As winter comes on, recheck your space

[Mrs. K]

I cheat in the summer. I love broody hen with chicks, and I love multi-generational flocks. Those itty bitty chicks don't take up much space, the days are long, the nights are short and I can free range with bugs adding to their diet.

But tomorrow is the first of September, the chicks are bigger, and it is already getting pretty dark by 8:00. With the early sundowns, birds go to roost earlier. Now the chicks are getting bigger. I can feel the tension rising in the flock. I can hear a lot more squabbling going on, before I get down there to let them out.

When winter comes, you cannot cheat. You need to have enough space for your birds. So you either have to reduce your numbers, or build another coop/run. My dear hubby just built me another run/coop.;-)

I put in the laying flock, and yes they hated the change, and were a little spooky when I went down this morning, but the tension was gone, no more squawking. The roosters chicks in the grow out pen were calm.

Space changes as we add and lose birds, but also as chicks get full sized. If you have added birds, make sure you go into winter with enough space.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

Dammit Mrs. K......you caught me contemplating 'cheating' this winter!!!

My coop population is perfect for winter right now, as you know I am a huge proponent of 'more than adequate' space for our birds, but am still seriously considering 'cheating'. This is chicken math.

I have the opportunity to easily get some highly coveted hatching eggs next month. 2 breeds that I have wanted since the beginning of my chicken endeavor that are not available nearby, from a single reputable breeder, or at a reasonable price. Breeder lives near someone visiting me soon so can transport.

Am juggling the pros, cons and possible options to make it work and have 2 weeks to make the call....
......you're post here has definitely given a clear 'voice' to that aspect of my decision process.

 

[shortgrass]

Oh chicken math lol; I'm in trouble... I'm already trying to get DH to build me a second coop... I went and did the unthinkable and now have 16 one week old chicks and HAD perfect space in the coop....

Now not so much...

Oh boy lol, now at least I have backup from BYC to crack the whip

 

[Ridgerunner]

Oh, yeah, this gets a lot of us. For various reasons I’m late with much of my hatching this year. I have eggs in the incubator right now. Normally I grow out most of what I’m going to butcher before winter hits so they are already in my freezer. But this year most are so young so I’ll be looking for warm days in December through February to fill the freezer. I normally keep all of them in the main coop during the winter, the grow-out coop is harder to water.

I don’t consider it chicken math since I normally hatch this many, just earlier, but I’m going to have to use facilities that are normally not used during the winter. That’s extra feeding and watering and managing freezing water where it is not normally a problem. I’ll be paying more for feed since forage won’t be as good. It also means managing extra poop at a time of the year that is not normally a problem.

It’s good to have extra room so you can manage this type of thing but mine will be more crowded this winter than I like. I’ll be butchering some younger than I like to reduce crowding. We can sometimes cheat and crowd them more than we like but the work load normally goes up and behavioral problems can show up.

Aart, if you really want those I’d be building extra facilities right now. I’ve been known to do things like that and the extra facilities come in handy later. But that’s just me and I have room and can make the time.

 

[aart]

....

Aart, if you really want those I’d be building extra facilities right now. I’ve been known to do things like that and the extra facilities come in handy later. But that’s just me and I have room and can make the time.

That is definitely a part of the thought process, was thinking maybe a hoop coop.
Have the time, skills and can scrape up the bucks but.....haven't figured a good place to put it and still manage the snow load we have here.

 

[Mrs. K]

Or you can cull something else. If you have laying hens, that you would hate to cull, often times they can be sold for a nice bit.

It is that long night of roosting that means you can't cheat in the winter. You have to have space. Donarae has a nice hoop set up, not sure if it would work for you or not.

It was amazing how during August, as the chicks grew, even though they were running free most of the day, in the morning there was just a lot of tension, and at night as they headed back in, it was getting worse and worse. Now, even though I can tell they don't really like the strange place, the stress of living so tightly together is gone. I was really pushing it, by the time we got it done.

That darn chicken math.... but I am an enabler, get the eggs!

Mrs K

 

[henless]

That darn chicken math.... but I am an enabler, get the eggs!

Mrs K

I agree. Get them eggs!!

I've been working all summer to finish my 3rd coop. I have Crested Legbars on order and needed to get them a place to stay. Once they arrive, I will be out of "extra" space in case I need it. I'll be starting this weekend on my 4th coop just in case I need it for some reason.

I don't overfill my coops. I prefer to have more room for them to run around in.

 

[donrae]

I was out looking at my pens the other day. Doing the math on when cockerels should be butchered, who can be moved where, thinking about what my breeding plans are, etc. Haven't made any solid decisions yet, but I do think I'm okay space wise. I'm blessed that my main coop is a converted greenhouse and has shelving all around the exterior walls. The birds use that for roosting (some go up in the rafters, but not many) so there's tons and tons of roost space.

 

[lindalouly]

This is a good post to remember in the future as I get the itch...

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Note to self lol i was getting chick fever but cant do that right now thanks to march baby fever lol should be interesting come december