Winter Preparations for the Chickens

I have done a lot of reading on how to help your chickens survive in the cold weather.  Mike, as the resident expert on chickens (he saw his grandmother raise chickens and he helped sell the eggs) has convinced me to discount most if not all of it.  So here is what we do.

First, we have an automatic chicken door.  That really does not have anything to do with chicken survival and everything to do with the fact that Mike (or I) do not have to get up early in the cold weather and let these guys out.  The door opens at sun up on its own and closes at sun down on its own.  Unfortunately, the ducks have turned into party animals and do not want to go to bed at sun down.  They have missed the door lockdown several times now.  I hope this doesn't occur when the temperature dips below freezing.

Second, we have a smaller duck pool.  Again, this has nothing to do with duck winter survival and everything to do with the fact that neither Mike nor I want to stand out there in cold weather and wait for the hose to fill that duck pond.  So we got a smaller duck pool to use in the winter.  Despite the fact that both Mike and I thought a smaller pool was an excellent idea, the ducks were not thrilled with the change.  Even though it looked similar to the old one, it took them 48 hours before they would condescend to go near it.

Third, we bought a two gallon galvanized chicken waterer to put on our existing heated poultry waterer base.  Last year when I had half as many poultry I just put an open metal pan of water on top of the heated base so that they would always have a non frozen supply of fresh water.  However, this had its draw backs.  The metal pan did not hold that much water and the ducks always got the water dirty.  So far the new enclosed waterer stays cleaner and our flock never runs out of warm water.  

Fourth, Mike (or I) feed the chickens and ducks corn before they go to bed.  Digesting the corn is suppose to help them stay warm at night.  Of course, Mike was doing this anyway because he wanted to tame the new chicks.  At least I know it is now a habit of his and the chicks and ducks are actually getting a health benefit from his 'treats'.  

Not only are poultry owners concerned about their chickens surviving the cold weather with enough water and the right kind of food but they worry about them becoming bored in the dull winter months.  Bored chickens can become barbarians and turn on each other.  As a result, concerned chicken owners bring their poultry treats now and then.  Here I was experimenting with two options I had read about on the Internet.  Apparently, chickens considered pumpkins a delicacy.  So I put one in their run.  You can see how much is left of it.  I also gave them some expired spinach and mixed it with meal worms.  Supposedly the chickens will get some mental stimulation while scouring the greenery for the worms plus they will eventually eat the spinach too.  

We will have to see how this all works when the weather turns colder but I predict that we are ready for winter.