Will my chickens be warm enough in an ark?

[chick4chix]

I live in San Diego and we are getting low 50's at night and over the next few months will get in the mid to low 40's at night. My question is... will my pullets be warm enough in the ark or should I put a blanket or light in it? The ark is open bottomed and they go up into the roosting area at night where they get closed in. It looks just like the Catawba Chicken Ark- thanks in advance.

 

[Opa]

San Diego and heat? Your chickens will do fine with out heat.

 

[chick4chix]

Thank you Opa- I wasn't sure since it's been many years since I had chickens- I thought with the open bottomed ark it might be a problem. I still need to figure out a covering for the ark in the rain- not that we get any (we are in a severe drought).
Love your chicken coop and run- beautiful!

 

[Opa]

Buy a 4x6 or 5x8 plastic tarp, attach 1x3 on two opposing sides. The tarp covers the ark, the 1x3 provides weight and rigidity to keep the wind from blowing it off. When not using place 1x3's together and roll up tarp.

 

[chick4chix]

Thank you I will do exactly that!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yes, as long as they don't have wind and rain blowing directly on them they should be fine. My chickens lived in our barn last winter, which is completely open on one side. Of course they all crammed as far as they could into the far side of the barn rafters, but they survived. Probably because the open side is facing south. This year, they will have a veritable fort knox to live in, so I won't have to worry about it

The only problems last year was that a few of my roos got frostbit combs, but they were OEGB, and those are normally dubbed anyway.

 

[KnitswithChickens]

My BIL lives in Maine and has had a flock for many years. He doesn't use any heat at all and his hens have all been fine.

 

[Uzuri]

My chickens just read this over my shoulder and all hitched a ride to your place. (we've already had two nights dip to freezing and no heat for them!)

 

[chick4chix]

Wow thanks everyone- I guess I'm just being a bit of a "worrier" over my babies

 

[elmo]

Your chickens are standard, right? Standard sized chickens should have no problem with those kind of temperatures provided they have a place to stay dry and out of the wind. They'll cuddle up together on the roost and keep each other warm.

We have bantams (Serama hybrids), so I need to be a little more careful about housing them in winter than if they were big girls.