Chickens - How Cold Is Too Cold?

[WinterDeere]

We've had chickens the last ~10 years, and have never had much trouble with cold, even occasional dips below 0F. We routinely get a week of single-digit nights, and while I'm sure they don't love it, there have been no lasting ill-effects.

Heating a coop is a very bad idea. Lots of coop fires, and the chickens don't need it in most "lower 48" climates. All you're doing is making them soft, and ensuring a dependency on heat, which they otherwise shouldn't need. They are wearing down coats, you know!

Careful about closing the coop up, as you had mentioned in the OP. Chickens (and their poop) put off a huge amount of moisture and ammonia into the air. As much as you want to protect them from the cold, they need constant ventilation. Just make sure it's not drafting directly onto them. A typical method is a vent down low and a vent in the roof, covered by a hard awning. I think the rule of thumb is 1 sq.ft. per chicken in smaller coops, but this can be reduced in larger coops. The forum at backyardchickens will clear you up on that.

My own coop is 16 sq.ft. and standing height, with a sliding window and a 4 sq.ft. vent in the roof. The vented portion of the roof is covered by the roof of the adjoining run, so no rain or snow gets in. I keep the sliding window open wide in summer, and just cracked about 3 inches (so maybe 48 sq.in. opening) in winter, with the opening being the farthest corner of the coop from their roosting bar.

Buying breeds that are known to be suited to your climate is key. I tried Brahmas at one point, which love the cold, but died of heat stroke in our summer heat waves. I've had good luck here near Philly with Barred Rock and Asian Black, as well as an Easter Egger that is just an incredible laying machine the last 6 years. That Easter Egger lays a beautiful green egg every day for about 9 months of the year, but unfortunately since all Easter Eggers are mutts of one sort or another, I doubt I'll ever be so lucky to get the same again.

 

[jyoutz]

I'd seen them, but their capacity was much smaller than I needed. I'd have to change it daily. I wanted something I could change weekly.

You must have a lot of birds because the 3 gallon unit I bought lasts about 3 days for a dozen birds in the summer.

 

[Jstpssng]

You must have a lot of birds because the 3 gallon unit I bought lasts about 3 days for a dozen birds in the summer.

I was wondering about that. I'm putting out about 2 quarts for my 6 birds and they don't drink it all.

 

[jyoutz]

I was wondering about that. I'm putting out about 2 quarts for my 6 birds and they don't drink it all.

They go through a lot less with those nipple waterers because there is little spillage or evaporation. And the water stays clean.

 

[Jstpssng]

They go through a lot less with those nipple waterers because there is little spillage or evaporation. And the water stays clean.

I have the nipples to make one, but have never gotten around to it. This time of year they'd freeze anyways as I don't have power to the building. It isn't a big deal to dump a gallon of water into their bucket on the way past every day. I have a couple of hundred dollars tied up in the galvanized founts but have never been able to get them to work right.

 

[jyoutz]

I have the nipples to make one, but have never gotten around to it. This time of year they'd freeze anyways as I don't have power to the building. It isn't a big deal to dump a gallon of water into their bucket on the way past every day. I have a couple of hundred dollars tied up in the galvanized founts but have never been able to get them to work right.

The the water in the galvanized founts always seem to get dirty really fast. With the nipple and closed bucket the water stays clean. Without power to keep water from freezing, it’s going to be a daily (or several times a day) chore to provide drinkable water. I deal with that with the water trough for the steers. Every day I break ice. I have power to heat a trough but those heaters use 1500 watts and cost about $50-60/month to operate. The water bucket for the chickens draws such low power that I don’t even notice the difference in the electric bill. Too bad that you can’t run power to the site. Direct burial cable doesn’t cost much for a 15 or 20 amp circuit.

 

[fatjay]

You must have a lot of birds because the 3 gallon unit I bought lasts about 3 days for a dozen birds in the summer.

26 birds, easily 1.5-2 gallons a day. They may have slowed down a bit with the cooler weather but so far it doesn't seem like much.

 

[jyoutz]

Just keep it above freezing. We get 7500 eggs a day per house, four houses. Lights on from 4:45 am to 9:00 pm. Lay eggs all year.

I’m curious how you collect that many eggs each day.

 

[BoylermanCT]

My coop is a 12x16 shed. Insulated 2x4 construction. I have 20 chickens and 20 ducks. Each bird generates the equivalent of 5 watts of heat, so they heat the coop. The coop rarely drops below freezing even though most winter nights we are in the teens or twenties. If the coop is dry and draft free, you should not need external heat in most locations in the US. I have the top pane of two windows on opposite ends of the shed cracked open about an inch all winter long so there is air exchange going on all the time. Without that, the coop becomes cold and humid / damp which is a bad combination. I do the top window so the wind is not blowing on the chickens who roost at 3' off the ground. Opening the bottom pane would cause the breeze to blow on the chickens.

 

[Yander]

I’m curious how you collect that many eggs each day.

He will respond to your post when he is done collecting eggs LOL