Wind chill doesn’t count, right?

[Shepherdess]

Throw old blankets, sheets or fabric tarps crumpled down on your floor. You would have to toss them after the cold ends but they will protect feet.

Wrap your coop in plastic leaving a vent uncovered. Helps dramatically with temps

 

[Tinalein]

It’s going to be -20 to -40 where I live this weekend. But that’s with windchill. If the chickens are in a coop, that doesn’t count, right?

I know it’s a silly question but I’m worried all the same.

I’ve had a hen lose her feet due to frostbite - 10 years ago and in a different situation…but it still haunts me.

I have good ventilation. It’s been fine but maybe close it up for a couple of days? I’m pretty sparse on bedding currently. I have stall pellets and they’re hard to manage in the winter.

I need to moisten them inside the house so they fluff. Then wait for them to dry before putting into the coop. I won’t have time to add more before the arctic front comes.

Pray and be thankful to God for his guidance and protection. He knows what is best.

 

[arazla]

It's a great question and one that seems to spark a lot of debate. It's good to be concerned. There isn't a ton of research on how cold affects chickens, but I think it's important to review. What we do have suggests that chickens ARE very susceptible to cold stress, despite conventional beliefs.

Windchill IS important. When thinking of ventilation, consider how much wind will get in through the holes and more rapidly lower the overall temperature. I think ventilation is a bit of a science and there's no one rule fits all. Humidity is also part of the equation. It depends on your coop and how high the ceilings are, etc. Hopefully high enough and above their heads. Personally, since I have a lot of roosters with large combs, reducing the ventilation a bit has helped minimize frostbite.

https://extension.umn.edu/small-scale-poultry/caring-chickens-cold-weather
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10741227
https://www.poultryworld.net/poultry/layers/novel-approach-to-reduce-cold-stress-in-layers/

Humane sanctuaries generally advised taking precautions:
https://opensanctuary.org/the-care-of-chicken-residents-in-extreme-cold/

 

[lisavhaar]

It’s going to be -20 to -40 where I live this weekend. But that’s with windchill. If the chickens are in a coop, that doesn’t count, right?

I know it’s a silly question but I’m worried all the same.

I’ve had a hen lose her feet due to frostbite - 10 years ago and in a different situation…but it still haunts me.

I have good ventilation. It’s been fine but maybe close it up for a couple of days? I’m pretty sparse on bedding currently. I have stall pellets and they’re hard to manage in the winter.

I need to moisten them inside the house so they fluff. Then wait for them to dry before putting into the coop. I won’t have time to add more before the arctic front comes.

Hi, we use stall pellets exclusively and never wet them. The pellets will break down into sawdust on their own from the chickens walking on them.

 

[Chickadee_Mama]

I've been successful in cold weather like this by providing space that is ventilated near the roof so that no drafts are blowing on the chickens in the coop, wrapping our run with heavy plastic (1/3 of roof is actually hardware cloth), and then hanging tarps/large area rugs inside the run to create an outdoor area around the coop that is also free of drafts. It really does feel warmer in the run and coop because the wind has been blocked.
I also feed them plenty of protein. One of the younger ranchers out here advised me early on that animals can survive the cold in those conditions as long as you feed them plenty of protein. So, my chickens eat pretty well in this weather: rice with oregano, cayenne pepper and a little coconut oil; cornbread made with coconut oil and cayenne pepper; 'fried' rice with scrambled eggs, spinach and cocktail shrimp; canned corn; scratch (of course); oatmeal. Depending upon how cold it is, I feed them 3-4 meals throughout the day, something warm when they come out of the coop in the morning, and something warm before they go to bed. Oh, and cayenne pepper helps to keep them warm but the capsaicin doesn't burn their mouths. Just don't go overboard with it.
Also, I heated bricks in the oven this last storm - about an hour at 400 degrees. Wrapped them in thick towels so that the heat would dissipate more slowly and nestled the bricks down in the bedding under the roosts. I also use deep litter method which does seem to raise the temp about 10 degrees in the coop. Our electricity service is very unstable in bad weather so I never use constant heat as they would then be without it once the electricity went out (a friend lost about a 1/3 of her flock in the 2021 deep freeze for that reason). It feels like a nonstop job keeping them warm during storms, but they have emerged from the latest storm unscathed.
I hope your flock made it through the storm OK!

 

[GabrielleC]

We have put polycarbonate in the chicken run screening which stops the wind chill. In severe cold we don’t open the coop to the tun but @11 degrees today I opened them up. They had a great day. Their coop is insulated with good ventilation. It has not dropped below 20’ even with pretty significant wind chills.
They are happy girls and my 5 hens are giving me 3-5 eggs a day.
I have sand floors in both the coop and run. We have a roosting tray with PDZ sand. I clean daily which also give me time to chat with the girls. lol.
When it is really cold I turn on the 2 radiant panels. We have a heated waterline coming into the coop as well which helps to keep the temperature up.
So good luck with your girls. Maybe I have given you some ideas.

 

[MrsRoper78]

We stapled thick plastic clear sheeting from Home Depot around the two windy sides of the chicken run since they don't have a lot of indoor space available. It's really helped keep out the cold wind and rain that comes from the North. Their run has stayed dry and they are so much happier. It doesn't keep out the cold, but it's all but stopped the chilly wind. Now they are running around instead of looking like fluffy feather balls trying to stay warm.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Okay so our temps are back at 47 at night or 45 highs like 55.
Wet here hay or straw will mold here.
I have dirt floor lots of wood ash.
The coop is 12 x 30 with two tables of pallets and 2x4 two each covering all walls. They protect concrete blocks stacked 2 high the walls are on. Birds have 1/3 a acre to explore.
The walls there is ventilation stations every other space.
So set in is like every 4 feet each.
There are 16 birds in there.

 

[GLASSBACK]

It’s going to be -20 to -40 where I live this weekend. But that’s with windchill. If the chickens are in a coop, that doesn’t count, right?

I know it’s a silly question but I’m worried all the same.

I’ve had a hen lose her feet due to frostbite - 10 years ago and in a different situation…but it still haunts me.

I have good ventilation. It’s been fine but maybe close it up for a couple of days? I’m pretty sparse on bedding currently. I have stall pellets and they’re hard to manage in the winter.

I need to moisten them inside the house so they fluff. Then wait for them to dry before putting into the coop. I won’t have time to add more before the arctic front comes.

Hi from uk, Keeping the ladies indoors WILL make a huge difference to the environment they’re in! Out of the Wind is always best at those temperatures! You could give them some Warm porridge oats with warm water? There are opinions on whether you should provide a warm plate or a heat lamp inside the Coop?? But if you’re not sure? Cover the Coop with old blankets for insulation against the bitter cold!
Their feathers will insulate them to a degree, but a suspended warm plate will help keep the cold away a little for them. But just keep your eye on the temperature etc…Good luck

 

[Mother of Chaos]

As a highly non-scientific test of whether wrapping a wide open (except for hardware cloth) run in heavy clear plastic helps: my girls say yes, it does.

They’re out in the yard in the teens and 20’s, IF it’s not windy. If the wind is blowing hard and gusty, they go back in the run, perch up on the outdoor roosts, and discuss how incompetent the management has become.