Winterizing your Flock

Chickens generally don’t like to walk in the snow. They would much rather stay inside than have to walk on a cold surface. The hens, especially those with feathery feet, really like being able to get up off the ground and out of the snow, ice and mud.  Free wooden pallets or logs are a great way to get them up off the ground, as are benches or even lawn chairs.

Scratch is a cold weather treat. The act of digesting the scratch warms up the hens’ bodies, so I throw down scratch for them each afternoon all through the winter. You can purchase scratch grains in a commercial mix or make your own.  [Read more here about scratch…]

Using the Deep Litter Method in your coop is probably the one best thing you could do over the winter.  Easy, inexpensive and an old-timers’ tried and true method for overwintering, it’s what all three of us Fresh Eggs Farm Girls do for the winter.  Basically the methodology is that you keep adding layers of bedding to the coop, turning over the old soiled bedding which decomposes into beautiful compost by spring. It doesn’t smell (trust me) and is actually beneficial in that pathogen-controlling microbes are a byproduct.  [Read more here about The Deep Litter Method...]

Especially if you live in an area that gets lots of snow, keep in mind that a deep snow or blizzard might prevent you from being able to get to the feed store, or even prevent delivery trucks from being able to make their deliveries to the feed stores.  Your flock will also eat more in the winter, since grass and bugs aren’t available, and they need more fuel to keep warm, so plan on going through feed faster than you do in the warmer months. Keep extra feed on hand.  Since the feed will keep in a cool dry place just fine, plan on a month’s supply on hand.  I also keep extra straw on hand to stack in the coop along the walls to provide natural ‘insulation’.

As the days shorten, laying will slow or stop completely in some instances.  Think about whether you will be adding supplemental lighting in the coop [Read more here about adding light to your coop…] to prolong laying through the winter (although not our recommendation) or freeze some of your excess eggs now [Read more here about freezing eggs…] to use over the winter (what we recommend).  

Obviously providing your flock with clean, fresh (unfrozen) water is important.   You can buy (or make) a heated base for your metal waterers, but of course they do present a fire hazard of sorts – and I found they won’t last all that long and are too expensive to keep buying new ones. 

We stopped using the metal waterers a few years ago because they rust and they aren’t optimal for ducks.  Instead, we use deep black rubber tubs for water.  Set in the sun in the winter, the black rubber absorbs the heat from the sunlight and seems to keep the water from freezing far better than a metal waterer. Also, the greater surface area and depth both work against freezing.  A few ping pong balls floated on the surface of a water tub will also create just enough movement to prevent the tub from freezing.