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?
it could be stress if you have dogs they are not used to or bear and racoons... or it could be the cold... that means you should use the heat lamp and close everything up and see what goes on from there.
