How Cold of Weather Can Chickens Stand Outside of Coop?

[KettermanHillCoop]

That mid-air picture of that beautiful chicken is fabulous!

 

[SueT]

That mid-air picture of that beautiful chicken is fabulous!

Yes, i love it too-- it could go in a BYC calendar for sure......

 

[peckpeckpeck]

X3

 

[SueT]

It's on BYC's Facebook page as well. The photo is from @Faraday40 , of her Sebright that doesn't like to walk in the snow....

 

[BYCforlife]

My roosters got frostbite on their combs, but they survived nearly minus 40 temperatures.

 

[Angela Thomson]

My blue Andalusia hens have frostbite on their combs. It's only minor. I've never went through a winter with chickens. Next spring I will be making a TRUE chicken house!
In other news, my Cayuga ducks are not phased. They would swim if their tub wasn't frozen!

 

[Faraday40]

It's on BYC's Facebook page as well. The photo is from @Faraday40 , of her Sebright that doesn't like to walk in the snow....

Thank you.... and Cool. I didn't know Trouble was on Facebook too.

Trouble is quite a bird. A little bird with a BIG personality! She's technically my daughter's chicken but loved by all. A while back someone asked me to write a little article about her & then that pic was chosen for pic of the week.
Here's the BYC article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/trouble-in-our-flock.71984/

The next summer, DD decided to do a poultry science project using Bubbles(her Dom) & Trouble. She then began helping train other poultry. (We even had some trained Appenzeller Spitzhaubens.) I often travel to schools & teach about embryology, poultry, &/or agriculture. I always bring some of my DD's trained chickens along. They steal the show! Below is her project video. She won Best in Show at county & all the highest honors at state.

The next 2 years DD got deeply into genetics, incubation, & quail. She's currently finishing up a nutrition/ eggshell strength experiment now and may return to more advanced training this summer. (It will depend on if she gets a grant to purchase the materials.)

 

[TwoAcresonaDream]

I have been super worried about my hens, and I live in MD. I don't like the cold, and I just have to keep reminding myself that they naturally run hotter than humans. I have cold hardy breeds, but none of the ladies have wanted to be outside of the coop for the last few days. They will only come out if I stand out there with them until they are ready to go back inside. So of course that is what I do! lol. I'm afraid of them pooping in their food, so I haven't put that in the coop with them, and the water stays outside of course. I run fresh water out there a few times per day. The predators are getting more desperate of course (I have lost two this winter season already, within 2 weeks of eachother), so they are strictly in the run and coop, no free ranging right now....

 

[BekahsChicks]

I have 15 hens ranging from about 4 yrs old to 10 mths old, and i let them decide for themselves if they want to stay in or go out. My Coop is split into 2 rooms, one side is nest boxes and roost bars the other is their food/water (we have electricity out there so we use a heated hanging watered) with a part of the wall cut out that they can come and go as the please no matter the temp/weather. And then an external access door from the nest box side out to their main yard. I utilize the deep litter method on both sides and so far even with the lowest (not including windchill) of about 2*F they have been perfectly fine, I used empty feed bags to provide extra insulation to both rooms, and there are spaces along the roof line that allow for ventilation. My thermometer reads about 30*F today in their coop and about 18*F outside! (And no, even though we have electricity ran to the coop, we do not provide extra heat sources. I truly agree/believe that if you supplement heat and they don’t accumulate to the outside temp naturally they will be worse off in the event you lose power to their heat source. ) except when we had snow on the ground they happily go out to their yard and do the happy chicken stuff and when they get chilly they will march back in on their own, and vice versa lol

 

[chicknmania]

For future reference, one of the best things to do to prepare for winter is to make sure that your flock is as healthy as they can possibly be. We deworm the flock in the fall, and periodically we give vitamin supplements, oregano oil, Denagard, as preventatives throughout the year, just to try to make sure they are healthy as possible. If the birds have anything like worms or cocci going into the cold winter months, they are going to have a rough time. While our flock is confined to the barn because of cold and snow, I try to make sure they have things to keep them cheerful and their minds off the cold. A visit with a handful or two of snacks in the afternoon tossed out for them to scratch for, or apple or cabbage or corn cob on a string...maybe a couple of flakes of hay or straw to tear apart, some fresh dirt in their dust bath, warm water in their waterers, fresh material for the nest boxes, or a flock block to peck at. Simple things, but they're easy to please, and they seem grateful for even the smallest things. If it's subzero I sometimes leave a heat light or two on during the day for them to get under...I know they don't need it, but especially our peafowl appreciate it. There are heaters available called "sweeter heaters" that are designed for poultry, but really, like has been said before, they don't need it. TLC works as well as anything, imo.