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

[HeritageHens]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

...Actually, bantams, especially the feather footed bantams, require a little more pampering than the large breeds, IMHO. ...

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.

Well, I bought a standard breed and it seems I got a bantam Blue Cochin. I also have a runt/bantam Speckled Sussex. All the hens below were hatched August 7-11th. The first picture is of my Dark Brahma, Fiona, with Abby, the Speckled Sussex.

This picture is of Gibbs, the Blue Cochin and Adriana, the Barred Plymouth Rock.

So you are telling me that when Gibbs throws a temper tantrum and won't leave the coop to free range on the wet ground, preferring to squawk at the others, she's just telling me that she's a bantam and deserves to be treated like a princess?

 

[Mrs MIA]

Um... probably!

 

[HeritageHens]

Oh for goodness sakes. And I thought ferrets were challenging...

 

[t4dbirds]

Could be worse, you could have two prima dona bantams like I do

My sister calls them Patagonian princess ground parrots. Both would prefer to be in the house on the dog bed

 

[SkyWarrior]

Thank you for this thread. Here in Montana, the weather has been hovering around 0F and we're supposed to drop down towards -20F Wednesday. The most brutal thing is giving them water twice daily as it freezes up. I have a heat pad going where the waterers sit and I have a brooder lamp over the 3 week old chicks. Beyond that,

I'm not doing much except keeping the barn closed so the wind doesn't whip through.

I have lights on, but egg production is low. I'm getting about 7 eggs a day from 13 adult layers.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Quote:
I don't have any birds that small (unless you count the 20-30 young OEGB running around out there, abandoned by their mamas) and I'm sure we don't get as cold here as you get there. But I've not lost any birds to the cold. My quail are the same size as your seramas, some are probably smaller. And I'm sure my doves are smaller too. None of them have extra heat and I have yet to lose any birds to the cold.
The only thing I've lost birds to are predators. Last year was rats (nasty things! They were terrible!), this year appears to be hawks. But I wouldn't worry about the cold if they are out of the wind and she has some buddies to snuggle with

I kept a test pair outside until just the other day when i noticed they were getting wayyy tooo cold. The bantam cochins and other breeds like bantam EE's would have no problems with the winter temps here, my frizzled hens wouldn't do so well. I read on the serama thread someone moved here from florida trying to acclimate her birds to these temps, at that time it wasn't getting below 30 and her little frizzled serama hen passed away. I had a rooster a few years ago die when the temps got down to the 30's and he was a big boy for his breed. I have tried but it's just not worth loosing any of them. I have invested lots of money into them as well so I chose to bring them in the garage stall that is heated. All 44 of my bantams are now safe and sound and I don't have to worry about chucking thru an acre of 5 ft of snow to thaw out waterers or worry about any heat lamps going out or doors freezing shut. For me it's just sooo much easier this way and the birds definately enjoy it as they refuse to go outside in the cold anyway. The best part is I can sit in there with them for hours without freezing

 

[Yay Chicks!]

It was about 18 degrees here this morning when I let them out. It was funny that Buffy, the biggest, fattest, fluffiest bird, was the most reluctant to leave the coop. The other three acted as if it was just any other morning. I need to make them a water heater...not fond of breaking ice.

 

[SkyWarrior]

Yay Chicks! :

It was about 18 degrees here this morning when I let them out. It was funny that Buffy, the biggest, fattest, fluffiest bird, was the most reluctant to leave the coop. The other three acted as if it was just any other morning. I need to make them a water heater...not fond of breaking ice.

Hot water helps break the ice faster. I've been giving them hot water (okay, just warm by the time it gets out to the coop) and they have warm water for an hour or so. I have one of those heated floor pads you put out in dog kennels. I've been putting the water on that and it stays reasonably thawed. (I've had it for years, so I figured I'd use it).​

 

[Velma&theChix]

Thank you for this post. My husband and I are new to keeping chickens. We've had ours since July (a mama and 4 chicks). We live in mid-Missouri and I've been fretting a little about them being too cold. My husband built them a nice hoop house with nesting boxes, plenty of straw and plastic on three sides. They are dry and seem happy. The winters here are fairly mild, we rarely get to zero, so I guess I'm just going to "chill" (no pun intended) and let the birds be birds. I'm sure hubby will be glad to not have the "do you think the chickens are warm enough" conversation again.

Thanks everyone, for your knowledge and your willingness to share information!

 

[aubreynoramarie]

unfortunately for my poor dinosaurs, their coop is built into the mudroom of our house which has central air and heating just like the rest of it. they are forced to endure whatever degree we have chosen for the house. i know, i know... were terrible parents.

actually we just got lucky. the previous owners of the house built a rabbit hutch in the mudroom. we expanded it into a coop and added a kitty door and voila! so i dont have to worry about them being cold, but i dont have to sound insane for throwing 100 feet of electrical wire into my backyard!