How cold is too cold?

[WindingRoad]

He did mention that the seed in the picture was just a treat, not the primary feed.

Nova Scotia can get some pretty mean winds, so draft free is what I’d be focusing on too! My Family is from Newfoundland’s east coast, so I know the climate challenges you’re looking at, let’s both be glad we’re not in Northrern Alberta, eh? With the costal humidity and potentially cold temps I’d also be concerned about keeping the ventilation up, backwards though it seems, to keep the coop as dry as possible.

What kind of chickens are they? And how many do you have total? They are very pretty .

So long as you don’t have any really cold temps coming in soon, and your coop is as protected as it sounds/looks like, they should be fine without the heat. Pick a nice warmish night and pull the plug! I’m quite biased against coop heating/electrical in most cases... just me and I don’t have a ton of experience either so take my opinion as mostly just that.

Do make sure with your cords that you’re using a large enough guage wire that is rated for outside use, as short as you can reasonably go, and that you’re plugging it into a GFCI outlet! Yeah, I’m a bit paranoid.

Also one of those arc whatevers I can't think of what they are called. That is one of the things that bugs me here in Maine. I'm about 100 miles from the coast in West Central Maine mountainous. Many times when I check the temp outside and it's in the teens the humidity could be 86%. outside! So I do have to watch for ventilation. They other day my ceiling and walls had condensation on them during the day. I had both coop doors open air things out. I stayed outside for about an hour. I don't trust anyone or anything around my birds with open doors. They can and will fly out but sometimes they wait for me to put them back in. I don't want them to get ambushed. But the coop dried out and I was able to close it up. Out door humidity was high.

 

[Kris5902]

Yes, that’s the big thing with the North East... cold but humid, which makes it more biting somehow than a super dry/super cold place even. I’m in the Southern Gulf Islands in B.C. And the humidity here is pretty high as well, made my hatch a painful learning experience... but at least we don’t get too cold!

 

[aart]

Is that tarp covered thing the coop or just the run?

 

[Guisso14]

#1 what happens when you lose power. Your birds will have become dependent on that.We've lost power for over 12 hours around here.
#2 Heat lamps are a good source for fires. Please be careful of them and the best way to do that is to get rid of them. Have you seen crows in the winter, or chick-a-dees? How do you suppose they survive? Chickens are basically wild birds.
BTW I see wild bird food in one of your pictures. Is that what you are feeding your chickens?

Wild feed was just a treat

 

[Guisso14]

Is that tarp covered thing the coop or just the run?

The entire thing

 

[Joyschickens]

If you don't already have a device to measure humidity inside the coop, I might suggest that - good tool to monitor ventilation needs. Ventilation is most important vs heat in my opinion. Keep chickens moving during the day with small amount of straw in a pile with a little BOSS or scratch for example. They love to get busy flattening a pile of anything.
Good luck

 

[RoosterRules]

I keep a small flock in an unheated coop in AB and they are thriving. One of my Brahma hens lays an egg every other day under my diesel tank (that's what she is doing in the picture, you can see her colour is nice and pink). I do not supplement light and it gets dark early. It really depends on your breed, their health, conditioning and your coop set-up. I played around with mine forever and in the end cracked my whole roof open on the south side for ventilation, and hoarded up snow on the north and west side walls where the wind blows. I have a wireless thermometer in the coop, temp and humidity is the same in the coop as outside. Last night was -30 but it warmed up during the day and they are moving around.

 

[Guisso14]

If you don't already have a device to measure humidity inside the coop, I might suggest that - good tool to monitor ventilation needs. Ventilation is most important vs heat in my opinion. Keep chickens moving during the day with small amount of straw in a pile with a little BOSS or scratch for example. They love to get busy flattening a pile of anything.
Good luck

I free range then during the day. They are only in the coop at night or when it's too cold and windy. I regularly give them veggies and stuff to play with and piles of grass and leaves to scratch in. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Guisso14]

I keep a small flock in an unheated coop in AB and they are thriving. One of my Brahma hens lays an egg every other day under my diesel tank (that's what she is doing in the picture, you can see her colour is nice and pink). I do not supplement light and it gets dark early. It really depends on your breed, their health, conditioning and your coop set-up. I played around with mine forever and in the end cracked my whole roof open on the south side for ventilation, and hoarded up snow on the north and west side walls where the wind blows. I have a wireless thermometer in the coop, temp and humidity is the same in the coop as outside. Last night was -30 but it warmed up during the day and they are moving around. View attachment 1645946 View attachment 1645948 View attachment 1645947

We have a lot of humidity on the coast and so far I think the amount I have vented it pretty good. Thanks for the advice . These are my first chickens and i made this cheap small setup to make sure i would have fun with this. Next summer i plan to make a better setup

 

[path.otto]

I must admit I'm getting a little worried about next Tuesday's temps. They are predicting -30 F Tuesday and the high on Wednesday is only going to be -19. Not typical at all. The girls have done fine at -13 the past few nights but the temps coming up are a whole 'nother thing. Coop walls are insulated, I have a flat panel heater on wall directly behind roost, good ventilation and about 8" of bedding on floor. Water and food are in the coop because it has been so windy they haven't been interested in going outdoors. The north and west walls of run are tarped against wind. Not sure what else I can do. Thoughts?