Winter Care Tips for Your Chickens

Now the weather is getting much colder and the nights are darker, it's important to make sure your chickens have a warm draft free hen house to roost in - and to ensure other unwelcome visitors are not trying to find a cosy place for the winter.

Maintaining Your Hen House.

• Firstly, check the condition of your housing for any holes, and repair these, as this might attract predators such as foxes, badgers, skunks and racoon's.
• Keeping the house draft free, but with plenty of ventilation is an important factor to consider. Chickens create a lot of moisture in their breath and droppings, which can be bad for their health, so they need plenty of fresh air circulating around the house. Large vent type openings that have mesh fitted to them are good. Sliding windows made from plastic are useful, as they can be opened during the day, and closed up at night.
• Another idea is to have a closed in pen attached to the hen house, which will allow the birds to have a dry area to scratch about during the day. Straw bales can be left inside for the chickens to sit on.

Red Mites.

Even though you won't see as many mites in the winter, they still like the warmth of a nice cosy hen house. They'll hide in every little crevice possible. If you get a good dry, sunny day, clean the house out throughly, and let it dry. Then spray the whole house with red mite spray. Treat the birds and nest boxes with powder.

Deep Litter Method.

I haven't tried the deep litter method myself, but if you're keen on composting in your garden, this is a great way of using the chicken poop for compost.

• Start by cleaning the hen house. Then put a layer of pine shavings on the floor. The chickens will do most of the work, by scratching and moving the material about on the floor.
• Each week add another layer of pine shavings, you can stir the litter up if you wish, or throw some corn down for the chickens to do it. When you have about 12 inchs of litter, the floor can be cleared out, and used as compost on your garden. Any litter that hasn't composted, can be finished off in your compost bin.
• This method works better when you have a floor made from earth in the hen house. If you have a wooden floor, you can still use this method, but the litter will need composting in a bin before use.

Added Benefits.

The benefits of this method are:-

No smell inside the hen house.

You only have to clean out the house once or twice a year.

The litter creates warmth for the birds during the winter.

You can find a more detailed explanation of the deep litter method at http://backtobasicliving.com/blog/tag/deep-litter-method/

You'll notice a drop in egg laying when the winter sets in. The main reason for this is shorter daylight hours. I have around thirty laying hens, and at the moment I'm lucky if I get two or three eggs a day. There are a couple of things you can do to help increase egg laying. Artificial lighting can be used to prolong the day for your chickens. All you need is a timer to come on for an hour or two before daylight and after dark.

Feeding.

When the weather gets colder, it is essential to give your chickens plenty of food. This will hopefully help with egg laying. Giving them a feed of corn in the late afternoon will ensure they go to roost with a full crop. The corn takes longer to digest so will keep them warm throughout the night.

You can also try wet mash made with warm water. Chickens really enjoy this kind of food, and you'll find they'll quickly eat it up. Wet mash can be made from a mixture of layers pellets, wheat, corn, split maize and sunflower seeds. Add only about a handful of maize and sunflower seeds to a larger quantity of pellets, wheat, corn etc. Mix with a little warm water into a crumbly mix, not sloppy.

Wet mash can also be made from leftover kitchen scraps. In a saucepan, boil up any vegetable peelings that you have, including potato peelings or any old potato's that have gone soft or sprouting roots. Once the veg has cooked, you can add cooked rice and pasta, stale bread, cake and cereal. Most leftover kitchen scraps are suitable to be added to the mash, apart from onions and mouldy food. Pellets and corn can also be added if you like. The mash should be slightly stodgy and not sloppy.

A recipe for wet mash can be found at http://keeping-chickens.co.uk/chicken-mash/

Water.

One of the biggest problems in the winter is when the water drinkers freeze up. I have galvanized drinkers which can be a nightmare because when they are frozen, you can't lift the lids off. I usually defrost them by pouring hot water around the bottom and leaving for a few minutes.

It is possible to buy heated poultry drinkers, but you'll need electricity outside. I think it's just a case of defrosting the drinkers throughout the day if you can.

Combs and Wattles.

When the weather gets colder, and the temperarure drops below freezing, chickens can be affected by frostbite on their combs and wattles. This can easily be prevented by rubbing a thick layer of vaseline onto these areas.

General Care.

As long as the chickens have a dry and draft free hen house to roost in and extra food, you'll find they can cope with cold weather conditions more easily.

Replace their hay in the nest boxes so it doesn't get damp. Any food you give them, will not last long. I find it best to give them smaller amounts regularly, so they will eat it in one feeding session.

Chickens will also benefit from being given a vitamin supplement in the winter. This can be in the form of a powder or liquid, and is easily available from animal/horse feed suppliers.