raising chickens in winter

Miss mooshka

In the Brooder
May 11, 2020
12
2
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Hi. looking for ideas in the best things to do for the chickens in winter to keep them heathy. Including weatherproofing coop. Any ideas would be awesome
 
I live in Wisconsin and I put up polycarbonate sheets for my run. When I built it, I added three boards with grooves cut so that I can slide the polycarbonate sheets along all three sides of the run. I built it so that I can winterize the coop by myself. Some snow can still get in the run, there is about a foot gap from the roof to the sheets for ventilation yet they can enjoy the sun we get.
 
The best thing you can do to help chickens get through a cold winter is to have lots of great ventilation. This does not mean having a breeze blowing on the birds. My 6 by 8 foot coop has about 10 square feet of vents that are never closed in the winter. Coop was built for a dozen chickens.

A warm chicken is a dry chicken. Chickens can make a lot of moisture in a coop when they breathe and poop. You need to get that warm but moist air out of the coop. My vents are either up high above the roosts or in a protected area that no wind can blow in. My coop is built into the corner of my L shaped house so two sides are very protected. A chicken can get frost bite at just below freezing in a coop that is humid. A chicken can be comfortable with no frost bite in a coop that is well into the minus degrees if the air in the coop is dry.

I was petrified years ago with my first batch of chickens and living in Northern Montana. My mind wanted me to lock the chickens up and put in a heater to keep them warm. Thankfully I decided to believe those who had more experience and told me to vent the coop. I have never lost a chicken in the cold weather and it gets into the -20s F normally. The chickens have never looked uncomfortable no matter how cold it gets.

My run is covered. The girls spend their days during winter in the run. That is where their food and water is kept. I do cover 3 sides of the run in clear vinyl to keep the breezes off the birds. There is a mixture of pine shaving, pine needles, and grass on the floor of the run. Gives them something to dig through and while it composts it actually seems to keep the run warmer than the outside.
 
Hi. looking for ideas in the best things to do for the chickens in winter to keep them heathy. Including weatherproofing coop. Any ideas would be awesome

Chickens are mini heaters. Their temperature runs 106F.. Check how warm it is under their wings. Toasty. It's been very hot and humid here in Maine recently. Now my birds don't snuggle at night and they roost with their wings held away from their bodies. In the winter they snuggle on the roost and put their heads under a wing or under their snuggle mate. I have leghorns. They have very large combs.

If you see condensation/frost on your walls in the winter you don't have enough ventilation. I keep a gallon jug (Arizona Ice Tea jug) in my coop with water in it. I can judge how cold it was in the coop the night before by checking if the jug is frozen. I think it's only been skimmed over once or twice but my birds were fine. And it gets cold in Western Maine. Many nights -20--30F. Dry birds are happy birds. I don't heat my coop nor do I use a light. The only time I will use a light is if the temp outside the coop is below 0 or no sunshine. Then I keep them in and run a light for them. I think in the last 2 winters I've had them I might have kept them inside twice.
 
For winter water I use a tote with lid, horizontal nipples, and a stock tank deicer that is rated for use in plastic. Even in the -20s F the birds have thawed water. My tote is large enough to supply water to the birds for over a week. Water always stays clean. I am lucky to have a faucet that is usable all winter for an easy fill up.
 
Hi. looking for ideas in the best things to do for the chickens in winter to keep them heathy. Including weatherproofing coop. Any ideas would be awesome
The coop should be weather proof all year around. ;)
Ventilation is crucial, even in winter.
Liquid water, might want a heated waterer.

If you post some pics of your coop and run, we can make suggestions.

Oh, and..... Welcome to BYC! @Miss mooshka
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
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northern Indiana. and where would I get a heated waterer that’s not too pricey?
You make one. Mine consists of a tote with lid I bought from Walmart. Cost was about $7. You can get 6 horizontal nipples from ebay for $6.99. The expensive part of mine was the stock tank deicer that is rated for use in plastic. That was $40 but it lasted for 4 years.

Mine holds about 10 gallons of water. It gets filled up once a week during the winter.
 
For heated wAter, we use a galvanized waterer that dits on the heated base, made for the metal waters.

we tried 2 brand new de-icers in 5 gallon bucket with nipples (used on different days). Big fat fail. Iced over on barely freezing cold mornings, and this is inside the protected coop. Maybe both, brand new de-icers were broken, but we had to try something else. So we bought a bucket heater. That worked too well- hot water, including steam!! Chickens do not drink hot water. Anyway, the de-icer path didn’t work for us, but so far theheated base for the galvanized waterer works!
 

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