Depending on what part of the world you live in winter can get really cold and these poor birds don’t really love the super cold weather. Here are some things that you can do in your coop to help them survive the freezing temps and to keep your egg laying production up this winter!
We live in Indiana so our winters can get pretty cold, this year alone we hit 1 degree during the day and in the negatives at night in early December! Brrrrr…way too cold for mama! I personally have a love hate relationship with winter and I’m sure my chickens do too! Because while it’s nice to get a break from the super hot and humid temps we get in the summer I like it in the 60’s & 70’s not where I need to wear half my closet just to walk outside! Which brings me to my first point!
Winter Feed
You know how we humans bundle up with layers to go outside when it’s freezing out, chickens obviously can’t put clothes on, so what do they do to stay warm? Well in the fall when the weather starts to cool off they start molting – which is where they lose some of their old feathers and grow new ‘undercoat’ or ‘down’ feathers to prepare for the cold. I personally think this is so cool how God designed this, he gave them a natural, built in coat! What a gift!
Now the lose and regrow of feathers comes with a price of needing more feed, and not just your regular feed, more protein! So just like when we are working out or burning more energy, we need more protein be sustain our energy for the day…so do the chickens! If you want them to grow their coat and keep laying eggs you have to provide a higher protein feed for them.
You can obviously just buy a higher protein feed at the store, so if you normally buy the 16% bag of chicken feed you may want to bump it up to the 20% for a little while. Here is what I give our chickens in the winter for a little boost!
I usually just measure with my heart on this because we have 13 chickens that are sharing this so trying to figure out the math on with each individual chicken needs and then splitting that up and making sure each chicken gets exactly that, just isn’t a thing. SO I take a medium sized bowl or container and fill about half of it with oats. Then add in about 2 tbsp of everything else and then fill it with some hot water.
- 2 Cups Oats
- 2 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper (fun fact: chickens can’t feel spice!)
- 2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
- 2 Tbsp Parsley
- 2 Tbsp Cinnamon
- Hot water
In a medium sized bowl pour in all of your ingredients and give it a good mix. Then fill the container with warm/hot water. That’s it! Give it to your chickens and let the enjoyment begin!
I have a container in the house that I mix everything in and then I keep a rubber feed bowl in the coop to pour it into for them to eat out of.
I usually give this mixture to our chickens about 2-3 times a week depending on the temperature. (If it’s under 40 degrees is usually what I go by and especially if it’s below freezing)
But like I said earlier God specifically designed chickens (just like most other birds) to be able to survive most any weather and while chickens were originally found in southeast Asia which is a more tropical climate (so warmer than midwest America) they have been in North America for centuries so they have acclimated and have been bred to withstand our climate as well.
Now that doesn’t mean they don’t need a little help because unlike wild birds chickens that you have raised are now dependent on you to care for them.
Insulating the Coop
For the coop in the winter we line the walls with straw bales and cover the ground in lose straw. We also try to seal up any spots that wind could get in. Chickens really don’t like the wind and especially when the wind chills can get in the negatives in the winter we like to take every precaution necessary!
Unpopular opinion: we put a heat lamp in the coop in the winter…why is this an unpopular opinion you may ask? Because generally speaking you’re not supposed to give the chickens a good source of heat because their bodies can’t handle the drastic change in temperature from a heated coop to the freezing outdoor run.
So why do we add a heat lamp to our coop in the winter? We hang one heat lamp up fairly high in the coop so the chickens can’t get too close to it but it provides enough heat just to take the edge off of the below freezing temps. We ONLY turn it on at night and ONLY IF the temps are below 30. This is just enough to help them keep warm through the night as they all roost and huddle together through the frigid winter!
Keeping the Girls Hydrated
I don’t know about you but I get really bad about drinking enough water in the winter…well so do animals. So along with making sure they have enough water throughout the winter you have to make sure it doesn’t freeze and make sure they actually drink it. The recipe above is a great way for them to get water because they have to drink the water in order to get the delicious oatmeal!
Ways to keep your water from freezing: most require electricity, so make sure you have a source of power near by or an extra long extension cord! We use a plug in bucket heater, which is just a metal device that you place inside whatever water bucket you have and heats up just enough so the water doesn’t freeze. You could also get a heated pet bowl (although the chickens will want to roost on the edge and poop in it). Another option is a heated chicken waterer. You can usually find any of these options at your local farm and pet store.
If you don’t want to use electricity you could try the salt jug method, where you fill a milk jug or another plastic jug with salt water seal it up and place the jug in your water bucket. This is commonly used in water trough that are out in the middle of a pasture.
So just in case you were super worried about your girls surviving your frigid winter, fear not! Just take some precautions and be prepared and they will be fine!
