7 tips for helping chickens in the winter cold.

1. The best way of feeding chickens in the winter.

Chickens eat more in cold weather. They need the extra nutrients to maintain their body temperature.

It's important to maintain a balance in the nutrients they eat and not to over-feed them, so using their own food as the basis for their winter nourishment is ideal.

So...

Tip 1: ferment your flock's feed.

It's been known for centuries that fermenting food boosts its vitamin and probiotic content. And there's overwhelming evidence specifically about chickens and fermenting feed. ^(e.g.1)

Fermenting chicken feed increases...

• healthy bacteria in the chicken's gut, making food easier to digest

• the chicken's ability to absorb critical vitamins and minerals more efficiently

• the ability to resist infection

• the strength of egg shells

• the chicken's life expectancy⁽²⁾.

Best of all – chickens absolutely love fermented feed! Put it on the ground and move away from the rush to get at it first!

How to make fermented feed.

• Follow my article about how to ferment feed in four easy steps.

• Read my detailed article about the benefits of fermented feed.

2. Best protein to sustain chickens in the winter cold.

Cold weather, feather loss, increased stress from predator activity, grubs and greens covered in snow... winter can be a hard time for chicken health and safety.

Increasing their protein intake can help deal with those stressors. Overloading them with protein, though, can have a serious impact on their liver and kidneys.

The solution? Use my high protein recipe occasionally to address those special needs.

Tip 2: make my ultra-easy Poultry Protein Platter.

This is a super-simple recipe which uses a variety of high protein ingredients you're likely already to have in your food cupboard.

It's so popular with chicken-lovers that it's been shared on Pinterest more than 75,000 times!

And it's so popular with my chickens I must have made it almost that number of times!

Make my Protein Platter recipe.

3. Best treat for chickens in winter.

Finding treats for chickens in other seasons is easy. There's an abundance of plants, fruit, vegetables – even weeds.

Winter, not so much. Most plants have gone to sleep until spring. Excessive rain turns grassy areas to mud. Snow and ice bury any goodies that might be left. Even eggs, a real superfood, are fewer.

So – as well as fermented feed and my protein platter – what treat works best during this winter season?

Tip 3: lentils help chickens beat the winter cold!

They may seem an unusual recommendation as a treat, but they're freely available all year, inexpensive, low in fat and high in antioxidants and a variety of healthy vitamins and minerals, and can be used as different treats – try sprouting with them, for example.

You may not be surprised that I also have another recipe to offer for lentils. It's simple, easy and full of goodness.

It's one used in Italy to celebrate New Year and bring prosperity in the year ahead – good for humans too!

Lentils: benefits and recipes – read it now!

How to sprout seeds in 4 simple steps.

4. Best way to provide winter water.

Food isn't the only way of keeping chickens safe in the winter cold. It's also critical to keep the flock hydrated, particularly as cold weather can freeze their usual waterer.

(Bonus tip: try using a heated chicken waterer if you have electricity in your coop – this is an affiliate link. I recommend this particular one because it just keeps the water unfrozen, not warm – chickens don't like warm water).

There's a way to add nutritional value to water to help chickens with winter weariness...

Tip 4: add apple cider vinegar to chickens' water in the winter.

A lot of claims are made for apple cider vinegar, many unproven. Among the known, proven benefits⁽⁴⁾ are...

• increases the chicken's body temperature (so never use it in summer, but it's a great bonus in winter)

• can help control coccidiosis

• increases the efficiency of the immune system

• decreases harmful bacteria in the gut.

So at a time when cold, wet weather can compromise chickens' health, apple cider vinegar – again, given in moderation – helps boost their well-being. 

Learn about apple cider vinegar for chicken winter health.

5. Best way of keeping chickens warm through the winter cold.

Chickens deal much better with cold than with heat. As long as they have food and drink, somewhere to shelter and something to stop them getting bored, they'll be fine.

Here's a bonus tip: unless you have rescued chickens who have no feathers, do not dress them in sweaters! Far from helping chickens retain heat, any form of clothing prevents them from fluffing out their feathers – which is how they keep warm.

Because winter days are generally shorter, chickens tend to spend more time on the roost. So the best way to keep them warm in the winter cold is...

Tip 5: make sure your roosts are winter-ready.

If you've ever watched a chicken sleep in cold weather, you may have noticed how they hunker down over their feet. 

That's because their feet are susceptible to cold, and fluffing out their downy feathers over them helps them keep warm.

So the best place to roost has a flat surface, with rounded edges where the chicken's toes can grip and lock onto the wood.

Ideally, roosts for large breeds (ie not bantams) should be between 4.5 cm (2") and 6 cm (2.5") wide, and long enough to allow 25cm (10") space for each bird.

Read more detailed information about the ideal roost for chickens in winter.

Should coops be heated in winter?

This is a very regular question, to which the general answer is "no".

See my article for detailed information about why it's not a good idea, and for other tips about keeping chickens warm in the winter.

6. Best way to protect chickens from frostbite.

Cold, wet weather. Warm, wet droppings. Warm breath. Humidity in the coop, accompanied by freezing air. Droplets settling on combs, wattles and feet.

A sure recipe for frostbite. 

It can affect even cold-hardy breeds, and it's painful. It may not kill your chickens, but frostbitten tissue is more liable to infection – which can kill.

So one of the most important thing you can do for your chickens in the winter cold is...

Tip 6: ventilate your coop to prevent frostbite in winter.

• Check your coop. Are you seeing moisture on surfaces? If so, you have a potential frostbite problem.

• Do you have ventilation in the coop? Do not cover it! It's important that air is allowed to circulate and remove the moisture from the air.

• Check the ventilation. Is it above chicken head height when the chickens are roosting? If it's at or below head height, it will become a draft which will not circulate air but will potentially cause ill-health.

• Check your chickens regularly. If you spot the signs of frostbite, particularly black tips to combs, take steps to protect the flock.

Read about how to spot, treat and prevent chickens getting frostbite.

7. Best way to prevent bad behaviour amongst chickens in the winter cold.

Cold, wet, snowy weather – chickens tend to spend more time (literally) cooped up together during the winter months.

Restricted spaces can lead to different behaviour problems: feather pecking, egg eating, aggression – chickens may even become depressed.

Providing them with some interactive "boredom busters" is one way of helping. I've tried various approaches and found the most successful is to...

Tip 7: build a chicken gym to stop bad behaviour in the winter.

In their original jungle habitat, chickens would roost naturally in trees. In our modern world, roosting outside at night seems too risky.

But there's no reason why your flock can't enjoy somewhere to roost and hop on and off during the day.

Use anything available: logs, fallen trees, old ladders – even your old Christmas trees make a great "jungle gym" right there in your own backyard.

Where possible, cover a corner of your run with a tarpaulin and nestle the logs underneath. That way, there's a dry place as an incentive for the flock to venture outside. 

And old pieces of wood often hide bugs – a definite winter bonus for your chickens!

See more ideas for beating winter boredom.

More winter-themed articles to help keep your chickens safe.

Sources.

A lot of "facts" you'll find on the internet are often people's individual views, based on inaccurate information repeated from poor quality sources.

The information I provide in this article and others is based not just on my own experience, but on evidenced facts from scientific, peer-reviewed research and books from highly respected and experienced poultry keepers such as Gail Damerow.

Some of the trusted sources I have used in this article are these.

1. Engberg et al: Fermented feed for laying hens: effects on egg production, egg quality, plumage condition and composition and activity of the intestinal microflora. Pub U.S. National Library of Medicine, March 2009.

2. Steenfeldt, S, et al: Effect of feeding silages or carrots as supplements to laying hens on production performance, nutrient digestibility, gut structure, gut microflora and feather pecking behaviour. Pub. Journal of British Poultry Sciences, 2007.

3. Firas, F.M.F. Hayajneh et al: Anitcoccidial Effect of Apple  Cider Vinegar on Broiler Chickens: an Organic Treatment. Pub. Polish Journal of Veterinary Sciences, 2018.

5. Struelens, Dr E et al: Perch width preferences of laying hens. Pub. British Journal of Poultry Science, 2009.

7. RSPCA: Welfare standards for chickens. Pub. Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals, 2002.