Live in a Very Cold Winter area? Post link to your personal page here!

[accio! chickens]

Quote:
Awesome! It's nice to see so many Ontarians on here these days. I'm 30 minutes north of Belleville.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

We live in south central Alaska. Our "shortest" day is about 6 hours of good light.
Temps can dip as low as 30 below several times per winter.
Here is our link to what is working well for us.
http://steveandpaularunyan.blogspot.com/2009/12/secrets-to-keeping-laying-chickens-in.html

 

[WisconsinGardenChick]

Quote:
Yes, I'm enjoying the conversation, but if I wanted to find some experienced info quickly, sorting through 19 pages wouldn't be very helpful...

This thread IMO needs to be broken up into two - one with the experience and data based info, and one for chatting about the cold.

 

[HeatherFeather]

cluckcluck42 wrote:

Hey there, I am about an hour out from Ottawa.

Awesome! It's nice to see so many Ontarians on here these days. I'm 30 minutes north of Belleville.

Suburban Oshawa here....for the time being, working towards Simcoe county within the year.

This is a great idea and I'll try to create a page next week when I have time. Our water was freezing solid last week and I had to change it out 3x a day. We added 15 more chickens....and the water isn't freezing anymore

Taking a trip to the Orono Co-op today for water heater and heat lamp!​

 

[LynneP]

December 2009-

It's been easier for us this year. November was mild and though there is a large storm approaching today, we have been through a winter with the hens and in addition, we insulated the barn in which the coop is located. Even when the thermometer reads low, there are no drafts and the ventilation is taking the moisture out. The birds were singing when I entered today, I love hearing that kind of joy from farm animals! Plugged in the electric dog bowl for the first time this morning, and the 3 gallon waterer that I first used on the hens but later gave to the barn cats. All the chicks survived from the May 2008 hatch and are healthy laying hens.

The generator is ready, extra fuel is on hand, and the blade is on the tractor.

I know some of you have been suffering uncharacteristic bad weather and very steep temperature drops. I wish you well, and very happy holidays!

 

[Gunnygranny]

It is a bit different with chickens in extremely cold areas -- and I’ve had some good advice from several on this site about the whole issue. It’s the morning after and all is well -- we got hit with very sever winds and who knows how much snow yesterday. The snow was coming down sideways so have no idea how much “official” there is. We had snow inside our garage which has never happened before. The sun is shinning and despite the -18 it is a beautiful day. Not sure how I’m going to clean out the run -- it is a fully enclosed and hard to get into and the drifts are really bad up against it.-- but yesterday the girls weren’t even thinking about going out. Every time I went out there they were on their roost and making all kinds of racket about how displeased they were with the weather. I went out about 10 last night and turned on the small heater -- this morning for the first time their water was frozen -- inside a heated dish. The funny thing was seeing their breath.

Please tell me more about the molting thing -- and in cold weather -- since this is my first winter with chickens I have lots of questions -- not to mention concerns

Thanks in advance
Rita,
In sunny, but very snowy Colo

 

[accio! chickens]

Here's my page for wintering with our hens in Ontario!

 

[Mrs. K]

When I set up my chickens a couple of years ago, I had an old black plastic box, the kind you put into the box of a pickup, to have a bit more storage. I took that box, laid it on its' side, put a little sand in it and propped the doors open facing the south. My girls have a little sun porch, they can get out of the coop, which is small, and get into the fresh air, but be out of the wind, and it is the wind that makes things cold here. It has been below zero, and yesterday, my DS went down to shut them up, and had to encourage them into the coop. So providing them a wind shelter in thier yard can be a big help.