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

[mrchicks]

My tins are out in the runs, they are raised to bird level on concrete blocks. Mine are raised so that my polish don't have to lean down to drink. It keeps their crests from getting wet/frozen.

 

[mrchicks]

Yea a cookie tin. I used an old military amo can works great.

 

[aart]

I'm a bird brain..gottcha.. ;-).what about bottom. . Any concerns that heated tin would start a straw fire

Absolutely..well possibly..... they really should be kept away from any bedding...the reason they are put up on concrete blocks...but then I am fire paranoid.

 

[Alaskan]

Was thinkin the same thing, got a few those around here too..... ps does this work ina run in Alaska, if it does it should work here in the Alaska of the south.......

IDK.... I actually don't get super cold, but I have horrid problems with wind and spotty electricity.

So, for me, a heated base will keep the bottom two inches thawed, but the water above that freezes solid.

I am very happy with my stock tank deicer. I have one safe to put on plastic/rubber. I can loose electricity, the water can turn into a giant solid hockey puck, and the stock tank deicer can thaw the entire ice block.

 

[AK Baha]

Was thinkin the same thing, got a few those around here too..... ps does this work ina run in Alaska, if it does it should work here in the Alaska of the south.......

I keep it in the coop with a 25 watt bulb and has done just fine so far. If it gets real cold can put a bigger bulb in it. When I first made it I used a 60 watt,it got so hot I could not touch it. I will post a pic of it in the coop.

 

[Chickies2]

What is the purpose for the Apple cider vinegar? And the red peppers?

 

[Rettarain2]

Oh my gosh.. these pictures are fantastic. THANK YOU...Guess what I am doing tomorrow!? haha. Never through getting some chickens would lead to this concern. They have become "My Ladies" Elanore, Rita,Martha,Lucy,Lady Jane,Lady Ann, and Brown Sugar...Oh and Mean Mister Mustard! Anyone out there love the Beatles and Stones???
ANyway, I have grown to really care for these guys and would hate to harm them. It is 25degrees in their house in the morning but no drafts and lots of bedding around the floor edges...floor is dirt... They roost in the rafters side by side all puffed up. am NOT going to give them heat...hope they make it through the winter!
Best to you and yours and again, I greatly appreciate the pictures.... Just wonderful!
Rettarain2~

 

[jimmywalt]

No heat in my coop and the 5 hens are doing fine.

Here's a picture I took just a couple minutes ago with my wifi coop-cam and laptop from inside my nice warm house. It's 29 degrees right now in the coop (wifi thermometer tells me that).

 

[Shabana]

What is the purpose for the Apple cider vinegar? And the red peppers?

ACV is a good control for gut health making the gut an inhospitable to be if you're a worm for example.
Red peppers I'm not so sure.

 

[Rooster Rules]

I keep it in the coop with a 25 watt bulb and has done just fine so far. If it gets real cold can put a bigger bulb in it. When I first made it I used a 60 watt,it got so hot I could not touch it. I will post a pic of it in the coop.

Well, I built an ammo box heater yesterday, fairly simple . Left it out with water container last night. Outside temp about 30, so not too cold at all. The water was still freezing on top, there isa 60 watt bulb inside. Tghis has failed me too. Is it the water container?