How to know when it's too cold?

[RoyalChick]

Thanks so much all of you for your input! I see it's -6 C outside now, which really is unusually cold. It is not uncommon that we have no snow all winter. When I was outside now they had gotten back into the coop without seeming to have gone to bed, so it might have been that I only recently started letting them free range on a daily basis and they just found it exciting. I would let them free range in summer when I was outside to keep an eye on them (so they didn't eat my vegetables), then it rained most of fall. They also sometimes started going outside the fenced in garden and out on the road. There isn't a lot of traffic here, but most people wouldn't expect to suddenly see a chicken on the road, so I got worried they could get run over. With less plants to eat they seem to wander less though and I can more safely let them go as they please.

We can get a lot colder than that - though so far this year it has only got close at about 5am. There is a lot of winter still to go!
Mine have a big very sheltered and well ventilated coop, a good sized covered run (but with no wind protection on the sides), and some smaller pasture runs that are not covered and provide some forage. In addition, when I am able to be outside with them they have a yard they can roam around and forage over a very large area. I have a lot for ground and air predators so their yard time needs to be supervised.
When it gets very cold and windy they spend most of their time in the coop just hanging out. But if it is sunny - even if it is cold - they like to go outside to the yard to run around and sunbathe. In the rain (or yesterday sleet) they go into the pasture runs to pull up worms.
I notice they eat much less commercial food when they are molting (which always worries me a lot) and I suspect also in the cold because they move about much less.
Hope that helps - nothing new others haven't said - but I at least find it helpful to hear about other people's flocks so I hope you do too.

 

[saysfaa]

... so it might have been that I only recently started letting them free range on a daily basis and they just found it

This seems likely

 

[Vicker]

Where I live, we don't have many days in a row that remain below freezing, and I don't supplement with heat. Last year was different. We were in a deep freeze with snow on the ground for an extended period. We were around -17 C at times. I put a heat lamp in the coop, then. That was my first time to deal with frostbite. Some of my birds with large combs got a touch of it. People in colder climates told me I should have coated the combs with Vaseline or some similar kind of protection. When we have snow or ice on the ground, I scatter fresh greenery, scratch and food scraps across for the ones who want it.

 

[Agathe]

We can get a lot colder than that - though so far this year it has only got close at about 5am. There is a lot of winter still to go!
Mine have a big very sheltered and well ventilated coop, a good sized covered run (but with no wind protection on the sides), and some smaller pasture runs that are not covered and provide some forage. In addition, when I am able to be outside with them they have a yard they can roam around and forage over a very large area. I have a lot for ground and air predators so their yard time needs to be supervised.
When it gets very cold and windy they spend most of their time in the coop just hanging out. But if it is sunny - even if it is cold - they like to go outside to the yard to run around and sunbathe. In the rain (or yesterday sleet) they go into the pasture runs to pull up worms.
I notice they eat much less commercial food when they are molting (which always worries me a lot) and I suspect also in the cold because they move about much less.
Hope that helps - nothing new others haven't said - but I at least find it helpful to hear about other people's flocks so I hope you do too.

Ah, it might be that they don't move around as much that they eat less! I hadn't really thought of that. Cause they really don't roam around like they normally do when it's grassy outside and instead tend to remain more in one spot and just hang out. Thanks for sharing about your coop and run! I really wish I had a bigger coop. It is sufficient, but there isn't space to put in many activities on bad weather days for instance. I had more space available as I used an old shed as basis for the coop and had a carpenter build a coop part in the shed. He made the coop a bit smaller than I had originally intended, which is practical for me because it leaves a lot of space for me to keep feed and firewood and such, but less space for the chickens. The run is a decent size, but when it rains a lot it gets muddy which is one reason why I'd like for them to be able to free range more than they have been.

 

[Agathe]

Where I live, we don't have many days in a row that remain below freezing, and I don't supplement with heat. Last year was different. We were in a deep freeze with snow on the ground for an extended period. We were around -17 C at times. I put a heat lamp in the coop, then. That was my first time to deal with frostbite. Some of my birds with large combs got a touch of it. People in colder climates told me I should have coated the combs with Vaseline or some similar kind of protection. When we have snow or ice on the ground, I scatter fresh greenery, scratch and food scraps across for the ones who want it.

Good to know about the Vaseline! I hope we don't get as cold here this year as we did last year, but I do have Vaseline and I'll keep in mind coating their combs if it happens. I would also put in a heat lamp at those temperatures.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have heard that the use of Vaseline on combs is an old wives tale that doesn't actually help and may make things worse.