Winter Issues

[Tkboyer007]

Hi All,

New to raising chickens in central Illinois.

Been keeping water and food in run - not in coop - I have six chickens and a smallish coop.

Chickens had been coming out everyday for food and water. Yesterday there was light snow in the run and they came out briefly. But I never saw them get water. Never saw them get food.

I fed them some meal worms twice by hand in the coop so they had some food.

I’m nervous about starting to put food and water in coop - one option I’m thinking of is hanging small waterer and feeder in there during the day and removing at dusk. Until the weather warms up.

Thoughts? Any advice would be welcome! Thanks in advance!

 

[Smileybans]

Depends on how big your coop is. But I really wouldn’t put water in the coop. I’ve only been keeping chickens for about a year but water in the coop makes a mess and causes more issues than it’s really worth. Even if you’re removing the waterer at night it can tip over during the day and leave your bedding a wet soggy mess. Which will cause more moisture in coop. Which can in turn cause health issues for your flock. I only ever keep small amounts of water now if I have chicks in the coop. I mean small amounts too. Sometimes that still makes a huge mess.

Healthy chickens will get food and water. They won’t starve themselves. I’ve had chickens walk through an inch of snow to get to food. Most will fly over the snow here but my heavier breeds can’t fly. So they were forced to walk through it. Until I shoveled for them. Can you bring the waterer and feeder closer to their pop door? So they don’t have to travel as far for food.

 

[DobieLover]

Hi All,

New to raising chickens in central Illinois.

Been keeping water and food in run - not in coop - I have six chickens and a smallish coop.

Chickens had been coming out everyday for food and water. Yesterday there was light snow in the run and they came out briefly. But I never saw them get water. Never saw them get food.

I fed them some meal worms twice by hand in the coop so they had some food.

I’m nervous about starting to put food and water in coop - one option I’m thinking of is hanging small waterer and feeder in there during the day and removing at dusk. Until the weather warms up.

Thoughts? Any advice would be welcome! Thanks in advance!

Can you post pictures of your setup?
Have you winterized your run to minimize snow/rain blowing in?

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I have a small pre-fab coop as well as new 10'x4' coop...I have 7 wk olds in the new coop and original 3 (9 month old) in pre-fab which is in large run. The pre-fab coop does not have water n food inside it - just way too small. The new large coop does for the babies that cannot go into run without supervision with big ones yet.
I have a small 3gl waterer on 2 terra cotta plant plates to lift it up out of bedding. It also helps to hold it in place along with the 2x4 framing inside the coop.
Then I have a hanging 2gl feeder in there for them.
So far workin out well.
I'm contemplating attaching a rope to the top of waterer just to prevent a huge spill based on several BYC comments.

 

[Cindy in PA]

I have fed & watered in my coop for many years, because my run is not covered & I use winter lighting at times. My waterer is up on a crate & I have never had problems with spilling or anything else. It is important to have room, however. My chickens are weenies & are staying in the coop today, because they don't like the temp change from 60 yesterday to 26 with wind today. This is winter in Breezy Corner.

 

[saysfaa]

Feeding them mealworms might be giving them just enough to enable/encourage them to not go brave the strange white stuff to get to their food. Whether you end up feeding them in the run or in the coop, you might consider not doing that until you know they are eating normally.

 

[K0k0shka]

You can try putting a horizontal nipple waterer in the coop, to avoid any spillage and wetness. And you can train your chickens to come outside to eat. When feeding them mealworms, don't go inside the coop to do so. Hand them the mealworms through the pop door and gradually move your hand farther and farther out, until they have to come out to get the worms. Do this every day until they get used to coming outside to eat. And give them some kind of shelter outside, if they don't have one already - preferably something extending out from the coop and over the pop door. If your rain shelter is across an open run and in a corner somewhere, and they get rained/snowed on as soon as they poke their heads out the door, they probably aren't going to walk through wetness just to get to the dry corner. But if they have a dry area to come out to right outside the pop door, and the food is right there, they are more likely to come out and eat.

 

[MommaMonica]

Hi,
I save some of the feed bags and poke holes in 4 corners to tie them to the fence and that helps to block the wind. I use zipties or strings from the strawbales. I also am trying to close up any cracks around the base of the coop so if they go out, they can be outside, but still be sheltered.

Yep Ohio gets a little bit of every kind of weather, but none of the worst.

 

[tigger19687]

Always make a BIG coop and feed/water in coop in case they have to stay in the coop during the winter.
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