My summer chickens will have their first cold night tonight

[NotSoChickenLove]

Forecast is -4 C overnight. They must be wondering what's happening to the world. Winter is coming, ladies! They're tucked up together in the nest box with the cosy curtain. All I can see is two feathery butts.

 

[Hybridchucks]

Awwww cute! can i have a pic?

 

[Hybridchucks]

you should write a poem about it lol

 

[NotSoChickenLove]

Awwww cute! can i have a pic?

I'm not going out there again! It's frickin cold!

 

[Hybridchucks]

Haha! poor things! but then again......they have feathery robes lol

 

[NotSoChickenLove]

Haha! poor things! but then again......they have feathery robes lol

And a nice clean nest box full of bedding, with a curtain over it, and another chicken to snuggle up to. The coop is open to the enclosed run. Well, the coop door cut out is open anyway. I might put a little curtain over it for winter, try and keep some heat in the coop. Poor girls had a horrible pouring day as well, and hid out in their coop for most of it. I gave them some sunflower seeds for a pre-sleep snack, so hopefully that will keep them warm as well.

 

[Mrs. K]

do not worry about keeping heat in the coop. Instead, worry about keeping the coop dry and well ventilated. A dry chicken is a warm chicken, but a damp one is cold. Think about being in a vehicle in the night in the cold, almost immediately the vapor begins to condense and makes things damp. -4C is still pretty warm up here for me, and mine do fine, yours will too.

 

[NotSoChickenLove]

do not worry about keeping heat in the coop. Instead, worry about keeping the coop dry and well ventilated. A dry chicken is a warm chicken, but a damp one is cold. Think about being in a vehicle in the night in the cold, almost immediately the vapor begins to condense and makes things damp. -4C is still pretty warm up here for me, and mine do fine, yours will too.

You're right, and I even know that! Very hard not to cosset them, though, especially when you also have a cat who needs to be tucked into his nest with his own wheatbag on cold nights. You couldn't get two more different sets of animals! Well, at least I know the chickens have a dry, draft free nest with another warm chook-butt nearby if they get chilly.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

-4C isn't that cold for a chicken. They come with a built-in down coat!