This is going to be my last post of 2016. I'm looking forward to spending the last half of December focusing on family and the holidays and hopefully enjoying some new, deep snow on my fat bike. I will, of course, still be tending to the urban farm's chickens and indoor plants, and starting in January I will officially kick off the new growing season, so there will be a lot to talk about next year!
So now for my chicken lessons learned:
1. Chickens hate snow. I let them outside to run around after we got a few inches the other day, and they immediately ran under the big evergreen tree and refused to walk back to their coop. (I chased them, caught them--eventually-- and carried them one by one over the irritating white stuff!). I'm glad that we built a covered run so they can get some sunlight and hang out snow-free.
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| Until we can find some hen-sized snow boots, the chickens aren't having anything to do with it. |
2. Chickens love to stand on top of things. I now feel extra sorry for the factory farmed chickens who have to walk around on the ground all day. Chickens love being high up and playing queen of the hill. The "playground" equipment in their run should keep them more entertained over the winter and will hopefully keep them from trying to stand on top of their feeder.
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| This wood from a friend's cut tree works great! |
3. Providing water in freezing temperatures is a challenge and having electricity in the coop really helps things out. We have finally settled on a system (until I can find a better one) where there are two sources of water. The first is a
Hen Hydrator with a bucket heater. The water in the bucket stays thawed, but the nipples freeze overnight and don't thaw until quite a while after sunrise-- this doesn't mean that the day has to get warm, but when the sun comes up there is usually enough radiant energy to thaw them out. I'm going to really like this hydrator once spring arrives. It's easy to fill and see-through so you know how much water you have. It's also keeps the water source very clean!
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| FFA-approved (except, apparently, in freezing weather). |
The backup system is a heavy, shallow, rubber bowl that I put fresh water into each morning before the sun comes up. This water (surprisingly) has been staying thawed throughout the day, even when the outside temperature stays well below freezing (see item #4). We'll see what happens when the high temperature is 0F. If it gets too cold I will remove the Hen Hydrator and put the bucket heater into the rubber bowl.
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| It doesn't stay as clean as the hydrator, but it won't tip over and if I need to put the bucket heater in it over the coldest winter days I can. |
4. Coop winterizing is essential. We keep hardy breeds, but protecting their run from wind and snow has proved very worthwhile. The plastic not only keeps the run dry, but it's significantly warmer than outside in the wind. And since we have a source of electricity, a heating lamp can be used in the run if needed. I've also installed temporary weather stripping in the coop, so they can stay warm over the long, cold nights.
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The run is covered on three sized by thick plastic sheeting. The hens like sunning in the open south side.
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5. Hens like having a sand box. The chicken run is built over an old children's sand box, so the soil is very sandy in some areas. They hens love to take dust baths, and over time they dug a 6 inch hole in one spot. Today I filled it in with some new sand. This will give them something to dust with and dig around in over the long, snowy days when they'd rather be foraging for worms and grass in the yard.
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| I added new sand so they wouldn't dig themselves out of the run! |
Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Peace on Earth! See you back here in 2017!
