Winter and Chickens

Winterizing Chickens

So as the snow starts to fly and the temperature drops, I find myself spending a lot of time watching and worrying about how my chickens will fare this their first winter. My thoughts are peppered with the “F” word. That’s right, I’m thinking frostbite. While frostbite in and of itself is unlikely to cause death; infection can set in quickly and can be deadly. I know God has provided them with these lovely little down coats; but there is a part of me that feels like I should be providing boots, hats and scarves….. The following are some points to ponder.

• Breed of chicken

I chose the Wyandotte breed because they are known to be cold hardy. What does that mean? Well in general it usually refers to a larger breed with lots of dense feathering. While Wyandotte chickens are not among the heavy weights, they’re not bad and they have the added plus of having rose combs which lay quite flat to the head thereby reducing the chance of frostbite.

• Construction of coop: location/insolation/ventilation

Our coop door is west facing. Most of our weather comes in from the west. This door is well insulated and weather-stripped and will remain shut for the most part over the winter and serve only as human access point. The hatch is east facing and will remain open during the daytime with the exception of the most extreme days. It too has a significant wad of insulation that gets put in place at night. The coop is raised off the ground with porch/stairs on the west side with skirting underneath and bales of hay skirting both the north and south sides. This not only serves as wind block and insulation but also provides a cozy little retreat for them to use on particularly nasty days.

• Method of handling litter: We have chosen the deep litter method for our coop. How this works is about once a week I add dry fresh shavings (NOT cedar) to the coop and rake things up a bit (the chickens help with the mixing up part). The new shavings helps to absorb moisture from fresh droppings There are two main advantages to this method. Number one is less work…yay 😉 but the main reason is that the “deep litter method” if started in spring, is just added insolation for the coop over the winter. (it’s probably about a foot deep in spots as of now) Win/win!
• Heated or not: Heat is usually provided in the form of heat lamps. There are two inherent dangers to providing heat. One is that between a frayed extension cord coming into contact with dry bedding and or lights being knocked over, fires can start easily. The second issue is that chickens can and will acclimate given the opportunity to do so. Artificially heating their coop inhibits their natural ability to acclimate. Fact being, heat is more difficult for chickens to deal with than cold is.
• Lights or no lights?: This issue is usually raised as it pertains to egg production and available day light. That is not the purpose here. I have Included it because I have a 200 W light bulb (no LED here) in the coop that I have on during the day to increase the coop temperature. Yesterday morning it was -11C outside; the light had been on in the coop for a couple of hours with the hatch closed and the temperature read -2C. To be clear, the light is turned on at sunrise and turned off about an hour after sunset.
• Water in or out of the coop? For me water in the coop is a big NO. Keeping that dreaded humidity in mind. However, water sitting outside in a metal container = ice. I could have ordered a water can warmer from Amazon, cost: $80. As it turns out I’m too cheap 😉 Check out the improvised solution pictured below (again, no LED bulbs). Cost: $2 That leaves an excess of 78 dollars that can be used for………oh, I don’t know……. more chicks 🙂

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At the day’s end the girls are lured back into their run with some mixed grain scratch which as they digest will give them a little boost in body temperature for the night. And we’ve survived another day 🙂