It's been a non-existent fall here in MN, temps dropped into the 20s to low-40s here in Minnesota, and our chickens are not too happy (this is their first winter); we've gotten maybe one egg a day here or there for the past week. My lovely sister-in-law suggested putting our heat lamp on a timer to turn on every morning at 3 am to give the hens more "sunlight" which makes sense to me. I turned on the lamp early this morning and the chickens immediately woke up and hopped out into their run. So do I leave their coop door open all night in order for them to get up at 3am when the lamp goes on? I've been closing it to keep them a bit warmer (there's ventilation elsewhere).
I don't want to get them too used to the heat lamp since it will be much much colder when winter really comes, but what are some other tips you could offer?
I don't want to get them too used to the heat lamp since it will be much much colder when winter really comes, but what are some other tips you could offer?
