My hens are more hardy than I thought......

[Long Last Farm]

Ok, I am a first time chicken owner, and this is my first winter in Western NY with my birds. They have a nice secure coop with good ventilation, windows covered with thick plastic, several inches of pine shavings on the floor, draft-free 8x 10 coop. My main concession to the cold and snow ( about 4-5 inches on the ground currently( it's been around 17 degrees at night lately) is a cookie tin water heater, which has been working great. They have a large fenced -in run with straw down on the ground, and a little 4 foot x 3 foot ,3-sided lean-to shelter inside the secured run.....
SO...
After doing a quick head count last night, I closed up shop and went to bed. This morning, I go out to feed and water them, and one of the hens ( a Welsumer) pops out of the little lean-to in the run! The little bugger spent the night outdoors with only the 3 sided shelter as protection from the cold! I looked her over,and she seems fine--no frostbite, acting normally--just really hungry and thirsty.

Now in NO WAY do I recommend leaving hens out overnight in the winter in the snow in 17 degree weather, ( and you can bet I am going to do a better head count from now on

, ) BUT... it just goes to show that the hens must be hardier than I give them credit for....

 

[denise70]

Wow, thanks for that story - may help to ease my own worries about my ladies in the cold and snow. Since it is my first year with them, I am freaking out, but following the advice not to heat or worry about the cold so much, but ensure ventilation and shelter.

You wrote that you are using a heated cookie tin waterer - did you make it? Sounds interesting.

 

[Long Last Farm]

Denise, my husband made it for me, but it is very simple,really anyone could do it. We got the instructions here on BYC-- I think if you put COOKIE TIN HEATER in the search box on BYC, it will come up--there is a whole thread about them....

 

[calicokat]

And she probably had a look on her face like "Who me? I didn't do anything!" right? So glad it worked out well and gave you some extra peace of mind too!

It's our second winter with chickens here, and it helped when I read last year that the girls are more likely to have trouble with summer's extreme heat than winter's cold.

 

[Long Last Farm]

Calicocat: Yes, she had a look on her face like "Hey, why did you leave me out here?"

Last summer, it got fairly warm here for awhile ( Close to 90 degrees F), and truly, that weather seemed to bother them more than the cold, so far.... They were panting, and look HOT!!!!

 

[oldchickenlady]

I have a pvc hoop run with a upper level inside. I made the extra level to make more square footage since my run is a little shy of 10 square feet per bird. I have 2 or 3 hens that roost out there every night!. My coop is 8x8 and I have plenty of roost space for the chickens, but they still like to roost outside in the run. The run is covered with a tarp and I put more plastic on it to go down to the ground to block the wind, but it is still cold out there!