How cold is too cold for chicken to roost alone?

[WingsysRoost]

Where I am, winter temperatures at the coldest can get down to roughly -20C plus wind chill. I have twelve birds currently, and most of the time, they will go up to roost in little groups. As it gets colder, I find that sometimes one goes to roost alone. When this happens, I usually move them so they at least have the option to huddle, but I'm wondering if I actually need to do that or if they will be fine completely on their own. Thank you in advance for your opinions!

 

[sourland]

If they are roosting in a draft free coop, they should be fine.

 

[WingsysRoost]

If they are roosting in a draft free coop, they should be fine.

It is draft free. I figured they would likely be fine especially if they're choosing to roost on their own, but I'm also definitely a bit overcautious with them sometimes so I wanted to make sure.

Thank you!

 

[aart]

Do you mean it is not huddled with the others in the same coop,
or is it alone in a separate coop?

 

[WingsysRoost]

Do you mean it is not huddled with the others in the same coop,
or is it alone in a separate coop?

On a different perch in the same coop. It isn't always the same chicken every time, but I do have one who often does this and she is quite small compared to some of the others. I worry that she burns more energy keeping herself warm in that case and will sometimes move her over if I feel it's too cold, but I also know that what I think is cold she may not care about and I don't want to move her unnecessarily either.

 

[aart]

On a different perch in the same coop. It isn't always the same chicken every time, but I do have one who often does this and she is quite small compared to some of the others. I worry that she burns more energy keeping herself warm in that case and will sometimes move her over if I feel it's too cold, but I also know that what I think is cold she may not care about and I don't want to move her unnecessarily either.

I regularly have birds that do not huddle touching others.

 

[WingsysRoost]

I regularly have birds that do not huddle touching others.

Good to know. I'll stop moving them then and see how well they handle it. I kind of figured I was being a bit too cautious since they're fine outside during the day and that's definitely far colder than inside the coop. Thank you for the reassurance!

 

[Nyhillbillies]

I worry about my little Miss Myrtle, a barred rock. She also roosts alone, and is pecked at if she tries to congregate with the 4 bigger Brahmas, poor thing.

 

[WingsysRoost]

I worry about my little Miss Myrtle, a barred rock. She also roosts alone, and is pecked at if she tries to congregate with the 4 bigger Brahmas, poor thing.

Aww, poor girl! The one that I worry about is also a Barred Rock. She's really small. I think she would probably have been considered failure to thrive as a chick because she was quite literally half the size of the rest even my one other bird who is probably a bit smaller than her now. She tends to get picked on sometimes. I just got her back in the coop after several months as an inside chicken at night while recovering from an egg binding incident, so I do worry about her a lot more than I do the others. Well, that plus most of the others are a lot bigger than her.

 

[WingsysRoost]

She has her favorite spot and she doesn't seem to care whether or not the others join her there lol.