Feeding your flock during cold winters

[britinpa]

You can do it in the morning too, if you want. They wake up with empty crops and like to eat a big breakfast.

Thank you for the advice!

 

[Alaskan]

I find that my birds do better if I increase the protein percentage as it gets colder.

If it gets below zero they need artificial light so they have enough time to eat enough so they can stay warm. I however am far enough north that my shortest day is only 5 hours. I have found that 10 hours of light is excellent for the negative temperatures.

I worry about feeding sticky wet feed in the winter, I worry that it will stick to faces and cause frostbite on wattles.

When it stays in the negative Fs, then I like to feed left over fat/oil mixed in with their pellets. If there is too much fat, it freezes into a suet block, flock block kind of thing.
Scratch I just toss small amounts into their bedding to keep them active.

I also use the black rubber pans. They work great and are hard to break. Careful where you toss the ice blocks... or your run will be covered in them.

 

[centrarchid]

I find that my birds do better if I increase the protein percentage as it gets colder.

If it gets below zero they need artificial light so they have enough time to eat enough so they can stay warm. I however am far enough north that my shortest day is only 5 hours. I have found that 10 hours of light is excellent for the negative temperatures.

I worry about feeding sticky wet feed in the winter, I worry that it will stick to faces and cause frostbite on wattles.

When it stays in the negative Fs, then I like to feed left over fat/oil mixed in with their pellets. If there is too much fat, it freezes into a suet block, flock block kind of thing.
Scratch I just toss small amounts into their bedding to keep them active.

I also use the black rubber pans. They work great and are hard to break. Careful where you toss the ice blocks... or your run will be covered in them.

The frost bite issue is a negative on wet feed. If it were a real issue, then you would have same issue when the birds drink water. Approach I describe also produces a mass very much like a flock binder with ice rather than the components associated with flock blocks.

 

[Alaskan]

The frost bite issue is a negative on wet feed. If it were a real issue, then you would have same issue when the birds drink water. Approach I describe also produces a mass very much like a flock binder with ice rather than the components associated with flock blocks.

Except I have seen some photos here BYC where wet sticky feed stuck onto the face and caused bad frostbite.

So, not sure what conditions have to combine to cause that...

 

[WindingRoad]

I feed and water in the morning (slightly warm water and regular pellets) and then at night I give slightly warm water and warmed mash (pellets mixed with hot water. By the time it's mixed, it's cooled to warm, and they eat it fast enough that it doesn't freeze

I was feeding16% protein but I noticed egg production was off. So I went to 18% year round. I up my scratch % in the winter. My birds won't eat mushy stuff. I've tried. They do love grapes, boiled liver with cooked carrots just throw in all in the soup pot. They also love gizzards and hearts. Boil them up cut them up and they gobble them up. So my ratios are 1/2 pellets ( my birds won't eat crumbles) 1/4+ scratch and a good amount of mealworms. Year round with scratch reduced some in summer

 

[NatJ]

I worry about feeding sticky wet feed in the winter, I worry that it will stick to faces and cause frostbite on wattles.

I've never seen that happen, so it never occurred to me to worry about it

I've fed wet feed in below-freezing temperatures (and much warmer temperatures), and not had a problem. I've only had chickens with normal feathers and clean faces (no muff/beard, no crest, no silkie or frizzle feathers. Also no really long Leghorn-type wattles.)

I suppose the obvious test would be to feed wet food in nice weather and watch how the birds eat, and whether they are sticky afterward. Then that person, with that flock, would know whether it works in their situation.

 

[Texas Transplant]

We don't currently have electric to have a warmer, so I was intending to get extra waterers to change them out regularly

I've purchased a square cooler and horizontal / side-mounted poultry nipples (less prone to freezing). This way I can add really warm water in it that won't freeze over night and the nipples shouldn't either.....plus, less mess in the coop on extremely cold days

 

[BuckeyeAmy69]

I had to laugh at @Folly's place comment above! One hard winter and you will be DEMANDING electricity in your coop. If push comes to shove, you can use an extension cord rated for outdoor use on the coldest days.

It gets into the negatives here sometimes in winter. I can't imagine wetting feed in the winter--it would be an ice block after half an hour! I feed only dry feed and use a heated water base for plastic water founts here. It keeps the water at about 40 degrees F. I also use rope lighting stapled to the roof of the coop for supplemental lighting. The rope light is hooked up to a timer which I adjust throughout the winter to keep light exposure at 14 hours per day. I don't recommend a flock block either, they are usually packed using molasses which will give your birds unbelievable diarrhea! I don't recommend oatmeal either, it doesn't have the nutrients they need. Suet cakes are for feeding wild birds.

Also, I wouldn't be at all surprised if your pullets begin laying when they normally would, despite the short days and cold weather. Pullets don't care about that stuff! Hens in their 2nd year need supplemental light though. Good luck! Us northerners deal with lots of challenges in the winter.

 

[NatJ]

I had to laugh at @Folly's place comment above! One hard winter and you will be DEMANDING electricity in your coop.

Huh. I grew up in Alaska. I carried water to chickens, two and more times a day, for over a decade. Even though there was electric light in the coop. It's just a matter of what you get used to. If heated water was a thing at the time, we certainly didn't know about it.

It gets into the negatives here sometimes in winter. I can't imagine wetting feed in the winter--it would be an ice block after half an hour!

The colder it is, the more I like to offer wet feed--but only as much as they can eat before it freezes. (When the water also freezes in half an hour, this lets them fill up on food & water quickly. A good big meal twice a day can be enough to keep them going all winter.)

I feed only dry feed and use a heated water base for plastic water founts here. It keeps the water at about 40 degrees F.

That obviously works too, and once you've got it set up I can see that it's much more convenient. And with liquid water at all times, they don't need any help from wet food to get enough water.

 

[WindingRoad]

We really would like to, but haven't had a chance to get it done this year. We shut off the water to our outside hoses over winter, as they will freeze and burst. I will keep extra waterers handy in our garage to refill with water from our kitchen sink. A bit of an aggravation, but I've prepared myself for it

Get some 1 gallon tea jugs. I fill them up in the house 6-8. I have a base heater I can plug in right by the back door. They will keep your water unfrozen. I just carry out 2 or three in the morning. We are in a serious drought here in Maine so I'm trying not to waste any water. I also keep a jug (Arizona Ice tea jugs are great.)in the coop. I can carry one with my hand and 1 secured up under my arm. The jug in the coop is my temperature gauge. Rarely skimmed over in an UN insulated coop. No light either.