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Unless you’re in an extreme winter climate, the only thing chickens need for nighttime shelter in the winter is to be out of the wind and dry. It is important to remember that dry not only means precipitation but also humidity in the coop. If you have ventilation above and below the chickens (and it doesn’t have to be large, just provide air flow), this is not usually a problem but it can become a problem if there isn’t adequate or appropriately placed ventilation because chickens in a small space breathing and pooping all night can create a significant amount of moisture in the air. This aspect is mainly a risk for roosters with larger combs since the excess humidity can cause frostbite. Usually feet are not a problem because they settle down on the roosting bar and puff their feathers all around their feet so they stay warm at night.
Here’s an example from one of our coops, the floor of the upper part of the coop is wire and you can see how small the ventilation window is at the top:
All that being said, you can put bedding in the coop, and especially if it’s a deep bedding system it can give the chickens something to scratch through and stay busy in the coop on days when the ground is covered in snow since they do not like to walk in snow. If you do use any kind of bedding just make sure it doesn’t become anaerobic or create too much moisture in the air in the coop.
As far as food and water in the coop, it’s not necessary because chickens go in to roost when it gets dark and they can’t see very well in the dark. They will not eat or drink at all during the night!
Does anyone else have favorite winter housing tips for chickens to share?
We haven’t made a video of processing chickens since we found someone locally to process for us at a very reasonable price. However, Joel Salatin’s excellent demo at the 2019 Homesteaders of American conference is on YouTube!
For everyone who has processed chickens before, what’s the best lesson you learned that you can share? For me, the first big lesson we learned was to get your scalding bath ready WAY ahead of time. It took us much longer to heat up the water than we anticipated the first time since we waited for a cool fall day to process and it is a lot of water.
So after thinking it over and asking some questions of both mineral companies, I decided to stick with the minerals we’ve been using. The rice filler in the mineral buffet concerns me because it’s not organic and I wonder if it will alter the taste at all. They said it’s there to make the dose nontoxic. The ingredients in ABC are more thoroughly thought out I believe. Also we’re not certified organic but I try to do everything as if we were – if there’s something that would not be allowed for an organic farm I try to steer clear as much as possible.
I pasted below what ABC has to say about the ingredient you mentioned to me. I hope this is helpful to you!
Sarah
Hello,
That ingredient is a volcanic mineral (but has nothing to do with aluminum). It is an anti-caking agent that helps positive charges (sodium) flow, while taking toxins and chemicals out of the body.
Thanks,
Amy- On Behalf of Advanced Biological Concepts®
Phone: 800-373-5971
Fax: 888-770-0735
Monday – Friday 8 AM-12PM and 1PM-4:30 PM CST
http://www.abcplus.bizHi Stephanie,
Thanks for reaching out! We have been sticking with the free choice minerals and all the cows seem to be doing very well and getting just what they need. Maybe you’d be more comfortable with these ingredients? This is the bundle page that shows ingredients but the main page is mineralbuffet.com. They are are a small farm who repacks the minerals from freechoiceminerals.com into smaller bags for small farms).
https://app.ongoingsubscriptions.com/bundles/37f9dcb4-6cfe-11ee-993f-aefdd7340bd4/2152923454
I also wrote to ABC and asked them to tell me more about the Sodium aluminosilicate, which was an ingredient in the 2% I bag that I checked. I know sometimes there are differences between natural ingredients vs. synthetic how they effect the body etc, but I know aluminum is not good for the body. It will be interesting to see how they respond. Thanks for pointing that out.
I hope your cow recovers quickly!
You’re welcome! 🥰🥰 Hopefully the hay will turn things around! It usually only takes 1-3 days to notice a difference in our girl!
I realized there was a recent video showing her condition. Do you see the hollow triangle in the screenshot? That’s the spot I watch on our cow I mentioned (always on her left side). I want to see it filled out and not hollow almost always! Then I’m sure she’s had plenty to eat.
Colostrum always tastes salty to me but usually only for about a week until it transitions to milk! Have you noticed any changes in her condition? We have one cow who has the same thing happen and I never found any good info in books or searching online etc but I figured out it only happens to her when she’s not getting enough to eat! It’s a subtle line but she’s our least efficient grazer and it happens if we don’t move them to new grass quick enough for her or if we don’t provide unlimited hay. When this happens I give her her own area to graze alone for part of the day if it’s growing season or make sure they never run low on hay if it’s not. I also give her a tablespoon or so of dried molasses at milking time to help too. Are you transitioning from pasture to hay now?
Got the video on packing hatching eggs uploaded!
Oh, also I will made a video tomorrow when I pack up hatching eggs!
The firewood/mill wood is such a great idea! So many options depending on what our local resources are! I was also thinking of seedlings. We sometimes buy starts for the garden from a local farm when we’re not on top of starting seeds in a timely manner. 😅
Re: What age are lambs harvested for meat? Before 1 year? You mentioned the fall so is that more like 6 months? And then if you are raising a wether for example for your own family, what age is best to harvest for maximum return without sacrificing flavor/texture?
Our goal is to allow the sheep to breed in their natural season (not delay putting the ram in with them) so that lambs will be born at the end of December or early January in general. Then they are approaching a year old by November harvest. We also have harvested older sheep. Our first ram was 5 years old when we harvested him and there was really no difference in the meat! We did some slow cooked recipes but even the burgers with the ground meat were great grilled. If you wanted to maximize size, I’d say they are fully grown around 1.5-2 years. The idea with fall harvest is fewer animals to take care of over the winter, so even if it’s a bit less meat, there’s no cost to feeding them during the growing season, whereas they will cost you in hay to feed in January and February at least (possibly longer depending on your growing season, but they don’t need the same volume as cows so in general they can graze a longer season compared to cows).
