I am sure most chicken owners would agree that knowing how to raise happy chickens in winter weather is important. We all love our fluffy, adorable chickens and want them to be happy, healthy and safe throughout the entire year.
Winter can get a bit challenging when it comes to the care of chickens. Making some cold weather modifications in our day to day care will ensure that their needs are being met as well as make sure they are happy, healthy and safe.
Can chickens stay outside in the winter?
Yes, chickens can stay outside in the Winter! A chicken has an undercoat of downy feathers and in this area (when needed) it traps tiny pockets of air. These pockets of air become warmed by the chickens’ body. The more air that the chicken traps here, the warmer it becomes!
You can tell when a chicken is trying to keep warm, when they fluff up their feathers and sometimes tuck one leg in. They will also huddle close together to keep warm.
11 Tips to Keep Your Chickens Happy in the Winter
1. Heater for Water
Chickens need access to fresh water at all times during the day. This means making sure that the water bowl isn’t frozen. You can either invest in a heater for your water bowls or manually change out the water.
If you choose to go without a heater, I would suggest dumping the water out every evening so you don’t wake up to an ice block in the morning to break out. You may have to break the top layer of water up during the day or replace it with fresh water.
Electric heaters for chicken waterers come in a variety of different styles and sizes. The electric base unit is for placing your water source on top of. There are also a wide variety of heated bowls ranging from 1/2 gallon to 1 1/2 gallons.
2. Perches that are High
Remember the saying, “hot air rises?” Well, it does in a chicken coop too. Make sure that you have enough perching space up high to accommodate the flock.
Chickens are a prey species and feel more secure perching up high. So, it will not only keep them warmer, but will help them feel safer as well.
3. Protect Combs and Wattles
When the weather gets colder, chickens’ combs and wattles are prone to getting frostbite. The larger the comb and wattle, the more prone they are to getting burned.
Usually the cold hardy breeds have smaller combs and wattles, but they too still need tended to if the weather gets really cold.
Frostbite will happen when fluid in tissues freezes. This is often seen in combs, wattles and sometimes chicken feet.
It is most likely to occur in areas that get moisture in combination with freezing weather. This can happen if a chicken is exposed to rain, snow or even humidity in the coop.
Have you ever watched a chicken drink water? It will dip its beak into water and then tilt its head back to drink it. Sometimes water dribbles down, getting its wattle wet, leaving it prone to frostbite.
Taking a little dab of vaseline, coconut oil or petroleum jelly and applying it to each of your chickens’ combs and wattles will help to prevent frostbite. I find it easiest to do this when they are already roosting for the night. No need to chase down any chickens!
4. Protection from Wind
Chickens are usually pretty hardy when it comes to the cold weather. Just make sure that you have a place for them to retreat to that will protect them from the wind.
If your coop and/or run does not have protection from wind, get a board and securely connect it to at least one side. This can always be taken down during seasons that a little extra breeze will help to cool them.
Another option is attaching a tarp to at least one side of the coop or chicken run. Your chickens will thank you for the added protection from the wind.
It’s when you mix wind with rain or snow that it can become a problem for your chickens, even the cold hardy breeds. Chickens have a difficult time warming up if their feathers are soaking wet.
5. Shelter from Rain
Just as you want to protect your flock from the wind, they also need a place to retreat to from the rain or snow.
When a chicken gets wet, they lose the ability to keep warm. They are unable to ruffle their feathers out to create tiny air pockets to warm their body up with.
This is especially bad for the Silkie breed. Silkies feathers do not repel water like other chicken breeds and if they get wet have a very difficult time warming up.
Not only your chickens need protection from the wet weather, but they should have access to a dry chicken run area where they can continue to take a dustbath.
Wet weather breeds bacteria and other fungi so by providing a dry area for your chickens to hang out is best. Dustbathing in dry soil helps chickens to eliminate lice, mites and other parasites from developing.
6. Deep Litter Method/Insulate Chicken Coop
Many chicken owners use the “deep litter method” to help insulate their chicken coops. This consists of laying 6″ of pine shavings, straw, grass clippings, leaves or other bedding in the coop. Chickens will poop and naturally turn the bedding.
If you choose the deep litter method, instead of cleaning the coop out, add more bedding. By adding more bedding and turning it periodically, it creates heat, heating the coop naturally.
A properly built compost pile can reach a temperature of about 135 degrees in the center of the pile!
It is important to make sure that you have proper ventilation in your chicken coop, especially if you are using the deep litter method and creating heat.
If you smell a strong scent of ammonia when you open your coop door, then your coop needs better ventilation. You don’t want your chickens locked up, inhaling ammonia fumes all night.
7. Create a Chicken Sunroom
You can create a chicken sunroom by covering part of the chicken run with either greenhouse type or clear plastic. Leave a small entrance where they can come and go, but not too big that wind blows in.
A sunroom allows the heat from the sun to heat the inside, but at the same time keeps the wind and cold out. This is also a good place to put their waterers, as they are less likely to freeze in the day!
You can also make your own sunroom if you have an old window laying around. Prop it up and secure it with a frame of 2 x 4’s.
8. Feed Chicken Scratch Before Bedtime
Chicken scratch is like a treat for chickens. Because of all the added calories, it is good to give them on cool winter evenings before roosting.
Giving them a high calorie snack before bed time will make them burn more calories at night. When their bodies are working at burning calories, it also increases their body temperature.
9. Feed Warmed Foods
There’s nothing like a warm bowl of oatmeal in the morning to warm your insides up. Just make sure that if you are giving it to your chickens that you provide them with their regular feed first so they don’t fill up on the oatmeal.
Another thing that is good to give them is chicken scratch or suet. The added protein and calories will help to keep their body warm as it is using energy to digest the grains.
On cold, winter evenings I will toss a few handfuls of scratch out for my flock to eat before they retreat to the coop to perch for the night.
Warming their water is another way to help keep your chickens warm. This can be done either with an electric heating plate or bowl.
If you would rather not have electricity in your chicken run, just pour some warm water yourself into their bowls a couple times a day.
10. Provide Chicken Entertainment
Chickens enjoy a little song and dance, especially if it’s to any of the “top 40.” Just kidding, although they probably wouldn’t mind watching you perform for them! All jokes aside, by providing entertainment that keep your chickens actively moving, they will warm up at the same time.
Hang a skewer filled with fresh fruits and veggies. It’s fun to watch them reaching to peck at the spinning food as it moves side to side.
Put a head of lettuce, broccoli or cauliflower in a hanging, open planter basket. Hang it up in the chicken run and watch your chickens dance around their spinning food as they peck it clean!
Chicken Coop Maintenance Changes During Cold, Winter Weather
11. Keep Coop Dry
A dry coop will keep your chickens happy and healthy. Moisture will breed bacteria and fungi.
During the rainy season, make frequent coop checks to make sure that water isn’t leaking in. Make any necessary roof repairs or temporarily cover the coop roof with plastic until the repairs can be made.
I don’t recommend keeping water inside the chicken coop at night. Chickens can easily knock over their water, especially when trying to get up onto their roost. Chickens should come into the coop to roost for the night and do not need to be eating and drinking throughout during this time.
Instead, have food and water available in a covered chicken run area.
12. Maintain Proper Ventilation
During the winter time, you may find that your chickens are retreating to their coop more often. Therefore, they will be spending more time in there.
Having good ventilation is essential so your chickens are not inhaling ammonia fumes. Remember, in most cases they are locked up for the night in there.
If you open the coop door and smell ammonia, you need to investigate the source. Do you have good ventilation? If so, add more bedding to your deep litter bed. If you are not doing the deep litter method in the winter, maybe it’s time for a good cleaning of the coop.
13. Collect Eggs More Frequently
In extreme cold weather, you will need to collect eggs several times a day. While this may seem excessive, it is something you will need to do to avoid cracked eggs.
As the weather gets colder, both the yolk and white will expand against the egg shell. If it gets cold enough, the shells will crack.
It’s also a good habit to collect eggs frequently to avoid the hens from cracking them herself, or getting them dirty.
14. Provide Food and Water Inside Run
I think it is important to provide food and water inside a chicken run and not in the coop itself. Having it inside the coop is an invitation to predators. Besides that, moisture breeds bacteria and fungi and spilled water in the bedding creates ammonia fumes.
Provide food in a covered area of your chicken run. This should be an area where your chickens are protected from the wind, rain, snow, etc.
At the end of the day, remove uneaten food and dump the water outside of the run. Nighttime is when raccoons, opossums, rats, mice, owls and skunks are out looking for food.
15. Provide a Light
I left this one for last because I don’t think that in most cold weather it is necessary to provide a light for your chickens. It can help heat a small coop by a few degrees.
If you choose to provide a light for warmth, I would recommend not leaving it on all night, but just during the coolest part of the evening. Chickens do best with 14-16 hours of lighting a day.
If you don’t give your chickens some time without lighting, they will be deprived of getting well needed and restful sleep. It also will mess with their natural biorhythms, not to mention stress them out. This can lead to all kinds of other behavioral problems, such as picking on each other and cannibalism too!
Instead, you can try a radiant heat pad. They sell some at decent prices on Amazon. The only problem is that if the power goes out, your chickens will be without a heat source and they will not be acclimated to the cooler temperature.
Predator Proof Chicken Coop
Predators become desperate for food during the cold winter months and your chickens become excellent prey. Make it a point to do a detailed annual check of your chicken coop and run.
Check out my article on How to Protect Your Chickens that goes more in depth with protecting your chickens from their most popular predators.
What are Some Signs a Chicken is Cold?
- Chickens will huddle together to keep warm.
- Raising one leg up to its belly to keep warm.
- Tucking its head under a wing.
- Frostbitten comb, wattle or feet tells you it has been exposed to extreme cold in the past.
What temperature is too cold for chickens?
Chickens can and actually do fairly well in cold weather, including below freezing, as long as they have a proper shelter to retreat to. Some breeds, especially cold hardy large breeds, do better than others. The ideal temperature is between 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit.
The trick is to get your chickens to gradually acclimate to the cooler weather. We do the same for baby chicks, week by week as they grow their feathers, we lower the temperature we provide for them.
You don’t want to provide a cozy, heated coop every night for your adult chickens and then expose them to below zero temperatures because your electricity went out.
CONCLUSION
Can You Raise Chickens in Winter?
You CAN raise happy chickens in winter weather! Most chickens do just fine, as long as you make changes in your day to day care for them to accommodate for the cold weather.
Making cold weather modifications along with always providing your chickens access to an area that is covered, dry and protects them from wind, rain and snow will keep your flock happy, healthy and content!
Thanks so much for all This great information! I just love seeing all of your own personal photos too! Your chickens are all so cute! 😃
Thank you Amy! I’m glad that you found the article informative. I am outside taking pictures of my chickens all the time! 😀
Very informative. Lots of good tips I will keep in mind for next winter!