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

[rcanz01]

I hung an few old blankets with a staple gun on the walls inside my coop last year. Also read about someone filling 5 gallon pails with hot water -covered!!!- to radiate heat. This year I found a plugin candle warmer at goodwill. Thought I'd put a few brick on that and then the waterer. See if it works. I covered my run with plastic drop cloths and rolled it up in a few boards on the top and bottom to anchor it. Put straw bales around the north side. Also put corn in evening feed to help them generate body heat at night.

 

[klingersklucks]

We cover our outside pen with a heavy plastic to keep the ground dry and keeps the wind/snow away when the girls go out. We use the same plastic to cover the coop windows, there is plenty of ventilation at the top of the coop.We have an electric water base for our waterer, this helps keep humidity and gives warmth. We also use a heat lamp that provides heat when it gets really cold, this also assists in keeping the frostbite down. Adding extra bedding is a good idea also since it will help provide insulation for them as well. Have fun and enjoy.

 

[RhapsodyOwens]

This definitely helped me with my winter plans!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Oh you are going to get so many varying opinions on to insulate or not insulate; to heat or not to heat. It's all a great debate here on BYC!

What I do advise is do what you gotta do, dependent on the type of chicken keeper you are. Do know that I highly recommend keeping your birds acclimated to cold if you want them to have "outside time". It's pretty well documented that there is more problems with illness/disease for birds that go from warm to cold, then warm again.

Last year I picked probably one of worst winters in recent memory to keep chickens. LOL. When spring temps were suppose to be arriving we had -22 F on St. Patricks Day. Blech... But it is what it is...

Here's what I did and what I learned:

Insulation: I was advised to not --so my birds could get used to the cold. however knowing our Northern Midwest Winters, I split the difference and insulated the roof to keep the birds' produced body heat down in the coop. I did deepen my pine shavings a couple more inches for the floor and bunked the outside of the coop with hay bales. As the snow deepened I threw up snow around the coop...turning it into an igloo. LOL.




Ventilation: to me this can be tricky as I think Cold is Cold. living in a coastal state I'm thinking that your cold is a moist cold and ventilation will be even more important. (We are generally a 'dry' cold here in the winter) When it's 10-30 below I'm battening down the hatches a bit. No windows cracked, etc. My boards on the coop have spaces and my corners weren't mitered on the half log...so breezes ventilate there well enough. you'll need to just watch your birds and make those adjustments accordingly. If the windows of the coop have frost stuck on the inside windows you need to ventilate more. That maybe a good rule of thumb. You may have trouble with your large single comb variety of birds: you might see black tips on your leghorns.
Water: I made the cookie tin base heater. Kept it on a piece of old discarded cement with my usual plastic waterer on top. it worked really well. it froze only on the 15-30 below days and one day when the 40 watt light bulb ran out on me.
Roosts: Wide enough for the birds to lie down and cover legs and feet with their feathers. 2 x 4's with the flat side up. Also roosts in the Run. Keep your roosts lowered as well. 18 inches off the ground is highly recommended here on BYC. Broken toes, have compromised circulation, freeze and eventually fall off.
Food: BOSS, scratch grains with a heavy corn component--not hard to find these days. LOL. Those grains supplementing their regular food. I am not a fan of moistened/warmed food treats in the winter. All I found that it really did was steam and cling and create superficial frostbites on wattles. I am, however, a fan of treating greens throughout the winter. They really crave them when they cant graze on grass. Kale, spinach, kitchen fruits and veggie scraps. Home-made flock-blocks when we're all at home snowed in.


The Run: Covered roof to keep snow out. Wrapped in construction plastic on the north and west sides (Prevailing wind sides). I used lath and nails to keep it battened down. Fluffed out in straw and hay. Supplemented every so often as it would get down to dirt.





I found the best hay this winter from a dairy farmer who had Kentucky blue Grass baled. It was really fine and really fluffed up nicely for the birds. They loved it. Pretty cushy.



Also I kept Roosts in the Run for warming feet back up. I also had that galvanized tub full of sand/ashes for dusting. They used it all the time.

GRIT: I forgot about Grit myself until my dad mentioned it to me late January. And I started noticing too, their droppings did not look well processed: whole oats, stringy hay poops. They really need that grit to get their nutrition.

Heat: There came a time or two that I felt I needed heat in the coop. We had extended periods of subzero weather and I had a Rooster (large single comb variety--supposed to be a girl but kept him because he was so good--you get the picture) with frost bite issues. I dabbled with a 75 watt black light (so as not to force laying for those on egg break) and then finally on some of the -30 nights I got out the red brooder lamp and fastened it in 3 places and wrapped the bulb cage area with chicken wire for extra safety. The hens had no issues...maybe a little uneasy a few mornings shifting nervously on the roost on those hard nights. But with the roo I just felt I had to. IDK. It was my choice on that one and I think I would do the same thing over again...as it was with that bulb on those cold cold nights the coop was still at -10 or -15. I don't think they lost any winter hardiness at those temperatures.

First aid for Frostbite: well prevention is always the best scenario of course. You can try Vaseline but it worked worthlessly for me. One BYCer did recommend Bag Balm in the green square tin. By the time I got that recommendation our winter and the damage was about already done. I'm going to use it on the cold nights this winter and see if it helps. Although it may be a moot point as my Rooster is already naturally dubbed now. But if it happens just keep the areas clean and apply antibiotic ointment like Neosporin.

Thermometer: I recommend keeping one in the coop just so you can keep a thumb on their conditions and maybe a hygrometer for humidity conditions. This may help you decide if your ventilation is adequate. I also was addicted to my Weather.com app last winter. Watching the temps to see when it was above 0 and then let the chooks out of the coop and into the run.

I wish you all well Wintering your chickens.

 

[groverlvchx]

Last winter was my first winter with chickens here in MN and it WAS a tough winter (and LONG). I got my 3 month old chicks in October. When the temps started dipping below freezing at night and the days were shortening, I added heat lamps. I noticed my chickens quickly developed cold symptoms. At night after they were roosting I would go into the coop and their breathing sounded raspy and they were sneezing and coughing. After finding my third dead chicken one morning (HORRIFYING) I went to a local with experience and asked what I was doing wrong. He said DO NOT heat the coop. I said, "But it's not insulated at all, just a wooden structure with plenty of ventilation in the eves." It was late November and we hadn't even seen real cold yet, but I removed the heat lamps as he suggested. The colds cleared up within about a week. Their night noises were contented cooing again instead of hacking. I prayed I hadn't ruined their acclamation period.
The winter went great with only one more casualty soon after removing the heat lamps. The rest of the winter the remaining 14 chickens did fine, even in -20* to -30*. The biggest challenge was trying to keep water from freezing. Some days that meant two or three trips out with fresh water. I used plastic waterers in heated doggie dishes. The water in the tray didn't freeze, but the water in the top did so once the tray was empty they had no water. This year I plan to use two of those big rubber feed dishes (I have 42 chickens now) and put a birdbath heater in each. I'm going to keep them on an elevated platform in the run (not in the coop this time so they don't contribute to humidity). I'm giving them fermented feed, which I will use the heated doggie dishes for. I have purchased a "Thermo Cube" thermostatically controlled outlet (on at 35* off at 45*) and I'm curious to see how well that works.
I'm very interested in plastic-wrapping the north side of my run as my chickens hated walking in snow. My run-top is a pheasant net that's tented up to a pole, though, so it would not plastic well. Last year I just shoveled a bit for them and threw out some scratch so they would get outside. Sometimes I pulled some of the deep litter from the coop out into the run with a rake. I'll probably just do that again.
I guess this is more future experimental planning but the one thing I will never do again is use heat lamps in my coop. Seriously they sounded like little infants with chest colds!

 

[armorfirelady]

I have only had my hens a year but we do have cold temps (below freezing for several weeks) with normally a lot of snow.

No insulation or heat needed. How are you going to heat your birds when the power is off? Birds that are acclimated to heat will freeze if the power goes out for long periods. I would rather have cold hearty birds that don't rely on heat. Think because you are freezing they should be? GO out and stick your finger deep down in their feathers. If their roosted touch their feet. All I had last winter was toasty hot hens even with temps below zero


Just remember no drafts but ventilation is good. Prevents humidity from building up which causes frost bite. I have vents at the top of my coop and at the bottom. The roosts are between the two. No drafts/wind on them even on the windiest days. I also keep one end of the coop open to the worls on the bottom. It faces south and protected from winds.

They need fresh water when they are awake. I use a glass bowl in a heated dog dish and change it when I feed them.

I don't increase their feed during the winter. I change what I give them since they are not out foraging all day. I add alfalfa greens and BOSS once in awhile. They will be on grains for the winter. They also get fresh greens every day. All spring/summer I have been saving & freezing veggies & herbs for them to eat all winter. I also increase their meat protein. Corn does not produce more heat in hens

Along the wall that the winds come from I will place bales of shavings as a wind block. I do tend to give extra shavings as well. I have several roosts inside and a ball that hangs and I put hay in for them to much on. I also collect grass clippings & leaves all summer which I toss in all winter as bedding. They love to dig thru looking for bugs and tasty treats

Their foraging area for winter is my veggie garden. I will be putting a cover crop on it this fall. I also dump leaves collected in there. I shovel most of it out and my girls are out all winter. They usually dont come out when the snow is taller than them. Usually when I am at work. They spent last winter happily digging thru the leaves and compost all winter. They also enjoy muching onpumpkins I leave out.

Here is my coop last year


The part on the right is where they slept. If you look closely you can see where the plastic ended halfway down. The roost in front of this is where they roosted all winter. Warm all winter and no frostbite

This year I have a hoop coop which means more room for them. But I am not changing anything.

Hope this helps

 

[Antonia]

Thank you all for posting!
I have a chicken tractor, and was wondering if they would be OK in that for the winter. There is no floor covering where the ladder is, (a big hole in the floor). I was thinking I would cover that at night, but will I need to do more? I have an EE and two golden comets.

 

[SteampunkKitty]

I live in a warm, humid climate. Southern Georgia doesn't get much real cold so we'll put a lamp in the coop if need be. They're in a fairly shaded area so we're going to add a southern enclosure so they can enjoy it during the afternoons. I'll close the vent and probably plastic the window which we can also shutter if need be.

 

[mbbrinegar]

We use a 2by4 for a roosting pole, it helps because they lay on their feet instead of their toes curling around taking the chance of getting frost bite. I don't do this but I have heard of people running a heat strip down the roosting pole and then putting carpet over it.

 

[kschicks2013]

I am putting tarps around the larger enclosure and hay in the coop so they can stay warm. If I put a light in the coop wont that keep them awake? How long should I set the timer for?