Keeping warm in Northern Illinois

[TMarie]

I live in Northern Illinois (zone 5) where it can get to negative 30. Are these containers going to be sufficient? I'm really nervous they won't. They have a coop available.
A couple of hens have decided to go upstairs into their coop when it's cold but the others(even though they know how) are stubborn. They fought when I locked them in there for the night (they had a square foot for each of space)

 

[le_bwah]

That's not going to be enough on its own. It's a good idea to wrap (e.g. tarp, plastic, etc.) the sides of the run to keep the wind off them (but not so much that you lose ventilation). That would also keep driving rain/snow out.

Another thing you could do is provide a bin with straw/shavings/etc. in it to protect them from the draft coming in through the floor. You might even consider converting to a soft substrate for the winter (birds lose a ton of heat through their feet).

 

[ToniTalley]

I think the chickens fight being locked up because there is not enough room in that little coop! They need 4 sq. feet per bird in the coop itself, and 10 sq. feet per bird in the run. Over crowding can cause the birds to behave badly to each other.

 

[Timothy Menezes]

Those are Quail, not chickens. There is some controversy but the most common rule of thumb is 1sq ft per bird.

Have you considered a heat lamp in there? Or the Brisenia heat pad maybe? I have a similar coup and I ran an extension cord to it with a heat lamp when my wife demands I move my stinky chicks / ducklings out of the house lol.

They were fairly young and it was fairly cold so that’s what I came up with and it seemed to work fine. At first they didn’t want to stay “upstairs” either. So I moved them in the middle of the night once or twice and they got the hang of it. Lucky for us it doesn’t get anywhere near that level of cold here.

 

[Erkenstein]

I'd run an extension cord out there and put in a 60 or 75W red bulb. Just make sure the connector and the lamp itself can't get wet and the birds can decide if they need it.

They are pretty hardy, so until it gets really cold they may prefer to be out. Cooping them up now may train them to go in, though. Is there a way to tempt them in? Treats?