Texas winter

[Jesusfreak101]

I live near san antonio the lowest we get is 20 and that last maybe a day or so normally now would i still have to winterize my coop with nothing but cold hardy birdS?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Absolutely not.
If I lived in SA I'd be switching over to heat hardy birds.
I keep heat hardy Mediterranean breeds and it ranges from 110 summer to -19 winter. I make no changes. Big open windows on both east and west wall with fresh air blowing through all year. I've lost birds to heat but never to cold.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Ok yeah they actually handle the heat well, i would water and they would play in it same with a kiddie pool.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

foot baths in hot weather are a god send for them.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Yeah and on one still day(no wind until eveningg) i put a fan outside for them so they did pretty well thankfully . I just couldnt fine a post for winters in south texas area. We have three leghorns and those are the oldest less poofy ones we have delewares, golden sexlinks, austrolorp, rhode island reds, and bar rocks think of getting anfew other breeds. I figure with our mild winters we could still let them out.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The only time mine don't go out is if I haven't spread straw across the snow.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

All of yours but the leghorns were developed in cold climates. They didn't provide heat for chickens in Delaware or Rhode Island in the 1800s.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Will the leghorns be ok as well?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Absolutely. As I said, it can get 30-40 degrees colder here than S.A. and I've had leghorns (black and white), minorcas, anconas, penedesencas and Sicilian buttercups. All did fine in the cold. When I was growing up we kept a flock of 100 white leghorn hens in unheated, uninsulated hen houses and no problems. I continue to manage the same way today and the worst problem I've had was some frostbite on penedesenca rooster combs and wattles.

You can see how big they are in my avatar.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Lol yeah and thank you