Winter Care

[six_eclectic_chickens]

What can I do to keep my flock warm and healthy during the winter? It freezes here and I'm worried that they won't be able to get water. Short of bringing them new stuff every few hours or breaking the ice every hour, what can I do?

 

[MommyMagpie]

we just change the water twice a day (7 am and 7 pm) and there is a light in the coop that comes on at 4 pm and goes off at 9:30. No heat....they are wearing down coats after all. Once or twice I have put petroleum jelly on combs and wattles when the wind chill was bitterly cold.

Some people use heated waterers but those are beyond our budget at the moment. The coops are only 15 feet out the back door so it is no biggie to go get the waterers and change them.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I use a heated water container or add a heater to a water container. My coop is wired for electric, but I've run a long heavy duty outdoor cord to a chicken tractor, too.

If electric isn't an option, you do need to carry water out to them. Most people that do this do it early in the day and again late in the day. Black rubber bowls from the farm store work the best for this. It's easier to knock the ice out and they don't break.

I don't heat the coop. I just provide a good coop, good food and water. They do fine.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Good advice so far.
Your choices are electric for liquid water, either heated waterer or bird bath heater. Without electric you'll have to give water a few time a day when it's below freezing. If that's your option, use the heavy rubber feed pans that can be beaten without breaking.

I never heat, chickens are much happier in cold weather than hot. Chickens feel temperature much differently than we do. Just because you're cold doesn't mean they are.
I've never known of a healthy chicken dying from cold, they can drop like flies when hot.

 

[JackE]

The chickens will be OK without any extra heat provided. As far as the water goes, you can build a cookie tin water heater for around $5. It will save you alot of trudging back and forth to the coop with fresh water all day.
Jack
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=107951

 

[simplynewt]

Thanks for te link JackE