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

[Alaskan]

We are in the single digits... And still not heating the water.

We bring out fresh water in the morning, and again at noon if they have frozen solid.

 

[jburts]

I have a heated poultry water container that you get at your local coastal farm and ranch or you can order on line.
they are about 50 dollars but well worth it, since you don't have to worry about it freezing and it is big, it does not warm the water up much just keeps it from freezing.

 

[jburts]

that only works if you are home to do so, I'm gone all day at work so have to use the heated water, container

 

[Shabana]

First snow in South Yorkshire UK today.
I use the rubber shallow tubs during the winter to save my expensive waterers cracking and making it easy to flip out the ice.
In the very large pens I have provided an out door shelter and quite large holly bushes and in the regular pens they have a tarp and wind breaks.
They all have straw outside in the pens and hemp inside their coops. None of them are insulated or have lights or heating.
They have all moulted bar one araucana who is pretty bare backed and still and no sign of her new feathers so she will wear her saddle till they come through bless her.

Hope everyone is alright in the colder countries and that all your chickens and fowl do well this year.

Shabana xx

 

[Alaskan]

My kids and I have managed to break a number of different kinds of heated waterers.

The only thing we haven't busted are shallow rubber pans and when they freeze solid too quickly, I add a stock tank deicer that is safe to run dry, and safe on rubber.

We just warmed up for a couple of days to about 38... But are supposed to drop back down to teens or colder.... Can you say yeah ice?

 

[2FunKids]

Very nice job!

 

[bigred77]

First freeze of my flocks life (20 months coming) tonight, so i come here to check for advice and see yall laughing at us southerners for being worried
anda:

 

[Alaskan]

Ask questions.... We like to be helpful.. But yeah, I might laugh.. I am down to about 6 hours of daylight at this point.... And the wind has been so strong it is trying to blow all my junk away.

 

[centrarchid]

Ask questions.... We like to be helpful.. But yeah, I might laugh.. I am down to about 6 hours of daylight at this point.... And the wind has been so strong it is trying to blow all my junk away.

During worst part of winter my birds can often get only one crop fill per day. Owl problems I be back.

 

[centrarchid]

Are you providing supplemental lighting to enable more feed intake? Periods when my birds are able to realize only a single crop fill are of short duration (<10 days) and I supplement heavily with whole corn and soaked oats. They still consume a maintenance ration of a complete diet during those periods. Still egg production effectively stops from cold stress as much as limited feed intake.