how do hens cope with the minus temperatures?

[petal]

just watched an excellent program about garden birds earlier today- they only really suffer when the weather is totally severe.

[Hilary B]

Isn't it illegal to give meat to poultry? (not that anyone is going to know or much care about 'pet' chooks getting table scraps)

[squibbs]

Chickens are well designed for the cold - they have feathers and in their legs a cleverly designed system which prevents the coldness being transmitted back up into them via the bloodstream

If you stick your head in the coop just as you let them out you'll feel its fairly warm.

I also have 4 hens who insist on roosting about 20ft up our pine tree in all weathers - in fact they watch all the others go into the hen house then leap on it and up into the tree. They have been perfectly fine and are always the first down looking for tit-bits in the morning.

[RichmondHens]

Replying to Hilary and forgot to press quote:

Yes it is, as is the giving of any scraps that pass through the kitchen. Still, you know what chickens are like, they creep in and steal anything the minute our backs are turned!

[Jax]

why is it illegal then? Just out of curiosity. The only day my girls seemed to struggle was 3 days ago when we hit -16c and I found them all huddled together looking unhappy waiting to be put to bed. Considering they arent keen on going to bed at bed time I was quite shocked!

[Hilary B]

There is a theoretical risk of certain diseases being spread if chooks are fed anything meat-related or that has been in contact with meat (can't remember exactly which diseases). It's really intended to stop the feeding of diseased meat to flocks producing eggs or meat birds for sale, but the way these things work, it is a blanket ban for everyone (if they find out about it). It also applies to pigs (which are also omnivores, although current policy would like to make them vegetarians).

[angelat]

you learn something new every day, and all the years i have had them.... i didnt think i could give my girls meat?!! what have they been missing out on! sirloin steak tomorrow then as its valentines day... only joking!

[Kaiya]

It's banned because it does spread disease (not theoretical) - BSE came about because although cattle had been fed rendered meat for years, they dropped the temperature (cheaper) and the prion survived to infect the cattle, and a bout of swine flu was thought to have been caused by a pork product being given to a single pig. As there's a chance any livestock, even hobby ones, could either enter the food chain or come into contact with the rest of the national herd/flock, the ban applies to all.

[Hilary B]

It's banned because it does spread disease (not theoretical) - BSE came about because although cattle had been fed rendered meat for years, they dropped the temperature (cheaper) and the prion survived to infect the cattle, and a bout of swine flu was thought to have been caused by a pork product being given to a single pig. As there's a chance any livestock, even hobby ones, could either enter the food chain or come into contact with the rest of the national herd/flock, the ban applies to all.

it CAN spread disease, but the backyard henkeeper is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY to be part of that happening, THAT is where it is theoretical!
Pigs are omnivores, so are chickens, cattle are NOT, which is why BSE happened. There ARE illnesses which could be transmitted from pig to pig via meat (and it has happened several times), but that is a very different matter from allowing the hens in someone's garden to finidh off the meat left on the family's plates.
Having been a sheep farmer for 15 years (a while ago now) I do know about the disease issue with farm livestock.

[Kaiya]

'Backyard' wasn't specified in your original statement I was refering to and theoretical means never happened, not unlikely to happen. I wished to clarify that that wasn't the case - the law did have basis in real events. Plus I didn't say don't feed backyard chickens meat. I simply said it was illegal.

BSE happened because the temperature at which the meat was rendered was dropped. It was not the feeding of meat to herbivores which caused it, it was the feeding of unsafe meat, regardless of that species normal diet. TSEs occur in omnivorous species just as readily.

For the record (the first non-fact I've said ) I think all animals should be fed a species-appropriate diet.

Slight aside but I don't think the Red Jungle Fowl (wild chickens) eat 'meat' per se anyway. Invertebrates yes, but not bacon. But then neither do cats, yet until they make mice flavoured cat food we're probably stuck feeding them beef etc.

[Hilary B]

'Backyard' wasn't specified in your original statement I was refering to and theoretical means never happened, not unlikely to happen. I wished to clarify that that wasn't the case - the law did have basis in real events. Plus I didn't say don't feed backyard chickens meat. I simply said it was illegal.

BSE happened because the temperature at which the meat was rendered was dropped. It was not the feeding of meat to herbivores which caused it, it was the feeding of unsafe meat, regardless of that species normal diet. TSEs occur in omnivorous species just as readily.

For the record (the first non-fact I've said ) I think all animals should be fed a species-appropriate diet.

Slight aside but I don't think the Red Jungle Fowl (wild chickens) eat 'meat' per se anyway. Invertebrates yes, but not bacon. But then neither do cats, yet until they make mice flavoured cat food we're probably stuck feeding them beef etc.

Backyard was definitely implied, and I think most users are accustomed to that assumption applying. I would think the wild ancestors probably ate occasional carrion, judging by how willingly the chooks I used to keep would attack anything comparable.
I said it was illegal, several posts earlier, that is why the illegality was being discussed here!
The change in how meat was processed was the major factor in BSE, but if people weren't feeding herbivores on meat the question wouldn't have arisen, and I am far from convinced that non-herbivores have suffered a truly parallel problem.