Avoid These 7 Common Winter Mistakes With Chickens
Keeping backyard chickens in the harsh conditions of the winter season can provide some challenges especially to brand new backyard chicken keepers. Don’t worry! With some planning and preparation, you can have a safe and happy winter with your new backyard flock. Here are 7 common winter season mistakes to avoid.
Not maintaining your chicken area with a deep clean before freezing temperatures hit. Cleaning and maintaining your chicken area is significantly more difficult during the winter season when using water in your chicken area isn’t recommended (getting their coop and run wet during the winter can contribute to frostbite conditions). Perform much needed seasonal and daily maintenance especially when you’re expecting a drop in the temperature. Cleaning and maintenance are essential to your flock’s health and productivity.
Not addressing the mud in your chicken area. Any stationary area where chickens are kept will eventually become muddy and soiled with droppings. If this isn’t addressed before freezing temperatures (35 degrees F and lower) it can create conditions that perpetuate and cause chicken diseases and ailments like frostbite. Use a livestock safe ground cover little like pine flake shavings or coarse sand to combat moisture in your chicken area. Don’t use materials like landscape mulch as this contains sharp edges which can injure your chickens in addition to harsh dyes and chemicals which are unsafe for your flock.
Not providing adequate ventilation to let moist, soiled air escape. This one seems counter intuitive but your chickens need ventilation during the cold winter season, not draft. Let’s explore the difference. Draft is when cold air and precipitation can blow directly onto your chickens, chilling them and making their feathers wet. Ventilation should be placed high (above their level) in your chicken area, run, and coop, covered with hardware cloth to keep predators out but to allow moist, soiled air to escape. Ventilation placed high does not allow cold air, wind, ice, rain, or snow to blow directly onto your flock and instead it allows old, soiled, moist air to evacuate from your coop to help your chickens breath easier.
Not providing adequate perches and roosts. Perching and roosting is a natural chicken behavior that is essential to your flock’s health. Perches and roosts allow your chickens to escape the cold, wet ground during the winter time. Perches and roosts can also be used to provide your flock with much needed winter enrichment. You can create additional roosts from things like a 2×4 placed with the wide side down, natural branches at least 3 inches in diameter (big enough to support the weight of your chickens), a bale of straw, or other chicken safe objects like a thrifted chair. Remove any sharp edges or protrusions from perches to keep your chickens safe and avoid conditions like bumblefoot.
Not providing adequate enrichment. Boredom is a form of stress for chickens. Without adequate activities chickens can become aggressive towards themselves and other flock members and even succumb to illness. Enrichment doesn’t have to be expensive! Chicken safe kitchen scraps, additional perches and roosts, an old chair, natural branches and dry leaves, a chicken-safe ramp, a homemade branch swing, a bale of straw for them to scratch through, or sturdy parrot toys can provide your flock with much appreciated winter enrichment.
Not providing a dust bath. A dust bath is an essential tool your backyard chickens need to maintain healthy skin and feathers. During the winter months many flocks will lose access to the dust baths they created because the ground is covered with snow and ice. I fill our chicken dust bath with clean fill dirt, coarse sand, wood ash from non-chemically treated wood, and food grade diatomaceous earth (it is important it is the FOOD GRADE DE not the pesticide kind). You can create a dust bath with any chicken safe object that they can easily step into and out of like an old tote or plastic bin, un-rimmed tires, or other containers. Remove any sharp edges to keep your chickens safe while using their dust bath.
Not providing grit and calcium supplement during the winter. When the ground is frozen chickens won’t be able to access natural grit in the soil. Chickens don’t chew their food. Instead, they rely on grit in an organ called the gizzard to properly digest their food and obtain the maximum amount of nutrients possible. Without adequate grit your flock could suffer from things like impacted crop or sour crop. Calcium supplement most often provided in the form of oyster shell is essential for strong egg shells and feather re-growth. Provide these inexpensive supplements to your flock in a free choice livestock safe dish or dispenser. Your flock will consume what they need when they need it.
Bonus tip, don’t skimp on nutrition especially during the winter months! You can incorporate chicken safe kitchen scraps or ferment your chicken feed to stretch your chicken feed further. If you’ll be feeding moist feed or mash, be sure to do so in the beginning of the day and provide your flock with a dust bath so they have adequate time to get moist food off of their sensitive and frostbite prone combs and waddles. You can feed warm grains like cracked corn or scratch grain as treats before your flock roosts at night to help they stay naturally warmer through their own metabolism. While productivity does naturally drop during the winter season if your chickens are adequately fed and have safe, clean, dry shelter they will continue to lay eggs throughout the winter, just not as frequently. I don’t recommend using artificial light to manipulate your flocks’ laying cycle. This can cause egg binding or even death and reduces their lifespan by as much as half. Support them with chicken safe kitchen scraps and the complete chicken feed of your choice to keep them healthy all winter long. I provide treats like grain and scraps 3 times per week to avoid creating a nutritional imbalance which can result in things like soft shells, drops in productivity, or poor feather regrowth. Higher protein formulas like feather fixer formula and all-flock formula are helpful to flocks still completing their molt and can be used to give your flock a nutritional boost. Provide your chicken feed in a free choice dispenser or livestock dish. Provide multiple food and water stations to allow all members of the flock to eat and drink freely as well reduce inter-flock aggression and competition for resources.
I hope you enjoyed these tips and learned about common mistakes to avoid during your first winter with chickens. If you’re looking for even more tips about keeping backyard chickens in the wintertime, check out Chuck’s YouTube and other social media linked below. A complete winter care playlist can be found on Chuck’s YouTube channel.
Chuck and the Chicks 