Keeping Chickens in the winter is far more simple than most people expect. Although taking some precautions to ensure their wellbeing is necessary, you don’t need to rearrange your life to create a healthy environment for your birds. The main concerns that need to be considered are: the cold, reduced daylight hours, and nutrition.
Winterizing The Coop
An important thing to note about birds is that they protect themselves from the cold very effectively all by themselves. Their thick feathers shed the water and their under feathers retain their heat and expel the cold. That being said, placing heat lamps in their coop is often unnecessary and is in fact dangerous as that is the source of many fires. Creating this heat lamp fueled warm space can also create a shock to their system as they go in and out of the heat which can be harmful if not fatal.
Instead, consider insulating the outside of the coop with straw bales. By doing this, it will take the edge off of the winter for the chickens and protect them from rain and wind as well as predators. This will give them the warmth they need and reduce the risk of fire and shock. It will also better support their natural winter coat growth and spring molting cycle which is natural and healthy.
Here is an example:
When forming the bale barriers, consider placing them on the east and west sides in full, with ventilation going from north to south. This will reduce the amount of weather being let into the Coop and provide adequate ventilation and access.
Some of the perks of using the straw barriers is the benefit of having bedding reading available to add to their nesting boxes. The straw is also great for compost and gardening in the spring, so the waste will be minimal.
Maximizing Daylight Hours
Our winter days in the PNW are very short and this often causes the laying hens to reduce in egg production or even cease altogether. The best thing to do with this is to provide lighting in their coop to simulate extended daylight hours which will help get their production back up to more normal rates.
When choosing the light to use, consider our previous observation regarding heat lamps. The best option would be an LED. They produce highly stimulating light with more lumens than the heat lamps but with minimal heat and great efficiency on your power bill.
Make sure to not leave the light on all the time, that way it provides the desired effect of extended daylight hours. Hooking the light up to a timer to turn on a little before sunrise and then stay on a couple hours past sunset should help to see that increased egg production you are looking for.
Adding More Calories
Chickens need more food given to them in the winter for three reasons.
- They burn more calories in the winter to stay warm and produce their feathers.
- They should be fed excess to ensure they can build a fat layer for warmth and to ensure they have enough energy to produce eggs.
- They are lacking the extra food of bugs that they scavenge all by themselves during the spring, summer and early fall.
Giving your chickens a higher protein feed is never a bad idea during the cold months. This stimulates egg production and is usually higher calorie. Also adding Corn or Sunflower Seeds which are great sources of healthy fats along with meal worms and grubs will make up for all the feed they are missing and the extra food they might need.
Stop in to either the Snohomish or Monroe Coop and the staff will be able to help you out to get your chickens set up for a nice winter.
We’ll see you at the Coop!
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