Winter Care

1. It's getting cold. What should I do about my hens?

During freezing weather, egg production and hen comfort will be increased if they have plenty of (non-frozen) water to drink. If you don't have piped water to the henhouse, I recommend using 10 qt. galvanized buckets as waterers. Fill them with warm water and take them out to the hens. Take the frozen buckets from last time back indoors with you. Galvanized buckets are good because plastic buckets split when they freeze and poultry founts are hard to open when they're partly frozen.

The hens will be warmer during the day if they exercise. They'll be warmer at night if they go to bed with a crop full of grain. The two can be combined by putting a thick layer of loose hay or straw in their pen and scattering a light feeding of grain in the morning and a heavy feeding of grain in the afternoon. Around the turn of the century it was common to have a "scratching shed" attached to the henhouse, which was a substitute for range during the winter. The scratching shed was usually open-fronted (that is, walled on three sides only, with chicken wire on the fourth side), with a thick layer of loose straw on the floor. Grain is fed in the scratching shed, which is where the birds get their fresh air, exercise, and sunshine.

Don't try to keep the house warm. In particular, don't restrict ventilation in an attempt to conserve warmth. Attempts to warm henhouses with the hens' body heat usually fail. The hens produce so much moisture in their breath and droppings that restricted ventilation is at least as likely to lead to condensation and frostbite as warmth and comfort. Restricted ventilation also causes ammonia build-up in the air, which is very bad for chickens, which have weak lungs. Not to mention that shut-up houses are darker than they should be. Open-front houses work better.

I live in a very mild climate where it's very rare for daytime highs to be below freezing for more than a few days running. My housing is very open and is highly ventilated. Cold snaps reduce egg production but the birds remain healthy and active. My reading indiates that open-front housing is suitable for winter quarters even in New England. Higher egg production can be obtained with heated quarters, but it rarely pays.

Egg production can be maintained if the hens can be convinced to eat enough to cover both their need for warmth and egg production. Feeding wet mash (pouring warm water over the feed trough at the rate of about 1 quart per 100 birds) will increase feed consumption for 1-2 weeks before the birds get jaded. If you normally feed mash, a light feeding of pellets on top of the mash once a day tends to increase the birds' interest in feed.

Never let the hens run out of feed in cold weather.

Use of lights to extend the day helps the hens to eat more feed in cold weather, since they rarely leave the roosts to eat in the dark. (See also my writeup on lights in an issue of my newsletter.)

The use of lots of glass in a henhouse causes the temperature to go through enormous swings in the course of the day, and is probably a bad idea.

Back to the Poultry FAQ page

If you like the information here, you'll love my newsletter. Sign up below!
And use the "Share This" button to share this page with your friends.

Sign Up for My Monthly Email Newsletter! Subscribe Unsubscribe