Chickens - How Cold Is Too Cold?

[WinterDeere]

Yeah, I've seen that in my own handful of birds. Only those with larger combs get frostbite. A little Vaseline on those combs once each day can help prevent it, and save the bird some pain and stress.

I'm not exactly in North Dakota or Fairbanks Alaska, we only get a few nights below 0°F per year, and maybe only one or two weeks with daytime highs in the teens°F, but my chickens have never had any issue with cold.

Our summer heat has killed a few, but that was my fault for buying a breed specifically known to have issues with heat stress. Choose your breed(s) according to your climate, and there's really no need to worry about cold or heat.

The story above about the barn fire is even more common among coops. We had a family member with a coop burn down, and there are numerous stories over at the Backyard Chickens forums of coop fires, due to heating systems or associated extension cords.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

We had a mighty cold snap just before Christmas. A couple nights right around 0 with a minus 17 wind chill at the coldest. The first, coldest, night I did not do anything for heat. Then I got to feeling bad for them and put a heat lamp in the coop for them. They appreciated it. Even the turkey stayed in the coop most of the day and night while it was super cold. The rooster got frostbite on the tips of his comb and quite a bit on his waddle. A couple hens got just a bit on the tips of the combs.

The ducks stayed in their house on Duck Island until it got up to about 20. I kept the ice broken on a section of the pond for them to have a drink. But I lost a farm duck to a coyote the night they decided to sleep in the small hole in the ice.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Then I got to feeling bad for them and put a heat lamp in the coop for them.

I hope the heat lamp did not also provide light. Most folks never think about it, but could you sleep with the bedroom light on all night? It many countries it is illegal (for commercial famers) not to give any livestock a light free period of a varying number of hours.

 

[BoylermanCT]

I get my chickens locally. Shipping them is iffy if you live in a cold climate. I've done it several times in early Spring, and not all survived. I'd rather pick them out at my local feed store.

 

[Jstpssng]

I get my chickens from a feed store, which orders in bulk. A lot of it depends on how many days you are from the hatchery; they are sent via USPS and you know how dependable they aren't.
Every time that I ordered them to be delivered here I either got a call at 3 in the afternoon asking if I wanted to drive 90 miles to pick them up; or if I waited to pick them up the next day many would be dead.
In the case of turkeys, I never had any arrive here that survived.

 

[MossRoad]

Chickens - How Cold Is Too Cold?

Anything under 165F.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Chickens - How Cold Is Too Cold?

Anything under 165F.

Thats only for when they are without feathers.

 

[WinterDeere]

Ditto on most of the above, it's too cold to ship chicks in January. You'd better wait for much warmer weather, unless you want to kill most of them.

I've done the shipping vs. feed store thing, and here's my own limited observations:

Shipping: You're more likely to get correctly-sexed chickens, than buying from a store, as well as the correct breed. Prices are usually better, not that chicks are expensive enough in small quantities for this to be much of a factor. You will need to be on-call, as your post office is likely to call you for a pickup from their facility as soon as they arrive. There are horror stories of complete losses due to postal employees setting the box of chicks outside to get rid of the noise. Most report a loss of 25% by shipping, but I've never lost a single chick in shipment.

Store: Sex mix-ups seem to be common and regular, whether due to untrained/uncaring employees combining groups, or customers getting their hands into the bins. Breed mix-ups also not uncommon, for the same reasons. But you can buy smaller quantities (most have 4 minimum), and avoid being on-call with the post office. Fewer breed options available, but they usually carry breeds which are well-suited to your local climate.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I get mine from feed stores and locals around the area. There are several small hobby "farms" around me that hatch out a few eggs per year from their own flocks. They sell the chicks for a little bit of feed money. There are enough around me that there is quite a bit of variety.