Tips 4 This Coming Winter?!

[DClopein]

Hello
This will be my first winter owning chickens & was wondering what you do to help your flock stay warm.
Any advice helps!
Thank you!

 

[LizzzyJo]

What breeds do you have? If you have the average heritage breed, then you have no worries. Mine have been through two polar vortices with temps dipping to -30f with no issues. They are in an unheated coop.

1. Try to not worry about them.

2. Keep good ventilation and low drafts (search for articles on here of how to do that).

3. Do not keep their heated waterer in the henhouse. Heated water = condensation and dampness. It is not the cold that kills chickens, it is getting their feathers damp. Keep the water outside.

4. I am strongly in the "don't heat the coop" camp. It is dangerous and unnecessary. Not only does it increase fire risk, but birds with heat don't always grow appropriate feathers and if the heat fails, they could die.

5. Mine love hot oatmeal or beef stew on their coldest days (outside of the henhouse of course).

Take lots of snow free ranging pics for the winter months of the BYC calendar!

Have fun!

 

[3KillerBs]

Here are some very useful articles for you:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/cold-weather-poultry-housing-and-care.72010/

Don't be tempted to try to keep them warm. Keep them dry and out of the wind and they'll keep themselves warm with their built-in down parkas.

 

[DClopein]

What breeds do you have? If you have the average heritage breed, then you have no worries. Mine have been through two polar vortices with temps dipping to -30f with no issues. They are in an unheated coop.

1. Try to not worry about them.

2. Keep good ventilation and low drafts (search for articles on here of how to do that).

3. Do not keep their heated waterer in the henhouse. Heated water = condensation and dampness. It is not the cold that kills chickens, it is getting their feathers damp. Keep the water outside.

4. I am strongly in the "don't heat the coop" camp. It is dangerous and unnecessary. Not only does it increase fire risk, but birds with heat don't always grow appropriate feathers and if the heat fails, they could die.

5. Mine love hot oatmeal or beef stew on their coldest days (outside of the henhouse of course).

Take lots of snow free ranging pics for the winter months of the BYC calendar!

Have fun!

Great information. Thank you!
I have a ISA Brown, a Brahma, and Naked Neck aka Turken, and a Araucana (olive egger). I am more worried about my Naked Neck cus of her lack of feathers but I think I saw somewhere someone saying they are actually really cold hardy so I am going to look more into that. I am glad you mentioned NO HEAT because I was contemplating putting a lamp in. I won't do that now.
Should I keep their regular pine chips or change to straw or anything to help with warmth?
I attached a picture of my girls too for ya. Thanks again for your help!!

 

[3KillerBs]

Should I keep their regular pine chips or change to straw or anything to help with warmth?

Just stick with what they're used to -- though I find that intact straw bales make useful windbreaks in the run even in my mild climate. Also, they have great fun tearing the bales apart over time.

Some people find that even if they're normally cleaning frequently that they have to switch to Deep Bedding for the winter because snow prevents cleaning.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

 

[LizzzyJo]

Great information. Thank you!
I have a ISA Brown, a Brahma, and Naked Neck aka Turken, and a Araucana (olive egger). I am more worried about my Naked Neck cus of her lack of feathers but I think I saw somewhere someone saying they are actually really cold hardy so I am going to look more into that. I am glad you mentioned NO HEAT because I was contemplating putting a lamp in. I won't do that now.
Should I keep their regular pine chips or change to straw or anything to help with warmth?
I attached a picture of my girls too for ya. Thanks again for your help!!

They will all be very warm. It's the silkies and fancies that I worry about. I do sometimes throw in extra shavings or straw, but you don't have to. There are people out there who advocate for heat, but I have never heard a convincing argument and my birds are a-okay just cuddling up. During the last polar vortex when it hit its lowest (-40 wind chill, -30 normal) I kept going out all night and putting my hand under their fluff while they were roosting and feeling their feet (a tip my Minnesotan relatives taught me to quell my anxiety). Just as they said - their feet were always hot. These guys are survivors!

 

[aart]

Hello
This will be my first winter owning chickens & was wondering what you do to help your flock stay warm.
Any advice helps!
Thank you!

Post some pics of your coop (inside and out) and run.

Do not keep their heated waterer in the henhouse.

Not if you use Horizontal Nipples.

 

[Sally PB]

Keep them dry, and they can keep themselves warm. They are wearing down jackets, after all.

I don't have water in the coop at all. Less moisture in the air, less condensation. I do have a feeding station in the coop, as I want to have feed available "out of line of sight" for the pullets.

One thing I bought to help with winter was a heated water bowl. It's marketed as a dog water bowl, but it worked great for the chickens. It's out in the run. I don't have electricity in the run, so I used a heavy duty construction grade extension cord and plug it into an outlet in the garage.

I used clear shower curtains to make a wind block on the west (prevailing wind) side of the run, and wrapped around the SW and NW corners about 3 feet. That way, they had a good wind break and came out of the coop at least part of every day. (Not as much fun as @3KillerBs bales of straw, but she's in NC and I'm in MI.)

I used heavy duty tarps over the metal frame that makes up my run, and it worked very well, but it was dark and gloomy in there. I had to make sure to keep the snow broomed off; while it was pretty strong, I was aware that a heavy, wet snow could bring it down.

We had one brutal cold snap of single digits below zero, air temps. I had read somewhere that chickens will eat snow for water. I saw that they weren't coming out at all, so I put a pan of snow just inside the door to the coop. Sure enough, there were beak marks all over it.

 

[3KillerBs]

(Not as much fun as @3KillerBs bales of straw, but she's in NC and I'm in MI.)

And this is why we ask everyone who asks questions where they are.

Climate MATTERS.

 

[Mrs. K]

Ditto on the dry. Dry keeps chickens warm. Go look at the space above their heads when they are roosted up. You want a 12-15 inches of space ABOVE their heads. Warm air rises taking the moisture with it. Birds that are roosting close to the ceiling, get damp. In one chicken house, I lowered the top roost, and frost bite stopped.

No matter how tempting, do not close the ventilation, but DO have protection against prevailing wind. Out of the wind, much warmer birds. Hang a feather or two from a thread, and watch how they move with a good wind outside. A little movement is fine, but it should be above their heads.

A tip I do, I put a lot of bedding in the run, a combination of used hay/straw. If a storm is blowing up, I make mini hay stacks in the run. After the snow, I flip those open on top of the snow. My birds come right out. I also have a shelter in the run, that faces south. I lay old shower doors together in front of it, creating a sun porch. Always a bit surprising how much warmer it is in there on a sunny day, even with the sides wide open.

I have no electricity to my coop, so use black rubber bowls. Fill one with water - it freezes over night, next day, flip it upside down in direct sunlight, fill second bowl. Even in well below -20 degrees, the ice will melt along the edge and drop out of the bowl. Next day fill that one, and repeat. If it is cloudy - you do need to stomp them out. My chickens love ice chips...in 20 below - go figure.

I have also fed soaked grain, it will freeze, but unlike pellets, which just makes a solid mash that they won't touch, they will peck those seed grains apart. A respected poster on here, gave this advice to help with hydration.

But the best advice above is the "don't worry" They are pretty tough.

Mrs K

ps - snow is very heavy and can tear apart a run.