I have "tentatively" put my 'bators up for the winter. This is my first winter season with chickens so I'm not sure what to expect. I am in NW Georgia and we get our share of cold weather. Nothing extreme but lows in the 20s and highs in the 40s are not unusual for late Dec, Jan and Feb. I am comfortable that my coops are fine for my grown birds. Plenty of ventilation, windows have been covered up to shut off any draft I had to move my brooder pens out of my basement to under our screen porch as the dust/etc was causing me and my sons allergy problems....so, my question is, when will it be safe to begin incubating again knowing that the chicks will have to be on a brooder pen outside? It is large with plywood walls and a vented top. We have all the heat lamps, etc. Just don't want to raise any and have them be "miserable" thru the winter months as its not that important. I guess I don't know just how resilient chicks are Thanks in advance and have a GREAT Friday!! Scott
Good morning, Scott. One year, I hatched Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb. If you have a warm enough place for the chicks, there's no problem hatching here. And my weather is colder than yours in winter at my elevation. However, you may want a break just to take a break from being a "chicken-daddy", LOL.
I'm still hatching here in NW Arkansas and it's 15 here this morning. I do have a brooder area in my barn with wooden brooder boxes and wire bottom pens, so I have plenty of space for babies long term though. Last night I did have to move all babies and my adult Seramas into the wooden boxes. I didn't want anyone on wire, even with heat lamps at these temps...brr!
I hatched for the first time last February and got my first shipment of chicks on Dec 10th. I found that it was much easier to manage the chicks in the colder temps than in the heat of the summer. I won't hatch this year after May. Our winters have cold weather, but it comes and goes. Snows are very few and far between. So, my season may not really compare to yours, but our high today is 38 and we have already reached it at 8am. However, in Texas it could be 70 again by Monday! I am located in Northeast Texas. I am picking up 3 doz RIR eggs today to start my first hatch of the winter.
Scott, I recently toured a breeder facility, here in Missouri. He has his brooders outside, and uses them year around, he told me. His were as you described yours, though I didn't notice much for vents. I can tell ya, when he opened it up, I could feel the warmth / heat. Maybe you can tell by this picture ...
I think as long as you have enough heat, it won't matter. I still have a bator full, sigh, and my outside brooders don't sound near as nice as yours.
I hatch all year round an I'm not to far from you but on a Mnt. I use a deep freezer with a space heater in it for a brooder. You only have to brood them longer. The only issue I have ever had was losing chicks to blown heat lamp bulbs a like 4 AM.
I hatch in the bator during the cooler months and allow the hens to take over when it warms up. The cost is higher in the winter due to the electricity being used, but I like that the chicks are at the point of lay when it finally warms back up.
