A coop that keeps weather out and damp from building up
An old hen's winter enemy is not cold by itself — hens in good feather handle low temperatures well — it is the combination of damp and still, cold air sitting on her all night. Her coop needs two opposite things at once: no drafts at the level where she roosts, and open ventilation above her head so the moisture from her breathing and droppings escapes instead of settling. That moisture is what turns a cold night into frostbitten comb tips and breathing trouble, and an elderly hen has less spare health to spend on either. Deep, dry litter on the floor insulates her feet when she is down and soaks up what would otherwise keep the air humid; turn it and top it up rather than letting it pack into a cold mat. Check the roof and the windward wall after storms, because a small leak dripping into bedding undoes the whole arrangement quietly over a week of nights.
Perches and feeding arranged for an older bird
Fit her winter around what her body can still do. A wide perch — the broad side of a plank — lets her roost flat-footed with her toes covered by her belly feathers, which is her own built-in frost protection; a narrow pole leaves toes exposed and gripping, the worst arrangement for old feet and cold nights alike. Keep the perch low if her flying days are behind her, with bedding deep beneath it. Feeding does thermal work in winter: a hen digesting generates warmth through the night, so a modest extra ration of her usual feed, given in the last hour before roosting, carries her through the coldest stretch better than the same feed at noon. Water must stay unfrozen and within easy reach; an old hen will not trek across a frozen run for a drink, and dehydration sneaks up on hens who look otherwise fine. A second drinker near the coop, checked and refreshed through the day, is cheap insurance.
Frostbite and the checks that prevent it
Frostbite picks on the extremities — the comb and wattles, especially on hens with large single combs — and its first sign is a pale, waxy look at the tips that can darken over following days. Prevention is the dry-coop work above plus one habit: eyes on her comb during every cold spell, because early frostnip found on day one is a housing correction, while tissue that has blackened is a wound. Resist handling or rubbing affected parts, which damages fragile tissue; a hen with significant frostbite, or one who is hunched, fluffed and off her food alongside it, should be brought somewhere cool and dry — not blasted with heat — and your vet asked for advice. While you check the comb, run the wider winter once-over: keel bone prominent under a thinning body, feet scaly or sore, breathing clear. An old hen hides decline politely, and winter is when politeness runs out.
Knowing when winter is beating her
Even a well-kept old hen can have a winter that is one demand too many, and kindness includes noticing. A hen who spends the short days fluffed into a ball and motionless, who stops coming for the evening feed, who sleeps apart and is slow to stir in the morning, is telling you the season is costing more than she has. Bring her into a sheltered, cool indoor space with food and water in reach, and if she does not brighten within a day, talk to your vet rather than waiting for the weather to save her. Hens this age often rally surprisingly well with two days of shelter and feeding. And when a frozen drinker, a comb spot or a new behaviour puzzles you after years of hen-keeping, put a follow-up question to KinsLe's Kinny; he answers using the KinsLe Answers library.