New to chickens and BYC

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FuzzyHens

FuzzyHens

Chirping
5 Years
Nov 13, 2014
420
24
88
Frozen Massachusetts
Hi,

I'm fairly new to chickens. I have a couple of close friends who have them and I decided I wanted them about a year ago, but I was supposed to wait until we moved to our new farm...hahaha! Somehow this fall, I ended up with a young rooster who was 'too cute for soup' and two hens to keep him company and my current farm is only now on the market. oops!! The rooster is an easter-egger, one hen is an olive-egger and the other is (I think) a cochin-cross who produces light brown eggs.

I'm really enjoying my little flock and trying to make sure they are set up for winter (it gets cold in Massachusetts). I've moved their coop into an empty stall in my horse barn, so they should be fairly comfortable temperature wise. It will get down to the high 20's in the barn at night during the coldest part of winter, so I do need to somehow heat the water. I'm looking for opinions on the best way to keep water warm safely!

In the spring, I hope to expand my flock to include some black copper marans and cream legbars. I'm also finding I'm drawn to the bantam cochin, so I have a feeling I will have a few of these in the mix. Basically, I love the mix of egg colors and fuzzy chickens! (Can you hear my husband groaning in the background?)

I'm looking forward to learning from everyone here. Any newbie advise is certainly welcome!
-Linda
 
Welcome to BYC!
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We're glad to have you.

Keeping water from freezing can really be a pain. Many people use metal waterers and put special waterer heaters beneath them. Others just dump warm water on the frozen water several times a day. Sometimes, it's just too hard to stop the water from freezing- many people bring out fresh water a couple times a day and bring in the frozen waterer to thaw. I've had success using a livestock tank water heater to keep my waterer from freezing.

You may get some more answers on how to keep water from freezing by posting in the Feeding and Watering Section: Feeding & Watering Your Flock

Good luck with your flock!
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
frow.gif


X3 You can use heated water bases, heated dog water bowls, you can haul warm water outside several times a day. But never let the run out of water. There is no need to keep it heated over night since they are all sleeping. So you really only have to worry about it during the day. If you do use heated bases or dog water bowls, make sure to set them on bricks or cement blocks. Never let them come into contact with any bedding as they could start a fire.

Good luck this winter!! If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. Welcome to our flock!
 
Thanks everyone!

It is the heater with the shavings that concerns me. I may just haul warm water out and see how that goes. If it becomes too labor intensive, I'll get a waterer with a heater. But I'd love to avoid that.

Both hens are currently molting, so I'm hoping they are fully feathered again before the real cold weather hits. The cochin-cross has an abundance even while molting. I can't imagine her getting cold!!
 

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