# Cold nights



## KJEgloff (Apr 2, 2013)

Hello, our gals are about 5mo old now ... So this is my first winter as a chicken momma. What temp is cold enough to need to do something other than shut them in the coop? What do I do? I don't want them to get too cold or sick or anything.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

They are plenty old enough to handle very cold temps. I mean very cold, minus zero in the teens cold if you have a good coop with proper ventilation they should be fine. 
Make sure they have a roost that allows them to cover their feet with their breast feathers when they roost at night and you should avoid any frost bite issues on their feet.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Cold as in where do you live?


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

They need good ventilation (watch for any ice or water forming on the inside walls or ceiling as that means not enough ventilation.)

They need good wide perches... The wide side of a 2x4 is good.

Make sure there is no wind hitting them when they are roosting at night, also a mostly wind free area where the food and water is it great.

Make sure they have plenty of food (the colder it gets, the more they eat). They need water, liquid water at least twice a day. However, liquid water all day long is best.

If you want eggs, they will need light (the new cold to the touch Christmas lights are the safest with the lowest fire risk, and their dim light is bright enough).

If your temps are below -40F for extended periods (a week or more) then consider some heat. However, it doesn't need to be electrical heat.... You might want to have deep litter and make sure it is a true active compost pile.


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## KJEgloff (Apr 2, 2013)

Wow! Ok, we are good. It freezes here a few nights a year. Never snows. We live in Vacaville, CA. We will put a second roost in for them, we currently have a 2x2, but a 2x4 with the flat side will fit in our coop no problem. 

They leave the coop daily to go eat and drink in the run, should I still put lights in the coop so they can start laying?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I wouldn't put in the lights. Birds that are new to laying usually don't hold out for the longer daylight days. 

I'm also one of those that doesn't recommend using lights strictly for the increased egg laying. The shorter days is a time for the birds to take a break and recover from laying through most of the longer days. Basically, without that time out it wears them out faster.


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## casportpony (Aug 22, 2015)

KJEgloff said:


> Wow! Ok, we are good. It freezes here a few nights a year. Never snows. We live in Vacaville, CA. We will put a second roost in for them, we currently have a 2x2, but a 2x4 with the flat side will fit in our coop no problem.
> 
> They leave the coop daily to go eat and drink in the run, should I still put lights in the coop so they can start laying?


Hello from Gilroy, CA!


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

I understand the "give the girls a break" concept... But up here, if you don't give them light, you might as well toss them into a well.

You can adjust the number of hours of light that you give them, so just 10 hours of light a day doesn't force them to lay, but DOES give them enough time to eat and drink.

Only five hours or less of daylight, when it is super cold, isn't long enough to maintain health, they just can't pack in enough feed fast enough... Unless you feed them close to straight suet..... If it gets super cold... Maybe still not enough eating time.

Also... How many people want eggs for only three months out of every year? Dunno... But I prefer more production than that.

However, I do not think it is good for them to be laying when it is -20 or colder, way too much stress on the body.

So many factors to consider!

Egloff, if your girls haven't ever layed, they might not lay until spring. Of course, for you that might mean January, which isn't that long of a wait.


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## KJEgloff (Apr 2, 2013)

Wow Alaskan, all the more reasons to stay in Cali.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

KJEgloff said:


> Wow! Ok, we are good. It freezes here a few nights a year. Never snows. We live in Vacaville, CA. We will put a second roost in for them, we currently have a 2x2, but a 2x4 with the flat side will fit in our coop no problem.
> 
> They leave the coop daily to go eat and drink in the run, should I still put lights in the coop so they can start laying?


Glad you said where you live, it puts "cold" into perspective.
I get frozen windshield here in Florida about 5 nights a year. So I don't worry about the cold. Most of my birds are in outside pens with a cover. The heat is a main concern of mine. The other thing is that if it gets to lets say 27 degrees, it's really only for maybe 4 hours, then it crawls back up to 50.

If I lived in a place where freezing temps lasted for a week, I may think about adding something. For my comfort, LOL

For negative degrees, I have no game plan.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

seminolewind said:


> Glad you said where you live, it puts "cold" into perspective.
> I get frozen windshield here in Florida about 5 nights a year. So I don't worry about the cold. Most of my birds are in outside pens with a cover. The heat is a main concern of mine. The other thing is that if it gets to lets say 27 degrees, it's really only for maybe 4 hours, then it crawls back up to 50.
> 
> If I lived in a place where freezing temps lasted for a week, I may think about adding something. For my comfort, LOL
> ...


When we were in TN I did add heat and for the reason you said, my comfort. I had a laundry tub with running water so I cleaned and filled my waterers in there. It was nasty cold in Jan & Feb but once I cranked that heater on I was good to go until I was done.


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## farmer_dude48 (Oct 10, 2015)

I have 6 hens and a Roo. It was -15 with the wind chill for a couple of days and they did just fine... To be honest I thought I would find at least 1 maybe 2 dead the next morning , but they all seemed ok...

I put extra straw in their house and fresh water twice a day. I also put 2 cap fulls of apple cider vinegar per gal of water..

For a treat they get a little bit of lettuce everyday... We are still getting 3 to 5 eggs a day


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## KJEgloff (Apr 2, 2013)

I have been getting 6 eggs/week for the past two weeks. I have 6 ladies that are all of laying age. I'm pretty happy with that. We ran electricity to the coup so that we can get an electric door to open for them at sun rise, if we decided they need light of heat the power will be there.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

We had a terribly cold night, 29 degrees for 4 hours. Brrrr! Have to say that the heat is more of a problem.


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