Winter is Coming! Checklists, tips, advice for a newbie

[Alaskan]

I know ISAs and araucanas are cold hardy. I don't know enough able d'uccles to say on those ones.

I have had d'uccles for years...they do fine. At the most, some of the pointier parts of their combs freeze off, but it is a small enough area that it takes care of itself...you don't have to do anything.

 

[chicknleg]

Nice looking setup pbarr!

 

[gwencooper]

Here in Illinois, it gets pretty cold. It used to get to -20F on rare occasions, but I haven't seen it get that low for a long time. It still gets pretty cold though. Over the years I have kept chickens in tractors, greenhouses, and more traditional coops.


A cold hardy breed will not need heat. They need a dry shelter where they are out of the wind and weather (and mud). They need water and feed. They need ventilation.


Given these things hardy chickens do great in our winters.

This will be my first winter with chickens, and I hear it's supposed to be bitter cold and snowy here in east central Illinois. Thank you, Myrth, for corroborating what I thought I knew about keeping my girls safe and dry this season.

 

[iwanaplae2]

Well we finally got the roof on our coop to stop leaking. For now we have a tarp nailed and stapled over it. We figure next spring/summer we'll tear it off and start over. Now the bedding will stay dry But I need to add more since we had to take SO much soaking wet bedding out!
It's already getting cold at night. Okay 42 isn't THAT cold. But since my girls are only 3-5 months old so it's the first time that cold for them. And instead of sleeping on their roost, (which they know how to use) they are dog piling in the corner. Perhaps there is a draft I don't know about...I got nothin'.

 

[groverlvchx]

My starter flock were still dog-piling at that age and at this time of year. Now they're all roosting and the babies that come along learn to roost younger. They'll get the hang of it. I did have to block off my nesting boxes for a few weeks when they transitioned from the dog pile to those instead of roosting. Nobody was laying yet so it was okay and they figured it out.

 

[minmin1258]

Well we finally got the roof on our coop to stop leaking. For now we have a tarp nailed and stapled over it. We figure next spring/summer we'll tear it off and start over. Now the bedding will stay dry But I need to add more since we had to take SO much soaking wet bedding out!
It's already getting cold at night. Okay 42 isn't THAT cold. But since my girls are only 3-5 months old so it's the first time that cold for them. And instead of sleeping on their roost, (which they know how to use) they are dog piling in the corner. Perhaps there is a draft I don't know about...I got nothin'.

I noticed my younger birds did the same "dog piling" thing when they were younger. I think they just didn't realize what the perches/roosts were for. until I saved a couple older hens from being slaughtered, the roosts went unused. The older hens took to the roosts and it wasn't long before the younger birds gladly followed. I wouldn't suggest getting older birds t teach them but maybe you could? After dark when they should b roosting go in the coop and place them on the roosting perches, maybe they just need t b taught what they are for?

 

[centrarchid]

The dog piling and roosting in nest box is a heat conserving measure. It is easier for them to stay warm as a group which can be very important when you are also growing and your crop empties before you can resume feeding in the morning.

 

[minmin1258]

A question- I see many give hay for entertainment and fiber. Does the variety matter? We have a mix of wheat, brome and fescue for the horses. We could give a bit of that to the chickens as well, if those are all safe types. We so far have no plans to get alfalfa, as the horses did fine last year without it.
The oats- could I use the whole type meant for horse consumption, and soak them? Or do they need to be human/cracked/rolled? And do you mean to say that you don't provide plain liquid water at any other times, just as the soaked oats 1x per day?
And good reminder on the grit! I never would have thought of that one, I don't think. I have been going down to our road and collecting up the sections of smaller-medium sized gravel.. guess I better start collecting more now, so I have it for the winter...
Thanks!

Just get a bag of oyster shells from the tractor supply or farm n fleet store nearest you. It's pretty cheap (less expensive than a vet bill or quarantine equipment) and that serves both purposes of grit and added calcium. It is also the right "size" for them to eat already without all the extra effort of gathering "pebbles" that may b the wrong size to grind food properly.

 

[minmin1258]

Well thank you very much Mrs LadyCluck, glad to hear reassurance that I'm doing good for them : ) I will definitly be doing that at that time, around what age do they start laying?

Binnaby that depends on the breed of birds you have and their individual level of maturity.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Just get a bag of oyster shells from the tractor supply or farm n fleet store nearest you. It's pretty cheap (less expensive than a vet bill or quarantine equipment) and that serves both purposes of grit and added calcium. It is also the right "size" for them to eat already without all the extra effort of gathering "pebbles" that may b the wrong size to grind food properly.

I just want to say that the oyster shell probably doesn't process food the same as "grit". Grit as it's packaged is usually granite and is much tougher and not absorbed by the chicken as Calcium but just passes. it may have some grinding quality initially while in the gizzard but I think it is pretty readily absorbed by the chicken. Somebody else might expound on that. From my own experience while watching my birds last winter...I didn't have grit readily available to them but had oyster shell. They weren't processing fibrous (greens) as well after a while. But after I got the granite grit all went back to normal digestively.