Will my chickens be warm enough???

[Frizzlett98]

I have 17 chickens, 2 of which are cold hardy (Barred Rocks) and some who are ok in cold and others who are not. It is supposed to get down to 30F tonight with a frost advisory from 4am to 10am. I went to put the heat lamp up and as soon as it came on, everyone jumps on the roosts and some hens begin pecking others. I decided against the heat lamp because the pecking wouldn't stop. As soon as the lamp went off... silence. The pecking and squawking stopped. I have a fear the water will freeze and my birds as well. I have a frizzle Cochin, smooth feathered Cochin, Silkies, Red Sex Links, Cuckoo Marans, Tetra Tints and of course, Barred Rocks. There's 17 all together. Will they be warm enough? This is the coldest night so far. Tomorrow night it's going to be 41F for the low. I wanted the heat lamp on mostly so their water wouldn't freeze and because its 10 to 15 degrees colder than it has been all at once.

 

[bobbi-j]

They'll be fine as long as they are in a well-ventilated coop and out of any inclement weather. There are people who raise chickens (even the froo-froo chickens like you have) in colder temps than that. As the nights get cooler, the chickens will huddle together on the roost to keep warm. Your coop will be warmer than the outside air temperature, so your water shouldn't freeze. If it does, put fresh water out there for them in the morning. They don't drink at night anyway. If you're too worried about it, bring the waterer inside for the night. I use a heated water bowl for my chickens in the winter. I live in MN where we can have temps well below zero for days and nights on end. I usually put the windows back in the coop when it gets into the 20's at night...

 

[sunflour]

I'm in GA, but my BR and BO's had no problem last winter even with a low of 5 degrees F and that day only a high of 11 degrees F…no heat in coop, but had to carry new water out every few hours 'cause even with a light below water it froze. We made a Light bulb in cement block heater base for our water fount and had problems only when temps went below 25 or so. Hope this helps.

Even with the coldest days, chickens acted like it was a day at the beach.

 

[bobbi-j]

Chickens can handle cold much better than heat.

 

[Frizzlett98]

We made an old shed into a coop. The whole front is chicken wire with 3 doors. We have 2 run type fenced in areas. One of which they have access to day and night. So there's a big "hole" in the wall for them to go out. We can cover that up for winter but will it be necessary? Since is is an old shed, it is drafty. I'm guessing I have a LOT of work to do before it starts to get really cold.

 

[aldarita]

We made some research when we were thinking about getting CCTV cameras in the coop and found out chickens can see infrared light. This is why your chickens went ballistic when you put the heat lamp in the coop, I bet it was an infrared light. We installed the cameras but turn off the infrared light, now I can only watch them during the day.
I have Mediterranean chickens which are heat hardy but not cold hardy, they are predicting a bad winter here in south Texas which is on heard off because our winters are very mild. This will be the first winter for them (they are 6 pullets) so I am considering adding a radiant heater to the coop (we got it 2 years ago but have not used it) It will add some heat just enough to keep the temps a little above freezing.

 

[pdirt]

We made an old shed into a coop. The whole front is chicken wire with 3 doors. We have 2 run type fenced in areas. One of which they have access to day and night. So there's a big "hole" in the wall for them to go out. We can cover that up for winter but will it be necessary? Since is is an old shed, it is drafty. I'm guessing I have a LOT of work to do before it starts to get really cold.

A picture or two would be helpful and I think you'd get better replies. Not sure how "drafty" your shed actually is by your description. Do you think it blocks most of the wind? If so, it might be fine, unless you have very high winds. Yes, the coop need to be tight enough to cut down on drafts, but you also want ventilation, too.

 

[Frizzlett98]

I have a picture of the whole thing on another thread. I'm on my tablet or else I'd get put the picture on this one. It blocks out most of the wind. There's a few holes I need to patch up. I'm probably going to have to sell all of them next year so just enough to get them through the winter should be fine. My main concern is the water. I know they don't drink much at night I just don't have time to change frozen water every morning. We've been having high winds today. And I think we will again tomorrow. But it does block out most of the high wind we had today. I was in the coop and barely felt any wind.

 

[Frizzlett98]

I have some ideas to make it work. We'll see if the water freezes or not tonight and go from there I guess. Thanks for all the quick replies!!!

 

[aart]

I have a picture of the whole thing on another thread. I'm on my tablet or else I'd get put the picture on this one. It blocks out most of the wind. There's a few holes I need to patch up. I'm probably going to have to sell all of them next year so just enough to get them through the winter should be fine. My main concern is the water. I know they don't drink much at night I just don't have time to change frozen water every morning. We've been having high winds today. And I think we will again tomorrow. But it does block out most of the high wind we had today. I was in the coop and barely felt any wind.

You'll have to make time. I have 2 one gallon waterers, I take a fresh one out in the morning and pick up the dirty(or frozen) one. Takes 5-10 minutes. I rinse out the dirty one and hang it to dry....or let the frozen one thaw in the laundry tub before rinsing.

This is the best(only) way to know.

They'll probably be fine, it's hard the first year until you observe their behavior thru the cold weather.