Winter is almost here!! Share your tips and tricks for coping the elements with your chickens!

[crealbilly]

The chicken chores keep me "going" --which I think is good for me, especially in the winter...so I guess I don't mind the toting or doing what is necessary to keep them watered, etc. Nothing like an icy blast of Winter Cold to wake you up in the morning.  LOL. Makes you feel alive for sure!  Ha! 
Plus if I'm going to avoid frozen eggs. I need to run down to the coop 2-3 times a day anyways on those cold days.

Karen 1958 you are talking about a Pop Door? I'm not sure I'm following all your questions.  A door to a coop should be about access, cleaning ease, predator protection, and yes protection from the elements. 
Be careful when mounting a higher wattage bulb. Fluttering wings can knock bulbs down into the bedding and start fires.   I don't think your birds need the light for warmth if they are feathered out already.  Oregon is temperate...?  right? Are you below zero Fahrenheit often?  But with your rains and relative humidity you'll want to be sure the coop is well ventilated.  Also a light on all day and night is not that great for them.  They need cycles of light and darkness. 

Aart I'm going to look through your pictures and see if I can find one of your watering set up.  or do you have one handy you can post?
The Boys on my Minnesota Thread are saying the Horizontal nipples.  I tried nipples once with my flock when they were about 5 months old.  They looked for their fount the whole time.  Even after I showed them with their beaks, physically holding them to the nipples and showing them what it did.  They didn't want to deal.  LOL.  So I'm hesitant to even invest in a change due to what they know etc... and what they potentially won't take to.  Sounds like Drinking cups won't work as well in our temps.

I had the same problem with my turkeys and chickens. They could not catch on to horizontal nipples and i had to go back to double walled founts. I like the whole nipple concept... for keeping the water clean they cant be beat... but I think a chicken or turkey naturally will choose water thats at ground level than they would drinking from a nipple. I dont think there are watering nipples in the wild, something us humans came up with and expect the chickens to learn... just my 2 cents

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I had the same problem with my turkeys and chickens. They could not catch on to horizontal nipples and i had to go back to double walled founts. I like the whole nipple concept... for keeping the water clean they cant be beat... but I think a chicken or turkey naturally will choose water thats at ground level than they would drinking from a nipple. I dont think there are watering nipples in the wild, something us humans came up with and expect the chickens to learn... just my 2 cents

I think you're right too. I saw one of my Ameraucana's drinking out of a hosta leaf 2 days ago....and her fount was about 8 feet away. LOL. You cannot go wrong with cleanliness and such...but now that my birds are adults, some as old as 4 1/2...I don't think I'm going to get them to learn a new trick. You almost need to start them from chick stage...? IDK....what to think now. LOL.

I'll probably be a Flipper forever.

 

[crealbilly]

I think you're right too.  I saw one of my Ameraucana's drinking out of a hosta leaf 2 days ago....and her fount was about 8 feet away.  LOL.  You cannot go wrong with cleanliness and such...but now that my birds are adults,  some as old as 4 1/2...I don't think I'm going to get them to learn a new trick.  You almost need to start them from chick stage...?  IDK....what to think now.  LOL. 

I'll probably be a Flipper forever.   

Lol i i've seen mine several times drinking out of a puddle in the chicken yard after a heavy rain and their PCV pipe nipple waterer was just a hop skip and a jump away.

I think your right... my RIRs were raised up from day old chicks on horizontal nipples and they do fine with them 3 years later. I dont see why vertical nipples wouldn't be the same assuming thats what they learned to drink from when they were chicks. But like i said they prefer a puddle over the nipples, that is when a puddle is availible.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Okay 4 horizontal nipples on Amazon are $11 something.

this bucket from coopsnmore is $17ish. And has a lid with an opening for refilling or running an aquarium heater cord.

http://www.coopsnmore.com/3_5_gallon_chicken_4_poultry_nipple_drinker_p/1950.htm

I'm very indecisive today....

 

[Karen1958]

Thank you. I put the light to go on at 6 am until it gets light out & then off until 4 pm to 10pm so they have a sense of longer days for laying purposes. Their coop it safe from predators. We live at 1000 ft out by the mountain so it gets 25 to 35 during the winter & can dip to 20 depending on the winter. The light is also very secure & can't fall, the was important to us. So unless that winter temp is to cold I will wait on the exit door. I have an inside access door to clean the inside coop.

 

[crealbilly]

Okay 4 horizontal nipples on Amazon are $11 something.

this bucket from coopsnmore is $17ish.  And has a lid with an opening for refilling or running an aquarium heater cord.

http://www.coopsnmore.com/3_5_gallon_chicken_4_poultry_nipple_drinker_p/1950.htm

I'm very indecisive today.... e

Looks like the horz nipples are ~ $2.00 each http://www.coopsnmore.com/mobile/Product.aspx?ProductCode=2305

 

[crealbilly]

Thank you. I put the light to go on at 6 am until it gets light out & then off until 4 pm to 10pm so they have a sense of longer days for laying purposes. Their coop it safe from predators. We live at 1000 ft out by the mountain so it gets 25 to 35 during the winter & can dip to 20 depending on the winter. The light is also very secure & can't fall, the was important to us. So unless that winter temp is to cold I will wait on the exit door. I have an inside access door to clean the inside coop.

we get into the single digits here overnight in the dead of winter - my RIRs did fine with no supplemental heat. Like you i do have light in the coop for them its one of those 16 watt CFL bulbs which wouldnt heat nothing. I have to leave it on all the time though because you know CFL bulbs don't fire up when its cold.

 

[wamtazlady]

I had the same problem with my turkeys and chickens. They could not catch on to horizontal nipples and i had to go back to double walled founts. I like the whole nipple concept... for keeping the water clean they cant be beat... but I think a chicken or turkey naturally will choose water thats at ground level than they would drinking from a nipple. I dont think there are watering nipples in the wild, something us humans came up with and expect the chickens to learn... just my 2 cents

I don't think my chickens are smarter than other chickens. First time I used nipples it took them 2 hours to figure it out. During the summer the neighbors' chickens on both sides of me all learned to use the nipples at my house. It was easier for them to use the nipples than go home to get a drink. Last spring I started with new pullets that were 3 months old. Put them in the coop at night. By 7 am they were using the nipples.

Yes, I expect them to learn to use those nipples so took away all their other sources of water. That is the secret to them using the nipples. They have to have no other way to get a drink. They all did just fine.

Makes winter watering very easy. I use a semi transparent ( so I can see when it needs filled) 10 or 15 gallon tote I bought from Walmart, horizontal nipples, and a stock tank heater that is rated to use in plastic. Only had to fill up my waterer once a week or so and it stayed thawed down to the -10 F we had here last winter.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Thank you. I put the light to go on at 6 am until it gets light out & then off until 4 pm to 10pm so they have a sense of longer days for laying purposes. Their coop it safe from predators. We live at 1000 ft out by the mountain so it gets 25 to 35 during the winter & can dip to 20 depending on the winter. The light is also very secure & can't fall, the was important to us. So unless that winter temp is to cold I will wait on the exit door. I have an inside access door to clean the inside coop.

20F is doable for chickens without heat supplementation. They can handle that well. I would say just light...so you can get the egg numbers you want.

 

[crealbilly]

20F is doable for chickens without heat supplementation.  They can handle that well.   I would say just light...so you can get the egg numbers you want.

I kinda felt for the girls when i would check in on them and they were on the roost, snuggled together with their head under their wing. But they all did fine, i didn't notice any frostbite or any adverse effects from the cold. They did very well through the "polar vortex" -:lol