What do you do to get ready for winter?????

[moetrout]

I'll give the coup another 6 month cleaning and move the bucket with the water nipples inside the coup and get the tank heater ready. My coup is not insulated and I do not heat it either. I have noticed a couple of my hens that had bare backs are now starting to grow their feathers back in. I see this as a sign of mother nature taking care of her own. My chickens may not like snow, but they sure don't care about it being cold. If there is no snow on the ground they are outside foraging....no matter how cold it gets!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Quote:
All very good, but I assure you you do not need the heat lamps. Last winter here we were at -38f, one member in Ontario -45f. No heat, no insulation, just ventilation, clean water, and food available. We too have 45+ mph wind storms at -30 or lower, wind chills well below -60. Humans in that temperature have about 30 minutes, Chickens in a coop, unheated, uninsulated, properly ventilated, all night long.

Not criticizing you by any means, just thought you would like to know, the colder it is, the more they adapt.

Yup. No big deal, really. Trade out the plastic fonts for heated dog dishes and old ice cream buckets for the water. That's about it. No insulation. No heating. No way, no can do. -25F with some regularity, occasionally -30F. No problems. No frostbite. Wide roosting bars. Super ventilation. Fresh, dry air.

 

[JodyJo]

I live in southern Colorado, no real prep...NO heat lamps...heated base for waterer...just add a bit more shavings, plenty of water and food available 24/7 ( a full animal is a warm animal, we use this philosophy with our cattle...they survive -30*, because their bellies are full)

** no added light for me, I want my girls to have a break in the egg laying. I have a couple breeds that should lay through the winter alright, if I get 5 eggs a day, that will be plenty...right now I average 10 a day...I have 11 layers right now, with 3 EE at 17 weeks...so I will have 14 hens by spring laying.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

We do very little.

As the days start to shorten in the fall, we add supplemental lighting on a timer. This is fluorescent, not a heat lamp.

We use a heater to keep the drinking water unfrozen. We've used a variety of different styles.

As the temperatures start to drop, we start closing some of the summer ventilation. That's the extra ventilation we have open to deal with the extra heat and humidity in summer. We have a lot of flow through ventilation for the summer in our particular coop, that takes advantage of the wind.

In earlier times, I used to shovel the run when we had too much snow for the chickens to get out the door. These days, the run is mostly covered, so I only have to shovel after a blizzard. That's something to consider if you get a lot of snow. It needs to be sturdy enough to hold the snow load, without collapsing.

Once the ground is covered with heavy snow, the chickens are confined to the run. At that point I start giving them some green feed in the coop. Usually it's some wheat grass, alfalfa and some other sprouts. It's not every day, but at least they're getting some.

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

For me during winter I do the deep litter method and I guess I do a modified method during the summer as I think I only cleaned everything out twice last year. I clean out all the straw late aug or in September. I start changing all waterers to rubber buckets, or rubber trays. I put Christmas lights on a timer and that starts in the early morning as I want them in bed by sunset. I undo the hose and start hauling water.

Late summer I also thin the flock. and I start dreading the snow