For those new to raising backyard chickens, winter brings new considerations to ensure your flock stays happy and healthy when temperatures drop. Chickens are cold-hardy birds evolved to handle seasonal changes. However, extra steps are needed in colder northern climates to help them better regulate their body temperature during winter. If you live where temperatures regularly fall below 45°F, this guide will walk you through winter chicken care best practices so your hens stay cozy all season long.
Why Keeping Chickens Warm Matters
Letting your chickens get too cold causes more than just discomfort. Prolonged exposure to cold temperatures compromises chickens’ immune systems and makes them prone to illness. Extreme cold also negatively impacts egg production, fertilization, and hatchability. Taking steps to help chickens conserve body heat allows them to direct more energy towards laying eggs and maintaining healthy organ function. Following the winter care tips below will help prevent drops in productivity over the winter.
Adjusting the Chicken Coop Environment
While chickens can withstand brief periods outdoors in cold weather if necessary, they should not be expected to endure extended freezing temperatures. Here are tips on preparing the coop so it provides a space for chickens to warm up:
- Block drafts and openings. Seal any gaps, holes or open areas in the walls or roof that allow cold air inside. Hang tarps if needed.
- Add extra bedding. Spot clean, but leave existing bedding over the floor. Top with 4-6 inches of new material like wood shavings, rice hulls or straw. Deep litter captures escaping warmth.
- Safely add heat. Radiant heat panels, infrared bulbs or flat panel heaters for livestock can warm the space if temperatures remain extremely cold. Avoid fire hazards.
- Manage ventilation. Some air exchange is good but limit drafts. Cold, fresh air should not flow directly onto roosting chickens at night.
- Insulate the walls. While optional, installing insulation helps retain warmth from the chickens’ body heat that would otherwise escape through the walls.
Adjusting the Chicken Run and Outdoor Space
Chickens need regular outdoor access, even in cold months. On sunny winter days they enjoy dust baths, foraging and pecking at the ground. Here are tips for their outdoor enclosure:
- Cover the run. Use pine boughs, tarps or bird-safe outdoor fabric to create an insulated roof over part of the run space. This shelters chickens from wind, precipitation and cold while still giving them room to move.
- Add frozen water: Create ice blocks from water bottles, milk jugs or ice cube trays. It’s entertaining “enrichment” for chickens to peck at during outdoor time. The ice won’t spill and wet the ground.
- Protect the ground. Cover bare dirt or muddy sections with sand, wood shavings or straw to avoid chickens tracking cold dampness back into the coop on their feet.
- Let birds choose: Open pop holes or chicken run doors daily but don’t force birds out in extremely cold or wet weather. Allow them to independently decide if they wish to venture out or stay snug inside.
Adjusting the Diet
Chickens burn extra calories keeping warm in cold temperatures. Boosting winter nutrition provides the extra energy birds need.
- Increase rations: Up amounts of layer feed daily both morning and evenings. Allow free choice access so chickens can eat small frequent meals to stoke body heat.
- Provide calorie boosts. Offer winter treats like cracked corn, rolled oats, bird seed or mealworms. Scatter them as “scratch” in indoor and outdoor spaces to spur foraging activity.
- Ensure fresh water. Ice or freezing temperatures can prevent access to drinkable liquid. Use heated poultry drinkers. Refill when low. Chickens need hydration to digest extra feed.
- Offer greens: Sprouted grains and root veggies give essential vitamins. Hang leafy greens inside the run for enrichment.
Adjust Routines and Care
Along with the coop setup, chickens need some management adjustments from their caretakers as the seasons change. Here are key things to modify for winter care:
- Check on chickens daily. Observe them to spot signs of illness or discomfort promptly. Monitor for frostbitten combs and wattles.
- Clear snow as needed. While chickens can traverse small accumulations, remove deep piles blocking run access. Ensure they have space to exit the coop each morning.
- Shorten outdoor time. When very cold or stormy, give brief supervised outdoor access vs. leaving doors open all day. Prevent chickens from wandering far where they can get stranded offsite in bad weather or fail to make it back before doors close at night.
- Modify cleaning. Spot clean the coop, but avoid removing all floor litter during cold months. Bank bedding provides insulation. Only do full cleanouts after prolonged warm spells.
- Discourage roosting leaks. With reduced outdoor access, chickens may try to roost semi-outdoors in “cold corners” of the run or coop entryway. These areas often lack warmth overnight. Gently discourage this and continually herd them toward proper indoor roost areas at night.
Getting Through Cold Snaps
Frigid weather inevitably still occurs even with the above precautions. Here are additional emergency actions to help backyard chickens endure when temperatures dip well below zero:
- Bring birds fully indoors. Extreme cold may necessitate housing chickens inside an attached garage or enclosed porch vs. the outdoor coop overnight or for longer durations.
- Employ emergency heat sources. Use thermally regulated heat lamps, radiators on low settings or other supplemental heat activated only when the coop area drops dangerously low. Monitor closely to prevent fire risk or chickens overheating if they cluster directly against the heat source.
- Increase calories. Load up birds with extra helpings of scratch grains multiple times per day during the cold spell. Support their bodies in generating enough internal warmth and energy to counteract the drastic temperatures.
- Add wind blocks. If the coop lacks insulation, temporarily hang moving blankets, quilts, or even large cardboard sheets over areas where birds roost to provide literal layers protecting them from chilling air flow. Check that this does not impact ventilation long-term once the immediate danger passes.
- Seek veterinary guidance. If certain birds show prolonged signs of distress from the cold, like pale combs/wattles, huddling, not eating normally or acting lethargic, contact an avian vet promptly for special care advice. Catch individual issues early before they escalate.
With preparation, some solid coop winterizing, and extra TLC, backyard chickens can indeed survive and even continue laying through cold northern winters. Employ this guide’s tips to help your special feathered ladies stay comfortable, healthy and productive regardless of what winter weather comes your way. Just like the seasons, chickens are resilient – but as caretakers, we can make the changes in climate easier for our flock to handle. next year, your birds will be seasoned winter veterans!
