Taking in house chickens

[Beccat05]

Hello all!

Looking for advice. Im getting new chickens today from a friend that is moving.

These chickens were basically house chickens and havent seen anything lower than 15 degrees celsius. Ill set up the heat lamp to help them transition. We have a newborn so they cant come inside to wait out the winter.

Any advice? things to watch for?
I also have a safer heat panel ordered

 

[Mrs. K]

Well a lot depends on your coop. People tend to worry about keeping chickens warm, but it is much better to keep them dry with fresh air, but wind protection.

Post some pictures of your set up, and the birds. What climate do you have for better advice.

Mrs K

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

What are the nighttime lows where you are?

 

[NatJ]

These chickens were basically house chickens and havent seen anything lower than 15 degrees celsius. Ill set up the heat lamp to help them transition. We have a newborn so they cant come inside to wait out the winter.

Any advice? things to watch for?
I also have a safer heat panel ordered

What temperatures do you expect to have?

If you do provide heat, make sure they have plenty of space to get away from the heat. Chickens often transition themselves much faster than people expect, when the chickens are already fully feathered and they are given a choice about seeking heat or avoiding it.

If these chickens are adults with all their feathers, and are generally healthy, I would expect them to have no troubles down to freezing or thereabouts (0 degrees celsius).

Basic advice would be about the same for any chickens: provide a roof and some protection from wind, and of course protection from predators as well. If you use a heat source, be careful to avoid fires (for example, make sure the heat lamp is secured so it cannot be knocked down even if a chicken tries to sit on it or smacks into it while trying to fly.)

 

[Beccat05]

What are the nighttime lows where you are?

-7 is the lowest for the next week but I imagine we'll see -15 before winter is over

 

[Beccat05]

What temperatures do you expect to have?

If you do provide heat, make sure they have plenty of space to get away from the heat. Chickens often transition themselves much faster than people expect, when the chickens are already fully feathered and they are given a choice about seeking heat or avoiding it.

If these chickens are adults with all their feathers, and are generally healthy, I would expect them to have no troubles down to freezing or thereabouts (0 degrees celsius).

Basic advice would be about the same for any chickens: provide a roof and some protection from wind, and of course protection from predators as well. If you use a heat source, be careful to avoid fires (for example, make sure the heat lamp is secured so it cannot be knocked down even if a chicken tries to sit on it or smacks into it while trying to fly.)

Thank you for all the input! This definitely eases my mind!! They are all healthy adults but they are silkies and one is a naked neck lol we're new to silkies.

 

[NatJ]

-7 is the lowest for the next week but I imagine we'll see -15 before winter is over

Thank you for all the input! This definitely eases my mind!! They are all healthy adults but they are silkies and one is a naked neck lol we're new to silkies.

For those temperatures, and considering that the chickens are Silkies and one has a naked neck:

Silkie feathers do blow around more easily than other feathers. I probably would make sure their sleeping area is draft-free (as in, no breezes strong enough to ruffle the Silkie feathers). This does not mean blocking all air from the coop. Ventilation it still very important. It just means checking how the air blows, and making sure it passes by the area where they will sleep. To check for drafts, some people peek at the chickens during the night to see if their feathers are blowing, other people hold a string or ribbon or plastic bag and watch how it moves.

Providing a heat source may be a good idea. I would try to put it in one corner of the coop, and I would try to make sure they are able to sleep near it or away from it (so two roosts or two sheltered corners, one warm and one unheated, to provide a choice of sleeping spots). You can watch where they choose to sleep, and after a while you will know if the heater is needed, appreciated, or unwanted. You might find that some chickens have different preferences than others.

Temperature conversions, for anyone else who (like me) is used to thinking in Fahrenheit instead of Celsius:
15 C is 59 F (what the chickens were used to)
0 C is 32 F (point where water freezes into ice)
-7 C is 19.4 F (expected low temperature in the next week)
-15 C is 5 F (expected low temperature before winter ends)
-17.8 C is 0 F (added so the list will have 0 in both temperature scales)

 

[Ridgerunner]

Interestingly, Naked Necks are considered to be cold hardy. They were developed in Romania where the average low temperature in winter (not extreme but average low) is below freezing. Like turkeys and other birds with bare necks, they can obviously handle your temperatures. I've never had Silkies so I don't know how cold sensitive they are but I would not worry about the Naked Neck.

I basically agree with NatJ. Give them good wind protection down low and good ventilation. I do that by providing ventilation up higher than they sleep. I don't know that you need any heat but as long as you can provide it with minimal fire danger it won't hurt anything. And definitely only heat one area, giving them plenty of room to get to a cooler spot if they wish to.

Any advice? things to watch for?

Do you already have chickens? How do you plan to handle integration?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Interestingly, Naked Necks are considered to be cold hardy. They were developed in Romania where the average low temperature in winter (not extreme but average low) is below freezing.

I have to agree that this has been my Naked Neck experience—they are cold hardy despite the fact that we think they need little scarves.

 

[Mrs. K]

I would try to put it in one corner of the coop, and I would try to make sure they are able to sleep near it or away from it (so two roosts or two sheltered corners, one warm and one unheated, to provide a choice of sleeping spots). You can watch where they choose to sleep, and after a while you will know if the heater is needed, appreciated, or unwanted. You might find that some chickens have different preferences than others.

Giving birds choices is excellent advice. They know more about being a chicken than we ever will. If they can move into warmer, they will if they need to, and if they don't, well they don't need it.