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

[LadyCluck77]

I heard corn is good for that, and heard that scratch feed is cracked corn, or do I need whole and also have read on here a lot about grit? Was wanting to know what that is? Is it just attitude or a feed ir something? I am blonde, but decent school grades also I admire all of yalls coops and runs, they are nice

Hi Binababy,

Scratch is a mixed grain feed that you can buy which works well as a treat in addition to a regular feed (ie, Layena) Scratch usually has lots of cracked corn in it.
Many people give bird suet or even bacon fat as well to help give them energy and warmth.

You can buy "Grit" at feed stores too. Grit is small pebbles of rock, like granite. It helps the birds digest their food, because chickens don't have teeth and cannot digest well without it. Offering plenty of grit is said to help prevent sour crop and impacted crop (when a chicken can die from foods clogging deep in their throat)
If you have a very pebble-y ground where your coop is, you may not need to offer extra grit.
Just to be on the safe side, I always offer some grit and also some oyster shell- which gives them calcium. Birds use a lot of calcium to make egg-shells (and most chickens lay an egg every day)
Some layer feeds do contain added calcium. Check labels and use your best judgement.

Florida winters will likely be less strenuous on your birds. A few years back, I remember FL did get a terrible freeze and there was not an orange to be had that winter.
Sounds good to keep it on your mind for now and watch your flock for any signs of stress. Orpingtons and RIRs are pretty hardy birds for cold temps, so they will probably be fine.

 

[Binababy]

Thank you LadyCluck77, so I could feed them the scratch with say when they get old enough to lay laying pellets or mash? Will they lay good without that because I plan on letting them free range during the day and coop them at night. Or let them free range and asking scratch to make sure they get a lot of food, because the way I do it now is I keep food out for them at all times so I don't feel like I'm starving them by measuring out their food

 

[JackE]

To prepare for winter, I will shut a couple windows, get out and dust off the cookietin water fount warmer, aaannnnnd that's it. Will not get out and use heatlamps, won't wrap anything in plastic, no haybales, no carpet or heattape for the roosts, no styrofoam sheets, no added light to extend the day, no special diet plans, no vaseline for combs, no heated rocks, no lava lamps, nuclear fision jetpacks, or LCD TVs. The birds themselves are preparing right now, by growing in their winter feathers. I don't really need to do anything.

 

[MEMama3]

To prepare for winter, I will shut a couple windows, get out and dust off the cookietin water fount warmer, aaannnnnd that's it. Will not get out and use heatlamps, won't wrap anything in plastic, no haybales, no carpet or heattape for the roosts, no styrofoam sheets, no added light to extend the day, no special diet plans, no vaseline for combs, no heated rocks, no lava lamps, nuclear fision jetpacks, or LCD TVs. The birds themselves are preparing right now, by growing in their winter feathers. I don't really need to do anything.

well said jacke. I haven't got the guts to go completely prep-free, but I limit it to some plastic and a string of Christmas lights.

 

[LittleBits]

This is our new addition.Making the run bigger, too.

I want to thank everyone who has posted in this thread. Most ALL my "winter" questions have been answered. We don't have electric in our coop and no way to get it there, so I am so glad to read that they'll be OK!

I probably will try to put lots of hay in their coop (we are currently building on to give them more room and hopefully this addition will be done before it gets too cold) and perhaps stack a few bales around the inside or outside on the north side.

(whew!) We also don't have running water out there so guess I'll figure that one out. Not planning on going anywhere so we'll be here to chop the ice, if need be.

Good suggestion on the plastic around the run - at least the north side of it, which is where most of our storms come from, too. Feed and water in the coop, probably, as well as some outside on nicer days.

Heard it's suppose to be a cold/hard winter

I have one hen (Greenie) that has been kept by herself due to an attack and I've not been able to integrate her back into the flock. Not sure how she'll fair as she doesn't have anyone to roost with or cuddle with when she gets cold.

Do you think she'll be OK by herself? Glad for any suggestions or comments.

Oh, one more question - lots of my hens have no feathers on their backs and they dont' seem to be growing back in. If it was from a previous mean/rough rooster or mites or pecking amongst themselves, I don't know, but we've had them since April and they are still pretty bare-backed. Will this affect their ability to stay warm?

 

[Binababy]

Also, no ma'am, we don't have very many rocks or pebbles at all so I will definity see about that, someone around here told me to just put dirt in their feeder or just let them eat off the ground that the dirt would keep all that from happening so far I have put some in their feed tray and its all good, but I do think that may have been what killed my daughters Cochin because we kept it inside in big rubbermade tote for over 2 months and didn't know to give it dirt

 

[rojororeo]

Dry elevated roosts and loafing areas.

Wind break

Change feed formulation so dominated by intact grain versus ground. This helps with feed scattered on or buried by snow. Nutrient profile of intact grains generally better than that of cracked / ground equivalents.

While keeping quality protein constant relative to weight of bird, make available to bird more energy as energy requirement increases. The additional energy comes in the form of whole corn, BOSS and soaked oats.

Liquid water is made available at least once each day at a consistent time with soaked oats providing available water for balance of day.

Provide hay for entertainment and fiber.

Make certain adequate grit is available.

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!

 

[hen madame]

There have be a couple of mentions of BOSS...ummm, what does that stand for please.

 

[rojororeo]

There have be a couple of mentions of BOSS...ummm, what does that stand for please.

BOSS: black oil sunflower seed.
Yeah, that got me the first few times too! I still don't know the diff between normal sunflower seeds, and BOSS ones, but at least we know what the BOSS stands for, right!?

 

[Binababy]

What about the tiny tiny little rocks found at the top if limerock gravel? Could I use that? And I use oats meant for horses and they so great on them, should I keep using them?