Winterizing your Chickens and Coop

Winter Supplies

With Fall approaching it is definitely time to consider winterizing your coop and preparing your chickens for cold weather.  The first obvious course of action is installing your automatic chicken door.  With a ChickenGuard automatic chicken coop door opener or Coop Defender, you can avoid going out in that cold, rainy or snowy weather to open and close your coop each day.  It is so much nicer enjoying that hot cup of cocoa or cider from within your warm house.

Avoid frozen water with a heated drinker plate, Poultry Drinker Heater Base for Chicken Waterer Founts.  Keeps drinkers unfrozen up to -20 degrees F.  As for heating lamps in the coop, we strongly discourage this as they are a high fire risk and each year dozens of coops burn down because of them.

Expert Advice

But what about the chickens needing warmth on those cold days?

Kathy Mormino, the Chicken Chick, shares 10 Winter Chicken Care Mistakes to Avoid.  She explains why we shouldn’t compare our comfort level with a chicken’s comfort level as chickens are anatomically very different from people and can regulate their body temperatures.  She also goes over how to properly winterize your coop.

Then there is the unfortunate seasonal occurrence of decreased egg production by your girls.  And who could blame them?  They’ve given you a surplus of eggs during the summer and now they need a break!  But Lisa Steele of Fresh Eggs Daily has a wonderful solution: Freezing Fresh Eggs so that you can use them in your holiday baking!

Finally, with all those fresh Fall pumpkins available you may have heard that pumpkin seeds are a good natural dewormer for chickens or that they prevent worms in chickens.  Well, according to Andy Schneider AKA The Chicken Whisperer, that is plain ol “chicken poop!” Find the Truth about Pumpkin Seeds here.

And a fun video from Chickenlandia!