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

[CGinJCMO]

It's a cold week here in NH, my first winter with a flock and I appreciate this thread! The temp tomorrow morning is supposed to be around 3 degrees at 7 a.m. with a "feels like" rating of -13! I haven't tried the vaseline on the roosters combs yet, does it really work? Will they get dirt/debris stuck to their combs? I have two roos that I'm going to cull in the spring (to replace with more pullets). Figured I'd keep them over the winter to keep the girls warm as I usually find the roosters like bookends on the roost at night with the girls in between. My coop is 8X8 and I have seven chickens total right now. Do you think it makes sense to keep the roosters over the winter or will the pullets be fine either way?

My roos seem to get in between the girls. My roos show that chivalry truly is dead. LOL

Now I have only one rooster (culled an injured one a couple weeks ago) but I have a bantam rooster that escapes his bantam pen to join the big girls. to put him back where he belongs , I wait for evening and I have to reach between two hens. I'm sure he dislikes me dislodging him from his spot (first I'm taking him from a really warm place, second I'm sticking him in another coop that's a little darker (wish I could get a window) and I hope he snuggles in with his girls before it gets too dark for him to see).

CG

 

[groverlvchx]

My roos seem to get in between the girls. My roos show that chivalry truly is dead. LOL

Now I have only one rooster (culled an injured one a couple weeks ago) but I have a bantam rooster that escapes his bantam pen to join the big girls. to put him back where he belongs , I wait for evening and I have to reach between two hens. I'm sure he dislikes me dislodging him from his spot (first I'm taking him from a really warm place, second I'm sticking him in another coop that's a little darker (wish I could get a window) and I hope he snuggles in with his girls before it gets too dark for him to see).

CG

What a little opportunist!

 

[Gargoyle]

My only complaint about the dog bowls is after 20 below they do freeze up if the wind can get in.......... Kim

What kind of dog bowl? The one I'm using freezes at 10 above.

I also got a 250 watt immersion heater (see image below) put it in a 2 gallon galvanized waterer, and that froze up when it got close to zero. I don't get it.

 

[cracked egg]

What kind of dog bowl? The one I'm using freezes at 10 above. I also got a 250 watt immersion heater (see image below) put it in a 2 gallon galvanized waterer, and that froze up when it got close to zero. I don't get it.

the heated bowls and heated poultry waterers I gave up on and built my own. I have a 30 gallon galvanized waterer with a light bulb inside. Actually there is a 6" welded tube inside the waterer with the bulb in it, never been froze yet. I have a Christmas cookie tin heater also that works great for the dogs water dish,somewhere in these forums it explains how to make one.

 

[Cynthia12]

Here's what one of my girls think of the cold. We have been getting down into the minus. She's still laying though. I do have a heat lamp in the coop, my guess is..haven't got a thermometer in there, but it has to be mid 20's in the coop. So, a bit warmer in the coop. The older hens come out more often than the pullets. Pullets will come out to eat. The water is inside, a heated dish.

I knelt down to snap some shots of her, and we had a talk. As I was talking to her, she
says, Mom? When is this cold going away? My feet are cold...that's what she said,..
pretty sure.

 

[PAchickengirl]

Half of mine came out today and decided to hang out under the deck. The other four weren't too interested in coming out of the coop. Wasn't hard to get them back in.

 

[AVintageLife]

It's so hard to stick to my commitment of not adding heat to the coop. Temps overnight are supposed to be -11 with the windchill factor and as I'm driving home from work tonight passing four homes with little coops visible from the road, I can see light shining from all the coop windows. Makes me wonder. I got home, put some vaseline on all the combs, quietly sprinkled some scratch for them to find in the a.m. and left a jug filled with hot water near the roost and one on the floor of the coop near the waterer.

 

[countrygirl74]

Here's what one of my girls think of the cold. We have been getting down into the minus. She's still laying though. I do have a heat lamp in the coop, my guess is..haven't got a thermometer in there, but it has to be mid 20's in the coop. So, a bit warmer in the coop. The older hens come out more often than the pullets. Pullets will come out to eat. The water is inside, a heated dish.

I knelt down to snap some shots of her, and we had a talk. As I was talking to her, she
says, Mom? When is this cold going away? My feet are cold...that's what she said,..
pretty sure.

Too cute!!

 

[Triplell]

Well we ar -7F all day and it should get to -20 tonite with the windchill of -40 again. The girls are nice and toasty in the coops and know body complained yet. My poor Betty the PBR that is in the house is living it up next to the wood furnice. She is molting very heavy and darn near bald. I just couldn't leave her out in the coop without her feather jacket. I use the heated dog dishes and they moght have frost on the rim of it but still open enough to have water not ice.

 

[Gargoyle]

the heated bowls and heated poultry waterers I gave up on and built my own. I have a 30 gallon galvanized waterer with a light bulb inside. Actually there is a 6" welded tube inside the waterer with the bulb in it, never been froze yet.
I have a Christmas cookie tin heater also that works great for the dogs water dish,somewhere in these forums it explains how to make one.

A 30 gallon tank would be a bit oversized for my 5 birds. There don't seem to be good water heater solutions for very small flocks in climates that get below zero. Here's what I rigged up with a 2 gallon waterer, yet it froze at zero degrees.