what temp is too cold for chickens?

[SharonX]

Here the problem is it is 32-34F one night and then 70+F the next day or so. So it is hard to acclimate to the switching all the time. I have a chicken stagecoach and I added padding to the nesting boxes and then hay on that. Then I put a heavy rubber type rug over the top and back of the nesting boxes when it is cold. I will add insulated fiber board to the new coops nesting boxes I am making from a playscape tower.

Only two girls in the stagecoach as I keep the 6 teenagers in a dog cage on the back porch and a space heater that comes on when the temps dip -- also a heat lamp at the back.

I think if it was -10 F, I would add a light or heat lamp or barn heater or something. Us Southerners don't do well with cold and I figure the chickens aren't used to it either. I offer warm oatmeal on a cold morning also. This keeps my layers happy as I perfect the perfect French omelet.

 

[SussexInSeattle]

From what I have learned on here, getting them in the habit of sleeping in their nest box will only create nasty problems later on. (POOPED UP EGGS!) When ever I find my girls getting comfortable inside their nest boxes at dusk, I relocate them to a perch on their A-frame roost that I built for them, beside one of their 'sisters'.

I assume the rabbit 'coop' has a little nest box at one end or is it simply an all wire cage? I don't think it is natural for a fully feathered chicken to get used to sleeping on the floor. Of a cage or a barn or an enclosure. Seem like mine get to a certain age and then they seek out roosting spots to sleep on, not nests to sleep in.

Does the chicken have any freedom in the yard at all during the day or does it live in this cage 24/7? Is there a reason that there is only one chicken?

In my opinion, there should be 3 chickens together (or more), they should have some space to run around and scratch at the earth, they should have a small enclosed nest box (with one end open for coming and going) to lay eggs when the time comes and they should have a choice of roosting bars from 2 feet up, to the rafters if they want. I have one chicken who prefers the rafters and the rest choose levels on the roost from 3 feet up to 6 feet up.

To train a naughty chicken who has gotten used to sleeping and pooping in her nest box, simply wait for her to go to bed at sundown and then move her over to your roosting bars by picking her up and placing her on a perch, somewhere about mid-height. After so many days of this, she will figure it out on her own and you will go to move her one night and find her already perched! That is one of the best 'firsts', right up there with "First Egg"!

If you don't know about perches, they taught me here that about the best size is like a broom handle or thicker although all my birds sleep on 2X4's that I made the perch out of. I also have large dowels but they prefer the A-frame thing because it is more stable I am guessing. The big dowels tend to swing because I hung them from the rafters with baling twine. Being that their bodies are so large, they don't balance as easily as wild birds do.

Sorry this is so long.........

 

[SharonX]

In my case, I started with chickens before I had a clue about chickens, so I do not have the perfect set-up with proper coops, etc. My stagecoach for the adult birds has perches, but it would be cold sitting on them until I get home to pull up the ladder floor on freezing nights.

Only two hens in that coop because they refuse to share with the teenagers, so that the first thing I do is collect any droppings I find in the nest box and toss them to the garden with a rubber glove. I am working on a second coop with perches and nesting boxes.

I noticed one cold morning, adult hen Della's feet were cold as ice, but after I put the padding in the nest box, her feet were warm again when I said "Good Morning" and held her.

I suspect, it will be easier to train them to roosts when the weather warms a bit as sitting on those skinny little feet should help keep them warm until spring comes. Guess I am just a wuss about cold feet (and chicken feet) and hands in Austin, TX. I work at Dillards and the gloves and mufflers are flying out the door every time we have a cold snap in the '30's.

 

[Mrs MIA]

If the chicken is living in a rabbit hutch, there isn't going to be room for roosts/perches or such. I agree that teaching them to sleep in a nest box is probably not the best idea, but when you're limited on space, which would you prefer? A nest you have to clean out in the morning or a dead cold chicken? Truthfully, I think the chicken will be fine by itself even if it gets below freezing, because it's not going to happen very often in L.A. unless you live near a canyon where the cold air settles in. Low lying areas will get pretty cold by CA standards, but in the city it's pretty rare.
If you have a garage, bring the whole hutch into the garage for the nights that are forecasted to drop below freezing. Otherwise, unless she's showing signs of being cold, I wouldn't worry about it. She comes equipped with a down coat.

 

[SussexInSeattle]

That's an assumption that there is a nest box. Nothing has ever been said about a nest box and if a single alone chicken needs to sleep in a nest box in the cold of a Los Angeles night, then I should wake up to 10 dead chickens in the morning in my barn, complete with thermometer that reads below freezing multiple times this month and ALL 10 have slept on perches, not in their nest boxes. IF LA weather had as many freezing temps as we have had here, that chicken should have already died.

 

[SharonX]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain lives in Alaska. Brrrrrrrr..... I do not know how a chicken could survive a -50F without some human support and some mittins or boots or sumpthin. I suspect they are not 'natives' to the region.

In LA, I suspect it may be us humans relating a bit too much to the bird. We can't imagine sleeping on an open perch on a freezing night, so we've got to offer a nest box with a warm blankie.

 

[LynneP]

There are so many variables. Those of us with cold-hardy birds raised in extreme temps will have well-feathered individuals, but even then we have to be careful. We're at -10 C with wind chill of -19C so I'm going down to the coop early today to close the pop door and settle the hens early. It's also a promise to myself to check them an extra time today. We have power and the heated dog bowl is working which is the key, but I'd rather not have frost bite on their combs. I can see them the odd time they come out and check the surroundings on their snow platform, but they're turning around rather quickly and going back inside. They're also eating tons of pellets today and some mixed seed, cabbage and apple that I left in the coop as treats. So long as they're exercising and not huddling I don't worry much.

But I lived in WA, BC or CA in a zone where the cold is new to my birds I'd be quite concerned.

 

[MARSON2]

Hi,

I am Jim from Michigan, My 27 pullets are fine in an 8 x 12 coop with

a brooder light (red) and I ordered a thermal cube so when I add

another light if it goes below 0 f it will come on at 20f and off at 30f


Jim

 

[bart40330]

Here in the 40330 it got down to -10 a couple of nights ago with the wind chill. I have two easter egger hens, three red comets, three four month old silkies, and two eight month old silkie roosters.

My coop is not the best in the world. It keeps out predators, but that is due to use of rat wire (hardware cloth). I made it out of wooden palates. It has a tarp for a roof.

Anyway, when I came out that morning it was 8 degrees. I opened up the door, and there they were just as happy as they could be.

So I wouldn't be worried about a chicken freezing to death in Los Angeles.

You got to keep in mind that sparrows and cardinals for example or nonmigratory and a lot smaller than a chicken. They seem to do just fine in harsh winters.

 

[Akane]

My guess on 2 scenarios: If the rabbit "coop" (hutch?) is all wire with no shelter then for one I don't think it's a proper shelter for animals anyway and second I would not leave the chicken out there below 40 with any type of wind. If the chicken has a solid 4 sided shelter not exposed to wind and a lot of warm bedding ( I would do straw over shavings) to tuck away in then I would say 15F or so going by my japanese bantams, EE, and mixed breed standards. You would have to watch the individual though and see how it's handling the temps. Moving the pen into a building where there would be no wind and less heat lost through the sides of the sleeping area would increase the minimum safe temp. Chickens do handle cold pretty well. Mine have not only survived but continued to act normal through the -10F and windchills below -30 already this year without insulation or any real heat source and a very small number of chickens for the size of the coop. I do keep the coop door closed if the wind is blowing that way. Even the younger ones (maybe 2 months old now) I moved out there last month run around just fine with no heat.

Personally I think my chickens stay warmer if they don't roost. When they huddle together down in the deep straw they stay warmer than sitting up in the open air. They can get dirtier but if you keep the area your chickens are in clean such as with a smaller enclosure that only has a handful of chickens I think it's a fine setup. I just moved 3 japs inside for house chickens and they have no roosts. They dig a little indent in the shavings and all sleep together even if they aren't cold. I've found the japs much prefer a nice flat surface to sit together instead of using the roosts. They'll cram together on the boards that make up the wall supports and the rafters instead of the roosts. That way their entire body is flat on the board and setting against the wall instead of hanging out in the air. The younger ones still sleep in a straw nest in the corner I made for them when I moved them out even though their heat lamp has been relocated to hang over the waterer.

I would like to mention that chickens are social. I do not agree with keeping one all alone outdoors. If you can't keep more than one then I would either give it away to someone who can or bring it inside to be a house chicken so it at least gets interaction from people. They do make chicken diapers.