Please say it isn't so.....

[navychick]

A neighbor stopped by yesterday (he has chickens too) and told me that my hens won't make it through their third winter. We live in Michigan and my girl's are 20 weeks old. He kills his in the fall before their third winter. He said that they will be too old to tolerate the cold weather and that I will find them dead in the coop as they will freeze to death. Is this true? Please say no my heart will break if it is.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

I've never heard that before. It doesn't make much sense to me, though.

 

[Tanichca]

That is complete and utter rubbish. RUBBISH. A great many people here have birds that are five, six, seven years old and they live in some of the coldest places around!

 

[love-my-wolves]

Do you have a coop? Hay or shavings for them? Several for body heat? Or do they just roost in the trees? Most back yard chickens will survive for years, even in very cold temps. Age (I believe) only makes them more resistant to the cold, so they should be perfectly fine.

 

[chicken crazed 1o1]

That is not True in fact there are some breeds that are almost resistint to the cold .

 

[nurse_turtle]

He has no idea what he's talking about. A 3 year old chicken is in the prime of it's life with several more years expected. It's too bad he kills his flock based on ignorance.

 

[Lothiriel]

It isn't so. As others have already said, it's complete rubbish. If you're concerned about them getting too cold or frostbite, you can wire up a heat lamp. ShoptheCoop.com has a ceramic bulb that doesn't emit light, just heat, if you're wanting to leave their daylight hours natural.

I have an almost 7 year old hen and it can get pretty cold here in Central NY. (Not as cold as Michigan, I'm sure, but still.

)

 

[navychick]

Thanks for the quick replies. We are new to chickens and just built what we hope is a nice coop (see our page) for them to live long happy lives in. We selected BO's, BR's, SLW, & EE's as they are cold weather tolerant. These girl's mean the world to us and it would have truly broken my heart to think they would have such a short life. I'll avoid talking chickens with this guy in the future.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

This is also a great thread called, "Think it's too cold for your chickens, think again..." You can let your neighbor know that people are raising chickens in unheated coops at minus double digits with no issues. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=5145287

 

[mnabity]

Your coop is so cute and I love the front porch idea. Don't give your neighbor a second thought. Temps here regularly hit below zero in winter and I have many friends with chickens over 3 years old and the temps don't bother them at all. By the looks of your coop your chickees have a long happy very spoiled life ahead of them.