The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: suziequeue on August 17, 2010, 08:22:51 pm
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I know I'm thinking a bit far ahead but - how will I manage our chickens over winter?
Will they need to be moved to a warmer place? We haven't really got anywhere warmerjavascript:void(0); the worms are going to go into the ploy-tunnel and the chicken coop is too heavy to move really......
hat do other people do?
Susanna
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We did nothing special for the hens over the winter - just made sure that there was always plenty of dry bedding in the coop. Feathers are the best insulators so unless you live in the far north I think the chooks are less bothered about cold weather than we are ;D
However, I've only had chickens for 1 year so I am well aware I'm not very experienced :D
Tish
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Hi,
if they are kept in a run then it needs to be covered and in a sheltered spot with a wind beak to resist driving rain and snow. Perches in the run help them get off the freezing ground and straw on the floor of the run helps this too. Corn before bed helps to generate heat as they digest it. If the temp drops as low as last year ( -12 in my girls coop!) then you could use a heat lamp or a hot water bottle wrapped in paper to lift the temp a degree or two. Lots of straw in the coop keeps it cosy as long as it is draft free.
I gave a feed of tuna and porrige with warm milk on the worst days last year which seemed to perk them up when they looked miserable and i cleared a patch of snow around the coop after the heavy snow falls to allow them to get out and eat grass.
Hopefully the winter wont be as bad this year
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Your name made me laugh out loud, Buffy ;D ;D
Plenty of dry bedding and drefrosted drinking water! The chooks did spend more time indoors when it was bad with snow and wind. I must say that they are so much easier to deal with than ducks over the winter! :&> :chook:
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ours roam free, they are very good at finding a sheltered spot if its windy or wet, but sometimes they seem to enjoy the rain, and walk around looking like drowned things!
during the winter i just made sure they always had plenty of food available, lots of straw both on the floor of their shed and on the dropping board. i found that they (and the ponies) really appreciated warm water to drink.
they hardly missed a day laying, looked healthy and happy, scratched around in the snow, no problem!
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I worried about my Ex Battery Hens and some new Black Rocks as they used to roost in the trees in the garden last winter, the temp was minus most nights but they looked fit and well, the major problem was defrosting and lugging water to them...they are fairly hardy like the garden birds but bigger ;)
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mine roost in the trees all winter, they have a shed to go in but prefer the trees........ you could always stick them in the oven
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I was talking to an elderly gentle man who said, the CHickens probably are warmer in the tree as you rarely find the ground beneath the tree frozen!!! I suppose he has a point, I certanily will not worry this winter as last was soooooooooooooooooooo cold!
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As you can see from my pic, my buffs are fine in the snow, and they lay all through the winter - will be interesting to see how my other breeds do this year! I do like to spoil them with warm porridge though! ::)
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Awww - that's really encouraging.
I'm surprised to hear that they lay over winter. I always presumed they stopped laying in winter and have been freezing surplus eggs thinking that we wouldn't have any over winter.
I like the tuna porridge recipe. I could make that.
Thanks
Susanna
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mine roost in the trees all winter, they have a shed to go in but prefer the trees........ you could always stick them in the oven
That's wicked! ;D
Ours were fine with the cold & snow and also kept laying just not as often. Also helped along with porridge. It was the wet & windy weather that bothered me. But regardless of the weather they always want to be out and seem to prefer outdoor shelter to going into the shed.
We also moved ours to a smaller hut that we had for the really cold snap as it was cosier for them.
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just watch out if they have feathered feet. we had to defrost a couple last year as the had developed ice balls around there feet. but otherwise they were not bothered by snow.
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minus 23 on 6 or 7 days snow lasted till the middle off april we can still see snow from the doore up on the high tops off caingorm .we should have oure first cold spell the middle off september need to have very good pens i use a tube heater to keep the water unfrozen and all got through ok .from the 24 th off december i could not see eney pens in the field the snow had fell to over 4 ft digging out all day
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Gary, you sure have it cold up there, be OK for me and my hot flushes then?????? Hope you are well anyway? WInter starts soon, where WAS the summer???
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face book gary bamford winter pics all the best look for the same pic
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Another thing I do, bearing in mind I only have a few chicks, is to put vaseline on their combs to deter frostbite.