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

[newmusher]

thanks for all the information re light and food. I will be providing more light for the chicks I guess, since we don't have long natural light here. just hope the solar batteries hold out!! we are -22 c. today but the sun is shining and it is quite beautiful. all my chicks are in their winter "patio" and having a grand time but did have a coyote out here this morning till my dogs chased it away. pen is pretty tight though and if my determined dogs can't get into it neither can a coyote!! (well, I hope not anyway). and for 15 hours of light, midnight is about right!!

 

[newmusher]

oh and I do provide quality feed for them although very expensive up here!!

 

[chestypuller]

i just feed them the layer pellets, what are you guys feeding them, also table scraps.

 

[bruceha2000]

i just feed them the layer pellets, what are you guys feeding them, also table scraps.

Pretty much the same here. Layer pellets in their feeder, never empty. They get to go out most days and we still have grass though that will be a lost option when the snow comes and stays. I have started giving them some scratch close to bed time. And they get BOSS (I think too much, they go running to my wife if she shows her face). And kitchen leavings. Tomorrow they'll get the seeds from the Acorn squash I used to make soup today. They liked the pumpkin guts at Halloween but they had to work at the seeds given their size. The acorn squash seeds are smaller so I expect the girls to be quite content.

Bruce

 

[frostbite]

Layer crumbles at first, then I started getting the pellets, less waste, they say. And I have a mealworm ranch in my kitchen, so I give them fresh worms every day, just for fun. They don't really need them, but it's fun. And some scratch, for treats. Table scraps sometimes, when I think about it. I thought about feeding them leftover rooster, but then there wasn't any.

 

[AKnewbie]

For those who don't heat the coop, what is th absolute lowest temperature before you would consider turning on a heat lamp in the coop?

 

[silkiechicken]

For those who don't heat the coop, what is th absolute lowest temperature before you would consider turning on a heat lamp in the coop?

Since my coop is not insulated and the entire roof has a gap with the walls all the way around, resulting in the indoor temp to be exactly that of the outside... I may consider running a heat lamp out there if it gets to below 0F. However... Our winter temps at worse are in the teens so I won't ever run one. If I lived where temps did get below zero, I would have designed the coop to be more enclosed.

 

[AKnewbie]

Thanks. I live in AK. Our coop is insulated and when the temps went down to -5F a few weeks back, our coop temp went down to the high teens. First time chicken owner so I get worried about the chickens.

 

[silkiechicken]

Some of my chickens have literally slept under a slanted tarp in high teens without frost bite. That said, at that time, the breeds who decided it was a great idea to sleep outside vs inside had smaller combs.

 

[chestypuller]

im not sure if mine sleep in the coop or not. i gave them sliced up hotdogs and had to pull a hotdog round outa a chickens beak it was stuck! so i would suggest cutting things in to smaller then quarter inch size.

it was -5 last night f and i seen them under the coop during the light. will see how many make it thru this cold snap