Winter care

[Pioneer Belle]

Hi this is our first winter with chickens. Wondering if nay of you guys live up north around MN and have tips about water and general care. Our coop is insulated and we are putting up see through tin on the bottom exterior of our run to keep out snow. Any tips on keeping water warm. We have a bucket waterer with nipples will that work? We also have two leghorns how will they fare? any general tips and tricks my main goal is to keep my hens from freezing or getting ill please help. It can get down to -30 sometimes. Once it was below zero for a week. Do I need heat? most folks here don't provide it.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I live in Central WI.
I slide corrugated plastic sheets on the three sides of my run. My run has a metal roof on it.
I use a waterer heater base that a 7 gallon waterer sits on.
I used to have the bucket with the nipples and I would put a deicer in the bucket for winter but I have iron in my water and the nipples never last very long and the deicer can get a lot of iron build up so I changed to the 7 gal. waterer and I won't go back to the nipples.
I install a heat lamp but I only turn it on for those below zero days or weeks. I have a timer available for the heat lamp when it is needed.

 

[Pioneer Belle]

I also have a tin roof and planning on covering a couple sides thanks for the info will have to get a new waterer. do you have any larger comb breeds how do they do?

 

[CluckerFamily]

I have EE's. My rooster that I had for 6 years just passed away this spring, he had a large comb. He did good through the winters, no problems or frostbite, but I also used the heat lamp when needed and I think this helped. My current rooster doesn't have a large comb but a fat comb and I'm anticipating he won't have any issues in the winter either.

 

[Big Doggie]

Hi this is our first winter with chickens. Wondering if nay of you guys live up north around MN and have tips about water and general care. Our coop is insulated and we are putting up see through tin on the bottom exterior of our run to keep out snow. Any tips on keeping water warm. We have a bucket waterer with nipples will that work? We also have two leghorns how will they fare? any general tips and tricks my main goal is to keep my hens from freezing or getting ill please help. It can get down to -30 sometimes. Once it was below zero for a week. Do I need heat? most folks here don't provide it.

I’m using this waterer this winter. Haven’t used it yet but had good reviews from the local feed store

 

[aart]

We have a bucket waterer with nipples will that work?

DIY or purchased?

Our coop is insulated

Got good ventilation?

Pics of waterer and coop(inside and out) would help garner specific suggestions.

 

[Alaskan]

We also have two leghorns how will they fare?

I found the flopped over combs on the leghorns did pretty well since the face kept them warm. But, the fold on the comb where it flops usually stands away from the head a bit, so doesn't stay as warm. On my Leghorns cold sores formed on that fold. I was a bit worried, but they did heal up completely on their own.

I thought the Leghorns looked colder than my other breeds.

I would feed them a higher protein feed (18 or 20%), and make sure that they have at least 10 hours of light to eat by.

The amount they eat will HUGELY increase as the temps drop. Do not let them run out of feed.

Do I need heat?

Under -20, especially if it is prolonged and not just a 1 or 2 day dip, yes, they should have heat... but SAFELY.

I have a cold weather coop article that goes over a bunch of tips

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