If you have chickens, you know that sometimes the winter season poses special challenges to tending for your flock. Dealing with very cold temperatures and fewer critters and greens on the ground for the birds to eat can become problematic at times. Not to mention it just plain stinks sometimes getting out in the cold to do the chicken chores.
My chickens loved the warmer temps we had this past month but all the rain this fall made their quarters quite muddy and damp.
A very important wintertime chicken chore is ensuring that your flock’s source of water does not freeze. By using a water heater base underneath your chicken waterer, you won’t have to worry about the risk of their water freezing in icy temperatures.
Be sure to check the combs of your birds for frostbite. Breeds with single combs are more vulnerable to this condition. If it appears they may have some damage, apply Vaseline to help heal and protect the comb in really cold weather.
Supplement your flock with scratch grains, cracked corn, and kitchen scrap leftovers. Since there aren’t as many wild insects and bugs roaming around in the dead of winter, it is nice to give your flock a little supplement to their diet.
Continuing with my herb naming tradition, my two roosters are named Basil and Dill 🙂 I haven’t named the girls yet…..any suggestions?
Basil likes to get a little too friendly with June and Georgia, and a couple of times they have triggered biting or an attack by running away from him (he thinks they are his hens). Most of the time he just gets too close because he does his “dominance dance” around them anytime they are outside and he is out of his pen. We usually try to keep him in the pen but if he gets out I try to pick him up and carry him around a bit to assert dominance over him.
My little flock will be a year old this coming spring and I can’t wait to let them hatch some baby chicks!
We have had our chickens for two years now, but each year we learn something new. The water heater we purchased worked until the water in the holder froze and cracked the sides. Now we have to get one that is not made out of plastic. I do love my chickens so much.
We have had our chickens for two years now, but each year we learn something new. The water heater we purchased worked until the water in the holder froze and cracked the sides. Now we have to get one that is not made out of plastic. I do love my chickens so much.