Official BYC Poll: What’s the most challenging part of chicken keeping for you during winter?

[TOMTE]

That will probably work!
How much snow do you have? Ours will come out if we make paths. If it’s light and fluffy, a leaf blower or broom can make quick work of it. If it’s more, we shovel them an area, and eventually snow blower paths.

My girls stay in the coop if so much as one snowflake falls. Then they refuse to come out for days. Their food and water are in the coop, heated water buckets and enough food to last for a week. But I feel bad that they don't come out and I envision them picking on each other out of boredom. Tomorrow, I'm going to put straw out in the run to cover the snow. Hopefully they will come out then

Only one of my girls absolutely refuses to touch snow. She'll stand there and roar at me like it's my fault The other 4 are wary at first any time they see it but they get over it pretty fast and go about their business.

I have a good layer of leaf litter in the run (not as deep as I'd like but good enough until I can collect more) and any soiled bedding goes straight into the leaf litter as well. Decomp process keeps the ground in the run relatively warm compared to the air so when snow manages to blow into the run, it doesn't stay long with the leaves and the girls scratching around. I imagine straw would work the same!

 

[Debbie292d]

This is my first winter with chickens and I haven't noticed any issues so far— we wrapped the run with landscaping cloth and greenhouse plastic (we get some nasty winds in winter), got a heated waterer, and have switched over from layer feed (which they shouldn't have been on anyways yet, but it's what my aunt bought) to 20% protein all flock feed. There isn't as much clutter as I'd like in the run, but there are leaves to scratch in, branches to get up on, things to get on and under and behind, and the ground hasn't frozen in the run so they take dirt baths regularly. So there's plenty to keep them busy.

Egg production isn't something I'm worried about. At 6 months old, only Sybil is laying so far but she's laid one egg a day since the end of November. Any breaks my hens end up taking from laying are welcome in my eyes; less of a chance for reproductive issues down the line.

Only thing I hate is the coop. Small, cheap, drafty prefab. But with the run wrapped for winter, drafts aren't really an issue. I worry about ventilation but no problems so far.

Since they're stuck in the run for the winter we don't have to worry about hawks, which I see around all the time. When the girls were still free ranging (up until sometime in October or November) there were 4 or 5 hawk attacks that I know of. Never lost a chicken but there were a few close calls. I do worry a bit about ground predators because our run isn't the most secure, but again, no issues so far.

But this is just my first chicken winter. There are plenty of winters left for problems to arise. I love threads like this for the advice that's given!

What isn't secure about your run? Can you patch with 1/2" hardware cloth?

If it's not an easy fix, maybe watch sales for a few solar motion lights. We have lots! We have outdoor cameras (Blink) and we've seen fox get scared off by one. A skunk didn't get scared by one, but it was scared of our cat. We border a forest, so know that between the two dogs and these lights, it's keeping the predators away.

 

[TOMTE]

What isn't secure about your run? Can you patch with 1/2" hardware cloth?

If it's not an easy fix, maybe watch sales for a few solar motion lights. We have lots! We have outdoor cameras (Blink) and we've seen fox get scared off by one. A skunk didn't get scared by one, but it was scared of our cat. We border a forest, so know that between the two dogs and these lights, it's keeping the predators away.

My uncle paid for everything for the chickens and he went as cheap as possible *sigh*. The frame of the run is nice and sturdy, but he used chicken wire. We buried hardware cloth along the bottom, but that's it. And dad and I can't afford to buy enough hardware cloth to secure the run better. Someday, hopefully, but for now we do with what we were given.

We do have motion sensor lights. We want to get a trail cam or something eventually so that we can keep an eye on the run at night, too.

We also live in the woods, so I know there are a lot of potential predators around. Mostly they seem to stick to the woods. Raccoons used to come into the yard when we were feeding the birds but we don't see them or their tracks as often now since stopping. I've seen foxes just a couple times, but it's been a couple years, and when I have seen them, they stuck to the woods. No doubt they'll occasionally venture into the yard but I haven't seen tracks yet.

We have weasels in Michigan but I've never seen signs of them. That's what I'm most worried about because they'd be able to get into the run quite easily. I think the coop wouldn't be as easy to get into. My dad isn't convinced that it's something to be wary of *SIGH*...

For now all I can do is be extra vigilant and look for signs of predators around the run.

 

[Debbie292d]

My uncle paid for everything for the chickens and he went as cheap as possible *sigh*. The frame of the run is nice and sturdy, but he used chicken wire. We buried hardware cloth along the bottom, but that's it. And dad and I can't afford to buy enough hardware cloth to secure the run better. Someday, hopefully, but for now we do with what we were given.

We do have motion sensor lights. We want to get a trail cam or something eventually so that we can keep an eye on the run at night, too.

We also live in the woods, so I know there are a lot of potential predators around. Mostly they seem to stick to the woods. Raccoons used to come into the yard when we were feeding the birds but we don't see them or their tracks as often now since stopping. I've seen foxes just a couple times, but it's been a couple years, and when I have seen them, they stuck to the woods. No doubt they'll occasionally venture into the yard but I haven't seen tracks yet.

We have weasels in Michigan but I've never seen signs of them. That's what I'm most worried about because they'd be able to get into the run quite easily. I think the coop wouldn't be as easy to get into. My dad isn't convinced that it's something to be wary of *SIGH*...

For now all I can do is be extra vigilant and look for signs of predators around the run.

Are the chickens locked up securely at night? That's when most of the predators will sneak around.

We very rarely see anything here during the daytime, except bears, but they seem to be traveling through and leave the chickens alone. Come spring, we'll get visited a few times. The dogs usually scare them away or when we've put the dogs in the house for their safety, we fire a shotgun in the air, and that does it!

 

[TOMTE]

Are the chickens locked up securely at night? That's when most of the predators will sneak around.

We very rarely see anything here during the daytime, except bears, but they seem to be traveling through and leave the chickens alone. Come spring, we'll get visited a few times. The dogs usually scare them away or when we've put the dogs in the house for their safety, we fire a shotgun in the air, and that does it!

Yup! Both run and coop are latched at night. I'm glad I don't have to contend with bears I know they mostly mind their own business but they'd tear our run to shreds if they were hungry enough! My maternal grandparents get black bears wandering through their property occasionally. I don't think they've ever lost chickens to them, though.

 

[tripletfeb]

That will probably work!
How much snow do you have? Ours will come out if we make paths. If it’s light and fluffy, a leaf blower or broom can make quick work of it. If it’s more, we shovel them an area, and eventually snow blower paths.

Right now we have around 6 inches down and more falling. I'm on my 3rd flock of chickens and have never had one that walked on the snow. I see all these pictures of chickens out in the snow and every girl I've ever had is too scared to do it. And my run has a roof so it's not even much snow. I did want to tarp around the run for the winter so they were out of most of the wind but ran out of time. Maybe when it warms up a little, we can put that up quick

 

[Debbie292d]

Right now we have around 6 inches down and more falling. I'm on my 3rd flock of chickens and have never had one that walked on the snow. I see all these pictures of chickens out in the snow and every girl I've ever had is too scared to do it. And my run has a roof so it's not even much snow. I did want to tarp around the run for the winter so they were out of most of the wind but ran out of time. Maybe when it warms up a little, we can put that up quick

Our snow wasn't quite that much and was mostly gone until night before last. We got a dusting, not enough to completely cover the grass, but even the four-month-olds came out so I didn't bother with paths for them this time. I won't post pictures of chickens in snow as I have several.

It's just odd yours don't venture out a little. We don't even throw the scratch to get them out, but maybe that or some mealworms might "break the ice"?

 

[TOMTE]

Right now we have around 6 inches down and more falling. I'm on my 3rd flock of chickens and have never had one that walked on the snow. I see all these pictures of chickens out in the snow and every girl I've ever had is too scared to do it. And my run has a roof so it's not even much snow. I did want to tarp around the run for the winter so they were out of most of the wind but ran out of time. Maybe when it warms up a little, we can put that up quick

I've heard about snow blindness in chickens— something like, if the ground is covered in snow, the world may as well not exist. I wonder, if you gradually work on coaxing them out, if maybe they'll realize that there is ground to step on and get over it. And then teach future chicks the same thing!

 

[Rick589]

You know, it just occurred to me as I was again shoveling a grassy path (fourth time) for our chickens to roam around on, that just like cats chickens also have staff. At least ours do.

 

[TOMTE]

You know, it just occurred to me as I was again shoveling a grassy path (fourth time) for our chickens to roam around on, that just like cats chickens also have staff. At least ours do.

The things we do for the ones we love...