Alaskan chickens - to heat or not to heat, that is my question

[Avalon1984]

How old are your birds (sorry if I over read that part). Mine go into a little bit of a funk if the weather changes quickly. They go back to normal after a while. I just feed them regular 16% layer feed and some leftover. They get their grit and oyster shell and that is where it ends with me. I do treat with Apple cidar vinegar and yoghurt on occasion and I deworm and treat for pests. I am trying to make money on my birds so I am very stringend on output and how much money I spend, since I am trying to live on a tight budget. I used a heat lamp last year when temps went into a minues but that was about it. I will try and go completely without it this year. I replace my layers every 18-20 months at which time they still lay well and I get good money for them. I incubate like crazy and process all excess roos. If your girls are laying age and not laying, maybe they don't like their surroundings? Maybe something stresses them?

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Hope you get the girls goin'!

 

[AKEric]

We are new to raising chickens as well and read thread after thread here on BYC about whether to heat or not in the winter. We have a 4x4 fully insulated coop that is home to 4 hens. After reading a bunch, we have decided not to put any heat in our coop this winter. So far it has worked out just fine. We do have a work light that hangs from the ceiling that has a 100 watt bulb in it. It comes on at 4:00 am and stays on until it is light in the morning. That probably gives off a bit of heat, but not much. We leave quite a bit of ventilation open each night as well. There are four vents that can be closed, but I haven't closed more than 2 of them yet as everything I've read is that there always needs to be a good amount of ventilation.

We put a plastic heated waterer inside and have a heated dog waterer outside as well. So far both have worked great and have not let the water freeze. We've had a couple of nights that got below zero and the waterers have done the job.

We are feeding them 20% layer pellets from AK Mill & Feed and give them a handful of BOSS in the morning to stir up the deep litter inside the coop. They come out into the run during the day and hang out underneath the coop where we have hay out and they seem to do fine. They have ventured out into the snow a little, but don't seem to love playing in it as we do!

As far as laying eggs, only 1 of our 4 is laying right now. It took her almost 2 months of adjusting before she started. We are still holding out hope that the other 3 will start sometime soon, but maybe they wait until spring. Who knows. The wait is worth it though! The eggs we are getting are fantastic and just having them around the yard has provided lots of entertainment!

Not sure if that answers any of your questions, but keep plugging along and soon enough they will adjust and fill the fridge with eggs!

 

[Avalon1984]

I have to say that out of the all the chickens I had, there were some hens that just never started to lay, even under what I would consider ideal situations. I guess some of the ladies are more "emotional" than others. I have some that don't care about weather, temperature, season or stress, they will lay. Then there is others that get upset if I feed them 30min later than usual and will go on strike for a few days. Just can't win them all over...

 

[Country Parson]

Having raised chickens in the furthers northern regions of Northern Michigan, I've never provided heat. Just make sure you have a draft free environment and the chickens will be fine. However, do make sure you have proper ventilation, since without this the coop's moisture content will accumulate, which will cause freezing on the combs, etc. Many see this and think they need to heat the coop, when it is really a moisture problem. Last year I moved to Ohio and we had a really bitter winter. I foolishly decided to line the inside of the coop with straw bales, as the coop was not draft free. Straw sucks up moisture like a sponge, and I fought moisture issues all winter. The chickens did better in a harsher winter environment inside a metal outbuilding with no insulation, than they did with an R50-insulated hen-house (straw bales have a 50 r-value). I've since lined the interior of the coop with wood sheeting, so I've solved my draft issues.

As for heating your water, I've never favored the logic of doing it. The waste of electricity doesn't make sense to me. I have a couple of small buckets I switch out. They get fresh water at 7:30am, and then again at 4:00pm. One bucket is thawing inside while the other is freezing outside. They drink their fill, the water freezes, and then they drink their fill again later in the day. My birds are healthy and happy.

The only real issue I encounter is frozen eggs. But I check them twice a day so this is minimized. In the harshest part of winter my wife will often check for eggs again at noon. Worse case scenario is that an egg freezes, so we just throw those into the chicken-scrap food bucket for extra protein and calcium.

 

[eggscetera]

I keep a 100 watt bulb on a timer - it goes on in the early morning (off @10AM) and it goes back on @5:30PM until 9PM. This is so they'll keep laying. I put a heat lamp out in the coop only when it gets below zero.