How cold is too cold for hens?

[Mrs. K]

I have a large run, but I have wind shelters set up in the run. It can be anything, a large plastic box, if you anchor it down, a cardboard box. A piece of plywood propped up. Just make sure it won't move in the wind. Old windows can make a warm spot in the sunshine, but don't trap them in there.

 

[RodNTN]

I agree with most here, a dryer environment is better than a warmer one. If your chickens have a place to escape the wind, fresh unfrozen water, good ventilation, some feed to keep them warm, and some good dry bedding, they can survive some temps that we couldn't imagine them surviving! Chickens are a lot hardier than we make them out to be!

 

[emrya]

Sorry. I added that. Colorado Springs, Colorado

I am out in Peyton and had my coop open Sunday, if that was what triggered the question! They were mostly inside, but came out for food, water, and what sun we had. I did go out and plop my Polish back inside after she'd been sitting out for 45 mins, because she isn't really bright, but they were definitely opting for in AND out.

 

[Kessel23]

30 degrees isn't that cold. Sometimes if there are sudden temperature drops birds will huddle and shiver. Shivering is the bodies way of warming up and isn't always a bad thing. Chickens will also stand close to share heat. Too often people put on the heat when they see these behaviors. The birds are going through an acclamation process. They will often be fine a few days later. Keeping them dry and well ventilated is more important that worrying about keeping them warm. Even a chicken in a full molt is warmer than any human. Birds are equipped with a good coat of down and feathers and they don't feel weather the way humans do.

People will continue to debate heat or no heat. I personally can say it isn't necessary to temperatures down to the -20's. That's how cold it gets here. I've kept silkies and frizzles amongst other breeds. They all do fine when properly housed with a few extra things like unfrozen water, a good ration, some scratch to get them moving about, hay or straw to stand on outside, thick bedding and proper roosts. A nice facing south window for some sunshine is always welcome on cold days as well.

Providing a heat source can kill your chickens. For example, if you heated the coop to 70* for your chickens and the outside temp was -15* and then the power goes out and the heater stops... Well that is a massive drop in temp over a very short amount of time and will kill almost any animal if the heater does not start back up soon enough.

I like the idea of having your birds heat the coop, that is what I do. I have two coops and I overcrowd the birds into one coop during the coldest months of the winter. Just their body heat brings the temps up 5 or 10 degrees inside. And I also provide extra scratch in the winter. Chickens can definitely survive temps below 30, last winter we had a week where it was -10* out or colder every day, all the chickens did fine, some of my ducks even slept out in the run, which was pretty insane.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I definitely don't over crowd my birds. We have a long winter here. Chickens keep themselves warm here. They don't need each other but will share heat at times.

 

[Kessel23]

Here is a picture from April 16th last year. It is a leghorn pullet out in the run on some branches. She was just at the start of her molt... Look at the background though.

It was some pretty nasty weather for April... Well anyways, last year the spring was so messed up, we kept having snow storms and then it would heat up to 60* a day or two later and all the snow would melt and then the next day it would drop below 30* and snow like crazy again. My chickens did fine, this was a pullet too, not even a year old yet.

 

[Kessel23]

I definitely don't over crowd my birds. We have a long winter here. Chickens keep themselves warm here. They don't need each other but will share heat at times.

It is not extreme overcrowding, the birds have enough room to all have a space on the perch and they have the option to perch away from the others. They all roost right next to each other anyways. I also put wind blockers up in the run for most of the winter, so they are able to get outside and eat without getting beaten by the wind.

 

[hypnozze]

I live in Canada and it gets pretty cold in the winter.

My chickens survived in -40 degrees. They didn't get any major frostbite at all.

My Broody Hen hatched 6 chicks in -40 degrees.

Right now the temperature drops around 35 degrees at night, they all seem fine.

The most important thing to keep them safe from the cold is probably avoiding the wind.

So that is I keep my chickens under this:
View attachment 1561600

Wow! Those seem like really low temps for chickens (I am new to chickens). I did not think they could manage in such coops in such cold weather. Too bad I did not see this info earlier - we built a heavily insulated coop

How did the chicks do? Did they grow up together with the hen in that cold?

 

[1muttsfan]

Here is the link to a cold weather chicken housing that Alaskan has been working on - lots of good info there

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/author/alaskan.13660/

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Feed them scratch in the morning to give them a kick start on warming up