How cold is too cold for hens?

[lomine]

I used to live in Colorado Springs and now I'm out in Peyton. While in the Springs I did not provide heat. I did, however, wrap my run in thick plastic and tarps. The wind destroyed it by the end of the season and I had to re-staple parts several times but it helped to provide a wind free zone. They were out of the coop and in the run every day, even those when it was below zero. In Peyton I don't have a run but I do have a large coop compared to my flock size. The birds don't care about the cold but on windy days they stay inside.And out here the wind can be really bad

This past weekend was hard on all the animals. The Springs and surrounding area went from lows 60s on Saturday to 15 degrees F on Sunday. That's more than 45 degrees in less than 24 hours! No one could really acclimate to that especially since the whole week before was in the low and mid 50s. @petmainia other than making sure they had a wind block there isn't much else you can do to help with that drastic of a temperature change.

 

[snow5164]

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

You had chickens in a tent in -40’C??

 

[snow5164]

That’s great that them surviving the cold temperatures is enough , but I want eggs . I have chickens so they produce eggs , I pay to feed them so they provide food.

When you get temperatures of -35 C and -45’C with a nasty windchill of -55’C !!

You might be setting the thermostat to 0’C and still getting eggs all winter long as I do.Just living threw the winter is not my goal.

There’s cold then there’s Canada Cold .

 

[Hedwig Chicken]

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?

The chicks grew nice and healthy with their mum. You can see the frost on the side of the nesting box.

You had chickens in a tent in -40’C??

Hahaha, not just the tent... They also had a coop under there.

I also wanted to add: A heated water bowl is very,very, very useful when the temperature is bellow freezing point.

 

[hypnozze]

The chicks grew nice and healthy with their mum. You can see the frost on the side of the nesting box.

Hahaha, not just the tent... They also had a coop under there.

I also wanted to add: A heated water bowl is very,very, very useful when the temperature is bellow freezing point.

Those chicks are lovely! Amazing that they can tolerate the cold and thrive. Wonderful! Thank you for sharing