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

[CarolAnn]

I find it very comforting to know what you folks living where it REALLY gets cold do/don't do for your chickens in winter. Earlier in the week, after reading a similar discussion on another thread, I turned the thermostat off for the heat lamp I have in my coop. I'm doing deep litter (along with DE) to keep the floor warm and to give the girls and dudes plenty of room for their dust baths. We've tarped the wire roof of the runs to keep the snow out, and tarps are going up around most of the sides to break the wind but not make them too tight. I've been bagging leaves to put in the run throughout winter and stacked several bales around the inside of the main run to give them a place to be off the cold ground if they choose. I have a heated water fount that runs on a thermostat for inside and a rubber water pan outside that's easy to kick to break ice or flip to empty when frozen hard. One more days work out there and I'll be ready for winter. I feel real good about things right now, thanks in great part to you BYC'rs and to my farm kid hubby who seems to know it all and I have yet to catch him being wrong. Dern!!

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
And that's fine.

a) they're bantams, and b) you're not in Florida.

Actually, bantams, especially the feather footed bantams, require a little more pampering than the large breeds, IMHO. My silkies and Millies are inside 100% of the time on clean shavings, and though I don't add heat, they are not subjected to outside conditions and snow.

Quote:
Are they standard breed cochin/light barhams? I've not had as much trouble with their foot-feathers as for the bantams. But you definitely want to check them from time to time, as their feathers can hide the effects of the cold weather.

CarolAnn, it sounds like you're ready!!

Well, in rare Alaskan form, it is now 33*F and raining... HARD. Talk about a mess!! I took advantage of the warmer temps to transition the last of my youngsters out to the coop with the big girls.

It's well above freezing in the coop, but not 60*F like the garage.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

We've "warmed up" to -4 !

 

[Mrs MIA]

Yer funny, Heather!! LOL! This is one of those odd times when the rest of the US is colder'n us. We have a weird warm-mass coming up (from Washington, go figure!) that is changing the snow to rain before it hits the ground. Fairbanks has like an inch of ice covering everything. We haven't had rain in November since, oh... 1963?

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

duplicate post

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Yer funny, Heather!! LOL! This is one of those odd times when the rest of the US is colder'n us. We have a weird warm-mass coming up (from Washington, go figure!) that is changing the snow to rain before it hits the ground. Fairbanks has like an inch of ice covering everything. We haven't had rain in November since, oh... 1963?

That is weird! Gosh, last night I had flashbacks to Montana & North Dakota! LOL It was well below zero and we had 50mph+ wind gusts, with a constant wind of about 20mph...I think it was -25 or colder....MISERABLE! I moved my waterfowl into my horse trailer (out of the wind) because they didn't have enough sense to move into their shelters.

Here's a picture my DH took of me last night after we were done moving them all...

 

[BirdBrain]

You look like us.

 

[ParadiseFoundFarm]

Just some assurance Ms AK please.
My first winter. As you see I raise peacombed large fowl and I am in Illinois.
House is 4'x5' and 4' high. Plenty of perching space with no fighting or pecking.
What's got me concerned:
They are lately inside most of the day and it's only hitting freezing here with minnimal wind chills.
Are they cold?
They are not huddling.
They don't appear to be shivering.
They are fully feathered.
Coop is lightly insulated.

 

[t4dbirds]

It's was a weird day and night last night here in Tacoma WA. Snowed most of yesterday and the wind howled most of the night. My girls seem ok but the water was frozen. I've about decided that I'm brining them into the house tonight. They are both bantams with feathered feet and this is unusual cold weather for here. Also it is supposed to rain over the next few days but I have a bad leak in the coup that my sister and I are going to try to fix once again on Friday.

Neither of my girls seem to have the since to stay in their coup and out of the snow during the day. My frizzle especially likes to hang out in the run most of the time even though it's covered in snow but I can't lock them in the coup, poor things have no light. We didn't have time to get the windows in for them yet.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

What a great picture! It looks a bit like you are in outer space.

It was around 20F here last night. The girls were fine this morning but totally NOT impressed with the snow that blew sideways into their run. It's supposed to be colder tonight. I put extra shavings down on the floor of the coop to provide a little insulation. Their poop was frozen! But it was dry in the coop. No condensation on the window.