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

[ange]

I am looking for winter bedding, what is wood shavings exactly is it mulch, sawdust

 

[twistedpickle]

pine shavings=pine log shaved into very thin chips. works great

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

I live just outside of Winnipeg and -30 for a daytime high in January is not uncommon. I have a bale house for them but my fancy hens and roo wont go in it cause it doens't have a high enough roost. Does anybody have an idea how to get them to go inside where its warm? This is my first time wintering chickens. Thanks in advance!

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
Chuck them in there and lock them in at night for a few days... they'll get the idea.

 

[ozark hen]

Quote:
I am assuming you have put the roost up as high as you can? I would lock them in there for a couple weeks till they learn to be comfortable with it. I locked mine in the coop when I first got them for a couple weeks to learn "where home was". It worked for me.

Listen, at those temps I WOULD LOCK MYSELF INSIDE

 

[chickenmeadow]

ange, I have been tossing down pine shavings in my large chicken yard every since it started raining here. It keeps the chickens up out of the mud by absorbing the water & letting water settle below, fills in low areas that they've dug up, keeps the yard without smell (my friends comment: it doesn't smell like a lot of chicken yards do that I've seen) & I can hardly wait to shovel it all out in/after Spring (when things are dryer) to put this Winter/Spring aged compost into the garden. I also use fresh pine shavings in my nest boxes (as I have a few young chickens that like to sleep in or nearly in the nest boxes to leave me droppings to clean out in the mornings which is easier with pine shavings) & coop (straw & grasses mold easier than the pine shavings). It's a good deal for all. They sell it in large plastic bags/bales at the livestock feed stores & it's not too expensive for the quantity you get. The only time I don't use it, is for any of my brooding chicks; then I use cut straw (cut with my sizzors) it is an eddible bedding (not like pine shavings) & I just change it often as you would with any brooder bedding for chicks. Best wishes in finding what works for you!

ChickieBooBoo, can I assume that a bale house is made of bales of straw or the like? If so then maybe stack it higher & put a roost inbetween an upper stack of bales so they will have the higher roosting height that they will like & feel safer at. Let me know if I'm way off on what a bale house is. My husband & I both have parrents from Canada & have heard the stories about how cold it gets there, along with how beautiful it is.

On a funny note: We once knew some people that had a lot of garden & livestock chores, living on a mountain top. So when they were approached by a well mannered/gentle fellow that liked to "live off of the land" who offered to do chores in exchange for living on their place, eating from the garden, chicken eggs, feed grains & goat's milk, & with no shelter required, they took him up on the offer with much success. One day when we visited in the winter, we saw some guy comming out of a large pile of straw pulling straw out of his hair & happily chomping on some green sprigs (maybe parsley); it was odd & surprising. In looking around it was evident that he was a very productive, consistant, attentive guy who took care of everything very well & took being a "naturalist" to a well working extreme. Although he did not like hanging around people & had very little to say, you had to admire him & his odd ways. It's so fun to meet people that delightfully surprise you.

 

[lhorsley]

My rooster froze his comb and it's pretty scrubby looking now!! Is there anything I can do now?

 

[luvmychks51]

if his comb is black from freezing it may fall off. if you're brave you can cut it off. tractor supply sells scalpels. just be sure to seal the wound to keep it clean afterward. we had to take the comb off a hen a last year. she is doing fine. is there any way you can put a heat lamp in the coop?

 

[turbo13]

:d Hi All. I Always Giggle A Bit, With The Drafts And Ventilation Questions. When I Was A Kid In Ny.i Would Open A Window. And My Mom Would Say,"shut That Window Your Letting A Draft In" But When She Opened The Same Window,she Would Say "oh I'm Letting God's Fresh Air In" Lol Never Forget That, After All These Years.

 

[RonW]

Quote:
I live in northern Indiana and I was wonderin if a heat tape for water pipes would keep my coop warm enough for my chickens.