Looking for Winter Advice- What do you wish you had known

[tinman9952]

my advice, do not use white light. I have the 250W red heat lamp for subzero nites, and got a 150w red flood light as well for nights in the teens. my first girls were raised under white, and all have some baldness near their vents. I think, at first they plucked em out of each other, and now two of them are constantly grooming, pulling out their own new feather-growth. I've tried all the tricks, de, bag balm, blu coat. there are no mites, and i'm convinced that the behavior is a result of raising them under white light. All my 6 mo. old's have fluffy downy bottoms.

 

[Mrs MIA]

I can tell you that at this very moment my enitire flock is outside in the dark.... at 8:25am... and it is 6.1°F. (-14.4°C for you Canadians and Aussies).

Yes... 6.1°F... that is not a typo. I had 7 girls sleeping outside all night... their choice. I cannot say it enough... if you let them acclimate to the changing temps without supplementing heat, they are FINE. Your hardest task will be keeping the water from freezing.

 

[ruth]

Mrs. AK is so right. I have an entire thread devoted to showing that you can raise chickens without all the extra heat, etc. I don't use heat lamps even on baby chicks and ducks unless it's really cold and then only for maybe a week in the brooder box till I let them out to start free ranging with the rest of the flock. They feather out beautifully, put on weight, and run around with the rest of the flock by the time they are three weeks old. I've never lost a chick.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
I used Ruth's advice and it worked beautifully! Only lost two chicks to a big black snake, the rest are huge, healthy and beautiful! Free ranging at 3 wks with the big flock and now, at 3 months, I can hardly tell who are the big flock and who are the chicks!

No heaters here, no insulation in the house, round perches.....completely happy chickens.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Update:
Currently 0°F-17.7°C outside, and 5 girls are still sleeping outside. The 40w bulb couldn't handle the sudden drop in temps (that's 25-30° lower than yesterday), so I'll have to up the wattage to keep the waterer from freezing, but that's all they have so far.

 

[ChickaD]

Wow, that's pretty amazing! Your chickens' motto could be "Get down!"

 

[chicknsnbiskits]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Update:
Currently 0°F-17.7°C outside, and 5 girls are still sleeping outside.

Are you using flat (like 2x4) perches? or where are they sleeping? Mine are on round or 2x2 perches right now and refuse to come in to the hen house unless I force them in and lock the door, which I don't like doing. I heard they should be on something flatter to avoid frostbitten toes. What do you think?​

 

[Mrs MIA]

Yes, I use flat 2x4s in the coop. They love them. You can't see their feet at all, and it keeps them nice and toasty. Outside, they perch on whatever they can find. One favorite is a 2x2" piece of wood. But they huddle outside.

 

[Emzyyy]

We used to have only 2 ducks so we didn't have a coop they would stay in a thick plastic fish pond flipped upside down w/ a door cut in it and stuffed full of hay and it was nice and toasty in there for them even at night, but its not for alot of birds. Now were building a coop, but its not started yet my dads being lazy so right now all 18 chickens are in the garage. Good thing we have a bigg garage.

 

[MARSON2]

Hi everybody!

I have 27 ISA Browns just hatched in Oct. 20, 2008
I have them in a brooder now and I have been raising the light
up once a week. Also my garage is heated 70f degrees. I am working on a shed turning it into a coop. My shed is only 8' x 12' and I am quick getting an 8' x 12' fence outside. A place for them to go on nice days when I clean the coop. When should I move them to the coop? and is
this coop big enough for this winter? Already dipping down to 22f degrees
now!

Jim