keeping warm

paul87

Hatching
8 Years
Jan 22, 2012
3
0
9
Harrogate
Hey guys and girls
Can anyone tell me as a new member how are you all keeping your chucks warm in the winter/snow because its snowing here in england and its cold. i would not like to wake up and find them frozen.
 
Fortunately most chickens do fine in the cold of winter. It gets well below freezing here in the winter and our chickens fluff up their feathers and cover their feet on cold nights. The coops are not insulated nor do they have heat lamps. The only thing we had to worry about was frost bite on the large combs of our roosters, so we put some petroleum jelly on their combs to keep in the heat and keep out the damp. Day time highs average around freezing here and our chickens will often choose to come out side the coop as long as it is not windy, but they prefer that I clear some of the snow for them because they don't my chickens don't like the wet cold stuff touching their feet. So if most of the chickens you have are like the one in your avatar photo - fully feathered, they should be fine.
 
I saw on the news last night that Europe is getting slammed with one of the worst winters in over a century. hundreds of people have died. Hope it's not that bad in the UK, and glad I'm not there.
Chickens can take a lot of cold, as long as their coop is dry and draft free. The big concern is frostbite and infection.
Give them lots of bedding. You can rub their waddles and combs with vaseline or something similar, to protect them from condensation, and freezing.
If you have electricity available to the coop, you can consider adding some supplemental heat. Lots of options there.

Good luck & stay warm,

Imp
 
We are having a wonderful warm winter, it is 36 degrees and sunny out right now, and the girls have been outside in their run all day. Usually our highs this time of the year are in the teens to twenties. We have winter time temperatures into the minus 20 range usually. My coop has no supplemental heat and good draft free ventilation, and I have never had any frostbite problems. Moisture and poor ventilation ares the enemies in winter time coops, not low temperatures.
 
Hi Paul!
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from S. Florida! Its great to have you here with us! Most chickens can tolerate the cold weather. As you will find out, many on here live where its quite cold.
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