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

[Raen]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Quote:
What's the absolute lowest temperature you'll see this winter?

Apparently, it can get down to -20 F. But the average low in January (coldest month) is 12 degrees.

Would it help to put the roost close to the floor for warmth?​

 

[fluffychicksmomma]

Thanks! So far, they all try to sleep in one nesting box, even though hubby made 6. I find it amusing that they nearly succeed! 4 of them squish themseves into one box and then 1 perches on the top of the nesting box divider, so it is basically on top of the other 4. I will have to look into the louvered vents and see what I can come up with!

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
What's the absolute lowest temperature you'll see this winter?

Apparently, it can get down to -20 F. But the average low in January (coldest month) is 12 degrees.

Would it help to put the roost close to the floor for warmth?

Actually, warm air rises, so you'll want roosts as high as possible to utilize the available heat. Unless it's really humid, 12°F is not really bad, and shouldn't need heat other than perhaps to keep water from freezing if you don't have a way to replace with fresh very often. I realize most people don't work at home and have the luxury of checking on their critters every few hours. But if your birds have a place to get out of the elements, they shouldn't need heat until it gets below 0F. And even then, I'd watch them.

We have drastic swings in temperatures here, and I know other states, like CO, do too... those are the times that really mess with the birds. Keep a close eye on the weather reports for drastic dips. Good luck!

Fluffychicksmomma, I have 5 large blue orpingtons that cram themselves into one nest box at night, too...

It makes for a funny sight, fer shure! We found the vent covers in the air-conditioning section at Home Depot (not that we need air-conditioning here).

But you know... dryer vents, etc.

 

[vtgirls]

This is the first winter for us with chickens and turkeys but ALL of the old timers here tell us the birds will be fine, a couple even say the turkeys have no coops at their farms - they roost up in trees. We do not have insulated coops but they have good ventilation and we seem to have corrected earlier draft issues. Winter here can hang out at about -20 for quite awhile. Tonight we're warmer than avereage but have 50 mph winds so the chickens are all cuddled up on one roost bar and the turkeys are actually nesting in a heep in the straw instead of roosting. We do have a heated water dish but havent decided whether to use it for the turkeys (who drink a ton) or the chickens (who are closer to electricity). One woman told me she brings out fresh warm water just in the morning and her birds know they better get it before it freezes again (I will bring them water at least twice a day!) I tried to consider what all the charts said about cold hearty breeds before choosing our hens. The only bird I worry about is out little buff cochin bantam since she is sooo tiny, but we got her from another family who breeds them in Vermont so I'm thinking she'll do fine squeezed between the other hens at night!

 

[GotChicken?]

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I guess I'm lucky enough to have Silkies that like to get up on the roost (It's two & 1/2 feet off the ground, but I have a little roost stand that's a foot high so they can boost themselves up). That's the price you pay for raising different chickens together - the furballs want to be like the other kids!

For your coop, fcm, you may want to add as much bedding as possible to the floor, and give it a good raking/turning over every week. That way you'll keep decomp going, which will provide heat, as well as give the biddies something to bury themselves in to stay warm.

I also understand the ventilation thing. I just finished yesterday redoing my coop addition's roof to increase insulation and ventilation. It was originally metal roofing over a wooden frame, but the tin was getting so cold at night there was condensation on it in the morning. Not good. So I covered the back 3/4 of the roof (over the roost) with 1/2" OSB. I found out that on the days where it's been in the 30's this fall that the OSB I used for some of my siding blocked cold better than plywood and 1/2" foam insulation. It was almost as good as the solid wood of the frame.

The worst? The laminate I used to cover some of the inside walls with. It's easy to clean, but it radiates cold. Had to cover the sheet behind the roost with an old flannel blanket because it was so bad, and it's not even in the twenties yet!

I finished up the upper 1/4" of the roof with hardware cloth, and the metal roof was put back on. There was no condensation this morning, and the only draft was a very slight breeze directly under the hardware cloth section. I figure if it starts getting real cold outside, I can hang canvas or some other heavy cloth around the roost area to temporarily convert it into a huddle box.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Biddies...

I like that name. Good advice!

VTgirls, our turkeys didn't have a coop to go into last winter, just a little 3-sided lean-to, and they did fine. Even the pheasants and chukars did fine. They had a box with hay in it to snuggle into.

What GotChicken? said about the condensation on the metal roof is what I have to deal with, too. Even outside, moisture builds up and drips off if/when it warms up enough. Keeping things dry is the key. I don't even put the water or feed in the coop anymore, to encourage them to go outside and poop.

 

[teach1rusl]

While I know that my chickens could survive in temperatures far below acceptable standards for ME, I do use a lamp on winter nights (and I'm only in Indiana). I do it just as much for ME as I do it for my pets. Even my best mouser cat, who rarely comes inside the house for most of the year (and has a thick, fur coat), spends most of her time inside in the winter time, by her choice. So, while I know most animals can handle the cold better than humans, that tells me that they do GET cold. So if I CAN make their life a little more comfortable, then why not? I'd most likely have a different view if I considered my birds livestock, but I don't.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

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Its not about considering them to be livestock rather then pets.
What happens when you have a power outage for more then an hour or so? Never mind several days! The chickens that have been acclimated to warmer temps all of a sudden have to deal with temps that their bodies are not prepared for.
Its totally not natural. And it can very easily kill them!

 

[vtgirls]

I also do not intend to put food or drink inside the coop to continue to encourage more poo outside than in. The coop is small 4x5 with just 5 hens and 1 roo. It is inside a chainlink dog kennel which we are working on creating a "roof" for that will support and slide off snow (we get a lot - avg 10 feet per winter). They can hang out under the coop (its about 2 feet off the ground) and will be nearly free of snow inside the run (about 100 square feet). I can already picture them roaming up and down the driveway (very looooong) with its huge snowbanks.

 

[Mrs MIA]

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Please don't misunderstand... my birds are more than pets, too. I love each and every one of them to the point that my husband is jealous of the attention they get.

Again, this post was intended for people in the lower states (Florida and other places that rarely see below-freezing temps) that are already heating their coops. It's a huge waste of energy. Yes, the birds can survive extremely low temps. And yes, they do get cold. I personally cannot afford to keep 3 separate coops/pens heated... doing that would make the $600 electric bill look like chump change. We humans get cold at 40°F. Well, I don't, but others do.

The birds have a down coat. They are happy at 40°F. They do not need heat. (There's a cool thread called something like "Why insulation doesn't work" that has a thermal image of chickens... they are HOT!) Their water doesn't even need heat. Heat in the winter builds up moisture, that leads to frostbite and respiratory problems. I'm sure my girls and babies would be happy if I gave them a huge indoor barn that was kept at a steady 40°F. I wish I could afford that... it would make doing the morning rounds much easier on me. I'm not looking forward to 5 more months of this. It's only going to get worse. But ... I don't want my birds accustomed to 35°F in a heated coop when it hits -35 to -45°F for two weeks straight and the power goes out from a snow storm. They wouldn't survive the shock. I don't know what your temps are like in Indiana, but I wouldn't even start to worry about your girls until it's below freezing 24/7...