Really cold temperatures (for here) Do I need to provide heat?

Your chickens should be just fine. Thirty degrees is not cold for a chicken (unless they don't have feathers yet!!!).

 

I agree with California Chick. They'll do just fine in a draft free coop.

 

My coops arent completley draft free and mine do just fine, its been down close to the single digits a few nights this winter and in the teens several times.
ETA: And mine dont get any heat.

 

We were down to -2 this mouring in the barn. But 3 eggs were waiting for me at 8AM. Good girls .

 

Im really new to this whole chicken thing so I would like to ask just how low the temps can get before I need to add a heat source? I am only going to be allowed to have 2 hens . They will have a small well built house inside a 10 x 10 dog run.

 

Been down to -30ish a couple times this winter. No added heat. I just chose breeds with small combs after I had a few large comb breeds years ago that got frostbite.

(I think it is funny that someone in FL is asking about heat for a chicken... Isn't that where all my MN birds fly to in the winter???)

 

I live in Florida and here it is supposed to get into the upper teens tonight. I did put heat lamps in my coops tonight. I put them above a section of their roosts.

 

I live in Vermont and the temperatures can be really frigid- have of late, as a matter of fact. Millet is a nice warming food that can be added to their normal rations and this helps the birds stay warm all day as well as during the night. A rendered suet or bacon drippings on granola are another solution. Its important that the birds don't tax their systems too much during the winter because the energy expenditure of producing clutches of eggs is the next phase in the cycle. Mortalities and illness will appear more often in birds that were stressed over the winter than those that were not.
Murray McMurray has a great product called Babycakes in their online feed section of the catalog. Heat one of those bars of ameliorated suet up in the microwave and put about a table spoon per bird over the dry feed on the evening before you know it is going to drop below zero. The special vitamins and crustacean meal in the product actually help prepare the birds for the next season while the cranberry pulp/seeds and turmeric act as antioxidants, helping the birds regenerate their digestive systems while they sit out the cold. Zeolite and De in the babycake are used to remove odors from the droppings and as natural anti parasitic agents.


Wrapping their perches with a few layers of bubble wrap is good way to increase the insulation of their feet.