is my chicken too cold?

[kumokumo]

hello, my salmon faverolle hen (shuu) has been feeling pretty cold lately. i live in MN, so it’s been starting to snow today, but she’s been sitting and puffing up during the 30’s despite being a very fluffy chicken. she’s always been pretty lightweight, and she didn’t have any problems last year about being cold. my girl has already completed her molt about a month ago, and i’m pretty sure she’s still laying every now and then. their coop has heating and lighting and is insulated, but she doesn’t know how to go back in when she’s cold. last year, the chickens had a greenhouse and they knew to go back in once they got chilly, but they have a different coop this year, so that may be the difference. i’ve had to lock her in the coop for an hour or so most days to warm her back up, since she always looks so cold and sad outside. i put some stress reliever powder in their water that i bought from amazon, it helped the chickens during the summer so i thought it might help with some cold stress. is there anything i can do to help her beat the cold? i’ve been feeding them more (moderately) mealworms and treats to fatten them up for winter since she’s always been kinda thin. this is her second winter, she’s only about year and a half old now. i bought her as a chick because i heard salmon faverolles are cold hardy, i bought another one as a buddy but she unfortunately passed away earlier this year. she does have 2 lav. orps as friends, and she’s always been very bossy. what can i do to help her? my parents said i should sew her a sweater lol. here’s a photo of her toasting in the coop.

 

[DobieLover]

I doubt she's cold. She looks just fine in the image. Temperatures in the 30s is not at all cold for a chicken. If a chicken gets cold, she will find a place to get out of the wind and puff out her feathers to stay warm.

You should not be using supplemental heat in a properly insulated coop unless you get sustained temps below -25F. You need as close to 1 sq ft of permanently open ventilation in the coop to keep it as dry as possible. When you get cold snaps, offering electrolytes to help support them is a good idea but don't do it every day.

Putting a sweater on a chicken is a decidedly bad idea. It will prevent them from being able to fluff out feathers to trap body heat.

Have you checked her crop in the mornings to ensure it is flat and empty? Have you checked it at night to ensure it is full but not gassy or squishy? If she is not as active as normal, she may be ill.

 

[Eggcessive]

How long ago did the get put in a new coop? You may need to keep her inside the coop inside a dog crate 24/7 for up to a week to make sure that she knows that is where she should go to sleep. You could put her on the roost in the evening. That way you could monitor how much she is eating and drinking, and note what her droppings are like. Her crop should be full in the evening, and empty by the next morning. As said, she might be getting sick. After the age of 2-3 years old, some hens may suffer reproductive problems or crop issues.

I realize that MN is much colder and snowy than most of our climates. I have seen some terrible cases of frostbite of legs and combs here on BYC of MN chickens. So I do know that some may use some heat. The best thing is to make sure that the bedding is fresh and dry, since dampness will make it colder and can cause breathing problems. There needs to be some overhead ventilation to remove the humidity of their breathing, and the smell of droppings. I would avoid feeding her treats and a lot of meal worms, and make sure that she is eating her balanced chicken feed. Then a bit of scrambled egg could be given as a treat. Those will provide her the energy to regulate her body temp.

 

[ksbkeys]

hello, my salmon faverolle hen (shuu) has been feeling pretty cold lately. i live in MN, so it’s been starting to snow today, but she’s been sitting and puffing up during the 30’s despite being a very fluffy chicken. she’s always been pretty lightweight, and she didn’t have any problems last year about being cold. my girl has already completed her molt about a month ago, and i’m pretty sure she’s still laying every now and then. their coop has heating and lighting and is insulated, but she doesn’t know how to go back in when she’s cold. last year, the chickens had a greenhouse and they knew to go back in once they got chilly, but they have a different coop this year, so that may be the difference. i’ve had to lock her in the coop for an hour or so most days to warm her back up, since she always looks so cold and sad outside. i put some stress reliever powder in their water that i bought from amazon, it helped the chickens during the summer so i thought it might help with some cold stress. is there anything i can do to help her beat the cold? i’ve been feeding them more (moderately) mealworms and treats to fatten them up for winter since she’s always been kinda thin. this is her second winter, she’s only about year and a half old now. i bought her as a chick because i heard salmon faverolles are cold hardy, i bought another one as a buddy but she unfortunately passed away earlier this year. she does have 2 lav. orps as friends, and she’s always been very bossy. what can i do to help her? my parents said i should sew her a sweater lol. here’s a photo of her toasting in the coop.

My guess is, she is ill, rather than cold. I live in Maine and my chickens love 30 degrees (as long as it isn't windy, too).

I only ever use heat in my coop when it's well below zero. Ventilation will help prevent excessive moisture which leads to frostbite on combs and wattles.

 

[kumokumo]

I doubt she's cold. She looks just fine in the image. Temperatures in the 30s is not at all cold for a chicken. If a chicken gets cold, she will find a place to get out of the wind and puff out her feathers to stay warm.

You should not be using supplemental heat in a properly insulated coop unless you get sustained temps below -25F. You need as close to 1 sq ft of permanently open ventilation in the coop to keep it as dry as possible. When you get cold snaps, offering electrolytes to help support them is a good idea but don't do it every day.

Putting a sweater on a chicken is a decidedly bad idea. It will prevent them from being able to fluff out feathers to trap body heat.

Have you checked her crop in the mornings to ensure it is flat and empty? Have you checked it at night to ensure it is full but not gassy or squishy? If she is not as active as normal, she may be ill.

i’ll make sure to check her crop. she’s been looking a little pale, but i don’t know what she might be sick with. the sweater thing was just a joke because i used to sew sweaters for my cat. their droppings have been dark and liquidy, but other than that, my two orps are pretty active. when i go outside to check on them, she’s hiding from the wind and puffed up.

 

[kumokumo]

How long ago did the get put in a new coop? You may need to keep her inside the coop inside a dog crate 24/7 for up to a week to make sure that she knows that is where she should go to sleep. You could put her on the roost in the evening. That way you could monitor how much she is eating and drinking, and note what her droppings are like. Her crop should be full in the evening, and empty by the next morning. As said, she might be getting sick. After the age of 2-3 years old, some hens may suffer reproductive problems or crop issues.

I realize that MN is much colder and snowy than most of our climates. I have seen some terrible cases of frostbite of legs and combs here on BYC of MN chickens. So I do know that some may use some heat. The best thing is to make sure that the bedding is fresh and dry, since dampness will make it colder and can cause breathing problems. There needs to be some overhead ventilation to remove the humidity of their breathing, and the smell of droppings. I would avoid feeding her treats and a lot of meal worms, and make sure that she is eating her balanced chicken feed. Then a bit of scrambled egg could be given as a treat. Those will provide her the energy to regulate her body temp.

she does know where to sleep, but she doesn’t come back into the coop when it gets too cold. i do have a high window cracked at all times, so they get great air flow. i’ve been turning their heat on at a low level so they don’t get spooked by it or the noise. in the past, they’ve gotten quite spooked about fans to the point where they would completely avoid a certain area and stuff so i wanted to introduce it early. it’s been crazy windy here, yesterday it was 25 degrees but it was so windy it felt like 10 (at least, that’s what the forecast said).

 

[kumokumo]

she’s finished her molt, now she’s very energetic and eating well. how can i help my other hens with their molt? they just look so sad and huddled up. how do i know if they’re just molting or they’re sick?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

she’s finished her molt, now she’s very energetic and eating well. how can i help my other hens with their molt? they just look so sad and huddled up. how do i know if they’re just molting or they’re sick?

What do you feed? Providing extra ptotein during molt can help. We can get a feed formula called Feather Fixer here, I think it has 22% protein. But we always feed All-Flock which has 20% and they seem to get through molt pretty quickly. I had two that molted pretty rough this fall but they did get through it quickly. And of course really cut back on scratch, worms, BOSS, table scraps and other treats, because the more of that they're eating, the less of that good feed they're getting.

 

[kumokumo]

What do you feed? Providing extra ptotein during molt can help. We can get a feed formula called Feather Fixer here, I think it has 22% protein. But we always feed All-Flock which has 20% and they seem to get through molt pretty quickly. I had two that molted pretty rough this fall but they did get through it quickly. And of course really cut back on scratch, worms, BOSS, table scraps and other treats, because the more of that they're eating, the less of that good feed they're getting.

this is the feed i’ve started feeding them. they mostly fed themselves because they free range during the summer, we just give them grains like corn and seeds or meat we have laying around. we feed them egg shells and oyster shell calcium pellets, and they get plenty of grit. they’re free ranging in our yard all day during the summer, and locked up in their raised predator proofed house that we built them. i’ve tried this feed before for them a year ago, but they didn’t eat it at all. im still pretty new to chicken keeping, so i dont really know what feed to get for them. i heard ~15-20% of protein should be good. i also add vitamins to their water if their poop isn’t looking right.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

16% protein is a bare minimum. It's not enough for molting chickens, as feathers are made of protein so they need more. When I free range my chickens, I keep them in their run with the feeders for most of the day to be sure they're getting adequate nutrition. I let them free range for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Corn, scratch, worms, table scraps, etc., should only make up about 10% of their diet or they'll fill up on all that (cake and ice cream) and not get enough proper nutrition (meat and potatoes) from the 20% or higher All-Flock, Grower or Feather Fixer formula. These don't contain calcium so you need to provide oyster shell in a separate container for the layers. Non-laying birds don't need it and won't eat it.