One thing to prepare for when raising chickens is how you’re going to keep them warm in the winter. You may have hardy birds but they still require attention and extra care to make sure they don’t freeze or get frost bite. Here’s how to keep chickens warm in the winter.
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With winter here and a good part of the country preparing for a winter storm, I thought it would be a good time to share how we keep our chickens warm in the winter.
Believe it or not chickens are actually able to take care of themselves pretty well in the winter. Depending on where you live I’m sure you know if your chickens are a hardy breed or not. Hardy meaning they can thrive in cold climates. Ideally, the colder the climate the hardier the bird you will want to choose.
Even so, you still want to make sure your chickens have a few extras to keep them warm and happy even in negative wind chills, wind, and snow.
How to Keep Chickens Warm in the Winter
There are 3 main ways we keep our chickens warm in the winter: Extra fat and protein, extra bedding in the coop, and securing the coop to block drafts and keep heat in.
Extra Fat and Protein
Believe it or not, chickens eat to keep themselves warm. Being sure to have a constant supply of food to eat is a must to keep your chickens warm.
The winter is also a great time to give your chickens extra snacks to up their protein and fat intake. I like to dry out and crush eggshells to sprinkle on any snacks I give them. Eggshells are a great source of much needed protein and calcium that is diminished in a chickens diet during the colder months when bugs are scarce.
Another great protein and fat source would be cooked meat and leftovers from rendering lard or tallow. When I render fat, I freeze the fat that can’t be broken down anymore and feed it to the chickens in the winter, they love it! Just thaw and heat on the stove before you feed it to them.
As a bonus, cayenne pepper is a great addition to snacks or even their feed. Cayenne pepper has many benefits for chickens but especially in the winter months. It helps boost egg production and it helps keep them warm by encouraging circulation.
Looking for snack ideas for your chickens? Find some here.
Extra Bedding in the Coop
I believe this to be an important step in keeping your chickens warm as they spend a good portion of their time in the coop in the winter.
We use straw for the bedding in the coop and we make sure to add extra. This provides a great barrier and insulation for the coop. If you use the deep litter method you know this helps add heat to the coop without electricity. Read more here about deep litter method.
When adding extra bedding to the coop, be sure to make a a good thick layer on the bottom, more so than normal, as well as the bottom of the walls. I tried my best to build the straw up the walls by about 1 – 2 feet tall. This helps keep the girls keep warm when they are in laying eggs as our nesting boxes are in the corners on the floor.
Blocking Drafts
Blocking drafts, while keeping ventilation in mind, is another way to keep the heat in the coop therefore keeping your chickens warm.
This year we used a multipurpose plastic tarp to wrap around the coop. Of course now we have to walk in and search for eggs rather than easily open the egg doors but the chickens are warmer and that’s what counts.
You can also use a regular tarp and secure it to the coop. We used staples along the top and logs at the bottom to keep the tarp secured. We will see how well it stays through this winter storm we are expecting.
Either way, the coop was warmer than the air outside which will definitely make for warmer chickens.
Whatever you do, I highly recommend staying away from adding any kind of heater or electricity to your coop. Adding heaters to a coop is recipe for disaster. Even heated water heaters can send a coop up in flames.
If you are looking for an alternative to breaking up ice in waterers, I recommend getting a rubber feeder like this and using it as a waterer. It does still freeze but you can easily pick it up and knock the ice out it and fill it back up. It is so much easier than trying to thaw out a waterer, especially a plastic one – we had multiple break so we switched to this rubber one. I highly recommend it!
Well, hopefully you learned a few helpful tips and can implement them with your flock to keep them happy and warm!
Until next time,
