What do I do in the winter?

[Egghead_Jr]

Heated waterer, wrap 3 sides and top of run and give them a handful or two of sunflower seed on the cold days (near 30% fat). That's it, we get many day below 0 F and will hit a few mornings -20 to -30 F. No heat, no problem. The key is they have plenty of coop ventilation to keep the coop dry and shelter from wind in run. A chickens comb will freeze at 32 F if the coop is without ventilation (moisture from waste and breathing).

This was after a small storm so the girls were awaiting me to finish shoveling the paths. A favorite spot they hang in winter on cloudy days is under the deck which will be surrounded by snow. I shovel an opening side of stairs for them. On sunny days they roam the paths scratching up old sunflower seed.

 

[P-Funk]

A nice warm bowl of oatmeal - with raisins - does wonders on cold mornings, too. You all have such beautiful getups. I'm sure your chickerdoodles are happy.

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
If you get more than a couple of inches of snow, you're going to find a tarp won't support the load.

x2

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
Heating the coop is not necessary. They will huddle together. You are doing more harm then good. With the heater they will not get their winter feathers. During the winter if you get a bad winter storm and you lose your electricity, your birds will be freezing. Here is a pic of my birds in the winter.....

As you can see all the little paths. So they do like going out as long as its not windy. Its probably 35* in this pic. If your heater is going on at 40 oh my. I still haven't turned on our heat. No wood burner. Like the birds trying to acclimate to the change in temps. My job doesn't believe in a lot heat, due to the amount of dock doors.

 

[centrarchid]

Below is a pair of straw bales with a wooden pallet on top. When sun is out they stood on top. When wind got high they could go under pallet between bales. Clusters of bales were 20 feet apart although some were 200 feet away from rest. Snow during part of winter exceeded 22" inches so most flew to avoid walking through deep snow. Games and red jungle fowl could fly 200 feet between bale clusters.

This winter I will be having different types of feed (grain or other treat) at each cluster to promote interest in visiting different clusters.

 

[Prisserbabe]

Ok cool everyone! I need to go out and take pictures of my coop and maybe that will help?

 

[binza1979]

I have a couple of modern game bantam hens that I'm worried about since they aren't known for being cold hearty. Thankfully I have a handicapped (she was almost pecked to death and her skull was cracked, but she survived) silver laced wynodotte that is in with them. She sits on them like they are her chicks.

We have a coop for our big girls and we attached a coop for the bantams and handicapped chicken. We are hoping that all will stay warm enough this winter!

We have insulated with straw bales and have a heater for the water....other than that...I don't think we will be heating this winter. I'm kinda nervous as our girls spent most of last winter in our garage...but we have A LOT more chickens this year and there is no room in the garage for them! Thankfully we don't see a lot of days in the teens or single digits.

 

[donrae]

Quote:
If you get more than a couple of inches of snow, you're going to find a tarp won't support the load.

x2

We actually just had problems with this. We used a tarp to cover our run, mostly for shade, but got a rainstorm and the weight of the water on the tarp broke the 2x4 horizontal lose from the post and the chicken wire underneath it. THAT was fun to reapair in the rain lol.