How to Prepare Your Flock For Winter 101 *Official Thread*

[kichohana]

Quote:
I love my deep litter. Stays pretty clean too. Sprinkle in a little DE to help keep it dry and there is no smell! I don't turn mine - the girls do that when they're scratching around. Toss in some BOSS and they're really going to scratch it up.

Keep your ventilation up high - above the roosts if you can. The heat/smell/condensation will rise up and out. Do not need a fan - chickens are VERY dusty, especially if you use deep litter, and the dust will just clog up your fan and it could become a fire hazard. I don't think your weather out there warrants a heat source. The birds are plenty warm. A chickens' body temperature normally runs at 102-103 degrees F. It's condensation that will be your enemy if you get a freeze.
As far as nipple waterers, i built one a month ago and LOVE it! This blog has the easiest access to pictures I could find, but there are hundreds of ideas if you type "nipple waterers" in the search box upper right corner. I built mine a bit more fancy than Jackie's, but hers is the basic idea. Check it out about 2/3 the way down her page. http://jackiessecretgarden.blogspot.com/search/label/chickens

Happy Chickening!

 

[Arlokitty]

To AccioSarah who mentioned putting styrofoam panels around the coop, be warned that the chickens will peck at and eat the styrofoam anywhere they can reach it. I put some up in our coop on Friday afternoon, with the intention of covering the parts they could reach the next morning-----but by the next morning they'd already destroyed quite a bit of it. It was like catching the kids with their hands in the cookie jar, when I went into the coop and found two of them sitting up on the roosts with little blue flecks of styrofoam all over their faces! Pretty funny, actually, but not good for them or for the insulation...

 

[Arlokitty]

What's BOSS?

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
Black oil sunflower seeds

 

[sunflowerenvy]

Quote:
i dont put bedding around the food or the water.the water is up on a piece of wood under the nest boxes.
it seem stranger to me that they poop more at night over the hay then over by the food and water
i used a rain cutter 8 ft cut in half that is mount on 2 walls for my feeder in the chicken coop .. I fill the feeders the first time. 3 26oz cans of layer pellets than refill them about 1 1/2 cans every day since when i lock them up at night i have not have to clean out the feeder yet
and i have 1 gallon red plastic pan water feeder in the coop which i refill it every other day and i have a 3 gallon plastic water outside and i fill that up every day during the summer months I am going to move the 3 gallon water inside when the temp drop below 40 at night.and put cookie tin heater under my water .Also my feeder /water in the coop is clean of pooped and they are not roost on any thing with food or water in it.

you can see my set up on byc page when first set it up boy does it look good back then lol
i have not really change anything except i am using hay under my roost now.

i might go back to pine shaving when i get done with my half bale of hay

i will take some more pic tomorrow n add them to my page
laura

 

[BunnyMomma]

I have 2 windows covered with hardware cloth east/west, that have sliding windows made from 2 recycled storm windows. I shut them when the weather gets bad. Then I cover the North facing door ( also hardware cloth) with plexiglass I usually build a straw house or two in the floor. (they love to go under, and climb around on the straw houses) I sometimes add a heat lamp for extra cold nights. I have a vent in the top of the coop for circulation. I will probably add a heated watering dish also. I plan to give them plenty of extra treats in the winter. They love Ramen noodles mixed with chunky applesauce. I buy gallons of applesauce from a dented grocery supply, cheap! Since we live in the south the winters are not as bad but the temp changes can drive you crazy. I have a pear tree that has semi-hard pears. Those keep them busy on day they have to stay in.
I have chickens that are pretty cold hardy too.
I feel for you folks in the coldest parts of the country, I have nothing to do compared to you.
Bunny

I also have a strand of all weather, multi-colored Christmas lights inside the coop that I use all year around. I think it is comforting for the chickens, and it seems to keep predators away from the coop!

 

[MrsChicken1954]

Keeping the water unfrozen in the depths of winter: this is what I have done. I have a large tripod drinker, so the bowl part is a few inches above the ground. In the winter I put this in the greenhouse, as this is the chickens' spa area! Under the bowl part I have dug a hole into which I have put a small paraffin (kerosene?) greenhouse heater. But in order to make sure that the hole doesn't collapse I have surrounded it with an old chimney pot which goes down into the hole and up as far as the drinking bowl so that the chickens can't have access to the heater. In order to ensure that the heater gets sufficient oxygen that it doesn't go out, I have pushed a 2" drainage pipe down through the soil and it goes underneath the hole so that there is an air flow in the chamber inside the chimney pot. Seems to work very well. Does this make sense?

 

[barrelracer]

I am soooo happy I discovered this board! So much help! I do have 2 questions:

1. I see someone put on here heated water "dog bowls". Sounds like a great idea, any problems with over heating? Anyone else use these?

2. Can someone explain to me why you use DE and how to use it? I just learned about the oysters shells, - is it just DE or is there a brand I need to get for safety?

Great post!

 

[happychic]

I'm glad you started this thread...lots of great ideas. The coop has windows and high peak vents, I'm thinking of putting plexi-glass over the windows so that the shutters can stay open for light. Do you think that will provide enough ventilation inside the coop?

 

[nohnogoose]

We have our chickens in our barn--it is probably about 200 years old. They are warm and dry, but what I've done to insulate that part of the barn is to tack their feed sacks up on the walls, it seems to work quite well. We always have to have their water on a heater for winter- we have found the actually heated waterers do not work for us so we bought the type you can sit their metal waterer on.