how cold is too cold?

[mad_about_chicks!!!]

it has been getting down in the teens some here (AL) at night, mostly ranging from upper 20 to lower 40's. Aside from the laying issue, how cold is dangerous for the girls?

 

[NYREDS]

It has been well below zero here several times in the last 2 weeeks. All my birds are fine. Dampness & drafts are a bigger concern than low temps.

 

[katrinag]

So long as they have a draft free coop they should be fine. Only when it got to -40&50 I added a heat lamp to keep the coop at 0.

 

[crazyhen]

Its according to the breed. Where you have a cold hardy breed they can stand very low temps if out of the wind and rain. If you have the meditteraeum( bad spelling day) breeds they require more help in that dept. What kind of hens do you have? jean

 

[Mrs MIA]

Do a BYC topic search on "cold", and here it is...
search results

Katrinag said it most succinctly.

Mine were fine to -35F (outside temp) in their coop. Inside was just above 0F.

 

[cowpie]

it has been below 10 here for days!!!I could not be without my heated base for the metal waterer i use,my girls have water all day.I have a problem with frozen eggs,any ideas on that? I put extra straw in today to see if that helps.

 

[katrinag]

The only thing you can do is collect more often. However when had the nasty cold spells even when we collect every 2 hrs we still had frozen eggs.

 

[ichoosehope]

Our eggs freeze too, but we put them in the fridge and in a couple hours they're thawed and usable

Temps outside have been near 0 here and in the coop and nesting box down to about 10. The only thing I worry about is the water as it can freeze fast. I have a light shining under the water dish so it stays fresh awhile so if anything it's the top layer that freezes first in this condition.

I check the water when I first wake up and right before going to bed again at night. And when I refill the water, it's a little on the warm (not hot) side.

 

[Farm Frenzy]

-40 and -50 degree weather...are you kidding me? I was feeling sorry for myself because it got down in the 30's. Guess, I won't be feeling sorry for myself anymore.

 

[katrinag]

It was cold and nasty, still pretty dang cold. Todays high was 13. Yippie.