Need advice about managing winter with my flock

[Quiggy]

I live in New england, and I've only had ducks in winter, now I have chickens turkeys and goats. How do you all prepare your flock for winter? We have a water heater but what about snow and making sure everyone is handling winter well?

 

[BGcoop]

Keep chickens and goats dry! Dry is warm. Have enough shelter they can get out of drafty areas. Be sure to have plenty of unfrozen water available- there are many ways to do this from heated bowls to changing out the buckets multiple times per day, it just depends on your set up.

 

[Folly's place]

Chickens hate snow! Your coop and hopefully covered run need to be large enough for the birds to be comfortable (not crowded!) when they are not free ranging. Plenty of ventilation, overhead, and fresh unfrozen water.
I hope you have thought through managing water out there; do you have frost free hydrants conveniently placed? Long water hoses won't do! And electricity set up for convenience, safely wired.
Mary

 

[NatJ]

I live in New england, and I've only had ducks in winter, now I have chickens turkeys and goats. How do you all prepare your flock for winter? We have a water heater but what about snow and making sure everyone is handling winter well?

Liquid water, all the feed they want to eat (usual feed, no need to change it).

Roof to keep off snow, something to keep off wind (walls or trees or tarps or...), plenty of ventilation to keep it dry.

Enough space under the roof and out of the wind, so they're not piled on top of each other bored all day.

That's really about it.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I set up covered areas the chickens can walk in the winter, then come spring everything comes down because it is ugly, but everything looks pretty...covered in snow.

 

[featherhead007]

Get each bird a ski jacket, a warm parka, and a little pair of ice skates. We don't do cold winters here in California,

 

[gimmie birdies]

I may build an igloo.

 

[featherhead007]

I may build an igloo.

That might work too!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Some good advice so far.

People north of you have had chickens sleep in trees in the winter. Wild turkeys are probably roaming the woods and meadows not that far from you. It doesn't have to be that hard. But there are differences in keeping them confined versus letting them roam free other than predators. I don't know your breeds of turkeys, the smaller heritage ones like the wild turkeys or those double extra huge double breasted ones.

One difference is that when they are free to choose which tree that sleep in and where in that tree, they can select a place sheltered from the wind. When they are in a coop they don't have that much freedom, they have to work with what you give them. One of your goals is to give them a place out of direct breezes.

The biggest threat from the cold is frostbite. You've lived there and should know that wet is dangerous as far as frostbite goes. If you can keep them dry and the air around them dry, they can handle pretty cold weather without frostbite issues. Moisture can come from their breath, their poop, and drinking water. You don't want snow or rain coming into the coop. The way you get rid of moisture is good ventilation. You can't get better ventilation than when they are sleeping in trees. There are different ways to manage that but to me the easiest way to keep breezes off of them and yet get good ventilation is to have openings high above their heads.

I don't know what your coop looks like so I don't know what you need to do to get ready for cold weather. When I was in Arkansas the coldest I typically saw was a little below zero Fahrenheit, you'll see colder temperatures. To get ready for winter I closed a window at roof level and solely relied on permanent ventilation above their heads. I switched out my white plastic water bowls for black rubber ones. In summer the white ones stay cooler if the sun hits them. In winter I can knock ice out of the rubber bowls and if they are in the sun they can stay thawed down into the teens.

I like to show these two photos. Like Folly, my chickens hate to wake up to a white world. Chickens don't like change and waking up to a white world shocks their system. It's not the snow they hate, it's the change. Typically mine won't leave the coop for a few days after they wake up to a snow. Eventually some will, especially if they can still forage for some food. I've had some push their way through 9" of snow to my compost pile where they like to forage. This snow (about an inch) fell during the morning while they were already out. The change was gradual enough they never bothered to go inside.

The point of this is that yours are going to wake up to a white world. They need enough room without snow so they don't get cabin fever. The tighter they are packed and the longer they are like that the more behavioral problems you are likely to see. Space that is available in summer may not be available in winter. Part of getting ready for winter may involve ways to provide a bigger snow-free area. Maybe tarps around part of the run?

I like this photo to make another point. It was 4* F when I took this photo. It was (-)4* F earlier but it took me a while to get down there with a camera. I leave the pop door open and let them decide whether they want to go out or not. You can see what they decided and you can see where I've knocked ice out of their rubber water bowl. It's not the cold mine hate, it's a cold wind. If a cold wind were blowing they would not be out here. If you have an area that is snow free, it is still not available to them if a cold wind is blowing. Breeze protection is important.

The first people that settled New England had chickens. Wild turkeys were already there. They did not have electricity or a lot of our modern conveniences. They did know how to manage their chickens in that weather. You can too.

 

[Folly's place]

RR, they will like your run even better with wind blocking sheet vinyl on at least the west and north sides, or maybe three sides of the run.
Mary