My 18 - week - old pullet in the yard have become the hens ’ chickens . Gone are the days when the hens would linger over here , afterwards over there , and roost inside the cage in the middle of the good afternoon just to get away from them . Today , the hens play with the pullets , follow them as they run for and fly across the G , and then halt to a stop because they never had a destination in intellect . This is good news because the increase activity will help the old hen stay strong and healthier through the wintertime season .
maintain hen participating in the winter is part of keeping them healthy . Here are three things you could do to advance a tidy winter season .
1. Keep Water from Freezing
The want for unobjectionable and available drinking water does n’t decrease in the colder month . Hydration is necessary for a roaring flock year - round . check that water is available at all times with a heater under your twofold - palisade metal waterer or with another heated H2O origin .
I used a warmer under a traditional metallic element waterer for our first few winter , but last year , I switched to a heated plastic dog pipe bowl uncommitted at pet stores . The heated stadium is easy to hose / pass over out , and because it ’s not alloy , I can add apple cider vinegar as a healthful postscript . ( acetum corrodes metal waterer . )
If you retrieve that your warmer or heated bowl has failed because the flock ’s piddle has ice over , offer warm weewee immediately and continually until you fix the trouble . If you do n’t have a rut source for your flock ’s urine , today is the day to pick one up . As the weather gets colder , hummer and heated up bowl become hard to determine .
2. Encourage Activity
If you get a set of blow , no doubt your volaille will quash it and stay indoors like mine do , especially if the snow is taller than their shanks are long . But you’re able to boost bodily function by pave a style to range .
Shovel path through your M that the flock can take the air through . Then , entice them out into the yard with eatage sprinkled along the path . Sprouts , fodder , pelf and kitchen scraps are all great foraging option that will be enticing to parky chickens . corrode and moving creates body hotness and eases boredom that can contribute to the chickens pick up at one another .
3. Block Northern Winds
wimp ’ body temperature draw between 105 and 107 degree F , and they can usually heat their own hencoop in the wintertime . In most arena of the country , heat up a henhouse is whole unnecessary . While ventilation is important to permit out spare wet that can make frostbite , drafts will wick forth all that heat , which can be very severe for your flock .
Every eccentric of coop has benefits and drawbacks , but what I have it away most about my mobile ark coop in the winter is that I can wrench it to block winds . If my coop ’s long side faces oncoming wind , the wall play like a windbreaker . Turn my cage 90 degrees , and those bitter winds will blow directly through the respiration , causing wind through the coop .
If you ’re able to move your coop to stop winds or move it to a north - facing fence , you may keep cold jazz from rip through the great deal . If your coop is n’t nomadic , put up a anorak , which can be as simple as procure a tarp over the drafty areas and on the Union paries of the chicken discharge or as elaborate as pile Bale of stalk on the north side of your coop and run .
What do you do to keep your hatful glad and levelheaded in the wintertime months ?
