Wednesday 15 January 2014

How to make chickens survive a cold weather

How to make chickens survive a cold weather
 
An average pullet has 8,500 plumage. Icy rainfall on a hen’s head and grime iced on legs can chill her to the bone. So, whereas that fine-feathered garment can keep a hen abounding warm even in the coldest weather, there are some things to do to hold your chickens comfortable and healthy in the winter.

Chickens do not need insulated houses. But, poultry do need shelter that is out of the wind and free of drafts. At the identical time, it shouldn’t be at all moist. Manure contains a lot of water, and in the winter, when the coop is closed up, this can make the air unhealthy and the hens prone to respiratory sickness. I hold my coops shoveled out weekly and bedded with new pine shavings. Also, good ventilation is a must – it’s best to have vents high beside the top covering.

 If you have only one hen, do her a favor and get another. They need to huddle on the roost with each other to stay warm at night. A couple of types are not cold-hardy. Silkies and frizzle-feathered birds can’t stay moderately hot in a winter breeze. Also, their feathers don’ t lost water and so it is lethal for them to get wet and moist in the winter. Standing in grime can kill them. It’s best to supply Silkies with spacious, dry, ventilated inside lodgings for the winter. furthermore, some hens, and more often roosters, have big combs, prone to frostbite.



Chickens have scaly, bare feet. They don’t like strolling on snowfallfall or ice. They’ll do it, but they won’t be joyous. So, take a instant and shovel a clear locality for them in their run. If the snow is too deep and icy, put down some hay.



In the winter, sunlight goes out and some persons chose to use a lightbulb in the hopes of expanding egg laying.


In the winter, chickens will consume additional calories residing moderately hot so give them an supplemented ration of cleft maize or scratch kernels. Also, if your hens free range in the summer and consume allotments of bugs (protein!), be cognizant that their diet changes in the winter, when all of their nutrition arrives from you. Make sure you’re feeding them high-quality laying hen pellets.

Greens are important in the winter as much as in the summer. My girls get uninterested all cooped up, and so I suspend a cabbage in the pen. They peck at it (they do like a rousing game of tetherball) and so don’t peck at each other. The added advantage is that they’re consuming greens. I furthermore put treats in a suet holder established interior the coop.

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