How to keep chickens warm during winter?

[Hokum Coco]

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[Imma Tweety]

I LOVE CHICKENS

 

[sn0wwhite]

I'm in Minnesota and it got down to 8F the other night. The chickens aren't behaving a bit differently than when it was 70F except they seem hungrier.

 

[Ladyalamo]

We have a coop that doesn't let the moisture in, provide a heat lamp, and leave the little door to their fenced yard open all winter. Our biggest problem was the water freezing. As long as they are dry and have a small heat source in really cold (like Oregon) temps, they will survive. Mine are still laying and it was 10 degrees out this morning. I put straw and mix shredded paper on the bottom of the coop in a 4 inch thick layer too to help keep the cold from the ground at a minimum. They like digging around in it. We let ours free roam in the day and supplement their diet with scratch and layer pellets too!! Spoiled hens...but happy laying girls!!

 

[Bunny13]

Great info...thanks so much. What about their water? We are in northeastern TN at 2800 elevation

 

[speckled bean]

I have had chickens roost during the summer along a fence and then refuse to move when the weather grew cold. They would not go into the chicken houses-there were two and had room to spare-but those dummies would roost on the fence even in ice storms.
Weather never seemed to plague them.

 

[boskelli1571]

I have had chickens roost during the summer along a fence and then refuse to move when the weather grew cold. They would not go into the chicken houses-there were two and had room to spare-but those dummies would roost on the fence even in ice storms.
Weather never seemed to plague them.

You don't say where you are, but if my birds sat out all night I would have frozen chicken by sun-up!!

We are at 2F and falling..........

 

[AngryRooster]

If you live in warm-ish areas like California, a heat few heat lamps should suffice.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Chickens are not polar bears we have to keep in mind. Laying, vocal, and active birds in my opinion is a sign everything is right in their world. That being said when a chicken has 3 trips around the sun it is there as a pet not for egg production. If your birds or animals are showing signs of stress you have to do what is right in your situation. The one size fits all is a recipe for disaster.

Take inventory on your animals daily and make daily decisions is what I do summer and winter. A heat lamp and TLC can happen not only in winter and not always due to cold.

In Canada I am subject to -40º cold snaps. I do NOT heat or give extra light in my coop. Murphy's law says my birds will find out what -40 is all about when my hydro goes out. Regardless what you decide feed Extra Corn over the winter you will not be sorry.

Or something like this may help also; You could even knit a hoodie for those extra cold days..

 

[speckled bean]

I live in TN and recently we have had temps of 0-19 degrees at night. The chickens I have now do stay in a chicken house but it isn't tight and while I do add extra hay on the floor and laying boxes they do not seem to be affected by the cold too much. I fight the water situation and have to heat water every morning but I do add rice and spaghetti noodles and Kale to the chickens' diet for extra calories.