FLORIDA!!!!!ALWAYS SUNNY SIDE UP!!!

[caeti21]

FLORIDA WINTER - WHAT TO DO, IF ANYTHING, FOR OUR CHICKENS

I'm in NE FL and this is our first winter with the hens.  I think I'm on the right track for them to have a comfortable winter, but I want to make sure, get any suggestions, etc.  Since we had a 9 hour hard freeze last night, I figured it's almost past time for this discussion. I guess it's better late than never for us newcomers.

From reading past forum posts, this is what I've come up with.  I'd greatly appreciate discussion with more experienced chicken keepers to let me know if I'm doing this right.  

Where they live - My coop is basically 6 feet tall, with a slanted aluminum roof, by 6 feet deep.  The back wall is solid, aluminum, and 4 feet of both side walls are solid, giving them protection on three sides.  The rest is hardware cloth, with a solid deck flooring.  There's 4 nesting boxes on the deck and 4 across the back at about 4 feet.  They have a roosting ladder from deck to boxes and a roosting bar (made from 2"x2"s) that go across just inside of the solid side walls, so 3 1/2 feet out and 5 feet off the deck.  Their "run" or chicken yard, as I call it, is 23' x 23' square.  They have plenty of shade trees and also a "cabana" (previous owners left an old dog house, so we took the sides off all around, cut down the legs, leaving the deck floor and tin roof. Now the chickens have a place to get off the ground and under cover in case of rain or too much sun.)  

Preparing for winter - I've added more waterers, as I read chickens drink more water in cold weather.  I've changed over to Nature's Way Feather Fixer pellets, as that has higher protein than the layer pellets.  Plus, they are all just getting over molting anyway. I've added about 4 inches of nesting materials (pine and cedar shavings mixture) across the bottom of the coop.  I posted a solar powered LED security light across from the coop to give them light, not heat, for an additional 4 hours.  They are free fed but now I've added an evening "snack" so they have food in their belly when they go to roost.  This is a mixture of Poultry Conditioner pellets, black sunflower seeds, and scratch.  

I think I've covered what they need: more water, food in belly as they processing helps keep them warm, and materials on the floor to help contain the heat they generate when roosting together.  It's my understanding that they don't need a heat source other than each other.  My husband family kept chickens in the mountains and never gave heat, and they were fine, even with snow.  With that in mind, I know they can survive the freezes but I want to do what I can to make them comfortable, not just surviving.  

What do you all do?

Thanks,
Lisa

Sounds like your coop is about like mine is only mine is wood and open bottom , but in my opinion i think you're set just keep them dry and a place they can get out of the wind , we built our coop behind our shed so the open front still doesnt get hit to hard by the wind , i dont have a heat lamp on mine either but extra food and water for sure but it sounds to me like you have things good , i did give mine some vitimans when it first got cold just as a precaution

 

[cmom]

FLORIDA WINTER - WHAT TO DO, IF ANYTHING, FOR OUR CHICKENS

I'm in NE FL and this is our first winter with the hens. I think I'm on the right track for them to have a comfortable winter, but I want to make sure, get any suggestions, etc. Since we had a 9 hour hard freeze last night, I figured it's almost past time for this discussion. I guess it's better late than never for us newcomers.

From reading past forum posts, this is what I've come up with. I'd greatly appreciate discussion with more experienced chicken keepers to let me know if I'm doing this right.

Where they live - My coop is basically 6 feet tall, with a slanted aluminum roof, by 6 feet deep. The back wall is solid, aluminum, and 4 feet of both side walls are solid, giving them protection on three sides. The rest is hardware cloth, with a solid deck flooring. There's 4 nesting boxes on the deck and 4 across the back at about 4 feet. They have a roosting ladder from deck to boxes and a roosting bar (made from 2"x2"s) that go across just inside of the solid side walls, so 3 1/2 feet out and 5 feet off the deck. Their "run" or chicken yard, as I call it, is 23' x 23' square. They have plenty of shade trees and also a "cabana" (previous owners left an old dog house, so we took the sides off all around, cut down the legs, leaving the deck floor and tin roof. Now the chickens have a place to get off the ground and under cover in case of rain or too much sun.)

Preparing for winter - I've added more waterers, as I read chickens drink more water in cold weather. I've changed over to Nature's Way Feather Fixer pellets, as that has higher protein than the layer pellets. Plus, they are all just getting over molting anyway. I've added about 4 inches of nesting materials (pine and cedar shavings mixture) across the bottom of the coop. I posted a solar powered LED security light across from the coop to give them light, not heat, for an additional 4 hours. They are free fed but now I've added an evening "snack" so they have food in their belly when they go to roost. This is a mixture of Poultry Conditioner pellets, black sunflower seeds, and scratch.

I think I've covered what they need: more water, food in belly as they processing helps keep them warm, and materials on the floor to help contain the heat they generate when roosting together. It's my understanding that they don't need a heat source other than each other. My husband family kept chickens in the mountains and never gave heat, and they were fine, even with snow. With that in mind, I know they can survive the freezes but I want to do what I can to make them comfortable, not just surviving.

What do you all do?

Thanks,
Lisa

Looks like you have all of your T's crossed and i's dotted. I live in north central Florida. The main thing is good ventilation in the coop. My coops aren't heated either. Two of my coops are completely open on one side. I did put tarps up to keep the rain out when the wind comes from that direction and their feed dry. Do you have any pictures you could post. In the coops that have floors in them I do have litter on the floors. Not very deep. The birds do track in a lot of sand but the coop floors are easier to clean when I put litter in them.

 

[Seatrout00]

Preparing for winter - I've added more waterers, as I read chickens drink more water in cold weather. I've changed over to Nature's Way Feather Fixer pellets, as that has higher protein than the layer pellets. Plus, they are all just getting over molting anyway. I've added about 4 inches of nesting materials (pine and cedar shavings mixture) across the bottom of the coop.
Lisa

I'm curious, I read that cedar shavings were toxic to chicks. I use cedar essential oil in soap and know that some people are very sensitive to it - thoughts on using cedar in the coop with adult chickens?

 

[Seatrout00]

All right, you all, update on our chick order. Started out we were getting 3 Black Australorps and 3 Barred Rocks ... now I've changed it up - getting two Australorps, two Barred Rocks and two Speckled Sussex pullets. Anyone have experience with the SSes? I am so eggcited! The SSes I decided on, purly by their look - saw that beautiful maroon brown and bright white splotches and was "MAN, I gotta have some of those!"

 

[luvmychis]

"Originally Posted by cmom

Looks like you have all of your T's crossed and i's dotted. I live in north central Florida. The main thing is good ventilation in the coop. My coops aren't heated either. Two of my coops are completely open on one side. I did put tarps up to keep the rain out when the wind comes from that direction and their feed dry. Do you have any pictures you could post. In the coops that have floors in them I do have litter on the floors. Not very deep. The birds do track in a lot of sand but the coop floors are easier to clean when I put litter in them."


Thanks so much, CMom. I feel better now. Here's the best I can do on pics. Mind you, it wasn't all cleaned up when I took them, so over look the mess.


view of inside of coop from the front, see solid back wall and half of each side wall. I didn't know about the nesting boxes must be lower than the roosting bars when this was built. Added the four down below but they still prefer the higher ones. Cans hold scratch/treats, mixed bedding, and pellets. Bags in back are pine shavings, cedar shavings, and DE.


Overall view of coop. It sits inside the chicken yard (23'x23') with the solid back towards the direction the wind blows from 98% of the time. On the left you see my life lesson (Precision Pet Coop that I wasted money on) with the solar powered security light. It lights up the coop for 4 hours extra light each night.


The girls came running for treats instead of staying on the cabana for a photo op. LOL Better pic to follow. The water in the bucket is fresh. It's yellow because I added Layer Boost.


Here's the chicken cabana. It used to be an elevated dog house, when we got this home years ago. It's be recycled for several uses since then, but it's now the chicken cabana by cutting off the legs so it's on the ground and taking all the sides and door off. This is an earlier photo, but we've since added a PVC feeder so it's out of the weather. The hens hang out here when it's too hot or when a rain comes quick.


This is the best I could get for a roosting photo. My two English Lorpintons are too fat to get too far off the ground. The black one roosts here, on the lowest ladder rung, and the blue beds down in the Precision coop unless I close it off to her. So far, I haven't forced the issue. Where ever she's comfortable.

As you can see in the pics, we have shade cloth around the whole enclosure except the entrance gate. There's no fencing across the top of the chicken lot, not a door on the coop. While I may eventually hit a predator snag, so far it's been peaceful. We keep a minimum of 5 feet cleared around the 2 sides of the fence that face outside our fenced in yard. I also use Shot Gun Repells All Animal Repellent Granuales about every 3 months around the outside of the fence.

So that's it for Meme's Chicken Lot and trying to have happy hens. Now that everyone is about done getting all their feathers back and I added the extra protein (I had no idea molting was a 6 week process.), I'm getting eggs again. With 9 hens, I get between 4-5 eggs a day. That's making me happy so figured I need to keep them happy and comfortable through these freezing weather, out of gratitude if nothing else.

Lisa

 

[N F C]

All right, you all, update on our chick order. Started out we were getting 3 Black Australorps and 3 Barred Rocks ... now I've changed it up - getting two Australorps, two Barred Rocks and two Speckled Sussex pullets. Anyone have experience with the SSes? I am so eggcited! The SSes I decided on, purly by their look - saw that beautiful maroon brown and bright white splotches and was "MAN, I gotta have some of those!"

I have 2 SS in my mixed flock and love them! They are the sweetest natured birds I have and so pretty. My girls will be 2 in April and they lay decent sized eggs about 5 days out of 7. They're just completing their first real molt and did seem to lose more feathers than my other breeds but their new feathers have more specks than the ones they lost so it's been fun watching them come back in. Because they are such mild-tempered birds, they are on the bottom of the pecking order in my flock but they know how to duck & run (they don't seem to ever fight back). Plus they are excellent foragers, I've seen the other birds watch the SS find "treasures" and run over to take over wherever the SS were scratching.

Here's a picture of Peanut, one of our SS:


And here is Dia:


These pictures were taken before this last molt, I need to get some new photos to compare their markings to pre-molt.

I hope you enjoy your SS as much as I have mine!

 

[Sweet Coastal]

Anyone in north east do have a 3-4 month old welsummer pullet. I am desperate to find one. I lost one last night that was my daughters favorite and she is going to be devistated. Of course out of my 75 babies it had to be her favorite chicken.

 

[AuntNomi]

Anyone in north east do have a 3-4 month old welsummer pullet. I am desperate to find one. I lost one last night that was my daughters favorite and she is going to be devistated. Of course out of my 75 babies it had to be her favorite chicken.

I am so sorry to hear that happened. I got my Welsummers from Jack Boyd he is on the facebook page for Northeast Florida Farm & Garden Swap you may be able to contact him and see if he has any available. He's a very nice guy, and always extremely helpful.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I don't know if cedar shaving are toxic or not, I was getting bags of shavings from a fellow that makes cabinets and he would save the shavings. I'm sure there was a variety of woods he used in making cabinets, not sure if any was cedar. I used it in the coops with no problems.

 

[Gingersnap722]

Hi all, was wondering if there are any breeders of Standard Cochins, BBS, and/or Light Brahmas here in Florida. Thanks!