Everything You Need To Know About Raising Chickens in Winter
Вставка
- Опубліковано 20 лис 2019
- Raising chickens in the northern states can be a challenge. Do they need heat? How do you keep the water from freezing? Does the coop need to be insulated? Will they walk in the snow? Do they need supplemental light to lay eggs?
Ceramic Heat emitter bulb - amzn.to/347pl0J
Heated Dog Water Bowl - amzn.to/2Xx6km4
Get SSL Family Merchandise here - teespring.com/stores/ssl-fami...
.$.99 organic seeds - migardener.com/?affiliates=11... - use this link for $.10 off!
Please check us out at www.sslfamilyfarm.com
Find recommended products on Amazon - www.amazon.com/shop/sslfamilydad
and follow us on....
/ sslfamilyfarm
/ sslfamilyfarm
/ sslfamilyfarm
/ sslfamilyfarm
Daily Beetle by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Country Cue 1 by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Artist: audionautix.com/
Any links here may be Affiliate links - Навчання та стиль
Greenhouse is absolutely the best chicken house for winter. Deep bedding compost for heat.
Yeah I use a greenhouse chicken coop
we made a hoop house and connected it to our coop this year for our Wisconsin winters and its great.
I live in Texas so we don’t experience snow and harsh weather on a general basis. I got four chicks in the spring so this will be my first winter as a Chicken Mom, lol. I purchased the heated dog bowl from Tractor Supply. Thank you for your advice. I love your videos!
This was very comprehensive. I’ve seen too many drawn out videos... blah blah yada yada. This was straight to the point. 🙏🏾 thank you
You are a blessing to me
I read one time where a farmer placed some of his sheep in his chicken coop on cold winter nights. The body heat from the sheep warmed the coop enough to keep the rooster's comb from frost bite. Obviously, he had a coop large enough to accommodate the sheep..
I first watched your video when you built that coop in your back yard and built my coop from your plans and have shared it with you long ago! We are now getting back into chickens after our first flock was killed so I went to look for your videos again. Glad to see you guys are doing so well!
Andrew Ritz
Could you link me that video? I love this coop. I would like to build this
So helpful. Some new tips, especially the ceramic light! Also validating for some of the experience we've had!
Really helpful video, thanks. We are about 6 months in with our 1st ever chickens! Illinois gets very cold also. 🐔🥶🐓
Good day to you sir thank you for the advice hope this finds you well.
I’ve never seen those ceramic heater bulbs thanks for that, and thanks for the tour! Many great ideas here. Will borrow a few cheers.
I so enjoy your videos! We live in Wisconsin where temps can stay subzero for many days, in fact last year we were down to -37. The snow gets really deep. When that happens the chickens stay inside - for about 3 months. Our coop is bigger - the corner of a mini barn and is 7x9 for 15 birds. It is almost 6 ft tall inside, giving them plenty of room to run around under the roosts. I have used the same dog watering bowl you use for 30+ years with no problems. We provide no heat for our chickens. There is an LED trouble light on a timer because the days are so short. The two outside walls are insulated, but the two inside walls are ventilated to the rest of the barn. With the deep bedding system, it stays between 10-20 degrees warmer inside than the outside temperature, which means that inside the coop it is still below freezing for about 3 months. The waterer has to be inside, but it is over a drain in the cement floor, so the bedding stays nice and dry. I used to live on several acres, but we are now in a subdivision.
Thanks for sharing your setup! Sounds like you have been doing this awhile:)
Thanks for the video. God Bless, stay safe.
I remember when you built the chicken coop. I can't believe it's been 5 yrs. It's still in great shape. Here where I live you have to pay the city yearly to keep a limit of 5 chickens and only 1 rooster. Big brother gets you one way or the other.
great information!! thank you!!
Very good thanks for sharing
Thank you.
Thanks very informative vidio.
I made a heater for my dog house by putting two 60W light bulbs in series. It produced very little light but made good heat and lasted forever. I put the heater under a plywood floor and ran the cord thru a flexible conduit. It was super cheap. Danny beagle really enjoyed being outside but being warm. The dog house was made from an insulated 55-gallon drum with a plywood plug with an 8" X 8" hole cut for entry/exit. It made a great dog house. I built him a corrugated fiberglass solar dog house before that, but he ate that (beagles...).
I dont own chickens, but I am curious how to take care of chickens in the winter. Thank you for enlightening me.
I used a heater that my 5 gal bucket sat on in the winter. And brought them in my spare bathroom when it got into the negatives. I had 5 chickens. But back in May my neighbor call the twp and had to get rid of them after having them almost 2 yrs. Then my neighbor put his house up for sale. These chicken were my kids pets.
great vid, thanks :)
Selecting a breed appropriate for tolerating cold weather is critical. Agree with you about not adding heat. A serious problem with heat is that if you lose power your birds do not have the adaptive skills to survive comfortably. Our temps drop down to -30 (not figuring in wind chill) yet we have never lost birds in winter. We also have a bulb in the coop along with deep shavings.
Thanks good info 😁
When you said michigan I was so happy! I live in the southeastern portion of Michigan on a bunch of land. I want to raise chickens so bad! I want to specifically try for those orange-red yolks. My fiance doesn't want them because he says they are gross and dirty. I'm sure they are, but I really want to try it!
I've built your design of this coop 2 years ago and it is still holding up great. Even had to move it to a different location on our property and it held up to the move. I've made a few changes to it with watering systems but that is always on ongoing change it seems. We do provide heat for our chickens in the winter with a thermostat outlet because it does get cold for long periods of time up here in the upper peninsula. I like your idea of the heater dog water bowl. I want to try it but my chickens don't want to come out of the coop in the winter. I guess that would be a way to get them out. Thanks for the videos. I usually watch them all, just don't get a chance to always comment.
yeah I have had this issue getting the chickens out also when it is snowy. But, as they get hungry and thirsty they know where to get water and food. It also helps that the feed is under the coop where it is generally dryer
People need to get winter hardy breeds if they live in cold climates.
Probably the #1 thing for respiratory health and to help prevent frostbite is good ventilation to get the moisture out of the air
I live in Sacramento,California so far it's been okay inside the Coop.
I use a timed light in my coop also, but I only have mine come on really early in the a.m. and then go off after daylight. That way, when it starts to get dark, the chickens go to their roosts. If I left the light on late to extend the light into the evening, when it went off, it would suddenly be dark and they may have a hard time finding their way to the roost. We also use those heated bowls for our animals. They work great! Just found your channel and subscribed. Good video!
nice...for winter I plan to have a solar water heater linked to the coop. ..probably similar for summer as well for cooling.
it will be black pvc basically..implemented for some going to watererrer.
Getting them Ready for the Winter.. And Getting ready for the SNOW to lol !! Refresh the old Memory here Sir.. You Have Any Meat Birds Left out there didn't see .. And I Thank You Sir..
No meat birds right now. Hoping to be ready for a new chicken coop this spring
I'm down in Indiana. A few years ago we had some EXTREMELY cold weather such that both my roosters lost half their waddles and all the spikes on their combs, in spite of my attempts to protect them. One thing I was doing was slathering on vaseline petroleum jelly on their combs and waddles. This works well to reduce heat loss due to wind chill and from freezing their waddles when they dip down to drink water (and their waddles go into the water as they drink). It was that which caused the loss of half their waddles. It was too late for them that year but that is also when I rushed out to buy the ceramic heater you show in this video to rig up inside their chicken house. Since that year, I am always prepared to plug in and use that heater in hopes of preventing such bad loss of comb and waddle again.
I'm up in indiana and this is my first winter with beautiful hens! I forgot about to Vaseline! I'm thankful and appreciative for finding this comment and you for posting it and this knowledgeable video!
God bless, have a wonderful Thanksgiving
What do you think about Joel Salatin's deep mulch method? Basically, you put in about 8 inches of appropriate organic material (wood chips, shredded leaves, peanut shells, etc.) and then keep adding food scraps or other organic matter until it's about 12 inches (you can keep giving food scraps, of course).
The chickens will keep scratching it up. Bugs and worms that they eat will come. Their manure will sift to the bottom. And, perhaps best of all, the material will begin composting. That will have a sanitizing effect, and the heat of it will help keep the chickens warm in the winter.
Then, you only have to clean this out every year (some people say every two years). Amazing compost for the garden!
I think he has a great system with deep mulch. In this little coop I wouldn't do that but maybe in a production coop
@@SSLFamilyDad Would it be better if a small coop could be built around that system? Or are you just saying your coop wasn't built for that?
Thank you for your response!
What do you do with the pine wood waste and how often do you clean it out?
Is there a name for that type of coup I love that tray on bittom
I use hay in my chicken coop ,we have a small farm and grow our own it works great, . add a layer of hay once a month and work with a rake. our coop is always at least 15 * warmer than outside . Our winter weather is usually 28* to 34* at night . I clean the coop once a year
Do bloodmites not become a problem?
I keep a small area shovelled out at the base of the ramp and cover it with straw. That way the hens will spend a lot more time outside in the winter and they'll enjoy the sun.
I have sand boxes under the egde of the house so i make a little path with carboard boxes and the 2 feet of house floor and basement is warm so they just sit there chilling, but if I dont make a path they wont come out.
I think 8 maybe would be enough for me 4x6 coop I think 4 buff Orpington and 4 Isa Browns only for brown eggs sick of white eggs
Hi im looking for information in winter where i live it gets close to -28 celsius which is -18 farenheit sometimes and would like to know what you would recommend to do like insulate or not or if you think or know of a kind of hens that r good at that weather?
I heard another UA-camr recommend using cayenne pepper in the chickens’ water during winter months to promote egg laying. It warms the chickens belly and makes them think it’s warmer and they lay more eggs. Never tried it myself because I don’t have chickens yet, but definitely sounds worth a try.
Interesting idea. I think it would effect the taste of the eggs though. I've heard that banannas increase the number of eggs laid. An experiment by SSL Dad could help resolve any questions.
Some people say that but it is the number of hours of day light that determines egg laying, not body temperature. Each hen only has a certain number of eggs in her. Once she lays them all she is done.. You have to decide if you want her to use them up faster or slower.
Hens look really good. How do the shavings compare between TSC and the bag you used? Is one preferable than the other?
Hello to the girls.
Marc and Paulette
I think they are the same, I always get the large flake
I have 10 hens in a huge shed turned coop. I use heat lamps I live in upper Washington state and I can't stand it if my girls are cold or I even imagine they are cold. I have another coop also very large that houses 28 hens but is not as big as the one that houses the 10. Outside the smaller hen house but inside is their patio coop all glassed in with sliding doors because some girls want to stay out in there all night. My heat lamps are inside that coop and outside their door to it with roost so they wont get cold. I'm getting at least 22 more chicks come spring to put into the bigger coop with the 10 hens. I have to reconfigure the coop so I can keep them separate from the older girls. They will have there own door area and separate fenced area until they can handle the big girls/bullies. They all free range all day long but during snow and rain they hang in the huge patio coop plus I dig trails through the snow so they travel around. I do it for the dogs too
Could u make a second coop out of pallets
Always super informative and I SMASHED that like! We want chickens as soon as we have the resources. I would love to collaborate...whether I interview you on my channel or do some free work for a channel shout out. I would owe you big time brother!
How often do you clean the feeder. Doesn't that breed mold if it isn't cleaned out all the time?
Hi!
Martin, here from Ottawa Canada, I have been keeping chicken for over 15 years up here in the winters of the great white North for a long time, and have learned a few things along the way..
Love your videos, this one included, but thought you misted a few key points.
Ventilation,The most important thing in winter.
Deep litter, best method! (I know you mentioned it but such a valuable resource)
I have been keeping 30 to 90 chicken in a simple 15' x 20' barn board, with no insulation, no power, other then solar lights, in as cold as -55c with regular winter temperatures from December to early March are regularly in the -18c to -28c rang, with nothing more, then good deep litter, and good ventilation, and best part NO! frostbite on combs or wattles. Evan the roos!
The most important thing is to vent out the coop from the chickens breath, I open the coop door and hatch most days in the winter. Doors are facing south,
I have a small vent in the rafters in the far north corner, where the cold north winds come from, and a loose fitting plastic covering a largs window facing south. Sides of the plastics on the winter are open year round.
With the mix of deep litter and body heat the coop is regularly 10c to 15c degree warmer (I'm celsius) I could go on for days, but this comment is getting winded! Lol, feel free to message me, for my litter method, or perches, or how I have chicks in the winter, or how I fermet my feed, and save so much. Lots of chicken video ideas for ya! ;)
Love the videos! Keep it up! Look forward to the next ones!
Would like to read more tips from you Martin
Hi Martin I am in Southern Ontario just south of Brantford. I am converting a 5x9 shed into a coop I am insulating the walls with roxul and covering with old barn board. I was planning to drill around 5 2" holes at the top on the east and west side of the shed for ventilation as the wind in our property blows issue from the south west. Will this be enough ventilation and insulation for the winter ? Thanks !
Hey Martin.
I live in Alberta, and am thinking about getting into laying chickens. The Canadian winter cold is definitely a concern of mine. I'd be very interested if you could pass on any more tips for me.
Thanks!
³2222
just wondering how much space by dimensions should i have for 13 chickens...i have right now 4x4 coop and thinkin maybe it's a lil small...there is right now four 3 month old chickens and nine 2 month old chickens in this coop...do i need to have more space for them as they get bigger for the winter months til i move them in with my other (7) adult birds in the spring when they start laying eggs
You should invest in Hemp Bedding vs Pine Shavings. It's cleaner, healthier for their lungs and yours, insulates, WARMER for sure. Hemp Deep bedding can go 2 years without cleaning coop No joke. Just fluff with a garden tool. NO STINK AT ALL. composts very well. I did say invest. Pricey but will pay you back in time. Amazing
Pamela Rogers thanks, I’m new so haven’t heard of hemp bedding! Do you recommend a source of purchase?
With enough heat your chickens will have deep conversations and declare peace and love to each other.
dont doubt that hemp is a good choice but there is nothing unhealthy about pine shavings or straw. hemp is all the rage right now and it seems like a great product but ridiculously over priced...this too shall pass...lol
Im in georgia.i have 4 birds.
There coop is built on top of a enclosed 4x4x8 run.
They have a ramp into the bottom of the coop.and i used 4x10 ac vets up high to ventilate the coop. I can open/close them like any other ac vent in your house.
I didnt build a door to close up the coop entry. Any critter that wants to go after my girls has to get past 3 wraps of 5k volt electric fence and hardwear cloth.
I dont see any reason to close the entry unless i need to in winter.
Should i build a door before winter?
Great voice, SSLFD. Maybe you sing a little blues...
Big question is what do you do for rodent control. Please respond. Thanks!!!
💗💗💗
I feed them every morning and afternoons. I give my 10 hens and rooster 3 full handfuls of Winter scratch and pallets and flygrubs.
We live in Missouri,and we get 100 degree summer, and minus 8 degree winter, so it can be hard to keep animals. We've been living here for 12 years.
Hello what is the name of the strapping that is attached to both side of your chicken feeder(it has holes) also the metal sling that also holds the plastic pipe I want to get this I also need to know which stores you get these from... many thanks
I believe you call that plumbing strap. Home Depot carries it
Maşallah 🇹🇷🐥🐤🐔🐔🐓🐓🐣🥚❤
How often do you change the wood chips?
Id say 2 times a year. But i have hay or straw. I change mine every 2-3 months, or just add to it during winter, then in spring, change it and before winter.
Air flow is i,port at, they get frost bite with too much moisture and no wire flow.
Great point!
It’s not luck it’s preparation that gives you success with your chickens
Mmm. I think it's more flexibility and willingness to try different things as you go...
I like to mix some food grade diatomaceous earth into my chicken bedding. Helps keep the parasitic bugs down (mites, lice).
I live at 10,000 feet in the mountains of Colorado and it gets below zero for long periods of time and we get 90mph winds up here in the winter. Someone up here that I know has chickens which I’m interested in getting and they said up here you need to have a 60 watt bulb for heat for every ten chickens. But everything I’m watching on UA-cam says different. I guess I just need to run power out to the coop on the safe side since the water probably needs heat. Don’t the eggs freeze though if you wait two days if it’s-30 outside?
As long as they had a dry place out of the wind they will be fine but yeas the eggs will freeze if you don’t collect them. And running power out there wouldn’t hurt for other reasons like a heated water dish
my chickens eat snow all winter,,,just like wild birds
Frostbite is not because of cold. Its because of poor ventilation not allowing moisture to escape above their heads. Vents should be well above the heads when they are standing uprite on their roosts.Heating the coop will cause more condensation causing wet chickens causing frostbite. Chickens do not need heat.
crystal bern very helpful information that I’ve heard many times. Thank you!
Well yes and no, frostbite is from cold but having moist conditions will cause frostbite quicker. If you do provide heat even if it adds to moisture it is not cold so no frostbite
You guys us fellows don’t know what a winter is
I thought chicken hibernated in the winter months...
Hear lamp is dangerous
Basically just said none need heat.
Hens are born with a certain amount of eggs. They need a rest (winter) My Grandparents never added heat or light and their chickens were great egg layers...they let nature take it's course. STOP MAKING CHICKENS LAY IN THE WINTER....that's like what commercial farming does!!! It Defeats the purpose!!! Freeze eggs for the winter for baking, cooking and scrambled. So what if you can't have a fried egg until spring... you will extend your hen's egg laying time by letting NATURE take it's course.
Thank you.