Winter Feed Cost and Growing Fodder

[Cj Tracker]

It is winter here in New York. My flock has been cooped (pun intended) up inside for the past month and a half. They are going through food like crazy and not laying eggs. I need a solution to this and I found two options, fermenting feed and growing fodder. I already have the fermenting process working but one issue that has arisen is because of the cold temperatures, the feed freezes if the chickens don't eat it fast enough. Any suggestions on this would be helpful!
Growing them fodder is my next excursion in chicken keeping. I have read around the web looking for inspo and articles on how to do it. I found a few that use aluminum pans, I got those today. I understand the process of growing the fodder but finding the grain is where I'm having issues. The articles that I have read on fodder don't say where they get the said grain. Most of them say that they get their grain from their feed store but TSC neither Runnings sells grain like that. The few articles that do state where they get the grain online, it is usually very expensive. I found that the articles say that growing fodder is economical. From what I am seeing, it isn't. Where are you all getting your grain? I would prefer to grow wheatgrass/ wheat berries but I am having no luck finding them. I have also seen people suggest using BOSS in YT videos and in articles. Would BOSS work well? I could easily find this inexpensively as a worst-case scenario. Thanks for all the help

Just sharing some thoughts on egg laying , helping to keep the girls happy in winter, and well fed.
My girls continue to eat after dark, I put two camping lanterns one very cheap $5 TSC was selling last year that has far exceeded my expectations in working, and another I had from camping. I set the lanterns down near the food and one water bucket. It was intended for the ducks since they tend to roam alot and I had a young one that needed the extra feed time. Whether it's the extra food or the light my girls are laying every day and temps in NJ have been in the teens. It's actually more than I need and I wish they would slow down and take a break for them to rest.
I also do make a warm tea for them each morning.. warm water, honey, tsp apple cider vinegar in a gallon bucket. They love it and need water for egg production which in winter is tough with frozen buckets every day. I also cook organic oats for them and serve warm with honey and fruit or just cinnamon. Oats I think help fill them up just like us.

I don't use heaters but I do put straw down in trails as well as buy a hay bale to encourage them to be outside in the sun. I put up straw bales in the run as well as my Christmas tree (2nd life for it also) to block wind.

I think just giving them some extra love in the cold goes a long way and keeps them happy and giving eggs in return maybe

 

[Imataken]

Hi I'm in NJ first winter with my girls so far doing great through the freezing cold weather we have... I make my girls a warm mash at 7am when I let them out of the coop and again around 430 before they head in the coop for the night at 5pm I had same problem with it freezing after 20 min so I bought a pet heating mat from Amazon works great keeping the feed from freezing I also bought the heated dog bowl for water since I had to keep getting ice out of the water feeders wasn't sure they would like it but they learned very fast and seem to enjoy the water better from the dog bowl compared to chicken water holder I bought from tractor supply I was expecting for them to stop laying in winter I have not had that problem I still get a egg every morning from each of them haven't missed a day since they started laying in june.

 

[Cj Tracker]

Hi I'm in NJ first winter with my girls so far doing great through the freezing cold weather we have... I make my girls a warm mash at 7am when I let them out of the coop and again around 430 before they head in the coop for the night at 5pm I had same problem with it freezing after 20 min so I bought a pet heating mat from Amazon works great keeping the feed from freezing I also bought the heated dog bowl for water since I had to keep getting ice out of the water feeders wasn't sure they would like it but they learned very fast and seem to enjoy the water better from the dog bowl compared to chicken water holder I bought from tractor supply I was expecting for them to stop laying in winter I have not had that problem I still get a egg every morning from each of them haven't missed a day since they started laying in june.

I have a heated dog bowl as well but unplug it at night. I do have an arc protector installed along with a heavy Guage extension cord but I'm just not trusting it still. I would be devastated if anything happened at night. I'm sure they don't drink all night but that first hour or two and since I put fresh in the bucket before the door closes, I think they get what they need and I start the process in the morning again.
I do have a disk that I put into the kiddie pool for the ducks. It just keeps the water from freezing and have two extension cord on that one but it's outside of their sleeping quarters just in the run. I have electrical tape at the contact areas and it has given me zero issues so I feel that's a safer solution for me and my paranoid fire thinking mind lol

 

[sfchixn]

I hate to tell you all that our hens in Ca continue to lay through the Winter and even increased their production. We feed layer ration in the morning, they are pastured, and in the evening get a snack mixture of scratch, BOSS and black soldier fly maggots. The maggots are expensive, about $50/ 5 lbs but that lasts an entire month.

 

[Rendab]

It is winter here in New York. My flock has been cooped (pun intended) up inside for the past month and a half. They are going through food like crazy and not laying eggs. I need a solution to this and I found two options, fermenting feed and growing fodder. I already have the fermenting process working but one issue that has arisen is because of the cold temperatures, the feed freezes if the chickens don't eat it fast enough. Any suggestions on this would be helpful!
Growing them fodder is my next excursion in chicken keeping. I have read around the web looking for inspo and articles on how to do it. I found a few that use aluminum pans, I got those today. I understand the process of growing the fodder but finding the grain is where I'm having issues. The articles that I have read on fodder don't say where they get the said grain. Most of them say that they get their grain from their feed store but TSC neither Runnings sells grain like that. The few articles that do state where they get the grain online, it is usually very expensive. I found that the articles say that growing fodder is economical. From what I am seeing, it isn't. Where are you all getting your grain? I would prefer to grow wheatgrass/ wheat berries but I am having no luck finding them. I have also seen people suggest using BOSS in YT videos and in articles. Would BOSS work well? I could easily find this inexpensively as a worst-case scenario. Thanks for all the help

Hi! I have found red wheat berries in bulk on Amazon. They will ship right to you, so no waste of time and fuel traveling around looking!
Good quality, too. They are for human consumption, so are clean and ready to go.
I have also found wild birdseed sprouts readily and they like that....
Hope this helps!

 

[Imataken]

I have a heated dog bowl as well but unplug it at night. I do have an arc protector installed along with a heavy Guage extension cord but I'm just not trusting it still. I would be devastated if anything happened at night. I'm sure they don't drink all night but that first hour or two and since I put fresh in the bucket before the door closes, I think they get what they need and I start the process in the morning again.
I do have a disk that I put into the kiddie pool for the ducks. It just keeps the water from freezing and have two extension cord on that one but it's outside of their sleeping quarters just in the run. I have electrical tape at the contact areas and it has given me zero issues so I feel that's a safer solution for me and my paranoid fire thinking mind lol

I Don't have water or food in the coop only in the run the run is fully enclosed 20 by 20 and the coop has a 6ft run attached to the run also attached to the run is a 4 by 6 wooden hangout that we have a heat lamp in during the day on days that are extremely cold which has been pretty much everyday past 2 weeks they get around 10 hours of daylight it's been between 16 to 22 degrees during the day but still they each leave a egg everyday how are yours doing with egg production everyone keeps telling us in winter between the very cold weather and short daylight hours they stop laying or reduce production

 

[NatJ]

everyone keeps telling us in winter between the very cold weather and short daylight hours they stop laying or reduce production

Light makes a difference, but it makes more difference for some chickens than others.

I do not think cold itself is a big deal, as long as the chickens have enough food and water, and enough hours to eat & drink.

But cold often means frozen water, and thirsty chickens will not eat either. So for some people, cold means the chickens do not get enough to drink or to eat-- and that certainly can reduce egg production!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Worried about all this heating, freezing, then re-heating, even though the freezing is unintentional. Won't something get food poisoning? Bacteria are killed by thorough cooking, but the toxins they produce in the time you let them off the hook at room temperature, are not.

Nope. HIGHLY unlikely. Almost nothing grows below freezing temps, and what does, doesn't grow quickly - so even if it were present in the environment, its not going to colonize to any substantial degree over the course of a few days.

Food poisoning for US is usually involving a protein, NOT a grain. Warm proteins are a fantastic growing environment for all kinds of things. and if the feed being warmed is a fermented grain, the mix is already batched with a large and healthy colony of desired bacteria - they will largely keep other (good, bad, indiferent) bacteria out even thru a number of warming/chilling cycles. Actual freezing will stop a ferment, but won't necessarily kill all the bacteria present (there's a substantial time compoonent), so the remaining bacteria will defrost and quickly recolonize - particularly as their dead "siblings" are just the right mix of vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc that they desire for optimum growth.

The things you learn home brewing beer...

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I just started feeding some barley that I got from my son after he brewed beer. I feed small amounts of this along with the laying pellets hoping it will give them more energy during our cold northern ontario winters. I keep it frozen. They seem to love it. Any feed back would be appreciated.

Spent Brewers grains are a popular feed adjunct where available. The brew process of making the wort extracts many of the carbs, which are then broken down by heat and then the yeast to eventually form alcohol, reducing the enrgy contrent of the feed, but concentrating (effectively) the remaining protein. The process is good also for sanitizing the grains, particularly if they have been stored for a while, and frees a few vitamins to more bioavailable forms - while the swelling of the grain and destruction of its outer coating also helps as digestive aid.

That said, spent grains are HIGHLY variable, since the brewing process itself imbacts the effective starch extraction (time and tem) just as the nature and preparation of the grains themselves do (malting, drying, roasting), consider them "treats" - less than 10% of the daily diet, by weight.

 

[ClaytonJ]

It is winter here in New York. My flock has been cooped (pun intended) up inside for the past month and a half. They are going through food like crazy and not laying eggs. I need a solution to this and I found two options, fermenting feed and growing fodder. I already have the fermenting process working but one issue that has arisen is because of the cold temperatures, the feed freezes if the chickens don't eat it fast enough. Any suggestions on this would be helpful!
Growing them fodder is my next excursion in chicken keeping. I have read around the web looking for inspo and articles on how to do it. I found a few that use aluminum pans, I got those today. I understand the process of growing the fodder but finding the grain is where I'm having issues. The articles that I have read on fodder don't say where they get the said grain. Most of them say that they get their grain from their feed store but TSC neither Runnings sells grain like that. The few articles that do state where they get the grain online, it is usually very expensive. I found that the articles say that growing fodder is economical. From what I am seeing, it isn't. Where are you all getting your grain? I would prefer to grow wheatgrass/ wheat berries but I am having no luck finding them. I have also seen people suggest using BOSS in YT videos and in articles. Would BOSS work well? I could easily find this inexpensively as a worst-case scenario. Thanks for all the help

Do you not let them out of the coop in the winter? I live in PA and we have the cold weather same as you. I lock them in the coop in the evening and open the door in the morning. I receive 6eggs everyday. I have 6 birds. I also supply heat in the coop via a heating lamp and a radiant panel heater with a heated waterer. Maybe you should let them out into their “run” for a few hours a day. If you leave the coop door open they will go in if they get cold. Let me know. Good luck!!