Is the first winter the hardest? (for the birds to adjust too)

[Going Quackers]

My ladies are 5.5mths old... we have definitely kicked into winter... they have handled the cold, snow ok but today is worse. -7C and pretty windy. Now the run is well sheltered has one wall covered by cedars that tower into the sky and is placed near the corner of our garage, so not in the open at all.

The coop was steady at 0( i have a thermometer in there obviously lol) they wanted to stay, so i brought out treats, BOSS, scratch, strung up some broccoli and tossed a carrot in.(these are food i know they like) plus of coarse they have the flock raiser and the water in place already.

The run is NOT attached to the coop, this is a larger run impossible to connect to where the coop is so us human have to make a judgement call, we just carry the girls over...

Although yesterday wasn't great either i noticed they did not enjoy this time out and were mainly hanging out in a corner(there is a wooden box in this run for shelter too) basically where the ducks were who are on the outside of the run lol

Now no one is shivering or acting ill but is the first winter the most difficult with new birds? since they are still young i don't want to push it but i don't want wimpy chickens this temp is nothing compared to later on(-30--35C or worse totally possible) Am i making sense?

I have wintered ducks before but the chickens are new and with only 4 it's a petite flock and they are young(ish)

Thanks for your input.

 

[Joe.G]

It all depends on the breed and the age, are they fully feathered? Give them a spot if there out in the run were they can get out of the wind. If it is real cold I would leave them in the coop.

 

[Going Quackers]

It all depends on the breed and the age, are they fully feathered? Give them a spot if there out in the run were they can get out of the wind. If it is real cold I would leave them in the coop.

They will be 6mths by the end of next week. (one actually laid our first egg today!) They have a wooden box in the run that they definitely use but i ended up leaving them in the coop and just provided some treats to keep them busy, the weather has improved so they have been back out again.

They did really well being the in the coop so i think for frigid days will just do that. Obviously, it'll be a play it by ear type of thing.

 

[Joe.G]

My Chickens, exit my coop though the floor, Ill open the hatch on cold days and give them a choice, With the floor open it doesn't cool teh coop off that much with having it open.There smart enough to know if they should go out or not.