSuiter]

Ak - is your climate very dry like the Rockies?

A DRY 8 degrees is VERY VERY different (warm even) than a WET 8 degrees, in both real feel & effects on the skin... I bet your snow is like baby powder, mine more like a half melted slushy.

It's always pretty 'moist' here in the south... which leaves an icy layer on everything even when it's only 28-30

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
Not really...actually, we go back and forth. It's -2.2°F and 82% humidity right now. But we've also been as low as 20% humidity, too. Right now the snow is baby powder, but the 4" we got last week was sloppy. The kind that accumulates and freezes up on your windshield wipers while you're trying to drive...

With about 40 birds in the coop, it's 21°F inside right now with only a heat lamp trained on the waterer to keep it from freezing. But half of the birds are already outside playing in the snow, scratching for leftovers from yesterday. Won't be light for 3 more hours (it's 6:30am now).

I guess what I keep hearing is "Oh, I worry about my chickens, and the extra expense to keep them warm is worth it for my babies." The point I'm trying to get across in each of these threads is A) unless you're getting down to -40F for weeks on end (and we do, and then the birds will willingly stay in the coop!

) they don't need the extra heat as long as you're feeding them well, and B) it really is doing them a disservice to "spoil" them with heat, because they won't be able to handle the cold if the power goes out for any reason. And I am speaking in the general "you" here, but you can literally spoil them to death by giving them too much extra heat. It would be like taking someone from Florida and dropping them off in Anchorage in shorts and a t-shirt in the winter (heck, even in the summer!

) ... they're going to be stressed and cold. Yes, they can get frostbite, so you have to keep an eye on their combs if you have single combed chickens... the rose combed and pea combed breeds do MUCH better in that regard.

All you need is a dry, draft free coop that they can go into to get out of the elements and warm up. Truly, that's it. They know when they're too cold.

And as a side note, we culled some birds this weekend, and there was a dramatic increase in the amount of down on these birds as opposed to the ones we culled this summer. I can't repeat this enough... if you let them acclimate to your winters as the seasons change, you don't have to give them extra heat. Period. Why waste the $$?

They really don't need it.

 

[speckledhen]

I completely agree with Tori. She is someone who would definitely know, considering where she lives!

 

[DawnSuiter]

My chickens have to be troopers to survive... I'd say at best they are all MOSTLY draft free... but the temperatures inside the coops are the same as the temperatures outside the coop

but at least they DO have a roof to prevent frost from settling on them.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Thanks Cyn...

And something my husband brought up is that humans are really the only ones that are affected by windchill because of the evaporative effects on our skin. Chickens respirate through their beaks, as do dogs. They just aren't affected by the "real feel" of the temps like we are, so we have to resist that "momma's cold, so you must be cold... put on a coat!" mentality.

Believe me, you'll know when they're cold...

 

[BeardedChick]

Bodyflight, In my climate, there are a LOT of coops made of boards, the type that you can see light between all the boards. The chickens do fine. We get down to about -10F during winter. The roof and the windbreak seem to be the most important factor from what I've seen in my climate (Colorado).

My coop is draft free & has some insulation, but that's just because it came that way (it was my Aunt's old house porch).

 

[Hobbley_Farm]

Due to circumstances last year, we had to move our chickens to an old tobacco barn. It definitely was not draft free. It was large and we put nesting boxes in it. The birds did just fine. The egg production went WAY WAY down. But the birds stayed healthy. They would gather up close and they made it. The coops they are in now are an improvement. But my hubby just needs to put the roof on the new chicken shack and they'll have the best accommodations they have ever had. I plan on putting a brooder in there (with heat, obviously) so there will be a heat source in there for a few months. But the winter they spent in the tobacco barn showed me how tough they are. They were/are sex links, barred rock, and 1 ancona. I still have most of them. None died as a result of the cold. 1 Died as a result of our terrier mix.