Any one have chickens?

[Emily's mom]

This is our first year for laying hens also.

We have 15 hens, and they have their own house, my question is will they get cold, do they need a heat lamp of some sort....as of yet no power to the hen house, a couple of them have no feathers on their bums

...

Any advice on chickens would be appreciated

Thanks

 

[Alex]

My boarder only heat lamps when it gets real cold. thats my only advice!

 

[Cricket]

We have had chickens off and on for years and have never heated their house. But then again we don't get really cold weather, not usually more than -10 C. Normally when it gets cold then just roost a little closer to each other!

 

[crackerjackjack]

This is the one topic I can talk about. I have chickens. I just love my chickens. Mine do have a heat lamp in the winter. My first year I did not have a heat lamp. I had no eggs during the winter. The second year my hubby rigged up a lamp with a contractors extension cord. It works great. I get eggs all winter long and my chickens seem happier. It doesn't get too terribly cold here, but it does get cold enough. A friend of mine has had chickens freeze to death on the roost at night and she now also uses a heat lamp.

I just make sure that my gang has plenty of straw and the heat lamp also keeps their water from freezing over.

Hope that this helps.

 

[Emily's mom]

Thanks crackerjackjack, how far from the roosts do you put the lamp, I don't want roasted chickens OH!

 

[JumpinJackFarm]

I have had Chickens most of my adult life and have never used a heat source, Again my theory being once you start .... they get spoiled and expect it and then if there is a power outage (we get many) I would think it would be somewhat of a shock to them

if it was below freezing and the lights/heat went out.

 

[Emily's mom]

Hummmm, never thought of spoiling them

and then getting a power outage ......very good point....still not sure what to do

If I do go with a lamp do you keep them on all night, or just for a few hours

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

Only birds I have are my parrots OH! ...and if I could, I would love to find them all a nice forever home. Anyone want a parrot?...or two, three, or four???

They talk...sometimes to much!

Dont need a heat lamp, and they dont lay eggs, welllll.....yes, actually Clyde (turned Clydette

) does lay eggs, so much for surgically sexing parrots.

Ce

 

[Shari]

We get pretty cold weather here... though not quite as bad as NH. Our hen house is closed up and have wooden roosts to sit on at night. They do fine with no heat. If they are in a clean, dry and draft free Hen house they should have no problems.