Cold Chickens?

[Steelstring]

This is our first winter with chickens. We have a nice chicken coop that is fully enclosed. When it starts to get cold, do we need to provide any heat for them? I have a heat lamp in there, but I'm not sure its really necessary. What do any of you with chickens do over the winter to keep them warm....if anything?

Thanks!

 

[SandburRanch]

This is our first winter with chickens. We have a nice chicken coop that is fully enclosed. When it starts to get cold, do we need to provide any heat for them? I have a heat lamp in there, but I'm not sure its really necessary. What do any of you with chickens do over the winter to keep them warm....if anything?

Thanks!

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In a nice enclosed coop they'll do fine down to around 0°F if their roost is high in the structure. Below zero some with larger combs may frost bite but it doesn't seem to bother them too much although I never liked to see that.

 

[cdaigle430]

This is our first winter with chickens. We have a nice chicken coop that is fully enclosed. When it starts to get cold, do we need to provide any heat for them? I have a heat lamp in there, but I'm not sure its really necessary. What do any of you with chickens do over the winter to keep them warm....if anything?

Thanks!

Hay and a heat lamp are a pretty great start. Its all my brother in law does for his chickens and it can be 30 below here in the winter.

 

[bucktaker]

Are your chicken fully grown and feathered? if not definetly need a heat lamp.

We are on our second flock of chickens and i am of the opion once they start roosting for the night they are good to go in a draft free non heated coop

 

[RobertBrown]

This is our first winter with chickens. We have a nice chicken coop that is fully enclosed. When it starts to get cold, do we need to provide any heat for them? I have a heat lamp in there, but I'm not sure its really necessary. What do any of you with chickens do over the winter to keep them warm....if anything?

Thanks!

If your going to have chickens you need this.
Raising BackYard Chickens, Build a Chicken Coop, Pictures of Breeds
Everything you want to know is here...Heat depends on your coop, how tight it is, what kind of chickens you have, and how much wind can get on it. A 100 watt light, carefully placed, (don't start a fire) will not hurt.
You don't want the water to freeze, they need a constant fresh water source.

 

[creekbend]

It's been many years since we raised chickens on my Parents' farm, but I will supply you with what I remember. Chickens, in general, can handle cold weather better than extreme hot temperatures. I don't know how many you have or the size of your chickens, but chickens stay warmer in numbers. They cannot tolerate cold drafts very well. A reminder: try to keep your chicken coop well ventilated without allowing the introduction of sustained cold drafts. A heat lamp will provide adequate heat on extreme cold days, but it really isn't necessary 24/7. Just keep the heat lamp above the area without it being too close. Another important factor is to try and keep the coop free of excessive litter in colder weather. Good Luck. Sincerely hope that this helps somewhat.

 

[Steelstring]

Thanks for all of the replies! The chickens are fully grown and feathered, so it sounds like I don't need to worry too much. Maybe I'll kick the heat lamp on when it gets really cold.

Great info. I appreciate it!!

By the way, raising chickens has been more fun than I imagined. The kids love it and I get fresh eggs in the morn!

Thanks again!

 

[RobertBrown]

Thanks for all of the replies! The chickens are fully grown and feathered, so it sounds like I don't need to worry too much. Maybe I'll kick the heat lamp on when it gets really cold.

Great info. I appreciate it!!

By the way, raising chickens has been more fun than I imagined. The kids love it and I get fresh eggs in the morn!

Thanks again!

True, and when you consider that some people keep birds like parrots or finches in cages, in the house, get no eggs and have to listen to them, and clean the cages...... Chickens make a lot of sense.

 

[Combustix]

Draft free coup I believe is the key. We don't heat or light our birds in the winter, though it only gets below 32 for a couple weeks or so. They roost up high and all huddle together.

 

[Mousefield]

We have had chickens for 10 years, while it does not get as cold here as some places it can be below freezing for a few weeks at a time. We have eggs layers and they are adults (pullets) when we get them. We do not provide heat for them but we will close the windows at night. You do not want an air tight coop as you will probably get mold pretty quickly, so we do have a bit of ventilation in the coop. Lots of shavings topped by some hay is what is on the floor of the coop, this gets changed out about every 3 weeks.

 

[Combustix]

The chicken palace, that is a pretty nice set up, with sky lights:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[bp fick]

The breeds we love and keep today were mostly developed in New England: Rhode Island Red, The New Hampsire, The Plymouth Rocks, and in New York and Wisconsin: The Wyandottes, and in Ohio: The Buckeye, etc.

Cold places. Without electricity. The Plymouth Colony kept chickens, introducing them to the area, as did the earlier Jamestown Colony.

The North American breeds were kept, bred and improved over centuries here without electricity and we have the descendants of those birds today. If the bird had needed heat, it would have gone extinct long ago. The fire danger of a heat lamp and straw is all too real. Won't do a lot for your electric bill either.

I keep chickens here in an uninsulated barn, with no heat and we got to -30 last winter, a couple times and they were just fine. Chicken have been known to sleep outside, in the boughs of evergreen trees, and some prefer to do so.

Just make sure you have lots of upper eave vents or roof vents. Chicken poop is wet and a dozen birds expire gallons of water in breathing. It is humidity that freezes and causes frostbite, not the temps per se. Keep them dry and sheltered, use a heated waterer, and they'll be just fine.

I have 30 chickens in the barn you see pictured. Here's a YouTube of the flock. Chickens - YouTube

 

[forgeblast]

The main thing is to keep the water from freezing. My chickens are outside in all temps and the colder it is the more they want to be outside. I have a red cfl light in the coop and made a heater to keep the waterer from freezing but the small chicken door that lets them out is kept open all year long.
I have heard on the back yard chicken site that the best thing for winter is to have enough space for them. This gets rid of the moisture in the water vapor and keeps them from getting frost bite.

 

[Concordriver]

I keep a 250 w. infrared heating bulb in my coop. I don't think the chickens really need it. But, for some reason, the light stimulates the chickens to lay eggs much more than they do without the light.

 

[Egon]

Did someone mention Chicken Houses and Venting??

At one time in my life I had the priveledge of feeding the chickens and cleaning the Chicken House every Saturday!!

The atmosphere is bound to clear out the sinuses!:thumbsup:

 

[nybirdman]

My father raised all kinds of domestic fowl for many years.Never provided heat in the winter(Northern NY).I raise game birds mostly pheasant but have wintered Bob-White Quail...even the quail with no heat.Draft free indoor available building.Pheasant "prefer" to be outside even in the coldest,windiest days.

 

[NorTracNY]

I'm also in the no heat but enclosed, ventilated coop. I guess I'd like to find if others have observed what I have over the last several years of keeping chickens. First year chickens that start laying before winter will slow down to 1 egg every 2 or 3 days, but after the first winter they shut down completely.

 

[aczlan]

I'm also in the no heat but enclosed, ventilated coop. I guess I'd like to find if others have observed what I have over the last several years of keeping chickens. First year chickens that start laying before winter will slow down to 1 egg every 2 or 3 days, but after the first winter they shut down completely.

Ours slow down, but keep laying. We have a CFL on a timer to give them extra "daylight" (10-12 hrs of light/day IIRC) and a heater set on low to keep the (insulated, enclosed but with a door open) coop above freezing (it usually stays around 40).

Aaron Z

 

[Mousefield]

We use a timer to turn on a light early in the morning so they get at least 14 hours of "daylight". It is a "day" light bulb so it gives off a more natural light. Snowing lightly here today, just around freezing, our 89 girls still give us around 80 - 83 eggs :licking: a day. As I mentioned in my earlier post, as have others, you need to make sure there is ventilation. I have been to see coops that were just full of mildew/mold. There is a lot of moisture in that chicken poop.

 

[duckhunter27]

Chickens don't need much heat to survive . but if they are egg layers they will stop or slow way down when its cold but if you keep alittle heat in the coop they will lay lay lay all winter long.