I've noticed in some of the threads on cold weather that some of you bring your birds in when it gets really cold. I know chickens can handle very low temperatures, but I do worry about my girls on cold nights. I'm wondering what y'all do with them when you bring them inside. Do you make a nest with a cardboard box and some hay or shavings? Do you put them in the bathtub with old towels? Do you have a little pen, or do they have the run of whatever room they're in? Do they settle right in and go to sleep when the room is dark or do they wander about or fuss? I'm in the Atlanta area. I have three hens who spend their nights in the "Saltbox" coop from mypetchicken.com. It's supposed to be in the low-mid-20s here tonight. I think they'll be okay, right? But we occasionally have nights in the teens, and I will be VERY tempted to provide warmer quarters for them on those nights. There's no electricity at my coop, plus I'm a bit fire-phobic, so a heat lamp isn't really an option. Thanks!
Our temps reach the sub-zero range without my chickens coming near the doorstep! If your coop is not drafty, has good ventilation, and they have food and water, the temps you are talking about are well within the safe range. Bringing them in is more likely make them less cold tolerant. Just because it is too cold for us to be outside, it is not too cold for your chickens.
In the Atlanta area, with a coop with no drafts, your birds will be fine year round. Folks in Michigan, Canada and Alaska have birds that do well under their conditions, so your birds in a warmer area will be fine. They'll fluff up and huddle together and keep each other quite warm.
