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

[ke.appaloosas]

a HUGE thank you to all of you chicken gods and goddess's..i just saved myself eons of grief from the DH about what would have been a skyhigh electric bill! after reading thru this topic i bundled up, ran out to the coop and shut down all 4-yes 4- heating lamps that were keeping the temps at about 45F. silly me....of COURSE they will be ok in the winter in their nice and cozy down jackets with their well insulated, nicely vented, 2x4 roosts, straw bedding, heated water bowls, nicely nested boxes, ample scraps and feed..oh and i found 40 ears of corn that the horses knocked off the surrounding field plantings when they jumped fence last week so they went right into the feeder for the layers...yeah*sigh* i think i will NOT OBBSESS..no..nunhUnh..not me

 

[PortageGirl]

This thumbs up is for you ke.appaloosas ! They really will be fine.

I've been looking at this waterer... have any of you tried these? http://www.plantfactorygardencenter.com/proddetail.asp?prod=FI-HPF-100-85045001007-338611

 

[Whispering Winds]

Quote:
I just saw that panel heater in a Backyard Poultry and it said it hardly used any ele. at all. I am always suspicious of ele., as my husband is an electrician, and he always looks and tells me what he thinks. It's such a good idea though, and so safe.

 

[Whispering Winds]

Quote:
What about the heaters made from a cookie tin? My hubby thought it was a good idea, just have to be careful exactly where you put it, and that it won't "move" around. Anyone have success with those?

 

[luvmychks51]

Even though i live in central FL, we can get some hard freezes here. If i know it's going to be in the 20's I put old comforters around the coop. Bails of hay are also very warm. If you have shelves in your coop you can spread the hay on the shelves and bank it so it blocks the wind. If you can stack bails around the coop it will keep it surprisingly warm. I also use heat lamps hung from the top of the coop.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
If it doesn't use much electricity it doesn't put out much heat. The heat output of an electrical device (lightbulb, infrared, hot wires, whatever) is pretty much indicated by its wattage. Anything 100w puts out about the same amount of heat; anything 1500w puts out about the same amount of heat (about 15x as much as a 100w bulb/heater); etc.

There are differences in safety, etc of course, comparing differently-designed appliances with the same wattage. But efficiency does not really have a lot of negotiating room.


Pat

 

[Sanguine]

Altho I've had chickens for eight years. this is an all new batch of seven, well, one turned out to be a gorgeous Gold-laced Wyandotte rooster...sigh...the rest are Americaunas.

Have my old water warmer--it is a sealed in unit that will hold the 5 gallon waterer. I was startled when someone said 5 gallons could last 30 chickens...well longer than it is lasting for my seven! Any words on that? I even have a three gallon inside the coop and 5 gallon outside the coop...and they are used up in about a week or so.

Have gotten bales of straw for insulation and have some sand so will try that, too. Since I run the electrical wire to the water heater, hesitate to also put in light but figure the water heater emits some warmth, too.

This may be the wrong subject but my girls were born in April, it is now mid-October and have not seen an egg yet! I don't seem to recall it taking this long with my other girls.

I know they are sposed to drop in production in winter, what if they never start? At first, I was mistakenly giving them not organic feed--my Americaunas sprouted beards...my previous Aracaunas never had beards! What do you all think?

 

[missrose]

should I bring my future chickens inside for the winter? we cover our plants and wondering if I should bring the girls in to.

 

[chickenmeadow]

For winter, the heated dog waterer is working well for the chickens & sits under my coop in the lower level with sides that are closed at night to keep forest rodents out of it & the feed (two-story coop). This one is not thermostatically controlled, so I have a plug-in that turns off & on when nearing freezing & when not near freezing (got one at the local feed store & another one at the hardware store which is used for heat tape or the like). In addition, I found a stainless steel dog type water/feed bowl that fits perfectly snug inside this smaller heated dog waterer; it makes the water change even easier.

Since ventilation is important & drafts are not good, I hang burlap fabric over the wire mesh windows of the coop to cut drafts & keep the "sideways" rain out in the fall & winter. In the real cold weather there are hinged shutters with clear wavy fiberglass that are let down over the windows with the burlap, but I always leave the shutters proped open a few inches for ventilation. I know someone who in the hot summer, hangs burlap on the hot side of her fenced chicken run & runs a mister on it to keep it damp; it cools thru evaporation & adds humidity to the run . Burlap also makes a good wind barrier on the chicken run fencing (windy side) without stopping ventilation when there's no wind.

Started corn in October to help with body heat, it's in a seperate free feeder; they love their corn on the cold days. My bantams are very prissy & seem to like the freefed, dry scratch that is 100% corn & also the overnight soaked cracked corn & soaked poultry wheat that I add hot water to in the morning for a warm breakfast.

QUESTION: Can anyone explain why they use the 2x4's instead of round roosts (seems to be mentioned for cold weather)? Just read some comments on BYC about using 2x4's for roosts. I assume that on the 4" side, their feet stay flat & the're able to tuck their bodies around their feet for warmth. Regarding chance of frostbite while roosting at night, I checked my bantams tonight on the (bantam sized) round roosts & their toes seem to be well covered with their body & feathers fluffed over the toes.

Thanks for all of the great comments, what a helpful "community" the BYC is.

 

[Germaine_11.20]