Winter in Arkansass

[Guwisti]

This will be our first winter with our new pet chickens. Would like to hear from other west central Arkansas/ Eastern Oklahoma folks about winter precautions they take for their chickens. How low can it go before they need a heat lamp? what about their feet and combs in the weather?

We have 6 chickens that live in a modified dog house, they have a big open run (chicken wire on all sides). Tin roof covers half of the run. How to deal with freezing water as well?

We live in Van Buren, AR and any local advice for this area would be great! My DH gets more worried about "his girls" than I do. lol.

 

[Scott]

Your chickens should be fine through the winter as long as their house is dry and draft free. They will generate some heat by themselves in the house.

I live in Southeast Missouri. Our winters would be comparable to yours, perhaps a bit cooler. My chickens winter fine in their house without electricity. I simply cover their windows to cut down on any draft. As for water, that can be a pain. During the coldest days, when water can freeze, you have to replace the water each day so they have access to fresh, unfrozen water. If you can run electricity to your chicken house, then you can use a heated water bowl or similar heated water coil available at most farm supply stores. I don't have that option, so I'm considering putting a low wattage heat bulb (glass or ceramic) in the chicken house that would be powered by a solar panel. The idea is that the bulb will keep the coop just warm enough to keep the water from freezing.

Here is a picture of our chicken house during this winter's ice storm. Did you feel the effects of it where you are at? The chickens did fine, but the house took a beating from falling ice-covered branches. If I had it my way, we would just skip over winter.

 

[Ridgerunner]

As long as the chickens can get out of drafts and have adequate ventilation, they can handle weather colder than we get without supplemental heat or insulation. Your main danger is frostbite on their feet or combs and wattles. Wind chill can lower the effective temperature so they need to be out of drafts, especially when they roost. High humidity can make the effects of cold much worse, so you need ventilation to avoid moisture build-up from them or their droppings. Here is a link to Pat's ventilation page which does a pretty good job describing it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

As far as water, if you get one of those rubber water bowls you can turn it over, stomp on it to knock the ice out, and refill it. Since you have electricity in your coop, you can get a heated pet water bowl or rig up a heater in the stand beneath your water dish with a light bulb, heating pad, whatever, but I personally prefer the rubber water bowl. Less fire danger that way.

Just for reference, it got down to single digits twice here last year. Once was during the ice storm. We had no electricity for 4 days, so heat in the coop would not have helped anyway.

In cold climates, some people make their roosts out of 2x4's with the flat side up, on the theory that the chickens will roost on their feet and keep them warm. I find that unnecessary here. On your really cold nights if you are worried about frostbite, you can put vaseline on their combs and wattles. As you can probably guess, I don't.

 

[Scott]

You can also do as I do, keep winter hardy birds. I keep feather-footed cochins. Their profuse feathering makes them ideal for cold weather. I've read somewhere, however, that the heat of mid-summer is actually harder on chickens than the cold of winters. I don't know how true that is. I do know that my birds pant a lot in mid-summer and seem uncomfortable. In winter, however, they seem fine... they just stay inside on the coldest days. I've keep mine for a few years... never lost one to the cold, nor had one get frost bite.

 

[gritsar]

I keep a winter hardy breed also and don't have to take any special precautions in the wintertime.
They have an insulated (1/2" insulation board) coop. There are shutters to cover the large windows. One window is 4' H x 8' L, the other is 4' H by approx. 5' L. I close the shutters if nighttime temps. are going to drop below 40 and in severe weather.
Other than that, I don't do anything special. They were out and about every day last winter; even during the ice storm. They have the choice and they chose to be out. They were absolutely fine.