I live in a climate where chickens can form feral colonies (see previous post on the Hollywood Freeway Chickens), and nighttime temps only rarely dip below 50F, 10C (and it is a BIG deal to us soft locals when it does) - we're mostly 60F in the winter and 70-80F in the summer. The most I saw my hens do is sit closer together on the roost during "cold" spells ( I have to put "cold" in quotations because I feel guilty about you folks in the negatives right now).
I hope @K0k0shka doesn't mind me reposting her pictures, but I have enjoyed reading about her chicken adventures. Now, she has massive English Orpingtons with loads of feathering and are as "cold hardy" as you can expect. But look:
The flock on a warm summer night:
Flock as the temps cool:
Flock at 58F (14C). K0k0shka was thinking her hens were being overdramatic at those temps, but the pic doesn't lie, they were feeling the cold even at that temp and that isn't even considered cold for most of the US and Canada. Her hens were fine even as the temps dropped even lower, but certainly wouldn't have been without her well-designed coop. They don't go feral where she lives.
Anyway, I guess I am seconding Shad that the whole "down parka" thing doesn't mean they don't feel cold, even if they survive unscathed. They are not eider or arctic ducks.
