6 Tips Prevent Disease Help Your Flock In Winter Conditions
Winter can pose a variety of challenges for your backyard flock. The best methods to prepare your flock for the winter season will vary greatly depending on the severity of winter weather in your region. Arctic regions with long winters will require different levels of preparation than regions with milder temperatures. However, regardless of the winter extremes in your areas there are basic practices that are sure to be beneficial to your flock.
Practice good biosecurity to prevent exposure to harmful diseases and parasites. Biosecurity is a word for the preventative measures you take to keep your flock healthy and free from diseases and parasites. It’s possible to accidentally expose your flock to harmful diseases and parasites by tracking these things back to your chicken area on your clothing and footwear. Things like coccidiosis, mites, and lice can be transferred from one chicken environment to another via your footwear. Effective biosecurity for your backyard flock doesn’t have to be expensive or drastic. You can take simple steps like: having a pair of dedicated livestock footwear you wear only when caring for your flock and at no other time, washing your hands before and after caring for your chickens, not wearing any part of your livestock gear into public areas including your footwear or coat, changing your clothing after visiting other residences or stores where chickens are present, creating a simple boot washing station from a tote, and not allowing guests to wear public footwear into your chicken area especially if they also keep chickens.
Perform regular visual health checks on your flock. Harsh winter conditions place a considerable amount of stress on your chicken’s body. A healthy chicken has bright eyes, is active and alert, has an appetite, well maintained feathers, and a clean vent. Depending on the breed, some chickens are better equipped to handle plummeting winter temperatures than others. Research the breed of chicken(s) you are keeping in your backyard to see if your chosen breed may require additional support. Ornamental breeds like the booted bantams, silkies, and other varieties with feathered legs are especially vulnerable to frostbite in the winter as ice, snow, mud, and droppings can become caked in their leg feathers. Observing your flock for a few minutes daily is a great way to spot signs of trouble early so they can be addressed. Some concerning signs to address include but are not limited to: upright penguin posture, respiratory distress, limping, isolating behavior, droppings caked and streaked around the vent area, gaping beak, a disinterest in food or water, inability to roost, and other signs. Have an isolation plan ready for any ailing or struggling flock members.
Maintain your chicken environment during winter conditions. The cleanliness of your chicken facilities is pivotal to your flock’s health all year round but is especially important during the winter season when most flocks will be spending more time indoors in their chicken area, their coop and run. Reduce excess moisture by using livestock safe ground cover litter like pine flake shavings. Scrap droppings from perches and roost using a simple tool like a puddy scrapper. Remove and replace soiled nesting material as needed. You can apply small amounts of food grade diatomaceous earth to your chicken dust bath, roosts, ramps, and nesting boxes to deter mites and lice. Make sure it is food grade DE, not the pesticide kind. DE is very dusty and can stress respiratory systems. Apply it when you can open doors and windows and use PPE if you choose to. A small application of DE goes a long way. While it is not recommended to clean your coop with water when temperatures will be below 35 degrees Fahrenheit you can still refresh your litter, scoop out excess droppings, and use a puddy scrapper and dedicated stiff bristled brush to keep your chicken area tidy. This will not only makes the chicken area more pleasant for you but helps prevent conditions like ammonia toxicity and helps prevent pests like mites, lice, and vermin from making a home in your chicken area.
Give your flock a variety of ways to get up off the cold ground. Your chicken’s feet are one of the most vulnerable parts of their body. Provide your flock with a variety of roosting and perching options this winter to help prevent harmful conditions like frostbite and bumble foot. Chicken perches and roosts don’t have to be expensive or fancy. You can create perches from things like a 2×4 with the flat side down, a bale of straw, a thrifted chair, a repurposed shelf, a natural branch at least 3 inches in diameter, and other chicken safe objects. Be sure to remove an harmful hardware and sand off any sharp edges to avoid bumblefoot which is an infected laceration on your chicken’s foot. Place perches at varying heights as elderly and younger members of your flock may benefit from lower perches.
Provide adequate and complete poultry nutrition. Boost your flock’s natural immune response by supporting their overall health with sufficient and appropriate poultry nutrition. Higher protein blends like all-flock and feather-fixer style formulas can provide an essential protein boost to flocks struggling to recover from their seasonal fall molting process. Nutritious treats like cooked meat scraps, vegetable scraps, and seasonal vegetables given in moderation can help address nutritional gaps. High protein treats like fly larvae, grubs, and peas can all be added to a livestock dish along with your chicken feed and water to create a nutritious high-protein mash. Note of caution, if you’re feeding moist treats during freezing temperatures be sure to do so in the earlier part of the day so the flock has plenty of time to clean any stuck food from their face and waddles prior to roosting for the night to help prevent frostbite. Chickens can eat up to 1 ½ times more than usual during the winter months as their bodies are working hard to persevere through harsh winter conditions. Make sure your flock has access to adequate food and water to support their overall health in the winter and all year round.
Most chicken breeds don’t need supplemental heat during the winter. If you provide clean and draft free housing to your chickens many chicken breeds don’t require supplemental heat during the winter. Exceptions to this would be vulnerable groups like baby chickens, elderly chickens, ill or recovering chickens, and ornamental breeds. Don’t use a brooder bulb in your coop. These bulbs are intended for brooders and pose an extreme fire risk. The bulbs become encrusted with dust and cause coop fires. If you do feel your flock would benefit from supplemental heat, use a livestock safe heater like a wall mounted panel heater that is intended for outdoor and livestock use. Don’t use space heaters intended for indoor use in your coop this is also a fire hazard. Excessively artificially lighting your coop during the winter can have an extremely detrimental impact on your chickens lifespan. Forcing chickens to remain on lay artificially through light bulbs can reduce their lifespan by as much as half and cause conditions like egg binding. Your flock’s egg production will naturally reduce during the height and winter and naturally begin to increase as the spring season nears. Allowing your flock to experience their natural winter break contributes to their overall health and longevity. You can continue to enjoy your flock’s eggs all winter long during their winter break through simple preservation techniques like water glassing, freezing liquid eggs in silicon molds, or preparing and freezing food like breakfast burritos.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post all about simple, natural, affordable things you can do to help support your flock’s health during winter conditions. If you want to learn even more about backyard chickens and homesteading be sure to check out Chuck’s other social media linked below.
