so its starting to get cold out and im sure this is a popular question. how cold can it get before i have to start worrying about taking special precautions? my two chickens have never had problems with winter in the years ive had them but the question is still on my mind because it can get below freezing sometimes during the night.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/97134/how-cold-is-too-cold-for-a-chicken 'below freezing sometimes' is nothing to worry about as long as they are protected from the wind.
I am doing something this winter I never did before. During the day, when the flocks are in their runs, I have hung red heat lamps about 30 inches from the ground. At first, they all ignored them. By the end of the first day, I noticed my six-year old SLW who's having a very difficult molt has planted herself under one. Even the fearsome four Sussex in the rear run have taken to warming themselves periodically under theirs. Today, it didn't get over 30, warm by Rocky Mountain standards, though it was almost 40 in the covered runs. But on days it has been in the single digits, they all take turns under the lamps. Their coops are heated with oil-filled heaters and I only utilize them when the night temp is in the low teens or below, and I set them to the lowest possible setting simply to keep the temp above freezing. Some folks provide no heat whatsoever, and chickens are surprisingly adept at coping with any low temperature you throw at them. I provide heat because I know it makes the chickens more content. Cold makes them as cranky as it does us. And frozen poop is impossible to clean off the poop boards, so I heat the coops above freezing for me.
Additional heat is rarely necessary, except under special circumstances. Even then, only advisable if certain conditions can be met.. Cold hardy breeds are well equipped for temperatures -20F.
