Chickens Arctic Conditions Prolonged Period

[Going Quackers]

If you have the ability a heated dog water bowl is great for a smaller flock, i have one for my big hen coop. Frey's is a pretty common hatchery source for S.ON, i know my first scovies came them via a feed mill i use, i even named one of the ducks Frey lol

I will add these waterers from TSC survive cold well, i left one out quite often frozen solid (oops) and it did fine, obviously it doesn't resolve the actual frozen problem i just was meaning for durability.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I will add these waterers from TSC survive cold well, i left one out quite often frozen solid (oops) and it did fine, obviously it doesn't resolve the actual frozen problem i just was meaning for durability.

A pair of those in an exchange program would meet my winter needs well. I will keep an eye out for them in my area. I am retired and out to the coop several times every day so I can not see the advantage of having the water thawed while the birds are roosting. However all life styles and coops are different..

 

[chickisoup]

Good morning!
ThAnk you Hokum Coco! I just finished reading this entire thread and found it very informative and entertaining. I am located in northern Wisconsin in a small valley microclimate that is a full zone colder than even folks close to me.

Last year was my first in many many years with chickens and my very first with them this far north. I do have an oil filled electric heater in my well insulated coop but after reading your very logical arguments proven by your own experiences, I believe it will be used a great deal less this year.

My personal design, 're-purposed from one of my husband's small hunting shacks, does have a large, south facing, window to take advantage of any solar heating and light. I also have a small greenhouse close to the coop that I shovel a path to in winter where my girls love hanging out in on cold sunny days. Also, in several places I have removed the floor blocks giving the ladies a place to dust bathe even when the snow can be measured in feet. I leave the racks in place, putting hay bales on them, and they use these for sunbathing. When they were evicted last year in late winter/early spring so I could start my seeds there were several days of squawking and complaining! I converted it back for them a few days ago and they have already decided it is a wonderful place to spend our recent days of unseasonable rain. (Snow should be back by the end of the week.)

 

[Hokum Coco]

Duplicate

 

[chickisoup]

The Lord is my Shepherd but I still get to scoop the poop!

Glad to hear you agree with some of my methods. I find my hen coop (since the arrival of my grand children) has turned into more of a retirement home. I got a kick out of your signature enjoy your sense of humour. This is a bit off topic but it does explain where my user name came from and some BYCers may find it interesting. Pipper My grand daughter's hand-raised, orphaned-homer failed to return on a 20 mile toss. It was one of the few times she did not accompany me on a release. She suffered tears and heartache when I told her of the loss. Amazingly when I went to close up the loft at dusk what should come flying in but (her pigeon) Piper! I checked him over and he was tore open from his neck to his tail feathers. My first instinct was to put him out of his misery. I however brought him into the house for a better look. My wife flushed out the wound with a saline solution and I glued him back together with crazy glue. He was good to go in about 5 days This is him incubating eggs after his ordeal. . My grand daughter was On The MOON when I told her of Pipers return. Grand daughter has experienced love, loss, heartache. first aid, joy, responsibility, and kinship with yours truly. She has also developed special bonds with some of our doves who prefer her company over mine when she comes into the loft with me. It has given her a good subject for presentation at school as well. We also are starting up a small enterprise with white dove releases (Pipers parents were both solid snow white just for the record). Pippers Parents Grand daughter did her first dove release at a wedding last fall also another release for an anti bulling campaign at her grade school. With the aid of the Internet she has also become somewhat of an authority on homing pigeons. She definitely knows more than the average 12 year old on the subject and can talk your ear off. This was relayed to me by her teacher after she was forced to cut off a presentation she made when the question period looked like it was not going to end. She would rather hang out with Hokum (her name for me since she was one) then any of her friends or parents (for that matter). Picture of Back Yard However she will be entering her teens next year (make-up and boys will probably soon shove me aside). I know however that these birds have made her a better person regardless what comes in the future. Plus I have another grand daughter who is only turned 3 and calls me Coco (since she was one).

wonderful story! I too love the rubber tubs BTW. I have a black rubber bucket that I have actually owned for going on thirty years and even tho it has suffered serious abuse by all sorts of animals (including children) it is still in great shape. I like using the black tub with handles when I have to clean up a hen. They seem to like the tub and don't slip in it. I love anything that serves it's purpose well and lasts a lifetime (kind of like my hubby)

 

[JacobMaxwell]

@ Gloria 2 Hens

I housed 6 red sex link birds and one Delaware Rooster in my coop last winter.
My Coop is a salvaged 4x8 metal shed here are a few tips and a quick look at my set up.
My floor are planks with a layer of tin for rodent proofing. On top of the tin I have a piece of vinyl flooring cut one foot longer than the length and width of my coop (roughly). Six inches squares are cut out of the 4 corners of the vinyl flooring. This allows the friction fitted flooring to travel up the walls six inches around the perimeter of my 4x8 salvaged metal coop. Shovel out the heavy stuff into a wheel barrow. Pop out the vinyl flooring hose it off pop it back in.
Easy Peasy!

I have been around the sun 63 times.

It is not my first "Rodeo!"

Nobody "I know" heats a chicken coop.

Healthy "cold hearty" chickens die from heat not cold.

I live in Canada last year was subject to -40º (C or F take your pick) no light or heat in coop NO PROBLEMS. You have to feed heavier during cold snaps with extra corn I find.

Chickens have been raised on this continent for over a hundred years without heat.

If you feel you must supply heat to your chickens I suggest keeping your chickens in the house that way you can huddle with your birds when the hydro goes out.

Chickens will die from cold if not given the chance to acclimatize. Hydro is more apt to go out in an ice storm or blizzard when subject to below 0º temperatures in my opinion.

How would you supply heat then to your un-acclimatized birds ???

Watering
For along time I used heater tape around a bucket with chicken watering nipples. It worked excellent. However me being me I neglected to change the water as often as I should.

Last year I switched to white rubber contains the wife found somewhere. The freeze solid every night but the ice just pops out of them in the morning and I replenish them with fresh warm water. They have black ones at the feed store that are similar but large than mine.

The chickens congregate around them like people having their morning coffee. The only draw back is my yard is pepper with small ice bergs the size of the buckets.

April looks after that however..


I have used all types of litter for coops.

I have not tried sand (sand gets good reviews on this site).

Of all the things I tried to date wood pellets have been the best. (I tried wood pellets as a last resort when pine shavings were not available.) They are super absorbent and swell up and eventually turn to saw dust. The droppings just seem to vanish and turn to dust when it comes in contact with wood pellets .

Replace my litter and clean my coop every October after I harvest my garden.


Works for me in my deep litter method.

I do add to pellets from time to time.

I have anywhere from 10 to 15 birds housed in my 4x8 coop.

Through the winter months the pellets froze harder than concrete with -40º temperatures. The poop froze before it could be absorbed by the pellets and there was like a crusty layer of poop in certain areas where they collectively took aim (no smell, messy feet or flies @ -40º). Come April things started to look after themselves.

POOP BOARDS are the "BEST" addition yet. Handles well over ½ of the poop in my set up keeps ammonia smell in check 3½" below roost excellent for catching eggs laid through the night. I recently friction fit a piece of vinyl flooring over my poop board.it makes clean up even easier; Pop out; Scrap; Hose; Pop in.

In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new.

Easy peasy!.

Chicken coop is salvaged 4x8 metal shed.











I house an assortment of birds in this baby barn (¼ inch veneer plywood between birds and elements) no heat no light no problems.

Do you buy wood pellets that people put in a pellet stove or the kind that is meant to be bedding?

 

[res]

Do you buy wood pellets that people put in a pellet stove or the kind that is meant to be bedding?

You can buy whichever is cheaper, they are the same product.

I tried the pellets, but no longer use them because they literally turn into dust - very, very fine powdery wood dust - nothing like the sawdust I expected. But, ease of use and ease of storage are factors in their favor.....

 

[chickisoup]

ok, sorry Hocum, but we are getting hit by an early "arctic express" temp is 22o and dropping with 25 to 35 mph winds putting the windchill into the single digits and the actual temp is possible to hit the single digits tonight.We were in the 40's yesterday and 30's as late as this morning so that is just too fast for them (and me!) to adjust, especially my older gal so the heater is going on to keep the coop above freezing. Tomorrow is supposed to be worse with nighttime temps getting close to zero and then back to more seasonal for us. (daytime 30's nighttime 20's). Then the heater will go back off.

oh, and did I mention the snow???

 

[Rooster Rules]

ok, sorry Hocum, but we are getting hit by an early "arctic express" temp is 22o and dropping with 25 to 35 mph winds putting the windchill into the single digits and the actual temp is possible to hit the single digits tonight.We were in the 40's yesterday and 30's as late as this morning so that is just too fast for them (and me!) to adjust, especially my older gal so the heater is going on to keep the coop above freezing. Tomorrow is supposed to be worse with nighttime temps getting close to zero and then back to more seasonal for us. (daytime 30's nighttime 20's). Then the heater will go back off.

oh, and did I mention the snow???

Went down to 2f last night with windchill 10 below, now that was snappy, still 32f in the coop this AM, with no heat whatsoever, insulation and the birds had enough heat....

 

[Hokum Coco]

Heater works.
Plus you save on feed.
I just whack the corn to my birds and they do fine too.
Plus there is 11 birds all total.
They bunch together and share body heat to combat the cold.
Either way you must fuel the birds to keep their body temperature constant.
Whether it be through nutrition or supplemental heat.
My birds have went through -40º C&F.
You birds may not be as cold hearty as mine.
Anytime it snows in my area the temperatures are not as cold never double digit frigid.
What ever gives you peace of mind.