Bantams in winter

[Legendchicken]

Hey guys as you all know winter is coming and the snow will soon fall.. It should weve been having awfuly weird weather.

I am a first year for chickens and my flock of 11 bantam chickens consists of 6 silkies 2 duccles a barred rock a brahma and a leghorn. The leghorn is the only normal size chicken. I am wondering if there is anything special i should need to do with then.. Their coop and run are realitively draft free so they will be able to go outside. They dont seem to mind thw cold it was 40 out this morning and they were out and about. Do you think they will be good.

Also i usualy let them roam the yard if im watching. If i shovel a part of the yard out can they go free range... Just so you know they always can come back in if they wanted to

 

[sourland]

Keep them dry, draft free and well fed, and they will do fine. In my experience bantams handle the cold well.

 

[adrikeen]

You have the same breeds I do. I have a Blue Hen in place of your Leghorn. My girls are now 2-3 years old and they've all done really well the past 3 winters. The first was a nightmare with ice and constant snow storms (I think that was the year Boston got slammed), the second two were mild. I wrapped the run in clear plastic shower curtains to keep snow and drafts out, used water heaters for the waterers, and used the pet/chicken heating pads (safe ones that don't catch fire) in the houses. The girls would snuggle up to them if they got too cold. I had the pads on either side of the roost bars so they could all fill in between. You will probably only need to watch the comb on the leg horn. I didn't have much success with the recommended Vaseline though.