I need help with keeping my chickens warm.

[HaleyAnn19]

I have two pet chickens that I adore to death. I spend all my money on them and recently bought them a heat lamp but my Mom's dumb dog keeps chewing the extension cord up. I've thought of a way to stop this from happening but it will take a little bit of material to complete, and time. So until then I need a way to keep them warm. It's going to be in the 30's tonight and I don't want the babies uncomfortable. They have a coop to access outside and they have a smaller coop inside of that coop that they can go inside of. But it's not insulated or anything it's just a lot of bedding and an inside area to sleep in. Since there's only two of them I feel like they don't have enough heat. HELP PLEASE!!

(there both almost 5 months old)

 

[BantamLover21]

At five months old, they should be fine in the 30s with no supplemental heat. My hens have endured below zero temperatures in their non-insulated coop even when they were molting and had very few feathers on their body. They'll snuggle together if necessary, and will seek out the warmest place possible to sleep. The most important thing is that they are out of the wind--as long as there are no drafts, chickens will be fine in low temperatures.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

If they are almost 5 months old and completely out of the wind with nice bedding they should be fine. It sounds like they have a huddle box inside their coop where they can snuggle up and warm up the smaller space, which is ideal, with their body heat.

If you are wanting to do something extra, you can provide the area with additional windbreaks or insulation, such as putting a canvas tarp over something but leave air vents, or by stacking straw bales where the wind blows on the coop. Those kinds of things. Or even giving them another huddle box such as a cardboard box or plastic tote inside the coop.

If your coop is breezy they will be in trouble in extreme cold, if they cannot get out of the wind. Settle that for them and they can be safe with no additional heat. But if your coop is very open and the wind is raging they will lose their body heat very quickly. So go with your gut feeling.

 

[HaleyAnn19]

Thank you so much, this was very helpful<3 I'm about to put a tarp over a piece of the small coop to make sure wind is not a problem while they can still get out through the door if needed.