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

[Jamie]

ams3651,
3x8 spaces are plenty for ventilating a space, and depending on the direction of the weather in your area, it is a possible draft problem. If draft is an issue, a board about 2 inches inside/outside the space is enough to stop direct breezes from blasting in, but still provide ventilation.

Vermontgal,
as far as lighting in winter, I would read over the 'layer management' link in my post above. It will answer most of your questions regarding light. In short though, extra light will usually mean there's a need for some form of forced molting which seems sketchy and increases mortality risks. It seems to be used in commercial applications. We figure now that if we want more winter eggs, we'll just get more chickens.

 

[CUDA]

Check out this article I wrote for dubbing. It is a must if you keep your fowl outside year round in a colder climate. You can read it HERE .

 

[Mrs MIA]

I don't know that it's a MUST... but it wouldn't hurt. I don't dub my chicken's combs, and they have done just fine. It's only when it gets to -40°F that I start to worry.

 

[CUDA]

If you keep your birds outside, as I do, year round and don't dub them, the winter will do it for ya! lol

 

[Mrs MIA]

You don't have an enclosure for your birds to go into in the winter? Then yes, your best bet is to dub, or better yet stay with rose or pea-combed breeds.

I've had white leghorns for two winters now, with Jan/Feb temps staying well below 0 °F the entire time (-20 to -30°F, usually) without any frostbite on their combs. If you have draft-free shelter for them where they can get out of the elements, whether insulated or not, they really are smart enough to know when it's too cold to be outside. I've only applied Vaseline once, and that was when we had a couple of days below -30°F and I didn't want to worry about them because they do have free reign to go outside.

 

[BirdBoy88]

My chickens hate the snow.... we have to keep everything they need in the barn cuz when it snows they wont leave out the barn we keep the barn door crack so they could go in and out but once there feet hits the cold snow they run back in to the heat lamps..lol...

only thing i hate about it is that it's more for me to clean since they wont go out and use the bathroom in stead of cleaning the barn once a week like i always do .... in the winter i have to do it twice a week

 

[CUDA]

My birds have barrels to get in out of the elements, but it doesn't keep the cold out. Even my rose, and pea combed birds have gotten frostbite, so I just whack them off now to avoid it. It seems strange you don't have that problem with those leghorns, must be living up in AK has made them part yeti? he he

 

[cajunlizz]

no offense , but so happy I don't have to worry about snow , ice , etc.


We have very mild ( presay winters) in the deep south .

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:

That might explain the fur between their toes...

The only bird we have with frostbite problems was that way when we rescued her. It was February, -25°F, and NONE of the animals this lady owned (we're talking pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, geese, ducks... you name it, they had it!) had food, running water (frozen solid) or shelter to go into. Her husband had left her, taken all the money, and she was in foreclosure. I think there might have been a little hoarding behavior, too. We didn't notice that the silver sebright's toes were black until the next day when they started to bleed and fall off when they thawed out. She lost all but two toes, but still manages to get around well enough to challenge the big gals.

We call her Little Penelope No-Toes.

 

[ChickaD]

ams3651, we tried the hay-on-loft-for-insulation method for quite a while...it had the unexpected effect of providing marvelous rat housing - yikes! They also helped themselves to the pink insulation we'd had up under the eaves, for attractive bedding. No wonder we call them rats!

They were really difficult to e-rat-icate!