raising chickens in winter

[NatJ]

Liquid water, might want a heated waterer.

Or just carry water several times a day.
Fresh water when the sun comes up or the light goes on, because they'll be thirsty when they wake up. Fresh water again (if needed) sometime before they go to sleep, so they don't go to sleep thirsty.

If the water freezes quickly, they will get thirsty, and then they won't eat. But you can add water to chicken feed to make a warm mash, and they'll gobble that down (food and water and tastes like a treat, all in one simple dish!)

It is possible to serve a warm mash morning and evening, and have that be enough food for the day, if you get the quantities right (although I would leave dry feed available, and fill the waterer at least twice a day, anyway. That way they can get a bit more if they need it.)

 

[aart]

Or just carry water several times a day.

Did that the first winter.......heated waterer is soooo much better!!
Plus I use early morning supplemental lighting, they need to drink way before I get up.

 

[Miss mooshka]

What’s early morning supplemental lighting Is this to help with vit d levels because of long winter months ?

 

[wamtazlady]

What’s early morning supplemental lighting Is this to help with vit d levels because of long winter months ?

Chickens lay best when they get 14 hours of daylight every day. They don't get that in winter. Some people have lights that come on hours earlier than dawn in the winter to encourage egg laying. If you do not supply extra hours of light to chickens they may not lay during the winter. Some people prefer letting the chickens have the rest from egg laying. Others want their chickens to lay. It's up to you whether you want to supply extra hours of light.

 

[NatJ]

What’s early morning supplemental lighting Is this to help with vit d levels because of long winter months ?

No, it's so the hens keep laying eggs.

Hens typically lay eggs if they get a certain amount of daylight, and stop when the days get short in the winter.

But artificial light in the morning and/or evening makes the days long, so the hens keep laying no matter what the sun is doing outside.

Edit to add: @wamtazlady looks like we were typing almost the same thing, at the same time

 

[wamtazlady]

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!

I don't know what type of deicers you were using so can't even guess as to what went wrong. I live in NW Montana. It has gotten down into the -20s F and my chickens have had thawed water.

 

[aart]

What’s early morning supplemental lighting Is this to help with vit d levels because of long winter months ?

Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting.

Chickens lay best when they get 14 hours of daylight every day. They don't get that in winter. Some people have lights that come on hours earlier than dawn in the winter to encourage egg laying. If you do not supply extra hours of light to chickens they may not lay during the winter. Some people prefer letting the chickens have the rest from egg laying. Others want their chickens to lay. It's up to you whether you want to supply extra hours of light.

Yes, this^^^

I ramp up the lights after the hens have all molted so they do get a break,
they just start laying sooner than without the lights.

 

[Acre4Me]

I don't know what type of deicers you were using so can't even guess as to what went wrong. I live in NW Montana. It has gotten down into the -20s F and my chickens have had thawed water.

yes, it was unexpected. We have electric in the coop, installed recently by an electrician, so that was not causing any issues (meaning no wonky wiring or bad extension cord). They were rated for the plastic 5 gallon buckets. The other issue not mentioned above was that the bucket heater hada wire cage around it, that had some welds, as expected. These were done with metal that rusted, so not only was the water HOT, but it was also rusty!! Poor quality since the heater, of course, needs to be submerged in water. These were not cheap and were widely distributed brands.

overall, the metal base heater has worked great for us.

 

[aart]

These were done with metal that rusted, so not only was the water HOT, but it was also rusty!!

How hot?

 

[Acre4Me]

How hot?

It was a "Heater" and labelled as such. I tried it after the double failure de-icer attempts. Well, the box did not lie - I recall it saying 80F, and based on the steam coming from the water when I opened the lid (remember it was freezing temp outside), I'd say it was 80F or maybe warmer. But, I'd have to look to see if I could find the product info as the box indicated the temp. The water felt warm to hot to my hands. The bucket was not air-tight, there was a small cut out on the upper side for the cord to go through. The lid was to keep the water clean. As the water was also getting rusty really fast, it was warm/hot rusty water.