This is my first winter (in Michigan) with chickens so I need some help please...
1. Do I let my chickens out in the snow? If so, how deep of snow can I let them out in?
2. Right now it's 10 degrees outside - How low of a temperature can I let them out into?
3. Do they have enough sense to go back in if it's too cold for them?
4. What about wind on a cold day; is wind an issue?? If so, how warm does it need to be outside before wind is not an issue?
5. Do I have to worry about frostbite?
We have 6 inches of snow on the ground and temperatures have remained below freezing. They have been in the coop for several days and would love to go outside, but I don't want to put them in danger.
I'd appreciate any help you can give this "green" chicken lady!
Help please! How cold outside is safe for chickens?
Hey, Glenda. I was hoping someone else would get back to you, as I'm no expert, but I'll try. First, I don't know what breeds you have: hopefully cold-tolerant ones with small combs.
1. My chickens go out in the snow, but I let them choose: obviously they're not going out if it's deep. They always have the coop to return to.
2. They can manage (well, the well-feathered breeds) very cold temperatures pretty well, if there's no wind.
3. YES! Unless we're talking about one of the breeds not meant to live past six months old like the Cornish Cross, they have sense enough to come in out of the cold.
4. Okay, wind is your biggest issue. Because the feathers protect against cold and precipitation both with down/fluff and the exterior "shingling," wind messes all that up by ruffling up the feathers. That's why, while a cold coop isn't very nice for chickens, a drafty one is downright dangerous (in cold weather). Again, I let the chickens choose whether or not they want to brave the weather, but the draft-free coop is always there for them to return to.
5. Frostbite is a real problem for chickens with large combs that stick up off of the head. That's why the Wyandottes and Brahmas have an advantage: their combs are close to the head and don't get so cold. Their feet are also at risk for frostbite: nice wide roosts really help with that as they can cover all of the foot with their body/feathers. Narrow roosts force the toes around where the feathers can't warm them.
If your girls are getting crazy in there, throw a bale of straw in there or something to play with (a pumpkin halved, an old log, whatever). Shoe gave me the good advice of cooking up potatoes for the chickens and giving them to them warm (but not hot) in the morning. Mine appreciate a jug of warm water poured into their dish and a bunch of warm oatmeal on the really frigid days. We have a red heat lamp over the roosts tonight. It won't keep it warm or anything, but it might take the edge off the cold.
Here's a link to a forum at the Coop that addresses this issue. If you do a search in their forums, you'll find lots more, I'm sure. http://www.the-coop.org/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=002807
Good luck!
Here are some more threads on this topic: http://www.the-coop.org/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=002647#000003
http://www.the-coop.org/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=001533;p=2#000016
http://www.the-coop.org/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=001972#000002
http://www.the-coop.org/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=000412#000001
http://www.the-coop.org/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=001342#000000
http://www.the-coop.org/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=002196#000006
Thanks Zeppy! Your post is a lot of help.
I have 2 Rhode Island Reds (hens), 2 Millie Fleurs (rooster and hen), 1 Frizzle (hen), and 2 Ameraucanas (hens).
I'll keep an eye on the wind and find things for them to do. ;)
Glenda ~ : >
WEll, I'm totally bummed out. I lost one of my fabulous girls to the bitter cold last night. :( A little silkie called Artemis Fowl, who terrorized the rest of the girls, big and small. She was so mean to them that no one would sleep near her! So, she died in the cold. But, at least she died doing what she loved ~ being extra broody on eggs, plastic and real.
Glenda my coop is VERY cold...water freezes in there.
My chickens have survived night time lows of -15 below for a week straight with no deaths just some frost bit combs. As long as they have plenty of food plus some cracked corn and warm water daily they will be fine.
We are experiencing some bitter cold. Everybody is okay.
Silkies aren't very hardy. With their soft feathers they really added protection like a warm coop or heat lamps.
I gave up on Silkies years ago because I found them to be quite fragile..
this topic is sure on my mind this week....the coop was down to 5 degrees this morning but it seems that everyone is ok....the coop is in a steel sided barn with a heated waterer and a heat lamp....the goats are in the next pen so I think they add to the 'heat' in the barn. That and high protein chicken feed plus extra scratch at night....and deep litter this time of year too. The hens and I are ready for a little temperature relief though
I'll be glad when this "snap" is over. Ran hot water & warm oatmeal out to the girls at dawn.
I would bring a silkie inside a garage or mudroom in the bitter cold. As we're the ones who've bred them to be vulnerable, I guess I think it's fair to help them out in this weather. I'm sorry about your Artemis Fowl, Backyard Hens.
WEll, my other silkies are okay, and Artemis made it through last year fine. I've been keeping everyone out of the wind, in the coop with plenty to eat, and warmed water to drink, in the heated waterer. Do you think I should bring the silkies in at night?
okay, and what i mean by that is into the house, and crated in a dog crate for sleeping.
This message was edited Feb 6, 2007 7:59 PM
I think if they're doing okay all together, that's great. It seems like they're certainly meant to huddle up side by side in the coop, and you've got a good setup. I worry sometimes when I've got a broody off by herself in a cold snap like this and might bring one in if it were going down in the single digits. Unless the hen were a brahma or something really heavily feathered like that. I worry more in really hot weather though.
You know, I wasn't meaning to come across judgmental in my previous post -- I just re-read it. Things happen. And silkies always seem so fragile but fiesty (like a yorkshire terrier, I guess)... perhaps someday I'll be brave enough to take a few on.
Last winter I put a heat lamp over the roost. It didn't put out a lot of heat, but maybe just enough to keep them from getting too cold. I noticed when they were really cold, they moved over closer to it for warmth. That might be an idea for silkies if bringing them inside is not an option.
Ya'll might also want to keep in mind the proper sizing for a chicken coop. If a coop is too big for the amount of chickens living in it then they will be much colder than a coop that is sized for the proper number of chickens.
In other words, the body heat from the chickens will help keep them much warmer if their coop is geared towards the number of chickens living in there. For example, 12 chickens living in a "big warehouse" will give them shelter from rain and snow but will not help them out with warmth. Conversely, 12 chickens living in a coop that is approximately 48 sq feet will hold in enough of their body heat that no supplemental heating would be necessary. (That figure is for general purpose breeds, Reds and Plymouth Rocks, for example.)
A light over head will certainly help with heat but most importantly will also help them to continue to offer eggs during many of the Winter months. (As a kindness, even though I have a light on to stretch "daylight hours" to 14 hrs per day in Winter months, I tend to allow the chickens to get a break during January and/or February by turning the light off.)
Hope this is helpful.
Shoe.
I have 13 silkies and 2 bantams, they are doing fine in there coop in this cold weather. They do all sleep in a pile together. I was worried sick the first night and went up to the coop and they were there happy selves. I read early in the fall not to clean out the coop but just to add new bedding and that seems to be gererating heat for them. The only problem I'm having is 2 of my silkie girls are dipping there heads in the water. Every day I blow dry them, not sure why they are doing this. They love the blow drier, DH thinks now they do it to come into the house, LOL.
Cathy
Hah, those wet-headed silkies have you trained well, Cathy!
I can just see them waking themselves up each morning by splashing water on their faces to get the sleep out of their eyes (so to speak)!
Shoe
Horseshoe said:
"For example, 12 chickens living in a "big warehouse" will give them shelter from rain and snow but will not help them out with warmth...."
Shoe, I'm gonna quote you on that to the DH...looks like I need more chickens! ;-D
Catherine
Oh m'gosh!!! Glad to see that you and hubby are in Illinois, way out of gunshot range of me! (He's gonna get me now, ain't he!!) What have I done and got m'self into!?
*grinnin' here!
Shoe
well, Shoe, I AM traveling your way the first week of May....I promise not to bring your any surprises from the DH.....;-D.
Temp this morning at 7 a.m. was -8....and my girls delivered almost a dozen eggs - can Spring be far behind?
Catherine
Well, i got suckered into bringing in the two gals ( one silkie, one frizzle) that sleep together, but not with the other gals, last night. They loved it. The other girls ( including the silkie that can for some reason FLY up to the roost) are fine. and tonight it isnt as cold.
No offense taken, Zeppy.
cbrandenburg, that's exactly what the silkie who died would do! I think that is part of why she got so cold. How bizzare!
I was wondering what would make a chicken dunk it's head in the water. DH thinks because the water is warmer than inside the coop. We have a font heater (I think that's what it's called) and it keeps the water warm. I hope the others don't learn this trick, I can't be blowing drying chickens all day, LOL.
Cathy
MAybe, I have a heated dog bowl, which keeps the water warm as well... hmmm.....
crandenburg, it sounds like she's wanting a hot-tub. lol