Preparing Your Flock & Coop for WINTER

[NTBugtraq]

Same here, except I use the black river "tubs" sold for livestock. They are more durable than hard plastic and you can"pop" ice or by flexing them or just dropping them on the ground since they don't break.

Just a thought, but if you are going to bring water in overnight, bring the food in too. Unless you are feeding fermented food, your chickens have to expend a fair amount of energy to digest dry food. To do that, they need water. So, if no water, dry food is costing them nearly as much energy as they're getting out of it...and costing you a lot for nothing. Remember, they only really need water after eating dry food, so if you can tend them the water doesn't need to be out that long.

 

[lazy gardener]

Your birds will need water whether they are eating dry food or not. But, if the feed is inside overnight, they won't have to expend extra calories warming up frozen feed. (referring to temperature here) With my flock, when the temps have been below 0*F for days on end, I've noticed a change in their behavior: More lethargic, and decreased feed consumption. When I see that, I do offer a bit of supplemental heat. Not a lot, just to bring the temp up a few degrees.

 

[NTBugtraq]

Your birds will need water whether they are eating dry food or not. But, if the feed is inside overnight, they won't have to expend extra calories warming up frozen feed. (referring to temperature here) With my flock, when the temps have been below 0*F for days on end, I've noticed a change in their behavior: More lethargic, and decreased feed consumption. When I see that, I do offer a bit of supplemental heat. Not a lot, just to bring the temp up a few degrees.

at the risk of asking a dumb question, but birds need water in winter why? I mean, you say they won't need more water whether the food is dry or not, could you cite anything that suggests that's true? All your flocks experience is just that, your experience.

 

[Rod-T]

Ever

at the risk of asking a dumb question, but birds need water in winter why? I mean, you say they won't need more water whether the food is dry or not, could you cite anything that suggests that's true? All your flocks experience is just that, your experience.

Every living thing needs water..

 

[ShrekDawg]

I'm assuming that they're thinking they can get their water from the snow??? And if not then yeah, what you said, every living thing.needs water. No matter the season. I mean, why do you need water in winter? Why does your dog need it?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Not entirely sure I get the question

Quote:
I do not see where LG said they do not need water in winter. I do see LG saying they need water whether they are eating dry food or not.

Failing to provide water would be animal cruelty and surely would result in the birds dying of dehydration rather quickly.

At night the chickens are roosting so not eating anything or getting down to get a drink. Removing water at night so it can thaw inside is not an issue since they are not looking for it then.

I fail to understand what logic is used to state that chickens ONLY need water if they are on dry food. Wild birds are not on dry food and certainly drink plenty of water.

 

[Mrs. K]

I started soaking grains a year ago, as I had a broody hen with chicks, and I was a bit concerned that they might not get enough water before it froze. A respected poultry person on here recommended it. My chicks did fine. However, I noticed that it really reduced the consumption of water for all my birds, so I have continued to soak the grains, and actually that is where my fermented feed comes from. My birds don't bill it as readily, and clean it up better. I use the water soaking the grain to dampen the dry feed.

Mrs K

 

[Beekissed]

at the risk of asking a dumb question, but birds need water in winter why? I mean, you say they won't need more water whether the food is dry or not, could you cite anything that suggests that's true? All your flocks experience is just that, your experience.

They are thirsty, that's why. I feed fermented feed but my chickens line up at that waterer and drink like thirsty beasts in the winter time all the same. If they didn't need it, they wouldn't drink it. I thought that was just basic knowledge...all animals/birds need water, even in the winter months.

 

[Spartan22]

i live in ohio its unpredictable for tempratures

What part of Ohio? I'm in NE ohio, if you want you can insulate the tin roof. I would say be more concern about ventilations, and frozen waterer.
I keep my pop door from coop to run open all the time, but my coop roof is 10' and insulated, they are mostly in the covered run (screened all sides, we had some bitter cold last year) last winter I only confined them few days at a time when it dropped -20 to -25 outside. The inside were 10-20's degrees.

 

[NTBugtraq]

Well, clearly my water comment was misunderstood. Chickens need water to digest food, practically any food. Without that digestion they are unable to regulate their body heat in cold, and so without water, chickens can die in winter. It is not so easy for them to die in other seasons, as they typically do not need to generate as much heat in those other seasons. So, in winter, a chicken will consume a lot more feed to generate a lot more heat, assuming they haven't other ways to preserve body heat. Clearly they need water in all seasons, but they need a lot more in winter.

In an earlier post, I suggested that if you were going to bring in water overnight to help prevent freezing, then bring in the food too. My premise was simply that if they consumed food, they would naturally need water to digest it. Leaving food out without water to digest it makes no sense. Leaving food out would, however, make chickens eat it thinking they could digest it. Without additional water, they won't, or will but at a huge cost to them. So, pull water, pull food also.

This is by no means ideal. Do that during a warm time of the day and your chickens may not have taken in enough calories to keep them warm overnight.

Lazy Gardener caught me off guard, It said to bring in feed, which is all I was suggesting. Our premise may differ, but the results are the same, but it didn't say anything about how to keep fresh water unfrozen for chickens to drink. And there is one of the biggest problems of keeping a flock over winter. Bring in the food all you want, if you can't keep drinkable water available, things will likely fail.

All I tried to say was you have to keep drinkable water available more than edible food is available, as water is required to digest any foods.

Oh, btw, the idea that chickens are thirsty, IMO, is a human trait being ascribed to a chicken...they drink to digest food.