NewChcikenmommy! :
OK, so those of you closer to FL..Now that the weather has figured out what it wants to do (be cold!) How are you keeping your laying hens warm?
I have switched from hay in the coop to pine shavings which I may go make thicker. I have 2 girls that are 9mos old and 3 that are 4mos old so this is their first winter and I will be crushed if they all die..
I am actually temped to bring them into my garage! LOL
should they eat differently through the winter months? I keep seeing mentions of 'hot food' is it actual cooked food or something else?
thanks! that's all for now I think lol
I just recently relocated from PA and brought my chickens with me and I know how to keep them warm!
They can tolerate cold but alot depends on their living conditions. How many chickens versus how big the coop is. If you have a large coop and not alot of chickens, they will have a harder time staying warm. You want to make sure there are not drafts coming in on them. You have to have ventilation but you don't want the drafts to blow onto them directly.
I also used the deep litter method with the pine shavings where it was about 6 inches deep to start winter and ended up about 10 inches deep when I cleaned out in the spring!
It was a pretty cold winter this past one and I did run a heat lamp when it would go into the teens for sure especially for the younger ones. I had a very large coop up there. I also put bales of straw surrounding the bottom their coop to help block wind and be sort of like an insulator.
Yes, warm cooked foods is what they are talking about. Mine just loved to have cooked oatmeal on a cold morning for breakfast!!!
I will post more if I think of anything else. Also wanted to mention, be careful with the heatlamps in a coop because fires have started in coops with them. I had mine nice and secure that they couldn't knock them down into the bedding and I would check regularly to be sure there were no problems like frayed wiring or anything and they remained secure.