Alaska Chicken Lover's Soup for the Cold!!

[Wolfwoman]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

I may step away from BYC for a while... I'm sick and tired of offering advice and having people slap me down and tell me I'm wrong. Not on this thread, but others. And I swear, the next time I hear of someone in Florida saying that they have 500 watts of heat lamps on their girls because "they're my pets and I don't want them to be cold!" you WILL hear the scream from here.

It's 15 F-1ng degrees with a windchill near 0F here, I have NO heat on my 3 month olds in a non-insulated non-draft-free hoop pen, and they are happy and healthy and running around just fine.

Yea, one of the reasons I don't offer advice anymore on chickens in the winter. You should hear what *I've* been called!!

Quote:
I'm hatching on Saturday!!

(Or so the calendar says)​

 

[AllAlaskan]

When I got my chickens I was so worried about how to keep them over winter because I have been told and read that if it drops below 0 they cant handle the cold....then I started asking around on the BYC and some locals and found out that many heat with a single heat lamp or with none and there chickens are just fine lol. I have a single Heat lamp with a white light ( one of those low wattage coil bulbs Im having a duuurrr moment and cant remember the name lol) in my coop and thats all. I was soo worried about it at first till I read some of you dont use lights at all lol. I Do have 1 heat lamp but its atm suspended (secured) from the roof pointing at the water dish to keep it from freezing. Im being a cheep skate atm and the heat lamp keeps the water from freezing and it keeps it slightly warmer inside the coop then outside which atm Im not really that worried about as I am the water freezing. I need to get off my but and get some kind of a heated water dish, just cant afford one atm. So Im making due with what I got.


And btw, I appreciate all the imput I have recieved from those of you who have offered it. Being new to chickens and being in one of the coldest states in the US Alot of people dont understand how cold it gets and its nice to get info from locals who deal with the same temps as me.


So Thank you

 

[Aria]

We are new with Silkie Chickens and want to be prepared for Winter. I believe people in Alaska should know.

We have a draft free barn and do not plan to have any sort of heat. Are we wrong?
Please offer your advise anyone from Alaska that has chickens.

 

[EHaus]

That's right! I appreciate all the advice and insights I've gleaned from all the posts here, too. I had little confidence that I'd really be able to keep chickens over the winter before I found this thread! I knew it must be possible, since there have been people living in Alaska for a long time, and where there are people, there are usually chickens.

But I can turn my head at this very moment, and watch our girls pecking the snow out the window...no problems there!
So thanks to all of you.

 

[Mrs MIA]

It's nice to be able to help newbies, and allay their fears about raising them up here. I don't know if people just don't BELIEVE me when I tell them not to add heat yet, or what? If I add heat and keep their coop even at +35F, what's going to happen to the birds when one of these wind storms knocks out power in the middle of January? They're not going to be able to withstand the shock of going from 35 above to 35 below. Not without consequences. But hey.. that's ok, do what you want. I was told not to increase the protein content of their feed in the winter... only add starch/fats to their diets. Then I realized that the (unasked for) advice was being given by someone in Arkansas that rarely sees freezing temps! Well, jeez!! Of COURSE you don't need to up the protein THERE! I am SO freakin' frustrated.

I went out and did the morning rounds, and swapped out waterers for thawed, etc... everyone was up and at them, NO ONE was huddled in a corner. I had to slather my face to protect it from the wind, but they're fine. I will only add heat when it gets closer to 0F and below. And even then I will watch them and only add heat if they are acting like they're miserable.

 

[AllAlaskan]

I think you will be fine, whats the coldest temps you get? I know I get -40 up here and I know some other people tha live close by who use either 1 heat lamp or none. From what I have read and been told its more important to make sure its draft free yet vented than it is to keep it heated.


Any one correct me if Im wrong but thats what I have read and been told. Like I said above only reasen Im using a heat lamp atm is to keep the water from freezing ( its suspended 2 feet above and 2 feet off to he side so it doesnt fall in the water if it falls, which it shouoldnt I have the clamps duct taped pretty good to the post its clamped too) rather then to keep the chickens warm. My roosts are all up high and they just go up high into the Cupboards (I use an old Camper for a coop lol) that I cut out and put in roosts inside for em. So I think they stay pretty warm being up at the highest point and have ther sides back top and bottem closed up around them only with the face open. They seem to really like it. But I plan on building a new coop next year and problubly wont use a heat lamp at all unless it drops down below 0 and even then I dont think I really need to.

 

[EHaus]

Quote:
Oh, I can't have a rooster here in town.

I'm working on building an inexpensive but good working incubator for this spring, though. I have to be very selective as far as who gets to live in my backyard, since I am limited by zoning. I would love to be able to raise meat birds, too.
I wonder....Who and how would we be able to approach someone about co-raising some?

 

[AllAlaskan]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

It's nice to be able to help newbies, and allay their fears about raising them up here. I don't know if people just don't BELIEVE me when I tell them not to add heat yet, or what? If I add heat and keep their coop even at +35F, what's going to happen to the birds when one of these wind storms knocks out power in the middle of January? They're not going to be able to withstand the shock of going from 35 above to 35 below. Not without consequences. But hey.. that's ok, do what you want. I was told not to increase the protein content of their feed in the winter... only add starch/fats to their diets. Then I realized that the (unasked for) advice was being given by someone in Arkansas that rarely sees freezing temps! Well, jeez!! Of COURSE you don't need to up the protein THERE! I am SO freakin' frustrated.

I went out and did the morning rounds, and swapped out waterers for thawed, etc... everyone was up and at them, NO ONE was huddled in a corner. I had to slather my face to protect it from the wind, but they're fine. I will only add heat when it gets closer to 0F and below. And even then I will watch them and only add heat if they are acting like they're miserable.

I was just wondering, what do you do for water dishes then? I would like to be able to turn that Heat lamp (save on the electric bill) off lol but dont want my water freezing.​

 

[Mrs MIA]

We get down to -40F at times, too.

I have a lot of birds to watch out for, and I'm more worried about frostbit combs than anything else. Keeping the coop relatively dry (low humidity) and relatively draft free with wide roosts so their feathers will cover their feet will help. I use heated dog bowls for their water, but if you're using a heat lamp to keep their water thawed then they will certainly enjoy the extra heat.
In the breeder coop, I use water bottles, and have an extra set to swap out when they get frozen. No heat at all in there except their body heat. Plenty of vents, but little drafts. With the wind today I didn't open the pop doors, to keep the breeze out. So far so good. I DO have a small kerosene cabin heater to use when the temps start getting really bad... but probably not until January.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Here's my story and I'm sticking to it:

Long ago and far away (Ok about 8 years and 5 miles) we had 6 chickens and I knew NOTHING about chickens. If I remember right it was 2 Polish, a Leghorn, a RIR banty, a NHR and something else... We lived in the cabin with no running water and no electricity (HORRORS!!!). The chickens had a chicken wire area in the yard that was about 15x15 or so. Inside that area was 1/2 of a XL dog kennel for them to shelter in, and lay eggs in, and they did.

Winter came to Chickaloon. And with it 8 LONG weeks of 30-40 BELOW weather and wind. It was THE coldest winter I have ever endured before and since then.

The chickens pecked and squawked and scratched in that weather... they came out to eat snow and get their feed that I provided daily.... I did not give water, it was frozen in such a short amount of time in that weather that it was pointless! Yes they stopped giving me eggs in the winter (I thought that normal!) but they did not get sick, or lose weight. In the spring, normal egg laying and chicken activities resumed.

3 of these 6 birds lived 6 years. The other three: The leghorn and one other met a furry fate of a wolf, and my little polish girl died of no apparent reason I could see in the summer.

I look at my chickens now and tell them they got it MADE!