Winter: Problems and Solutions

By Cameron Rudolph

Winter is a challenging but also fruitful season. Fruitful meaning you learn quite a bit. In this article, I’m going to explain how to winterize your coop, and keep you chickens and waterers from freezing.

First things first. Don’t stress out. Chickens won’t freeze in one day. But you still need to keep them warm and comfortable, especially in their coop. If your coop is tall-ish (four or more feet tall), then you could hang or attach a heat lamp to the ceiling. When a bad storm came though last year (the temperature was -15 degrees) we had our lamp on all day and night. I checked on it a few times a day, just to make sure nothing was on fire. I would suggest double checking that the power cord you use for the heat lamp is not not under pressure. Another way to keep the coop warm is to put extra bedding in. Two inches would be best. Consider getting some coop deodorizer, too. It really helps with keeping the coop less stinky. Now, about the waterer. Two winters ago, I had a heated waterer base. It did not work. We do use it sometimes with a small waterer, and it seems to work. But, I need a big waterer for all 28 of my chickens. I found that a heated waterer is the best option. As long as you have it plugged in, the water will not freeze (under extreme conditions, like -15, it will). The temperature outside would be 10 degrees, and it still won’t freeze.

And that is all! I hope you enjoyed this article. Don’t worry…there will be more!