I'm impressed.

[howlingwoodsfarm]

These past few days have been pretty cold. When I say cold, I mean cold. It was negative 14 degrees at night with a high daytime temp of 3 degrees and my girls still were laying. Now I have a mixed flock, consisting of some leghorns and then some heavy brown egg layers and I tell you what... those leghorns have not missed one day. Each has laid an egg a day through all this cold weather. My coop is not insulated, no heat light, just the light we use to supplement daylight which is only 100 watts. The best I can guess is the 3 feet of snow we got is helping to insulate the coop. The brown egg layers slowed down a bit, but only a few less eggs/day. To anyone not getting leghorns because they are not as cold hardy as some of the heavies, Unless you are in antarctica(or anywhere that gets colder then neg 30 below) they can hold their own in some cold temps. We will see what they do when it gets to neg 25 as it does each year for a few days here and there. We have had no frostbite either, how.. I don't know how. I am impressed each morning when I go out and everyone is happy and healthy and I find lots of eggs, I know I would not be laying eggs in these temps. We do give cracked corn before bed to help keep warm at night.

I LOVE CHICKENS!

Heather

 

[Buster]

Thanks for the tip on the leghorns. We just bought a house a month ago and I've wanted chickens most of my life, so I started researching them to get some in the spring. Last Monday, a friend of ours said he was getting too many eggs so he wanted to give us 10 hens and a rooster (different breeds of heavy brown egg layers.) So we went out in the cold and snow and turned the woodshed into a coop 4 months early. ANYWAY, my wife wants large white eggs and wants to try leghorns in the spring, so with your info, we'll give it a try. I'm in Idaho, so I can relate to what you have to say about the cold. Thanks for the tip.

 

[spottedtail]

You're quite right about chickens being very cold tolerant.
Our hens are in a very similar situation here (MN) as you have over there.
I'll take a cold-hardy hen anyday over one thats been weakened by supplemental heat.

spot

 

[Buster]

I'm pretty excited about my chickens too! I got them yesterday and figured that between the cold and moving them, that they would quit laying, but I've got 7 eggs out of 10 hens in a day. I don't know how good that is, but I'm excited about it anyway. Nothing from the EE yet, but she seems to be at the bottom of the pecking order.

 

[howlingwoodsfarm]

When we moved all 30 something chickens to this place a few months ago we thought for sure we would not get eggs for a few weeks but low and behold the next am, we had more eggs then ever, we had not gotten nest boxes up so they all laid in the goats hay feeder, it was neat. I never thought I would like chickens as much as I do but now I am trying to figure out how many extra days I have to work to afford the 14x40 shed so I can become a full blown chicken addict come spring. My EE's have been kinda lazy, late to lay and then only half are laying a day. But for us eggs are just a happy plus, and help in a small way to pay for their food.

Heather

 

[Buster]

The seven I got were in a 24 hr period- 3 the evening of the day I got them and 4 by the next day at noon. Today is the 3rd day and we got 6! Still nothing from the EE! Maybe she's like yours and just lazy, but I noticed she's also at the bottom of the pecking order.