I posted yesterday regarding wintering chickens. I did not get a very good response. I suppose most people will not have to worry about chickens in constant sub zero temps and the absence of light so early in the day. I need to prepare for this, but would like to know what works for you and your chickens since you have already experienced it. What I need to know is what do you use to keep your hen house about 35 degrees. I do not what to use any kind of heat that could start a fire, but lights would be fine. Also... do you use water heaters to keep the water from freezing or have you found another way. I am so worried that I am gonna find my chickens frozen some morning.
Although I don't live in Alaska, I do live in Central Oregon, where every winter we get sub-zero temps. When that happens, I use a heat lamp fastened up high so the chickens can't get burned. Make sure it's securely fastened. To keep the water from freezing, I use the heated dog water bowls. You can get them in 1 or 2 gal. sizes. Hope this helps.
I live in So. Cal. and don't worry about my girls getting too cold but if I was concerned I would mount their brooding lamp where they couldn't roost on it and turn it on for the cold temps.
I live in central/northern Maine and it is very windy at our house. Our coop is uninsulated. I had two buckets, while one was thawing, one was out in the coop freezing... I worried alot about them too, and even though all the old timers around here said not to worry about it and said things like," it's too expensive to run a light all winter" "there chickens they'll be fine" "mine lived under my truck all winter" (seriously!) ect. ect., I put a heat lamp out there. I hung it over their roost when it was below zero, and just from the peak of the roof in the center of the coop when it warmed up in the teens and 20's. My rooster got a teeny tiny bit of frostbite on the tips of his comb and wattles, which prompted me to put out the light, but he was fine. It did swell and bleed a little and I didn't like to see him suffer, though it did not seem to bother him it bothered me. I put bag balm on it until it healed up. The hens had no trouble at all. I was actually told by an intelligent person, not to worry, " The roosters combs shrivel up and fall off in the winter & it will grow back in the spring" .... I am insulating my coop this fall though, hopefully that will stop the water from freezing. FYI mine broke the ice off the top of the water even when it got 1/2 thick in between changes when it was like -40 and I think largely they do take care of themselves just fine as long as they can get in out of the elements. I gave them scratch grains in the winter too, I heard that the corn in it helps keep them warm?
I think you are going to have to have some kind of heat. I know they say that the main thing is to keep the humidity down. Them leghorns won't handle that cold all that well. Lanky an big combs do good in the heat an fat, fluffy an no combs do good in the cold.
You don't HAVE to have heat. Tho this year we are moving back to our cabin that has NO electric or water, we will have the chickens with us there. Not sure what the setup will be yet. However, I can tell you when we lived there 7 or so years ago I had 6 chickens then and no clue on caring for them. I put up a chicken wire enclosure around some trees and gave them a top 1/2 of a dog kennel to sleep in. They made it through 2 winters before we moved again, and they were fine. They got to be out all winter if they wished, or got to be in the kennel too. Obviously I didn't get eggs thru the winter. So, that being said, don't fret too much on them surviving, but additional arrangements will been to be made if you want eggs!
