Somebody stop me, I am losing my reserve, Im gonna cave....

[alaskachick]

My chickens live in Alaska. They have no heater, only a well insulated and ventilated coop. Every morning when I enter the coop it is always above freezing inside. They go out and eat and still dust bath in the soft dirt beds we have made for them. It's like 10 degrees and they are dust bathing. They can handle the cold well as long as they have been allowed to learn to survive in it. I have 13 laying hens and I get 12 eggs every day. The eggs are not my priority for having chickens, but that they are happy and confortable with their home so they stay physically and mental healthy.

 

[galanie]

I fail to see the harm of a lamp. If the power fails I doubt anyone is going to die. If it's cold enough to kill them, I doubt any 'acclimation' from that one lamp will change their chances of surviving having it off for a while.

We do tend to sound a bit hysterical here at times but it's understandable when you consider no one can actually see each others' setup.

 

[celticfarmer]

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It's supposed to hit -20 this weekend sometime. I have 6 birds in a coop a little smaller than that. The most I will be doing is closing the coop door, if I get around to it. They're fine, if you want to feel better put a low wattage light bulb on a timer in the coop (it's for their laying cycle) and tell yourself its keeping them warm.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Sometimes younger chickens aren't as smart about handling weather as adults that have been around longer. I watch over pullets a little more than I do the adults. Sometimes they get stranded by their first heavy rain storm or first snow, when they are outside when it hits. So, I make sure they make it inside or take them inside. In the winter, my adult chickens are good about going inside to warm up when they are too cold or staying inside if the weather is too bitterly cold, like a high that's still below zero.

If I saw a chicken that was out in the yard that looked like it was too cold, I would offer a treat, maybe a bit of scratch, inside the coop. That would get her into a warmer area, out of any wind and giver her some immediate fuel for her body. She could scratch around in the coop for awhile and warm up as she does it.

 

[chkn]

Well, I guess if you've got some little hen following you to your porch and she's shivering, she's probably letting you know she doesn't feel real well. So maybe you can just give her a little extra tlc?

 

[Lorije1]

My 16 chickens are in a 5x14 chicken house built from privacy fence sections. I put plywood up to block the drafts, leaving the very top sections for ventilation. There is deep straw on the floor in the section of the house with the roosts. It has been in the low 20s the last few nights and they have done fine. In the mornings they scratch in teh frost and when I run the hose (once it thaws) they scratch / dunk / walk in the icy water.

I have 21 cornishx in a shelter made of tarps on 2 sides and privacy fence on 2 sides with a tin roof. They have deep litter and 2 red lamps because some of them don't have very good feathering. They usually are sleeping spread throughout the shelter instead of all together.


ETA - one day it was in the upper-30s with gusting winds and rain. My layers (7 mths old) were soaked to the skin. I would put them in the chicken house with fresh dry straw and plenty of scratch grains - and when I walked out of the people door, they followed right along out their little chicken door.

 

[spartacus_63]

My girls have been rolling up their feathers when it gets UP into the 20s...

 

[Lorije1]

FLorida

 

[spartacus_63]

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[LauraG]

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Oh believe me, she gets extra BOSS, scratch, cracked corn, whatever....she gets LOTS of extra TLC and snacks!!! I promise I look after her with a stalkers eye!

AND, I did put a 150 watt heat lamp in the coop for the day just to take any edge off the cold temp inside the coop in case she wants to hang in there. Which she does NOT by the way.....she still hangs in the run or when I let them out on my front porch....