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

[Mrs MIA]

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Sadly, no. But it makes the next winter easier on them.

Natures way of dubbing, I guess.

 

[Mrs MIA]

6chickens in St. Charles :

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Mine are so bored! I hang an apple and some collard greens from a string, they like that. We bought them straw to forage in, threw it on top of the ice in their run, then toss scratch grains in there and they dig through the straw, keeps them busy. the squirrel who's too aggressive and digs in there for the scratch keeps them busy too. I put up a higher up roost in their run, too, gives them something to go up on.....but mostly they are soooo bored.

I pick them up, they are hot little birdies under their wingies. And if you let them roost on your naked hand, their little monkeypaws feet are hot, too. Amazing. And its less than 10 degrees out here.

Tossing scratch grains in the straw is great for boredom. Hanging a cabbage is good, too, though I will warn you that their poop will be teal blue if you feed them the red cabbage.

They ARE toasty under their wings, and it's a good sign.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Already down to -3F this evening, and forecasting -15F which is where it will be at about 8am tomorrow. Snow in the forecast for Tuesday night???

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

I held out and did not heat the coop. Still might cold but the super cold snap that they predicted has been pushed back. We will see it has gotten so that I don't look at the weather anymore if we are going to get more snow I don't want to know about it and I don't think I want to know about it getting colder. I am now ready for spring and am looking at all those garden books dreaming of being outside.

I have a few roosters that have frostbite but other than the eggs freezing no harm done. And those eggs become treats for the flock.

 

[NYRIR]

Ok,I was just checking out this thread.I can see both sides of heating...personally,I did end up putting 2 heat lamps in my uninsulated 12x7 coop with 34 chickens.They have two red lights...no regular light.I flipped out when my favorite rooster got frostbitten and thought it was the cold.I'm not sure now if it was humidity or cold but I can tell you this..I was getting almost NO eggs...added the heat lamps and within a couple of days...BIG difference.The birds are let out every morning and I leave the lamps on in the coop 24-7.They DO seem to prefer to be outside..even in the cold...during the day.The coop is a good foot and a half off the ground so they usually stay under there most of the day.The hens go in occassionally to lay and the Roos and hens will go in to eat but come back out.The waterer is a galvanized 5 gallon on a heated base outside.The coop has good ventilation and hopefully minimal drafts.I did end up with quite a few roos with frostbite before this but now it seems to have stopped or not gotten worse.This is one of the most confusing subjects I have encountered with raising chickens so far...light?No light?Heat?No heat?Drafts?No drafts?Enough ventilation?Too much ventilation?

BTW,It's a balmy 1 degree tonight and has been below freezing for weeks here in NY on top of the 3 feet of snow we just got....

 

[jeannieo]

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how can you tell if eggs are frozen besides breaking them open as soon as I bring them in? When I bring eggs in, they stay on the counter until I see how many I got that day. Are eggs that have been frozen "bad" for us to consume?

 

[Kismet]

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how can you tell if eggs are frozen besides breaking them open as soon as I bring them in? When I bring eggs in, they stay on the counter until I see how many I got that day. Are eggs that have been frozen "bad" for us to consume?

If an egg is frozen, you can tell because it will be cracked. The albumen inside expands as it freezes and cracks the shell. When you bring the egg inside, it will thaw and the hairline crack in the shell will be hard to see. I have never had a problem eating/using frozen eggs if I do it right away, but I would never sell an egg that had been frozen. To be really safe, cook them and feed them back to your chickens or your dog (it is so hard to throw away an egg, I find - after all that work). The concern is that bacteria can enter easily into a cracked shell.

 

[featherz]

-8F this morning. All appear fine, no heat, although I haven't examined my leghorns closely for any more frostbite. I assume they will get more. Strangely enough, my little bantam mille fleur d'uccles were prancing around this morning as usual. They don't even seem to notice the cold.

 

[mbrobbins]

I have brooder lights in every pen, and I raise silkies and seramas. One serama hen froze to death when she slept on the floor away from the brooder lights and it was 13*. After that, I moved all my seramas into a smaller coop wiith a space heater and brooder lamps. It stays above 35* in there , some are crammed into smaller cages, but I had to get them in that room with the heater, and until the cold snap is over, then I will move them back to their regular roomy pens. I don't want to chance losing another nice hen. Today is supposed to get around 40*, so I will be moving them back to their pens.

 

[featherz]

Eeeep! Gonna be -15 tonight. Starting to waver on that heat, even though they were fine at -8.

I think it's too late to get heat in my coops anyways so we may need to ride it out. I'll vaseline up the combs today tho.