Keeping warm in winter

[Areyoucluckingme]

Hi All,

My chickens are cold right now. Two of them are molting and are like, totally bare butt and wing. They look awful. Its 29f out and we are having an unusually early snow storm with 2ft of snow. I keep their water unthawed and constant food, as well as bedding. But the chickens who are molting are shivering. It is only supposed to get colder.

I did a no-no and put a heat lamp in one corner. It is in an open area of the coop (I have a closed portion too) so it isn't warming the whole coop up, they can stand under it or not. I know this isn't ideal, but any other suggestions? Is it really bad that I did this?

They don't like to go in the closed up area during the day because its dark in there, they like to stand out in their "day room" which is basically a 3 sided structure with perch. Spoiled things!!

 

[DobieLover]

Hi All,

My chickens are cold right now. Two of them are molting and are like, totally bare butt and wing. They look awful. Its 29f out and we are having an unusually early snow storm with 2ft of snow. I keep their water unthawed and constant food, as well as bedding. But the chickens who are molting are shivering. It is only supposed to get colder.

I did a no-no and put a heat lamp in one corner. It is in an open area of the coop (I have a closed portion too) so it isn't warming the whole coop up, they can stand under it or not. I know this isn't ideal, but any other suggestions? Is it really bad that I did this?

They don't like to go in the closed up area during the day because its dark in there, they like to stand out in their "day room" which is basically a 3 sided structure with perch. Spoiled things!!

Giving them a heat lamp is not only a fire hazard, it is going to slow down feather growth.
Give them a huddle box to get into that will help trap their body heat.

 

[3KillerBs]

They don't like to go in the closed up area during the day because its dark in there, they like to stand out in their "day room" which is basically a 3 sided structure with perch. Spoiled things!!

Where are you located? If you put your general location into your profile people can give better-targeted advice.

Can you show us photos of your coop and run? If it's dark in the coop there may not be enough ventilation in there as well as not enough light.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/cold-weather-poultry-housing-and-care.72010/

 

[Krugerrand]

It looks like my girls are starting their first molt as well. (mot many feathers missing yet) Are there any guidelines for what chickens can endure mid-molt?

 

[Krugerrand]

Giving them a heat lamp is not only a fire hazard, it is going to slow down feather growth.
Give them a huddle box to get into that will help trap their body heat.

Do you have a picture of what this might look like? Would expect them to sleep in something like this instead of roosting?

 

[3KillerBs]

It looks like my girls are starting their first molt as well. (mot many feathers missing yet) Are there any guidelines for what chickens can endure mid-molt?

The only time I let birds sleep in the nest box is when they're broody or when they're molting.

Some of the girls are smart enough to snuggle between friends who still have plenty of feathers.

 

[aart]

Are there any guidelines for what chickens can endure mid-molt?

Unless they are having a severe hard molt, naked except for pin feathers-which is fairly rare, I'd not worry about it.
I've had birds go thru winter with bare backs(not due to molt)....they were fine.

 

[Krugerrand]

@3KillerBs / @aart
Pardon me if this is hijacking ... but I have 2 hens 20 months old that are molting. I have 2 newer hens almost 3 months old that have finished quarantine and are about ready to move into the permanent coop. (They've been having supervised integration time in a fenced in garden area.)

Am I better off to get these newer girls in with the others now from a warmth standpoint ... or am I better off holding off integration to avoid potential bullying of the molt-ers.

 

[3KillerBs]

@3KillerBs / @aart
Pardon me if this is hijacking ... but I have 2 hens 20 months old that are molting. I have 2 newer hens almost 3 months old that have finished quarantine and are about ready to move into the permanent coop. (They've been having supervised integration time in a fenced in garden area.)

Am I better off to get these newer girls in with the others now from a warmth standpoint ... or am I better off holding off integration to avoid potential bullying of the molt-ers.

I think individual bird personality would matter the most here. The mature girls are much larger than the youngsters, right?

Personally, I'd integrate them.

They probably *won't* snuggle on the roosts, but it's easier to deal with one pen of chickens than multiple pens of chickens.

 

[Shadrach]

It looks like my girls are starting their first molt as well. (mot many feathers missing yet) Are there any guidelines for what chickens can endure mid-molt?

It seems they can endure all sorts of discomfort; endure being the operative word.
The cold hardy reasoning from what I've read is mainly based on they didn't drop dead; well not very many anyway.
People happily assume that a chickens feathers are there to keep them warm. What is a bird whose ancestors lived and live in a temperature range of 25 Centigrade (77F) to 38 Centigrade (100F) doing wandering around with a thermal quilt on? They don't need to be kept warm in those temperatures.
Obviously something is wrong with the reasoning process.