Olive Oil during cold winter?

[EKlinds]

Hi Everyone!

this will be my first winter with chickens and just have a question about the cold snaps. Would mixing a bit of extra virgin olive oil in with their 20% all flock crumbles be beneficial at all for the extra fat? Or not really? I have 4 pretty hardy breeds (I’m hoping) buff orp, sapphire gem, barred rock, and a black australorp. They are housed in a large 2 story unheated barn with large run and I just want to make sure I’m feeding them correctly over the cold months! I added extra bedding and making sure the perch area is draft free as well. I’m in NH Thanks for any input or advice!

 

[Folly's place]

Adding extra fat isn't best! What are you feeding? Some chickens are very prone to developing fatty liver syndrome, and just generally getting too fat, and adding more than the amount in their feed won't be a good idea.
Well ventilated but not drafty when they are roosting works fine; they are all wearing down coats!
Single comb roosters might have frostbite on their comb tips in the cold, but otherwise, not a big problem. Make sure that they won't be walking in or standing in water, because wet feet in freezing temps are a bad thing. And make sure you have fresh unfrozen water available during their daylight hours. Here we use heated waterer bases, and a light on a timer from 3am to 8am all winter. Be very careful about using electricity!!!
@Alaskan lives in extreme conditions and has good information, doubt your conditions are anywhere close to that weather!
Mary

 

[EKlinds]

Adding extra fat isn't best! What are you feeding? Some chickens are very prone to developing fatty liver syndrome, and just generally getting too fat, and adding more than the amount in their feed won't be a good idea.
Well ventilated but not drafty when they are roosting works fine; they are all wearing down coats!
Single comb roosters might have frostbite on their comb tips in the cold, but otherwise, not a big problem. Make sure that they won't be walking in or standing in water, because wet feet in freezing temps are a bad thing. And make sure you have fresh unfrozen water available during their daylight hours. Here we use heated waterer bases, and a light on a timer from 3am to 8am all winter. Be very careful about using electricity!!!
@Alaskan lives in extreme conditions and has good information, doubt your conditions are anywhere close to that weather!
Mary

thank you so much for the detailed response, super helpful I appreciate it! Right now I’m feeding 20% flock raiser with oyster shell on the side. I’ll give them a handful of cracked corn a few days a week for a treat and once a week I’ll give a fresh treat like bananas, kale, raw pumpkin to pick at, zucchini etc. the light timer is a great idea! I’ll have to look into that!

 

[Folly's place]

Pullets might lay fairly well their first winter without supplemental lighting, and hens probably will take the winter off. Opinions vary on this topic, and IMO having supplemental lighting isn't a bad thing. We like getting at least some eggs all winter! In a barn, your birds are likely living in lower light conditions anyway, so adding a small light bulb (safely!) may get you more eggs, from early fall to spring.
Mary

 

[Happy hen lover]

Great question I agreed on fat. I do more corn in scratch in winter months but never add fat. Always remember they are 105 degrees body heat with down coats on. ! So no wet feet or feathers . I warm water and did do the same lighting with 60 watt light bulb from 3 to 8 also last year and they were fine. On those bitter days. ( 23 below with wind chills 60 below here) I kept them in . They did fine.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

While I agree not using olive oil, fatty liver syndrome is not caused by all fat, in fact just like in humans fat collecting around organs is actually caused by poor diet in general most often from excessive amounts of carbs in conjunction with excessive fats. The amount of energy input needs to be equal to the the amount of energy output. Adding corn to your chickens diet in conjunction to an already formulated poultry feed is adding extra filler carbs that provide little to no nutrition and can increase the risk of fatty liver syndrome.


This is an awesome study done on broilers and how different fats either increased or decreased abdominal fat. Olive oil was found to increase abdominal fat, but fats like linseed were found to actually reduce it.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4093572/

Here is another great source on fatty liver syndrome, it's causes, how carbs can be bad in excess as well as fat and some measures you can take to prevent. (It's been suggested swapping fats for carbs can be beneficial in prevention) "Substituting carbohydrate with supplemental fat, while not increasing the energy content of the diet, seems to be beneficial."

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...e/fatty-liver-hemorrhagic-syndrome-in-poultry

To summarize, a chickens diet is a balancing act of nutrition. Poultry feed is designed to be a complete diet designed by nutritionist who have already done the work of creating a feed balanced to a chickens needs. I would look over your feed labels to see exactly what nutrition it provides and how much. If the protein is on the lower end of the poultry recommended guidelines you could consider either mixing in or switching to a higher protein feed for the winter. I would also highly recommend doing your own research on feeds from trusted sources (i.e skip the blogs and YouTubers).

 

[Folly's place]

My point was that adding high calorie fats (or carbs) to a balanced diet is not useful.
Mary

 

[HollowOfWisps]

My point was that adding high calorie fats (or carbs) to a balanced diet is not useful.
Mary

My post was in response to the original question and the comment from another poster regarding their comment about adding corn.

 

[EKlinds]

Great question I agreed on fat. I do more corn in scratch in winter months but never add fat. Always remember they are 105 degrees body heat with down coats on. ! So no wet feet or feathers . I warm water and did do the same lighting with 60 watt light bulb from 3 to 8 also last year and they were fine. On those bitter days. ( 23 below with wind chills 60 below here) I kept them in . They did fine.

Thanks so much for your input! That’s so true that they basically have their own down jackets on, never thought of it that way! And Omg 60 below you are a trooper! I can’t even image that haha

 

[EKlinds]

While I agree not using olive oil, fatty liver syndrome is not caused by all fat, in fact just like in humans fat collecting around organs is actually caused by poor diet in general most often from excessive amounts of carbs in conjunction with excessive fats. The amount of energy input needs to be equal to the the amount of energy output. Adding corn to your chickens diet in conjunction to an already formulated poultry feed is adding extra filler carbs that provide little to no nutrition and can increase the risk of fatty liver syndrome.


This is an awesome study done on broilers and how different fats either increased or decreased abdominal fat. Olive oil was found to increase abdominal fat, but fats like linseed were found to actually reduce it.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4093572/

Here is another great source on fatty liver syndrome, it's causes, how carbs can be bad in excess as well as fat and some measures you can take to prevent. (It's been suggested swapping fats for carbs can be beneficial in prevention) "Substituting carbohydrate with supplemental fat, while not increasing the energy content of the diet, seems to be beneficial."

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...e/fatty-liver-hemorrhagic-syndrome-in-poultry

To summarize, a chickens diet is a balancing act of nutrition. Poultry feed is designed to be a complete diet designed by nutritionist who have already done the work of creating a feed balanced to a chickens needs. I would look over your feed labels to see exactly what nutrition it provides and how much. If the protein is on the lower end of the poultry recommended guidelines you could consider either mixing in or switching to a higher protein feed for the winter. I would also highly recommend doing your own research on feeds from trusted sources (i.e skip the blogs and YouTubers).

Thank you so much! I will definitely be taking a look at those articles and appreciate the info. This forum is the best