How do I keep my flocks warm in really cold weather without electricity?

[texsuze]

Ditto providing non-frozen water (cookie tin heater??) and adding more material on the floor space. Your windows will be nice on those sunny, cold days. You could also put a few flakes of hay in the coop for them to sit on.

 

[Apis mellifera]

If your flock seems weak and struggling with low temps it sounds like a nutritional issue. Try giving them some suet cakes and up their protein with meats. I agree with upper ventilation as others have suggested to keep moisture down.

 

[Quacking ducks]

in addition to the advice about keeping them dry (ventilation, good bedding, clean coop, no water inside...) you could add a little extra to their diet (just for the duration of the cold snap). Oats or other scratch will up the energy reserve they have to tap into to stay warm.

Regarding the weakness: Do they have access to grit with all your snow cover? (It occurs to me that might be a reason they are weaker right now?)

Have you checked for mite infestations or wormed them recently?

Have you changed your feed recently?

In the chicken house I have the top of the windows cracked open and in duck house the bottom of 1 window for ventilation. I have scratch grains mixed in with my layer feed.

All the snow is from yesterday and today, and I have oysters shells which are similar to grit in the pen for them to eat. Lately they have been intentionally going and hunting in my gravel driveway which is a little odd, maybe they are looking for grit.

I have checked for mites but didn’t find any. I think that my 2 ducks that died in autumn, died from lead poisoning it’s wasn’t confirmed but the symptoms were the same.

I changed my feed from TSC to a local feed mill a year ago and they have done a lot better with the new feed

I’ve read up quite a bit over the years and I’d echo the keep them dry and draft free sentiment, I’d add that keeping them well fed and a source of water they can drink (that’s not frozen are also helpful. Chickens are unusual in that, given adequate nutrition they are capable of cranking up their metabolism considerably to stay warm, which is why they survive molting in the winter time, most anything else would freeze to death being so exposed. Draft and moisture are the killers, imho, even at moderate temps. Chickens handle Alaska temps remarkably well, -25f even.

Don't replace the litter. Add more over the top. The chemical reaction of the manure with the straw creates heat. Right now, straw would be better than wood shavings because it will break down faster.

I use straw now because the wood shavings were bothering my birds

 

[Roosterinthecity]

Keep dry -them and coop
Deep straw bedding
Feed more and include more protein and calcium (avoid feeding them chicken though)
Keep coop ventilated, but keep them away from drafts

Others
Insulate coop even with a thin layer of plastic if that’s all you have.
Add windows to coop so that if there is sun, it can shine down
Hot water filled water jugs (although water jugs lined up against the wall of the coop can cause some reaction to insulate/keep heat within coop. Yes, water will freeze, but if you add salt…
Just remember to remove jugs if frozen out during day, otherwise they will cool the coop.

Other
Some will recommend, but not me.
Heat lamp with guard
Electric heater(s)

Remember
A chickens body temp is like 105 I think.
They can withstand cold, but try to keep them from being wet. Put things in coop/run/outside that they can stand on to keep their feet off cold wet mud/soil/sand/puddles/etc
Check combs and wattles which indicate frostbite

Chickens have been around for a very long time. They have survived all kinds of weather, even hatchlings. So pretty much most of what we do is extra.

 

[Apis mellifera]

Lately they have been intentionally going and hunting in my gravel driveway which is a little odd, maybe they are looking for grit.

Probably insects. If you have some left over browned chop meat, give it to them.

 

[Quacking ducks]

Keep dry -them and coop
Deep straw bedding
Feed more and include more protein and calcium (avoid feeding them chicken though)
Keep coop ventilated, but keep them away from drafts

Others
Insulate coop even with a thin layer of plastic if that’s all you have.
Add windows to coop so that if there is sun, it can shine down
Hot water filled water jugs (although water jugs lined up against the wall of the coop can cause some reaction to insulate/keep heat within coop. Yes, water will freeze, but if you add salt…
Just remember to remove jugs if frozen out during day, otherwise they will cool the coop.

Other
Some will recommend, but not me.
Heat lamp with guard
Electric heater(s)

Remember
A chickens body temp is like 105 I think.
They can withstand cold, but try to keep them from being wet. Put things in coop/run/outside that they can stand on to keep their feet off cold wet mud/soil/sand/puddles/etc
Check combs and wattles which indicate frostbite

Chickens have been around for a very long time. They have survived all kinds of weather, even hatchlings. So pretty much most of what we do is extra.

I feed them dried solder worms most days for some extra protein and oysters shells for calcium. Thank you for the tips

 

[Chicken poppy]

I have done this with my flock for years and it has always worked.

I did it with mine and some of them actually ended up injured because of it

 

[StinkyAcres]

I have oysters shells which are similar to grit in the pen for them to eat. Lately they have been intentionally going and hunting in my gravel driveway which is a little odd, maybe they are looking for grit.

Oyster shell is not a substitute for grit. Oyster shell is for calcium, grit (rocks, often crushed granite) is for digestion.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Be careful adding a heated waterer inside the coop. This can create too much moisture without adequate ventilation which will cause frostbite and possibly pneumonia. I learned that lesson the hard way and I now keep all heated waterers outside.

 

[Sally PB]

We have an upcoming cold spell. Low teens for highs, single digits for overnight lows. This will be a first for my 5 pullets. The other birds have been through temps like these before.

If I see that nobody is leaving the coop to drink water (I keep no water in the coop), I'll get them a dish of snow for them to peck at and put it in the coop. They love to peck at snow. There is one bowl of feed in the coop, two in the run.

At 10 degrees, or 15 with a north wind, I keep the people door shut. It's usually open for light, since it's so gloomy time time of year.

At 5 degrees, I shut the pop door, and put an extra bowl of feed in the coop.

My ventilatioin openings are all covered with a polyester filter material. Warm, moist air and ammonia rise and pass through, but it cuts the wind to almost nothing.

Right now, I have to go into the coop to gather eggs, so I am in there several times a day. I'll be able to tell if any of them has a problem.