What temperature does is too cold at night? When to add heat lamp and door on coop?

[noelgeorgia]

It's starting to get cold here in SE North Carolina, but only in the evenings. Our chickens are 8 months old this is our first year raising doing this, so I'm unsure when it gets to be too cold for them at night. It got down to the 40s last nigh.

What temperature is too cold at night? When should we add heat lamp and a door on coop? We had an electronic coop door on a timer but it didn't operate correctly so we took it off. Should they be closed inside in the winter with a heat lamp or is just a heat lamp enough?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Ted Brown]

I live in Canada, average winter temperature is -15C/5F some periods as low as -30C/-22F.

Chickens do not need any additional heat in the colder months. If you add heat and have an electrical failure your chickens can be severely impacted negatively as they are not conditioned to the colder temperatures.

our chickens should NEVER be closed in. Ventilation is the most important thing after feed/water. The ventilation removes moisture and ammonia that build naturally from their dropping and breathing. The ventilation should be designed to avoid drafts directly on the birds, if you can see feathers moving from air movement you have a problem.

There are tons of threads on proper ventilation here on BYC.

 

[NatJ]

I'm unsure when it gets to be too cold for them at night. It got down to the 40s last nigh.

What temperature is too cold at night? When should we add heat lamp and a door on coop?

If the temperature is above zero (fahrenheit), healthy adult chickens should not need a heat lamp. Many people have chickens that are fine in lower temperatures than that.

Here is a thread from last year that talks about chickens and cold temperatures. It has a number of posts from people in cold climates:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-cold-is-too-cold-for-my-chickens.1557629/

One thing that might be important is for the chickens to get used to the temperature gradually, as the seasons change. (This would come up if you took a sick chicken into your house for a few weeks, or if someone moved chickens from one climate to a very different climate.)

If you provide a heat lamp, and the chickens are adapted to the temperature that provides, they can have trouble if that heat quits (the electric power goes out, or the bulb breaks, or something like that.)

They do need liquid water to drink, so if it gets cold enough to freeze their water, you need to either bring them fresh unfrozen water, or have a heated water dish. I don't know enough about your climate to tell how often this will be an issue. If you get temperatures where water freezes at night but not during the day, putting out fresh water each morning will take care of the matter.

We had an electronic coop door on a timer but it didn't operate correctly so we took it off. Should they be closed inside in the winter with a heat lamp or is just a heat lamp enough?

Don't close them in. Just make sure that the roost where they sleep does not have actual wind blowing on it. "Actual wind" meaning enough to stir up their feathers.

Chickens stay warm by trapping warm air in their feathers. If the wind blows their feathers around, the warm air blows away, and their body will have to warm up some more. But if they are in a spot that is not windy, they can keep that nice layer of warm air under their feathers, and be cozy all night long. In the daytime, they can sit there and be warm too, or they can run around (exercise makes heat).

 

[DobieLover]

SE North Carolina

There are no conditions under which a fully feathered chicken would require any supplemental heat in your climate.
As @Ted Brown has already pointed out, ventilation that does not allow drafts across roosted birds is absolutely the most important thing to keep your birds dry and comfortable during winter. The key word that you need to focus on is dry. The birds come very well equipped to keep themselves warm provided they are not in damp, unhealthy conditions.
Also ensuring that birds go to roost with their crops completely full of a balanced diet will also help them continue to generate heat throughout the night through thermogenesis. Making sure they're immediately able to refill those crops first thing in the morning is also very important. In other words, basic chicken husbandry.

 

[noelgeorgia]

I live in Canada, average winter temperature is -15C/5F some periods as low as -30C/-22F.

Chickens do not need any additional heat in the colder months. If you add heat and have an electrical failure your chickens can be severely impacted negatively as they are not conditioned to the colder temperatures.

our chickens should NEVER be closed in. Ventilation is the most important thing after feed/water. The ventilation removes moisture and ammonia that build naturally from their dropping and breathing. The ventilation should be designed to avoid drafts directly on the birds, if you can see feathers moving from air movement you have a problem.

There are tons of threads on proper ventilation here on BYC.

Wow thank you. I appreciate that. We have a 4x8 coop with 6 chickens (one rooster). My husband built it out of pine and it's well made and ventilated but not insulated. The roof has shingles with ventilation in the ceilings. We have pine shavings in their nests and on half the coop. The other side under the roost is concrete sand and Sweet PDZ. I scoop the poop out daily with a litter scoop so it stays pretty clean.

They have an open door (13" x 10") out to their run where the automatic door used to be. I'm hoping it won't be too cold in the winter but it does allow for ventilation and they can get out of the coop when they're ready in the morning. I found the automatic door to be very annoying (never worked right and locked them in sometimes) so we just left it open. Since this is our first time with chickens and colder temps, I was a bit worried it would be too cold. If it's a blistery windy night, we could close the coop door and add extra pine flake. I'm probably over thinking it . We have australorps, an orpington, easter egger, barred rock rooster and a white easter egger. They have nice feathers so maybe they're breeds are made for colder weather.

 

[noelgeorgia]

If the temperature is above zero (fahrenheit), healthy adult chickens should not need a heat lamp. Many people have chickens that are fine in lower temperatures than that.

Here is a thread from last year that talks about chickens and cold temperatures. It has a number of posts from people in cold climates:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-cold-is-too-cold-for-my-chickens.1557629/

One thing that might be important is for the chickens to get used to the temperature gradually, as the seasons change. (This would come up if you took a sick chicken into your house for a few weeks, or if someone moved chickens from one climate to a very different climate.)

If you provide a heat lamp, and the chickens are adapted to the temperature that provides, they can have trouble if that heat quits (the electric power goes out, or the bulb breaks, or something like that.)

They do need liquid water to drink, so if it gets cold enough to freeze their water, you need to either bring them fresh unfrozen water, or have a heated water dish. I don't know enough about your climate to tell how often this will be an issue. If you get temperatures where water freezes at night but not during the day, putting out fresh water each morning will take care of the matter.


Don't close them in. Just make sure that the roost where they sleep does not have actual wind blowing on it. "Actual wind" meaning enough to stir up their feathers.

Chickens stay warm by trapping warm air in their feathers. If the wind blows their feathers around, the warm air blows away, and their body will have to warm up some more. But if they are in a spot that is not windy, they can keep that nice layer of warm air under their feathers, and be cozy all night long. In the daytime, they can sit there and be warm too, or they can run around (exercise makes heat).

Appreciate the advice. We're in southeastern NC so it may get into the 20s here and there at night but right now it's only in the low 40s but warms up quickly once the sun rises. The only way they would get wind is through the run door but it sounds like we should just leave that open. I keep a close watch on food/water so good point to make sure it doesn't freeze. Good point about drastic changes in temps too esp if one has to come inside at some point.

Would you close the 13" x 10" run door if there's a bad winter storm? Hoping to add a few more chickens next spring which should help keep the coop warm. We only have 6 now.

 

[aart]

Would you close the 13" x 10" run door if there's a bad winter storm?

Depends on where the wind is coming from, and if your run has a roof.
Post pics of your coop and run, inside and out, for some more pointed advice.

Hoping to add a few more chickens next spring which should help keep the coop warm. We only have 6 now.

More chickens to 'heat' a coop is a fallacy.
A well ventilated coop will not 'hold heat'....and most a birds heat is kept under their feathers.

 

[noelgeorgia]

There are no conditions under which a fully feathered chicken would require any supplemental heat in your climate.
As @Ted Brown has already pointed out, ventilation that does not allow drafts across roosted birds is absolutely the most important thing to keep your birds dry and comfortable during winter. The key word that you need to focus on is dry. The birds come very well equipped to keep themselves warm provided they are not in damp, unhealthy conditions.
Also ensuring that birds go to roost with their crops completely full of a balanced diet will also help them continue to generate heat throughout the night through thermogenesis. Making sure they're immediately able to refill those crops first thing in the morning is also very important. In other words, basic chicken husbandry.

Thank you! Yes, that makes perfect sense. The only time rain and wind would be able to get in is if it's a bad storm through the ventilation and/or the coop door. I guess we would have to figure out how to keep it dry w/o blocking ventilation in that case.

 

[noelgeorgia]

Depends on where the wind is coming form, and if your run has a roof.
Post pics of your coop and run, inside and out, for some more pointed advice.


More chickens to 'heat' a coop is a fallacy.
A well ventilated coop will not 'hold heat'....and most a birds heat is kept under their feathers.

I'll post some more recent pics today. This is the coop before we added the 10x20' run which also includes under the coop. Did not know that about holding heat!

 

[NatJ]

Would you close the 13" x 10" run door if there's a bad winter storm?

If the wind was blowing in through that door and directly on the roosting chickens, yes.
Otherwise, probably not.

In most coops, the door is at floor level and the roost is raised above that level. That is usually enough to keep wind from blowing onto the roosting chickens.

If wind blows a bit of rain or snow in through that door and gets the bedding wet, I would probably leave it open anyway. Then the next morning, shove that wet bedding out into the run and add some fresh dry bedding in the coop.