Topic: Winter

[chicken girl]

this is my first winter as a chicken keeper i have 3 girls a red rock,bluebell and speckledy what should i be doing as it turns colder should i increase the amount of corn i give them I'm giving them a yogurt pot full at the moment usually at about 3.30 ish but as its getting darker should it be given earlier ?????
 :-\ :-\

[kt.]

I increase the bedding inside the cree for a little more insulation.  It requires changing more regular due to increased wet weather.  Other than that not a great deal.    Oh.... almost forgot..... I take a flask of hot water to give them warm chicken meal on a winters morning.  OH  takes the p1ss a bit over this but i wonder if she would like cold food each winters day ;D ;D

[grannyjanny]

I looked after a friends chickens last year over the really cold Christmas period & I took them a bowl of hot porridge every morning. They loved it & continued laying.
My girls will be getting the same treatment when it gets colder.

[irnhed]

I believe that if you give oats to your chooks, it helps them heat themselves up from the inside.

I don't go as far as providing warm porridge.  If its chilly, I'll give them a handful of oats late in the afternoon, which they'll very happily peck up - which I think then allows them to stay warm through the night.

If they get a cold, I put Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) into their water as a tonic.  I get the ACV from our local saddlery.  It's cheaper if you buy it for horses  :)

Mine primarily eat layers pellets all year around.

[goodlife]

My girls get warm breakkie in cold winter mornings..some layers mash mixed with hot water and some treaty bits..left over veg or fruit, peas, sweetcorn, anything spare really. I also keep clove of garlic in their waterdrinker...to help keep sniffles away..and I provide some warm water too..there is nothing nicer than 'hot' cuppa when weather is cold ;)
Like KT, I also provide extra bedding and chance it more often too.
One thing that is really important!..no matter how cold it is outside..I never ever close ventilation..as chickens spend more time indoors there is more dropping and more moisture in air..if there is not enough air exchange in their shed they start getting respiratory problems and all surfaces start going mouldy.
Like you Chicken Girl..I give some mixed corn or wheat in afternoon..just before they go to 'bed'..I don't think you need to feed yours any earlier or any more..as long as they have enough time to get their fill.
 

[sunlovers]

This porrige thing, do you just give oats with warm water?  Also can anyone give me tips on keeping the water defrosted please? And......how do you know if they have a cold?  Do they get runny noses like we do or cough or  what??  I really must buy myself a book!

[pumkinlover]

I think i'll make extra porridge in the morning and see if they like it. I may let them have my half milk / half water porridge - made with proper milk from the farm with cream on-none of that semi-skimmed rubbish!!
That's unless someone replies saying only use water :-\

[sunlovers]

I'll try them tonight (on water as I don't use milk) and will keep you updated as to whether mine like it.  I've also just read about a chap using the veg water after sunday lunch and adding to it stale bread, the veg scraps from peoples plates and layers pellets to make a chicken homemade mash and they loved it!  I think I'll try that one too. 

[grannyjanny]

I make mine with water for the girls. Just googled it & milk gives chicken the runs apparantly.
They had a few raisins today & enjoyed them too.

[sunlovers]

Hey my girls loved the porrige (eventually), at first they were unsure but when I returned a while later, the bowl was clean.  I will try the rasins tomorrow, thanks for the tip.

[Morris]

Also can anyone give me tips on keeping the water defrosted please?

Plastic drinkers are a little more insulated than metal, but in this weather ours freeze solid even so.  I have 2 and keep one inside overnight so it is easy to swop over in the mornings.

It was so cold today their droppings were frozen solid at 3pm when I decided to clean out the roost; I had to chip them off!  It just goes to show how amazingly hardy chickens are as they are all four fine.  I did put straw bales on top of the roost tonight for extra insulation even though it isn't so cold today. 

Mine have never had colds but I from what I have read they get respiratory symptoms just like us.

I worried about mine too last winter but they were fine.  This year now they are older I am still getting two eggs average per day which I am really pleased with.

[sunlovers]

I have tried wrapping bubble wrap around the water feeder but it doesn't help either  :-[. 

Every morning I set out to the lottie with a flask of boiling water, a Tupperware box filled with hot porridge (and raisins of course) and a 5ltr container of hot water.  The snow is above the knees and takes alot of effort to walk through.  The path now, however, is a lot better as Rob walks it daily too, to feed his chucks! The locks on the coop are frozen solid and my fingers stick to the metal, the chucks spy the porridge pot and go ape whilst I try to gain access.  The water feeder is impossible to open so out comes the boiling water whilst I get some pellets out to give them (not that their bothered as they have their wonderful porridge!).  I then bash the side of the water feeder to break the ice and eventually part the 2 items.  I then fill it up with hot water and place back inside the coop.  Dotty then lunges herself at it and savours the water just like I do my first morning cuppa. 

Its a right palava! But I do love 'em! and wouldn't change them for the world!!

[grannyjanny]

Porridge is on the go, OH sorting out the water for chickens & guinea pigs. I'll put the porridge in the porch to cool for them, get OH a cuppa to warm him up ;D. Luckily it's all in the garden.

[sunloving]

Just a warning really , two of my fellow hen keeping freinds have a had fox attacks this week . I should imagine that the predators are quite hungry at the moment so be extra vigilant with closing up at night. .

Our bantams are comming back into lay to lately which has been bizarre must be the bright snow days!

 :)
x sunloving

[grannyjanny]

My daughters cockeral was taken yesterday. He's already had 10 hens. Our bantams haven't laid since August. Think we were had when we bought them ::).

[jasicajame]

I like a winter very much. I like a warm of my bed and a hot coffee in morning and my mom said jasica now please wake up. And a snow on outside of my window which covers a Christmas tree. And from that I remember that a Christmas holiday was coming to enjoy with friends and family.

[goodlife]

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I like a warm of my bed and a hot coffee in morning
Ohh..I think we all like that ;D I like winter and snow and cold if I could watch it all go by from the bed..but infortunately life aint so easy ::) Now if it all would happen during christmas holidays only, winter would be wonderful thing.

[daveylamp993]

in the past i was told by a old gardener who had chickens on his lotty for years that if you add glicerine to the water it stops it freezing over,i tried it by putting 1 teaspoon full to each drinker and it didnt freeze over and the chickens enjoyed iti suppose the bigger the drinker the more glicerine you would need to add,hope this is helpful. . . happy christmas and all the best for 2011

[daitheplant]

Years ago, my stepfather used to add cod liver oil to the water bowls of his racing pigeons to prevent it freezing. Also, I don`t know the science behind it, but, warm/hot water freezes quicker than cold water. Something to do with the molecules I think.

[sunloving]

Glycerine thats interesting , must track some down. That cold blast we had made keeping water unfrozen really difficult. thankyou for the tip  :)

x sunloving