"What to feed your chickens so they survive winter."

[Tami2]

Hi,
My sister sent me this video. I'm curious to hear your input. I live in the northeast and I am very concerned about winter. It's already been cold and dropped down to 31* overnight last night. Please let me know your thoughts and more suggestions are welcome. Thanks so much in advance. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

 

[aart]

I'm curious to hear your input.

Do not follow this woman's advice.

There are a few things she said that are not quite right

A lot of things she says are BS.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Do not follow this woman's advice.


A lot of things she says are BS.

All of this! Becky's Homestead is one of the worst resources on the internet for accurate information about raising chickens. I honestly wonder at this point if she doesn't just make things up to see what nonsense she can get her followers to believe.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Now that I'm getting more experienced with chickens, it's becoming quite apparent how clickbaity some of these homesteading Youtubers are. They will tell you about the "two things you NEED to do for your chickens to get them through the cold of winter", but then they live in... Florida. So... basically she's just regurgitating info she has found online but doesn't really have experience with. Yes, Florida has winter, but it's nothing like the winter in somewhere like the upper Midwest.

These Youtubers have to put out quantity instead of quality in order to make their living and I get that, but it's unfortunate that she (and others) doesn't always seem to give the best advice and can steer people the wrong way. I only watched about 3 minutes of this video and she suggested plugging up every hole and crack in the coop with caulking. In the winter, from what I know, they really need ventilation. If she plugged up every crack in that coop she had, there would be zero ventilation and chickens could get sick. And I'm no expert by any means. I think there are better resources on Youtube, but man is it getting hard to sort out who is a good source and who isn't!

 

[K0k0shka]

Wow there's so much BS in that video. It's sad/scary to think that people might be getting their information from sources like this. And that just about anybody can proclaim themselves an "expert" out there and post videos like it's some sort of reliable information, like they are in a position to teach others. Don't listen to her! All else aside, the very fact that she lives in Florida and is lecturing people on how to prepare for winter should be the biggest red flag that sends you running in the opposite direction. Just... no.

 

[aart]

It's my understanding that corn or scratch, right before bedtime will help them stay warm.

Any digestion will generate heat.
Better they have full nutrition of a good chicken ration rather than the lower nutrition of corn/scratch.

 

[3KillerBs]

I've actually been warming up a bowl of oatmeal as a treat for the ladies and to help give them some warmth...they seem to appreciate it.

Nutritionally, it would be much better to pour warm water over their regular feed to make a wet mash from it.

All my chickens love warm mash in the winter and cool mash in the summer.

It's unnecessary, but it does help them stay hydrated under stress conditions.

 

[KentuckyRooster]

She's got a LOT of really bad info. I once watched a video of her trimming her own equine's feet and it was so bad it was a miracle they could walk at all. Do not listen to this lady.
In winter I bed my birds with plenty of dry pine and I supply a bit of scratch in the evening so they can digest the corn throughout the night. Digestion is a big part of how they stay warm. Otherwise leave. them. alone. They are fine!

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Oh wow I HAD to respond on here when I saw you have a Becky video. Okay first off, I don't disklike her, in fact I'd way rather watch her than a Kardashian, but that's just me. THAT SAID, I watched a bunch of her video's many years ago and I followed her advice/recipe on replacing commercial feed by making your own. In this video she is recommending the same ingredients yet she's calling it a "winter diet." I think oats is the only ingredient that isn't also a part of her all-inclusive "better than commercial feed" recipe. And possibly you've even already seen me post about that DISASTER.... Fast forward to now, I actually DO give some of the protein TREATS that she shows no matter what time of year but my point is, be very careful. Keeping commercial feed as my chickens MAIN source of nutrition has produced the very best results. Treat's in moderation probably make you feel better than them but it doesn't hurt. Following her advice to completely change it all up = an epic fail.

 

[Shadrach]

Like many of these videos there are some elements of truth buried behind the appalling sales pitch style presentation and lack of understanding of the basis behind those elements of truth.
It is true that some cracked corn will provide fast burn carbohydrates which can help keep the chicken warm. They don't die if they don't get any.
Extra protein can help during the colder months at the start of winter particulalry if they are still finishing a moult.
Chicken do feel the cold. It doesn't take much observation to see at what temperatures they feel a bit chilly. They have after all evolved from a tropical environment.
Damp and cold in a poorly ventilated coop isn't going to promote good health the same as it doesn't for us. However, good ventilation is not a bout square metres of ventilation. Where the ventilation is and how the air moves through the coop is far more important.
I didn't like the video and I didn't like the presenter.