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

[mulewagon]

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Have you told them about chicken diapers yet?

Or chicken leashes? Or little tiny chicken Halloween costumes? My in-laws got quite a giggle over those!

 

[Mrs MIA]

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Have you told them about chicken diapers yet?

Or chicken leashes? Or little tiny chicken Halloween costumes? My in-laws got quite a giggle over those!

 

[HorizonSon]

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-Off Topic-

But your post reminded me of our rooster. He has gone toe to toe with hawks and dogs on multiple occasions. One time a dog got him clutched in his jaws, but our roo got free. I swear he was dead. He was bleeding, had a very dark purple comb and laid there on the ground lifeless. No one wanted to "deal with" him at the moment, as we were pretty distressed about the whole thing... Fast forward a couple/few hours later... I'm out stacking wood and low and behold; he comes our rooster running down our driveway (50ish yards)! My jaw dropped so far, I almost stacked it with the wood... I swear that roo has feline in his bloodline, because he's got 9 lives, no joke!

 

[geepy]

Shoot I live in florida and my birds don't know what a heat lamp is. They have been fine. I even have a few hens that are 11 years old. One still lays eggs. I believe what Mrs. Ak says, they have to become acclimated to the conditions.

 

[t4dbirds]

Thank you Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain. One played all day out in the snow with no sense to go inside while her sister stayed inside in the nesting box most of the day. Though I think she thought she needed to keep my eggs warm as I was late getting breakfast started and going out to get the eggs. It's so nice to have eggs "delivered" everyday

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

On the low-heat pet beds in the nest boxes to keep eggs from freezing. Note these are VERY low heat. Basically they warm the portion of the pet that is actually in contact with the mat and do no space heating at all. So in the boxes where these were not covered with bedding, the eggs contacted the mat and stayed thawed without being heated. When covered with bedding, eggs froze because they would not actually contact the mat and the heat was not strong enough to warm the bedding. They were very inexpensive to run and delivered heat exactly where it was needed. They were vinyl covered and we cleaned them when needed. Not all the hens would lay on the mat alone, so we still needed some bedding nests. We are looking at making cleanable and more hen friendly covers for them.

And of course all the birds could sit on them occassionally to warm their toes.

I may put such a mat in with some isolated birds I have to prevent feet problems. I seem to mind the comb and wattle damage more than the birds do (although they are hard-wired not to show pain or stress if they can help it).

The min/max thermometer is in place and I am looking for an outdoor humidty guage.

Good Luck with everyone's winter!

 

[WYchicks]

Thank you so much for this post! It's our first winter with our four hens (approx 7 mos old) & we recently had a quick & nasty winter snap here in Wyoming...single digits, below zero at night. Our winters are typically chilly & have lots of low temps, but this came so quickly & we went from 40-50's to single digits. I've been a nutcase worrying about our girls! In all honesty, they don't act very happy about it. Our coop is not insulated, we think it's fairly draft free, & it's well-vented. But it's small & the vents are not too far above where the chickens roost. We do DLM, check them for frostbite (so far no signs of it), have a heated water dish & fresh food all the time. The food & water are under the coop on the ground (actual coop is raised & sits on top of part of the run as a way to provide shelter to part of the run).

Something I have noticed...the birds are not eating nearly as much as they usually do! Do we need to get their food off the ground? They continue to eat scratch & the occasional table scraps, but we used to have to refill their food every other day & over the past few days, we haven't had to refill it. In these cold cold temps, the food is so very important for them to fuel & keep warm! Anyone else notice this? Solutions? Putting their food in the coop would be a last option - it's small & we wanted to keep the food out of the pine shaving deep litter floor.

 

[mrsbos]

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I've noticed our birds aren't drinking as much, and it has me a little worried. The food and water are in the run, but not in the coop because it is too small and used only for nesting and roosting at night. With the current blizzardy weather and the really short days, they are spending much more time in the coop and avoiding even going out in the run, much less free-ranging as their run door is open all day. I make sure their water is not frozen, but I'm sure the water temp is pretty chilly and not fun to drink on a sub zero day. I haven't noticed my birds eating a whole lot less, but if they were, I'd think it would be due to them spending a lot more time just hunkered down trying to stay warm, instead of running around exploring and chasing bugs and working up an appetite. My back patio is constantly covered in chicken poo, so with that much going out, I know there must be plenty going in!

 

[HeritageHens]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Twisted Serpent, I would not put Millies in the snow. Their feathered feet get too wet/cold, and you wind up with frostbite on their feet. Covered run, or don't let them out at all.

Is the same true for Cochins and Brahmas? I've been drying off their foot feathers after they come in from their supervised free ranging because the yard is so wet. I'm not sure that is necessary but their feathers were soaked.

When the chickens wake up in the morning, they will get to see their first snow. Keeping the cochin out of the snow would not be a problem because her usual MO is to stay in the run and squawk at the others who are free ranging. But I'm suspecting my Brahma girl would be seriously upset at not getting out of the run if the others are loose so it's all or nothing.

TIA.​

 

[ZooMummzy]

Jumping on the bantam bandwagon and throwing my 2 cents in from the other side - a coop heater. Most of my flock is bantams (all varieties) with a few standards thrown in. My coop is being heated with triple secured and bulb protected heat lamps as needed...ie when temps are in the 20s and below. The cold temps are just too hard on my bantams - all kinds. My Seramas, OEGBs and a few Silkies are in the garage for the winter in nice big pens. My cochins seem to do ok as long as they have heat on the really cold days. They just stay inside the coop and really do not venture out into the run even though most of it is covered. This is my first year with Millies (they are babies still and in the brooder) but I most likely bring them in the garage next year.

I understand all the acclimating arguments and respect them; this is just my decision and it is working for me and my flock. I do the same thing for my birds when we have extreme heat - I give them ice, fans and all the cooling devices I can. I have never lost a bird due to temperature extremes and my flock is healthy.