# eggs in winter



## caledonchicken (Jul 31, 2013)

We will be moving our chickens into the garage for the winter for added protection. Without a heat lamp, how does one prevent the eggs from freezing?

At night, should we be closing the coop door so they cannot wander in their run? And if they are closed in, then perhaps the eggs do not freeze? The new coop we have built is well insulated and also has two vents for fresh air ventilation.

Canadian winters can be quite cold!
Janet


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## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

Sorry I can't answer any of your questions but whereabouts in Canada are you? I'm in Manitoba and we quite regularly get -30 here (-40 or lower with the windchill).


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

The only frozen eggs I found last winter were from the ducks. I figured it was because they were on the ground. None of the eggs in the nest boxes froze and my coop is not insulated.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

kessy09 said:


> Sorry I can't answer any of your questions but whereabouts in Canada are you? I'm in Manitoba and we quite regularly get -30 here (-40 or lower with the windchill).


I promise not to whine when Winter gets here down in SE Alabama. Dang, those temps hurt just thinking about them.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Lot's of fluffy, dry bedding in the nest boxes, gather eggs promptly each evening. Never seen a frozen egg and we get temps to single digits and the eggs would often sit in the nest for 12 hours before I could get home from work to collect them.


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## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

robin416 said:


> I promise not to whine when Winter gets here down in SE Alabama. Dang, those temps hurt just thinking about them.


I don't like to leave my house. However my husband turns our pond into a hockey rink every years and I have groups of 10-15 thirty year old men traipsing through my house with their wet boots and loudness :/ they let in a lot of cold air! In and out in and out  Sorry for my mini vent-I may be Canadian but hockey is not my favorite season!

Last September:









Last December:









Coldest day last year (sun dogs were out) -50 degrees Celsius:


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## kaufranc (Oct 3, 2012)

I hate the cold too! I too have had frozen duck eggs but never chicken. Nice pictures ,by the way, what is a sun dog?


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

How very beautiful!!! 

Here's a pic that can go along with your Canadian rant....


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## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

kaufranc said:


> I hate the cold too! I too have had frozen duck eggs but never chicken. Nice pictures ,by the way, what is a sun dog?


Thanks! A Sun Dog is that second scope of light around the sun...it can happen any season really but I've only ever seen them here on the coldest days. It's when it gets so cold that there are teeny crystals of ice in the air and the Sun Dog is the reflection of light from the sun on those little crystals. Basically, the air isn't only air anymore. It's ice. My dad calls it diamond dust. Like millions of little diamonds of ice in the air catching the sun's rays. Very pretty but very, very cold. If I see sun dogs out I don't even bother getting out of my pajamas.


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## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

LOL Bee. How true! No wonder I argue so much on online forums....everyone I know in real life is so darned complacent!


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## cluck13 (Jun 14, 2013)

Fantastic photos - I can't comprehend the temperature. We are in a "cold" area for Australia, we would get down to -10 Degrees Celcius a couple of times a year. Nothing near what you have I don't envy you with those temps, plus the extras going through your house


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