Newbie with questions about summer heat and winter cold and what to do for chickens.

[Apollorising]

I got on this site at 12am and six hours later I am still reading. I'm a bit overwhelmed and it will take a while to absorb all the things I need to do but I have several months to prepare so I hope I get it right.

I live in New Haven Connecticut and the laws were recently changed to allow us to own up to six hens no roosters. Do I need to concern myself with the temperature provided I have a well built and maintained coop? The average lows are Nov 38, Dec 28, Jan 23, Feb 25, Mar 31 though it gets drops into the teens a few days out of the year and occasionally can stay hover between 15 and 20 degrees though it's rare. The average highs are Jun 77, Jul, 82, Aug 81 though it gets very hot and humid in July and August and will be in the high 80s and mid 90s for a few week with high humidity. It rarely breaks 95. I will put a vent with a fan in the roof and I can put in additional fans it seems too hot. How hot is too hot? how cold is too cold? I think the heat can be solved with good air circulation and cleanliness but what about the cold? Should I install heat lamps? Are the other suggestions? Is this something that will not be a problem? I will have six hens and the coop will be about 60 square feet plus a run about 8' x 15'. I have a dog run and let my dog run on a long lead from the back door to his dog house and after I heated that he loved to stay in there on cold days and hang out more than he did when there was no heat. I put the heater on a timer so it warms up 10 minutes before I let him out and shuts off after an hour or I can over-ride it and shut it off myself.

I can easily install a simple and inexpensive heating/cooling system that would turn the fans on at a certain temperature and turn heat lamps (or whatever is best) if the temperature gets too cold. I don't know what those temperatures are? I suspect some people are laughing at my naivety and I don't mind so long as I get it right in the end. I'm an excellent gardener and laugh at neighbors who grow $100 tomatoes because they spend so much money on expensive gadgets and fertilizers etc...

Thanks for reading and if anyone can help me with this I am most appreciative. I do have one other question. My entire yard is fenced but I do have a very large vegetable garden. Will chickens eat my vegetables? I am building them a large run so I don't have to let them out and I don't know how they will behave. Will they go back to they coop at dusk or find a nice place in the back yard to roost for the evening?


I know that's a lot of writing for a couple of questions. I'll cut to the chase next time I ask a question.


I need to get some sleep. It's 6:40am and I have been reading about chickens since midnight.

Have a great day!

Todd

 

[Masonicflock]

Climate tolerance differs from breed to breed. Do you know what breed you want? Go to the breed section and click on the left tab marks for an idea of what you want. I live in Tn and we can go from 0 degrees in winter to 120 in summer. I do not provide heat for my flock (17 and increasing) in winter since they will develop an under (downy) layer to keep them warm. Providing heat can inhibit this natural process. Course others on here will say you need to heat and that its the way to go. I learned from old timers

and they never heated theirs. as far as the heat issue mine free range so I never had to worry bout air circulation. top and sides of the coop are vented enough year round so we don't have to worry. Are you doing a tractor (city zoning laws bout penned or range birds?) tractor style can play a part and possible help with the headaches.

Welcome to BYC!!

 

[Masonicflock]

Chickens will eat the tarnation out of your garden and prolly roost in it too haha... They will love you for the breakfast in bed. Some will go to the coop and occasionally a stubborn one will roost where she wants. Just depends on bird