should I bring my bantams inside

[chookchik]

Hello,

How fragile are bantams? It's getting colder outside and my bantams are so much smaller than my production reds. Should I bring my smallest hen in the house? She's a tiny cochin silkie mix. I really don't want to loose her because I'm going to breed her in the spring (and I'd be sad - if anything happened to her). Should I bring her in on the coldest days? What have other people done with the smaller breeds?

 

[sourland]

As long as they have a dry, draft free house the bantams should be fine. Bringing them in and then putting them back out keeps them from adjusting to cold temps and is a stress upon them.

 

[chookchik]

There is a bit of a draft, I've done all I can to remedy it. Also I live in the very very wet west coast and the inside of the coop is a bit damp. There is nothing I can do about it because the rain hasn't stopped for seems like weeks. I let the chickens out in the day where they can find a dry spot under the eaves of my house where they dust bath and can stay drier then in their run - which is muddy. On really rainy days I have one hen that stays out in the rain and gets soaked. Sooooo, I was worried about my smallest hen who is a bantam. They roost near the heat lamp (which is only 100watts), I put the heat lamp in to try to dry out the coop a bit. BTW the coop is a converted plastic kids play house - it's raised because of the soaking wet ground. Wet is a real problem out here.