How Cold Is Too Cold?

[CannedMonster]

Interesting thread

Here in SW Idaho we’ve been having overnight lows in the mid-low 20s and daytime highs in the mid-upper 40s.
It’s just going to get colder as winter progresses.
I learned a lot from my 5 birds last year.
They want to be in the sun on the cold frosty mornings!
As soon as they’re let out, they usually go eat and then go up on the deck where the heated water buckets are, get some water and then head over to the sunny patches of the yard and wait.
They’re waiting for it to warm up a bit and for me to get my butt out there and hand out a bit of scratch lol.
Some of my juvenile birds will wander about here and there.
After the sun melts the frost they start moving around more and foraging.

It’ll be interesting to see their behavior when everything is covered in snow.
Only 1 of my current birds has experienced snow. My dominant sex link hen, Red.
We created a place, where the coops are, that is sheltered from most wind and precipitation but the sun doesn’t get to that spot.
I’m predicting that they will only go over there when it’s actively raining/snowing.

I think I’ll talk to DH about creating a spot that gives them shelter from wind but allows the sun in.
That should be popular.

 

[Shadrach]

Too hot is relatively easy to calculate. A chickens body temperature is around 41 degrees Centigrade so any exposure to temperatures above that means there can be no transfer of heat from the chicken to it’s environment. (First law of thermodynamics). They die very quickly when this happens.

Too cold is trickier. A group of chickens may fare better because they are able to share heat and adjust position so that like chicks in a pile, they take turns in the warm spot.
Wind chill is very important and depending on their environment they may have places where they can shelter and maintain a more stable temperature. Being dry is another factor. A wet chick (unfeathered) in an ambient temperature of say zero degrees and sheltered from wind would survive considerably longer than a chick in the same physical condition but exposed to wind chill.
While chickens don’t sweat, the are still subject to the ambient humidity and I would guess that dry cold is more tolerable than damp cold.
I know that here the chickens will still try to roost in the trees at -2/3 (26F) Degrees Centigrade on dry days. They tend to go into their coops at temperatures below this. I’ve had roosters in trees at -5 Centigrade (25F) and they’ve been fine.
If its damp and they think its going to rain in the winter they tend to go into their coops but I’ve not measured what the humidity and temperature has been.

 

[GC-Raptor]

My Barred Rocks love the sun on these cold days. . They are 12 weeks old.
My Golden Comets love to dust bathe in the sun. . 31 months old. GC

 

[Birdsong 82]

Mine still want to go forage outside even when it dips down into the negative degrees which doesn’t happen often in Virginia but does get there. The last time we got 8 inches of snow which is unusual for Virginia my chickens were still running around. I Even saw my leg horn fluffing the snow up and she made a nest in laid an egg In the snow nest she made. They seem to be fine as long as they have a nice dry coop to go in if they choose. Or more like if I make them at night

 

[Cyprus]

Today is a high of 25 and I didn't block the door to the coop. I will see later today how my birds are handling it.

 

[Cyprus]

Got into the low teens last night. With waters now a block of ice I had to give in and heat one waterer and bring out fresh water in the morning for another coop.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Got into the low teens last night. With waters now a block of ice I had to give in and heat one waterer and bring out fresh water in the morning for another coop.

I have had frozen water for a week or two. I use rubber bowls and buckets and either bash out and fill or top off with hot water from my plastic water cans I use to take some shot water out.

 

[Cyprus]

I have had frozen water for a week or two. I use rubber bowls and buckets and either bash out and fill or top off with hot water from my plastic water cans I use to take some shot water out.

Hello fellow Wisconsinite!
I've thought about using rubber bowls but then I still end up with big hunks of ice.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hello fellow Wisconsinite!
I've thought about using rubber bowls but then I still end up with big hunks of ice.

I do end up with quite the collection by the end of winter. Good thing I have room to pile them up. It's definitely not for everyone. I think I would have heated waterers from fleet farm that can be filled from the top if I didn't have muscovy ducks. They mess up my waters so they need daily changes.

 

[Birdsong 82]

The rubber bowls won’t help with the water freezing. But I use rubber in the winter also because the plastic ones crack so easily while trying to remove ice. I cracked several plastic ones trying to bust ice out of them

Hello fellow Wisconsinite!
I've thought about using rubber bowls but then I still end up with big hunks of ice.