Tonight will be our first "arctic blast" since we've owned chickens. So, how smart are chickens? Will they go outside if it's too cold for them? My husband wants to let them out of the coop the morning as usual, even though it will be 13F! Should we open the door for them in the morning, or just leave them "cooped" up? Opinions??? Thanks!
I think your chickens will be fine and yes,they will make up there own minds weather they want to stay in or come out.I went through this same thing back when I first got mine and they turned out to be alot hardier than I first thought.
I was considering adding heat for mine tonight, but decided against it. As far as the daytime goes, mine were out all day today, until about half an hour ago when they went to roost. They'll be out again tomorrow morning.
I am struggling with my planning now but every time I see the ducks floating on the pond and in Halifax Harbour I think that if they can handle floating in water avoiding the ice and -whatever celcius temperatures.... how spoilt are my girls in a dry wind free coop at zero? But I still contimplate, I am currently logging inside vs outside temps.
here up north in illinois, the weather can be different than Texas. The one thing i always tell people are that these animals were made to withstand nature. i don't even turn on a heat lamp until it gets down into the negatives. even then i find the birds don't go under the heat lamp. i wouldn't worry about the chickens. they will survive.
This is my first year with chickens, and we have had weeks now of double digit blow zero lows. I personally open the door any day that the temp and windchill is above 0. My girls don't really like walking in the snow, but if I shovel their run or throw down a little sand, they are more than happy to spend time outside in the cold. They seem to rotate in more often than in the nice weather, but they're tough as nails.
I leave my coop pop door open all the time (faces East). No heat or insulation, but the coop is draft free. My run is fairly secure. Never had any problems with critters trying to get in. It's gotten down to single digits around here and My chickens can decide if they want to go out. They normally will unless the wind is blowing to hard, then they will just stay in.
