Snowy chicken experiment

[ShiftyShickens]

all who live in the far northern or southern reaches of the world with chickens understand that water freezes quickly in the subzero temps of frigid winters and without a source of heat to create the thaw our poor children can't even get a sip. this situation inspired research into the subject of watering the flock in the winter. all my time perusing the internet always coming to the same conclusion...either heat the water, or change it every few hours... and i lived with it, multiple trips a day to ensure fresh and liquid water consistently.

anyways while grabbing another bag of feed at the mill i ran into the wise old man with a long peppered beard and thick glasses who informed me that i was doing it all wrong.

he told me quote "snows what you want boy, just throw some in a trogh and be done with it. they'll figure it out. "

so i tried it

yes

my chickens now only eat snow in place of water by choice! in fact they love fresh fallen snow more than the fresh water i still provide in the morning, often the water container is full and frozen while the snow mounded bin is covered with beak marks.

any thoughts on this? i was worried at first about them getting chilled or frost bite but it's never happened yet.

 

[azygous]

Frostbite or chilling from eating snow isn't the problem with chickens as it is with people. However, we humans and chickens do share one big limitation eating snow presents when trying to satisfy water needs. Body mass. Chickens and humans require so much snow in order to meet our individual water needs, it's hard to convert enough snow into water to meet those needs.

As long as these deep freeze spells are intermittent, and not sustained, eating snow to meet water needs shouldn't be a critical issue. But, after an extended period where chickens are forced to meet their water needs by eating only snow, eventually they will become dehydrated.

Wild mammals and wild birds have evolved to be able to make do with snow as a water source, but chickens and other livestock require large amounts of water in its liquid form for their metabolic functions.

"Old timers" may have had chickens, but they generally didn't place much value on them. I doubt you'll ever hear one say they just turned their cows and horses loose to go find their daily water intake in a snow bank.

 

[PirateGirl]

Eating snow is certainly better than no liquid water. The drawback I see is that eating snow will burn more calories than drinking water. The closer the water is to a chicken's core body temperature the easier it is for the body to process and less calories burned to heat it to body temp. Burning more calories mean chickens will need more food, more food to stay warm, more food to produce eggs. I would be interested to learn if chickens that eat snow exclusively and do not ever have warmed water actually see a decrease in egg production because their bodies are working harder and warmth and hydration. I find this all interesting as it is snowing as I write.

 

[Folly's place]

'Old time' smaller chickens who weren't laying eggs in winter also had lower metabolic needs, and as azygous mentioned, it's likely that nobody much cared how each individual did.
Mary

 

[lazy gardener]

I take huge issue with this practice, at least for me, with my birds, in my climate.

Yes, the old timers may have done it this way. BUT, they often had a big ol barn, with a big flock, most likely a herd of 4 legged beasts, lots of composting poop, and a hay mow stuffed full of hay. All of these things put out a fair amount of heat.

The birds of today are often bred to lay eggs year round, at least in their first year. This takes a toll on their ability to meet nutritional needs in a cold snap.

Back yard flock owner: often a tiny little coop, with no source of heat other than the few chickens. Most coops don't even have a deep litter.

It takes a lot of calories to melt snow. In my minus 14*F weather, there is no way my birds can afford to expend the calories to thaw enough water to meet their needs. I've also noticed that their feed consumption actually goes down a bit during a cold snap. I'm countering this by giving them a big serving of HOT mash every morning. That seems to be helping a lot. I've no doubt that if I were not providing warm feed, and a heated water bowl, my flock would be suffering casualties in this brutal weather.

 

[BantyChooks]

'Old time' smaller chickens who weren't laying eggs in winter also had lower metabolic needs, and as azygous mentioned, it's likely that nobody much cared how each individual did.
Mary

My chickens have access to both snow and water. They eat the snow somewhat but go to the water bowl when I refill it.

Some of the wackiest information I've heard came from a man that had chickens for about 80 years. Much of it has some base in reality, but a pretty stretched base at that.

 

[lazy gardener]

Yep: Ol' timer wisdom: Give them broken glass as a grit substitute.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

What the birds figure out is the water will freeze so they drink up quite a bit when it's first put out in morning. They will adapt to drinking only twice a day. Once in morning and once before roosting. There is no need to change out the water many times a day just twice. The rubber livestock water bowls are excellent for this. Turn over to stomp out the ice then refill.

 

[centrarchid]

Where is the science to back these assertions up?

 

[BantyChooks]

Where is the science to back these assertions up?

Which assertions?