Think it's too cold for your chickens? Think again...

[Mrs MIA]

ETA 12/10/10: This was posted in response to a FaceBook post from someone in Florida that had two 250w heat lamps on their birds and it hadn't even dipped to freezing yet. I am not going to tell you NOT to add heat, but if you do, understand that you are restricting their normal acclimatization and will likely have to continue to pamper them through the winter. I personally cannot afford to heat all 4 chicken houses, and with careful observation have determined that they are perfectly fine down to 0F with so-so housing, and lower with properly set up/insulated housing. That said, continue reading!

It dipped to 0F this morning. I knew it was coming, so I added fresh shavings to the pen, added a pile of hay in the corner, wished them well and said good night.

Did I run around running extension cords from the house to plug in 500 watts of heat? No.

Did I add any heat? No.

I have ~ 20 12-16 week old juveniles in a hoop run - this is my "grow out" pen". The pen is about 10'x16', and is covered by your average tarp. Black plastic covers the areas that the tarp misses, but the end with the wooden door is open 1" chicken wire. It's not insulated, it's somewhat draft free, but with 20 mph winds, nothing is really draft free. And did I mention no heat lamps?

All my babies were running around this morning like it was a summer day. 0F, no signs of frostbite, no signs of suffering... well, except for the fact that their water was frozen solid and they were thirsty... but they're happy now with fresh water. The adults were happy with fresh water, too.

Did I mention it was 0F? And no heat?

I'm just saying... SO many people ask when they should add heat. I understand... I'M cold! But I'm not wearing a down coat.

I, for one, can do without a $600 electric bill for one month. Want happy, healthy, safe birds this winter? Hold off on the heat.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

It dipped to 0F this morning. I knew it was coming, so I added fresh shavings to the pen, added a pile of hay in the corner, wished them well and said good night.

Did I run around running extension cords from the house to plug in 500 watts of heat? No.

Did I add any heat? No.

I have ~ 20 12-16 week old juveniles in a hoop run - this is my "grow out" pen". The pen is about 10'x16', and is covered by your average tarp. Black plastic covers the areas that the tarp misses, but the end with the wooden door is open 1" chicken wire. It's not insulated, it's somewhat draft free, but with 20 mph winds, nothing is really draft free. And did I mention no heat lamps?

All my babies were running around this morning like it was a summer day. 0F, no signs of frostbite, no signs of suffering... well, except for the fact that their water was frozen solid and they were thirsty... but they're happy now with fresh water. The adults were happy with fresh water, too.

Did I mention it was 0F? And no heat?

I'm just saying... SO many people ask when they should add heat. I understand... I'M cold! But I'm not wearing a down coat.

I, for one, can do without a $600 electric bill for one month. Want happy, healthy, safe birds this winter? Hold off on the heat.

You Got It!!! Just wait till it gets to 30 below here

My birds, and they are just that, birds, that I love, are well designed to handle the weather, just like their wild counter parts

And I agree, adding heat creates condensation, which in turn causes frostbite.​

 

[Judy]

Thank you for this thread!!! It says a lot when someone in Alaska does not add heat, even with younger chickens.

Maybe as a result there will be a few less coop fires this year.

 

[gryeyes]

"But, but, but," she sputtered, whining, "What about the poor juvenile birds with no momma hen to cover 'em? They're only 3 weeks old! It got down to 42 degrees last night - how could those 14 little not-all-feathered-out chicks stay warm without supplemental heat??"

Actually, they huddled together and stopped peeping after about 20 minutes. Occasionally, throughout the night, there were short peep sessions when somebody moved and dislodged a closely huddled neighbor.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
As a general rule, we Alaskans do not put babies out that young this time of year. We do have good common sense

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:

That made me laugh.

I usually keep my juvies in the garage (stays about 58-60F) until fully feathered out. I have two Orpington boys in there right now that I SO want to put outside, but they're still in their mangy T-Rex stage.

3 weeks old is still pretty young, I wouldn't blame you for supplementing with a little heat. By three weeks I've dropped them down to a 60 or 100w bulb, though. But it sounds like yours did ok without it.

I did an experiment in the garage with my quail. I had them all under a 100w bulb until they were almost feathered out. Then I split them between two pens... I left the light on in one, and the other half have no light/heat. Just as I suspected, after one week, the quail without the heat have feathered out much more than the ones with heat. It would seem that by leaving the heat on them, we are making them dependent on it. Which means that when the power goes out suddenly, they are NOT going to be happy campers.

My original post this morning was in response to a Facebook post on a chicken page where people in Florida were saying that they already had two 250w heat lamps on their adult birds.

IMHO, they are doing more harm to their birds who do not need the extra heat.

 

[gingerpeach22]

I live in interior Alaska and I beg to differ about chickens not getting too cold in winter. I have an insulated coop - a cabin for them and I have a 100 watt infrared lizard light on all the time about 18 inches off the pine shavings. I also have an Eco Heater on the wall (7' x9' coop) which is on a thermostat which turns on the heater at 35 above zero and off at 45 degrees. There are two partially blocked attic vents (blue foam boards) on opposite so there is a constant flow of cold air coming in. That floor area gets quite cold and the eggs are quite cold in the nests if I haven't gathered in a couple of hours.
Now, how do I tell that chickens are cold? I open the pop door and they rush out. They come in and out and in and out until they all decide to come in. I shut the pop door, sit down on the floor and some come to hunker down on my legs/thighs. To my surprise, the barred Rocks (from New England originally) shiver. I cannot see the shiver, but I can feel them shiver, quit, shiver again, quit, etc. until all shivering goes away. To look at them and to observe their behavior if I don't sit down, I would not ever suspect that a few of them were actually cold enough to shiver. So, I often unplug the eco wall heater from the thermostat, leave it on all day, take out a piece of the blue foam and let the air exchange get larger.
In the morning, when the heater has been on the thermostat, I will also sit down for an extended period of time. About four to six of the dozen, 7 month old hens, will rush to my legs to warm up before deciding they are good to go.
As for as minimum outdoor temperatures where I live, we have cold snaps like everyone except the numbers are larger than in the lower 48. Usually. It seems like there will be a dreadful cold snap of 25 to 50 below zero and then things moderate to a steady 8 or 10 below for extended periods.

 

[Libchicks]

Hi Fluffychicksmomma, I found a red Sylvania 13 watt CFL at Lowe's that I have been using in my coop at night. You might be able to find it at a hardware store, or order one online

 

[LittleFarmonthePalouse]

New to BYC here (long-time reader), but had to put my two cents in on this topic....

We live in Idaho, where it gets very cold. A professor at the state uni told me that hardy breed chicken bodies run a toasty 110 degrees or so, which is why they don't get cold easily. I do not heat my coop, which is moderately drafty because it is a converted dog kennel that is closed on the north and west (prevailing wind) sides, open on the east side and has only heavy plastic sheeting on the south side. It also very dry, has about 6 inches of pine shavings over a concrete floor, and my girls do fine and are laying daily still because they get more light from not being shut up in a dark box for 16+ hrs/day. A couple of days ago, we had a nasty wind storm, which knocked out the power for about 8 hours overnight (and we live in town!). Imagine if my girls had been dependent on an artificial heat source...they would have been in big trouble.

I have 1 buff, 2 sex link, 1 barred, and the Houdini triplets (austrolorp-wyandotte mix).

 

[austradork]

Quote:
My thoughts exactly. We love our eco-heater! I have no doubt that our chickens would make it through the winter, no problem, without a heater. But I don't want them to just "rough out" the winter, I want them to enjoy the winter.