Sub freeze and the chickens - A quick what to do!

WOW it is cold out there.  Two days now and last night and today are the coldest but tomorrow we should start to warm up a bit.  Remember to keep an eye on your backyard flock.  Most chickens will seek shelter when it is too windy or cold but sometimes you just go out there at 7:00 pm and the girls are still running around or sitting on a roost bar in the run.

We do not recommend heating your coops, due to risk of fire it also can cause issues with the chickens becoming to warm and not adjusting to the cold.  So what can you do?

1. If you use wood chips in your coop look at using the deep litter method.  That is not cleaning up the bottom of the coop leaving the waste and chips in place.  What happens is the wood and waste decompose and it can increase the temp in the coop by almost 20 degrees.  It was 2 last night with a wind chill of -10.  Our coop temp was 38 degrees, comfortable for the girls.  You will need to fluff the chips and keep it from freezing and you will also need to keep adding fresh chips to it.  when it reaches about 3" deep remove half of the chips for fresh.  You still need to clean everything else as normal.

2.  If you don't have a water heater, we use a light bulb under the plastic water container and even then it froze partially during the day, bring the water in at night , take it back out in the morning when you open the coop.  Also periodically during the day take an additional bowl of warm water out they will appreciate it.

3.  Keep and eye on the waddles and combs, apply a thin layer of Vaseline on them (no more than you would want on your lips)  that will help prevent frostbite on the ones with larger combs and waddles.  Another recommendation is always try to stick with breeds that are cold hardy like reds, sex links, and wyandottes, though they to can get frostbite.  We inspect them as they go in the coop at night.

4.  Food.  They need high fat protein during the winter for energy, switch from mixed seed scratch to

cracked corn, treat them to a cup or two of hot oatmeal.  Avoid most produce since it will freeze.  You can also use suet with sunflower seeds.  Remember to treat those items as treats and limit them to 10% of their diet these are not replacements to their regular feed.

Side note - remember to check for eggs regularly.  Our girls are still laying regularly and an egg can freeze and crack in less than an hour in these temps.  If they crack don't eat them.  Scramble them up and let the girls enjoy some eggs as well.  We also recommend that if you suspect they did freeze, wash the eggs in cold water and immediately place in the refrigerator, I don't normally recommend washing the eggs but in this an exception.