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

[PepsNick]

Quote:
PROBABLY not, though it's good to be safe, right? Not sure how you can stop it... I'd like it if there were comb-jackets and little pockets for comb heaters LOL

 

[Miss Lydia]

0degree. with wind chill -20to -30 and I don't use heat.

 

[NewbyJan]

thank you to everyone who has commented on these pages!! I am new to keeping chickens and was beginning to get stressed out that the temperature in the UK had dropped to -5 C at night!!! Reading these comments I will stop panicking about my 4 chicks of 24weeks or so being outside and too cold! They naturally huddle together at night anyway and their hen house is enclosed with a door that shuts. They have plenty of straw, though they won't sit in it!! Watching them run about in the first snow they have ever encountered this morning has been entertaining but they appear fine!! It's just going to be a case of keepin an eye on their water which keeps freezing I guess! No heating the hen house here!!!

 

[thomshap]

Forgive me if this has already been covered, but it's hard to read all 21 pages. I live in CT where we have had an unusually warm fall (though we had one freak snowstorm in October). I'm worried that it is going to get suddenly cold and my birds won't be acclimated. Our lowest temperatures usually get down to about 15-20 degrees but with a nasty windchill since we live close to the coast. Anything I can do to help them get ready or anything I can do to help mitigate the shock of a sudden cold snap? Their water has only been frozen one morning (outside -- in the coop, it wasn't). Their feathers seem fuller, but maybe not to the extent they need to be. I have six birds in a 4x4x6 coop with a 20x30 run that they spend the day in unless they are out in the yard. There is no electricity out to the coop, but I could run an extension cord if need be. I was certainly hoping to get away with not supplementing their heat though, and just changing out their water a few times a day.

 

[KimberlyJ]

Quote:
Hi Thomshap!

I live in CT too. My chicks just arrived in June with more in Sept. so this is our first winter. But I do have alot of bird experience and so far I see nothing to worry about. Wind chill isn't really a factor as the chickens can simply go inside to get out of the wind. It's going to get "suddenly cold" to us, but not to the birds as they were out in 25* over night last night. The big things are...can't have drafts in the coop...keep everyone dry... good ventilation so the humidity doesn't get too high in the coop...fresh water not ice...rooosts that allow the chickens to cover their toes. If it's going to be REALLY cold I may put Vaseline on their combs to protect from frostbite but that's all. Afterall, Mother Nature doesn't give chickadees, juncos and sparrows heat lamps!

KimberlyJ

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
Hi Thomshap!

I live in CT too. My chicks just arrived in June with more in Sept. so this is our first winter. But I do have alot of bird experience and so far I see nothing to worry about. Wind chill isn't really a factor as the chickens can simply go inside to get out of the wind. It's going to get "suddenly cold" to us, but not to the birds as they were out in 25* over night last night. The big things are...can't have drafts in the coop...keep everyone dry... good ventilation so the humidity doesn't get too high in the coop...fresh water not ice...rooosts that allow the chickens to cover their toes. If it's going to be REALLY cold I may put Vaseline on their combs to protect from frostbite but that's all. Afterall, Mother Nature doesn't give chickadees, juncos and sparrows heat lamps!

KimberlyJ

Thank you Kimberly!

 

[Kovalciks Chickens]

Quote:
PROBABLY not, though it's good to be safe, right? Not sure how you can stop it... I'd like it if there were comb-jackets and little pockets for comb heaters LOL

I know what Im asking grandma for Christmas now.

 

[thomshap]

Thanks, Kimberly.
I figured there are an awful lot of birds who do just fine in the winter without human assistance!

 

[RareBreedFancier]

I had to laugh at the idea of 2 x 250w heat lamps in Florida!

Where I live we barely get below freezing and that's only at night, it never snows, but some people do heat their coops.

When we moved in here there was an old chicken pen. The 'shelter' consisted of a couple of corrugated iron sheets sitting on the chicken wire roof against the garage. That's it. Stupidly, the garage also stops the winter sun getting in because whoever built it had NO regard for the chickens and just did whatever was easiest.

Being one sided and open to the prevailing weather means the chickens would have had nowhere to get out of the wind or even out of the rain unless they were very lucky. I feel sorry for them because it must have been miserable. However, they did apparently survive this lousy treatment.
I'm sure my chookies will be very happy with my planed waterproof, draft free coop out in a sunny spot. I'm also sure they have quite enough fluff to keep warm without lamps!

(Should add, they have temporary quarters atm which they will outgrow in a month or two

)

 

[rockinpaints]

Good info