I am in agreement with your philosophy. Yes, chickens are capable of surviving in record cold temps. But in my wildest imaginings, I can't imagine that they are more comfortable and there is less strain on their metabolic system without added heat. So, I built a flower pot heater. Actually, hubby did the wiring. We started with a cinder block, but that didn't seem to poke out much heat at all, so switched to a flower pot with 100W bulb. Well secured, sits on floor between 2 roosts elevated above shaving level with the bottom and top sealed to keep shavings from getting inside. I plug it in when the temps are predicted to go below 10 degrees. My RIR got a touch of frost bite on the very tips of her comb back in November. All have been fine since I increased their ventilation. This morning it is -1.3 outside, and 5 degrees in their sun space. The sun has yet to rise enough to hit their space. Their door will stay closed all day today.
Tell me if you will, how do you like your Wyandottes? I'm thinking of adding some to my flock of EE, RIR, BSL. I find the EE to be bottom of the pecking order, but one of my EE has laid all winter w/o light. The rest are slackers.
Tell me if you will, how do you like your Wyandottes? I'm thinking of adding some to my flock of EE, RIR, BSL. I find the EE to be bottom of the pecking order, but one of my EE has laid all winter w/o light. The rest are slackers.
The loudest by far is one of the EEs and the Barred Rock. Both of my EEs began laying in the fall. The rest of the flock slowly started up earlier in January and we are now getting 4-5 eggs per day from the flock of 7.
