Good afternoon, dear poultry farmers. Winter came. What should be the temperature in the chicken coop in winter? It is impossible to answer this question unambiguously. We'll figure it out step by step.
Let's say right away: the temperature in the chicken coop in winter for different breeds of chickens and chickens of different ages, of course, needs different temperatures.
For example, village outbred laying hens genetically tolerate winter well. If the water in the chicken coop does not freeze, should the daylight hours be extended with a regular incandescent light bulb to 17-18 hours? The toilers carry themselves well in winter. Fewer than in summer, but they fly constantly.
As for modern crosses, they need warmer. Not lower than 10ºС at night.
Several factors influence the temperature in the chicken coop in winter:
- Poultry house material and quality.
- Chicken coop area.
- How many chickens live in a chicken coop?
- What size is the window facing south?
- What additional light bulbs do you use?
- The bedding of laying hens is simple or with the addition of fermentation bacteria.
So, let's go look at all the options.
Chicken coop material and area
Capital loses a minimum of heat in severe frosts. Its walls, floor and roof are insulated. Even a large and spacious poultry house can be additionally heated with several incandescent light bulbs. Plus use fermentation bedding for cleanliness and warmth.
The photo shows my first chicken coop, all survived the Ural frosts.
If the chicken coop is small? It's easier to heat. Please note that crowding is bad for chickens. Let me give you an example. One winter, my laying hens overwintered in a “commercial kiosk” built from chipboard panels from old furniture. 10 ladies and a rooster fit in a box 1.5 x 1 x 1 m. Huddled together, one might say. The front side of this “palace” was made of double-glazed windows (again, they made a frame and inserted old glass). The light bulb was a regular 150 W for lighting, and a small infrared heater was turned on at night.
The thermometer showed from +16ºС to +30ºС. On sunny days during the day without heating, in the evening I turn on the lamp, and at night the heater. I ran that winter... (Good for health!) I had a blast. Laying hens: White Leghorn 5 pieces and Brown Nick 5 pieces gave 6-7 eggs per day. The feeding is normal, standard.
On those days when the temperature outside did not drop below -10ºС, the chickens walked in the yard. A small hole opened.
And that winter I bought a set of polycarbonate greenhouses (2 times cheaper in winter) to build a spacious, bright poultry house for the chickens. Read on for the stages of construction and how the temperature in a chicken coop changes in winter! Every season I upgrade my structure to save on energy and eliminate heaters.
The photo shows a chicken coop insulated from the outside with underfloor heating (polycarbonate greenhouse).
Number of chickens in the flock
It is generally accepted that 1 bird emits 10 watts of heat. It turns out that a dozen laying hens are equivalent to a 100 W incandescent lamp. If you have 20 workers, then you can say that you have a 200 W heat lamp running around the clock.
How can you tell if chickens are cold?
If laying hens walk around the floor calmly and look the same as always, they are fine! Even if the temperature in the chicken coop in winter is about 0ºC. But in this case, they can completely stop laying and go on long-term vacation. Although they will be healthy and cheerful.
What if you caught your girls with their feathers spread out? Or do they sit tightly on their perches in broad daylight? They are cold...Have you seen what balls sparrows and pigeons turn into in winter? Your laying hens will turn into big balls. We urgently need to take action.
Please note that what chickens need is not at all what the owner might think! It is not recommended to let laying hens outside for walks in winter if their indoor environment is hot. Changes can lead to colds!
And if the temperature in the chicken coop in winter is 5-10ºС, then it is easier for them to adapt to the weather for winter walks.
My advice: if it’s very warm in the chicken coop, don’t let the girls out into the cold!
Why do you need a window in a chicken coop?
Let's not rant, everyone understands:
- the sun's rays are good for birds;
- on sunny days the room is warmed up and disinfected;
- Natural light is definitely better than light bulbs!
A little about lamps for additional illumination in the morning and evening. Use regular incandescent lamps, they are definitely harmless to chickens. If it’s hard to pay for electricity, then yes, use energy-saving lights. Just know that such energy-efficient lamps are prohibited in England in places where people are constantly present (just as microwave ovens are not recommended for use). Not without reason!
How to heat a chicken coop in winter
There are several options, but they are all expensive.
- Ceramic heating lamps and simple lamps 150-200 W with a reflective lampshade.
- Infrared heater
- A piece of “warm floor” can be attached both under the bedding and on the walls and ceiling of the poultry house.
- Convector heater.
- Fermentation litter, when in contact with droppings, eliminates odor and generates heat.
- Breeze heater with spirals.
There is no need to install simple spiral heaters: they burn oxygen and are a fire hazard.
Ventilation in the chicken coop in winter
Here too in a nutshell. Better cool and dry than hot and damp. No ventilation? You will have to ventilate the house frequently. In severe frosts, it is permissible to plug the ventilation hole with a rag. I do this if the frost is below 25ºС.
conclusions
The temperature in the chicken coop in winter for laying hens should be 10-20ºС. So that working women provide eggs for seven.
Personal experience: Brown Nick stopped laying eggs. Either they have a planned break, or they are uncomfortable. As they say, we'll see!
It was -20ºС outside at night, in the apartments it was +3ºС - maybe you shouldn’t be greedy and turn on the heater for them at night? Now it’s clear outside and -13ºС, through the windows the chicken apartments have warmed up to 21ºС in the sun.
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Preliminary actions
Before placing the bird in a winter room, the chicken coop must be disinfected. To do this, it is recommended to treat the walls and floor with lime (at the rate of 2 kg of lime per 10-liter bucket of water). Some farmers use a blowtorch for disinfection.
The first step is to insulate the room
In order for chickens to lay eggs in winter, it is necessary to minimize the negative influence of natural factors. In other words, constantly maintain a stable air temperature in the chicken coop, use additional lighting and provide a high-quality diet.
The room for winter poultry keeping should not have cracks into which cold air can penetrate. Therefore, seal them carefully, tightly close all the holes, and build a bedding on the floor from straw, dry sawdust, coconut fiber or peat. When the first layer is trampled down, lay a new one. So you need to make several layers. This will be enough for the air temperature in the chicken coop to reach 12°C - 18°C in winter. At this temperature, the chickens feel quite comfortable and continue to lay eggs.
If the winter turns out to be completely frosty, then install additional heaters. In this case, it is imperative to ensure the flow of fresh air into the poultry house, and the perches on which the chickens sleep must be at a height of at least 60 cm from the floor.
The temperature in the chicken coop should not exceed 18°C and the humidity should not exceed 70%. At low air temperatures - 5°C, productivity decreases by 15%, at too high temperatures - up to 30°C - by 30%.
Step two - lighting
The highest egg production in laying hens occurs during the period when daylight hours are 14-18 hours. To achieve this result when keeping chickens in winter, you need to artificially increase daylight hours by installing additional lighting in the chicken coop. You should use only fluorescent fluorescent lamps; ordinary incandescent lamps will not give the desired effect. The lamps must be positioned so that chickens cannot damage them.
Typically, lighting is turned on from 6.00 in the morning until 9.00 in the morning, and from about 17.00 until 20.00-20.30 in the evening.
Laying hens are very susceptible to stress, so if your region experiences power outages, you need to install a backup power plant that will ensure uninterrupted power supply.
Otherwise, the chickens will stop laying eggs and even begin to molt in the dead of winter.
Proper nutrition of laying hens in winter
Both the physical condition of the bird and its egg production depend on nutrition. In the autumn-winter period, chickens require more careful care, so even before the onset of cold weather, take care not only of equipping the poultry house, but also of feed.
In the summer, prepare dried herbs: nettle, clover, chicken millet, mouse peas. In winter, bundles of these herbs should be hung in the chicken coop not too high from the floor so that the chickens can easily reach them.
The largest percentage in the diet of laying hens comes from grain crops: wheat, barley or corn. Before feeding, the grain must be crushed. You can give sprouted grains.
In addition to grains, the bird's diet should also include root vegetables - pumpkin, carrots, beets, zucchini, potatoes. It is better to give it boiled.
The lack of greens is compensated for by adding vitamin D to the feed. The necessary fertilizing is the so-called mash. Cooking them is not difficult. Simply mix bran, eggshells, and add bone or fish meal or sunflower meal. The mash will provide laying hens with all the necessary vitamins and microelements.
Mash should not be given to chickens in the evening. They feed the bird in the morning and at lunchtime.
It’s not bad if you can add bloodworms or worms to your diet. They will provide laying hens with protein and calcium.
If the shell of eggs is soft, this means a lack of calcium. In this case, increase the content of this mineral in the bird's diet.
Separate containers in the house should contain crushed shells, chalk, small gravel and pebbles. Drinking water is required. In winter, the water needs to be heated a little. Make sure that drinking bowls are always clean.
- Make sure that the droppings do not cake on the litter. To do this, you need to make sure that the chickens rake the litter as intensively as possible. Grains or the addition of vitamin B6 or B will help with this. In the cold season, the bird lacks it, so it will intensively look for it. If the litter still falls off, then periodically loosen it with a rake.
- In mild frosts, chickens can be released for walking. It is better to fence the walking area with wooden fences, using reeds, brushwood or straw. It is also worth taking care of the canopy. There should be bedding on the ground, the same as in the chicken coop itself.
- Place trays with ash and sand at the walking area. They must be dry.
- In the transition from autumn to winter, the duration of daylight hours should be increased gradually, and it should also be gradually reduced closer to spring.
- Collect eggs on time. A delay in collecting them can lead to laying hens pecking at the shells.
- It is better to feed chickens whole grains at night. It is very high in calories, and the digestion process will prevent the bird from freezing at night.
- In winter, the house should be cleaned more often to prevent the appearance and proliferation of bacteria and microbes.
We hope that our article helped you understand what care laying hens require in winter and how to provide them with a comfortable winter. Having done everything in accordance with our recommendations, you will certainly get an excellent result, and your chickens will lay eggs throughout the long winter months.
The productivity of laying hens will be better with proper organization of their care during the cold period. Keeping laying hens in winter depends on the climatic conditions of the region and the characteristics of the breed.
Catering
Preparations begin long before the cold weather hits. Make a list right away of what you need to keep chickens in winter:
- comfortable conditions that will not affect changes in life activity;
- good nutrition;
- dry room with warm flooring;
- additional lighting.
In winter, the number of livestock is reduced. Only healthy, hardy individuals that have retained their productive qualities are retained. At this time, it is necessary to increase the supply of nutrients. Feed up to 3-4 times a day.
High-quality nutrition, enriched with fiber, allows the laying hen’s body to produce the optimal amount of energy necessary to heat the body.
To organize proper maintenance of chickens in winter at home, the diet must contain:
- wet mash of cereal porridges;
- boiled root vegetables;
- pumpkin;
- hay from forbs, mainly deciduous plants;
- sunflower seed and cake;
- fish and meat and bone meal;
- For broilers, special chicken feed is used, adapted to their age.
It is proposed to introduce fish oil into the diet. Give an adult 2.5 ml/day. the course is 10-20 days. Fish oil continues to be given throughout the winter period at monthly intervals.
Housing preparation
The poultry house must be insulated in advance. Preparing the room in which the chickens will live includes the following steps:
- high-quality cleaning and disinfection of the premises;
- checking the functionality of the ventilation system;
- repair of equipment in the chicken coop;
- insulation of walls and floors;
- organization of additional lighting.
To ensure that the temperature always remains at the optimal level, install 2-3 thermometers in convenient places and monitor the readings several times a day. If there is a risk of severe cold in the house, it is worth installing additional heating devices that are safe for laying hens.
The health of chickens is affected not only by temperature, but also by humidity. The optimal indicator is 70%. In winter, nests and perches should be located at least 60 cm from the floor.
Daylight hours are shortened in winter. Daylight hours for laying hens in winter are 13 hours. For each square meter you will need 5 W of additional light from fluorescent lamps. You need to turn on the light at the same time to develop a reflex in the hens.
Caring for chickens in winter involves insulating the floors by laying warm bedding. In this regard, straw, hay, and sawdust are good options. It serves as an additional source of heat. The top layer is changed daily as it gets wet. The droppings react with the litter to produce additional heat. To avoid mold, the lower layers of the litter are turned over every 3 days with a pitchfork.
Organization of wintering without a permanent chicken coop
Depending on the temperature the chickens can withstand, they can be kept in polycarbonate greenhouses. An empty greenhouse in a country house is the best option for wintering. To do this, you will need to carry out a number of arrangement activities:
- clean the room;
- strengthen the walls and protect the home from drafts;
- organize a ventilation outlet;
- lay bedding;
- install perches and nests.
In the absence of a warm room, chickens are kept in the garage in winter. The summer house is moved to the garage and additional lighting is arranged there and the floor is insulated.
Raising chickens in cages offers more benefits than free-range chickens. The cells are arranged in tiers. Each bird has 100 cm2 of area. This option is most suitable if you plan to overwinter domestic chickens in a polycarbonate greenhouse.
Advantages of the cell maintenance technique:
- poultry health control;
- safety of feed from scattering;
- the ability to organize full supplementary lighting and heating for all individuals at the same time.
Additional heating
Laying hens need additional heating in winter. It is better to give preference to IR lamps. One such device makes it possible to heat 1-12 m2. It warms up not the air space, but the objects on which the rays fall. In addition, the IR lamp dries the litter, which allows you to vary the humidity.
Another advantage of this device is the ability to leave the light on around the clock. It is not too bright, has a calming effect on the nervous system of chickens and does not scorch oxygen. Using potbelly stoves is another way to heat the area. More suitable for permanent poultry houses in which chickens are kept in cages (when kept outside, there is a high risk of injury).
Wintering chickens in a greenhouse involves installing heating equipment. For large chicken coops, diesel stoves are suitable. They do not smoke and are equipped with different power modes, which are set depending on the area of the territory. With such devices, it is possible to organize the hatching of chickens in incubators even in winter.
Walking area
Wintering laying hens includes the organization of walking. Chickens tolerate temperatures down to -10 ℃. When this indicator decreases, it is better not to let the bird go outside so that it does not get frostbite on its feet. If you notice that birds are limping, do not let them out for a walk.
The walking area should be prepared so that laying hens, when kept in winter, have the opportunity to exercise fully. The area is cleaned and sprinkled with hay or sawdust. In winter there should be no snow on the walking area. It is better to take birds outside on sunny days for no more than 2 hours.
Increased productivity in cold weather
As soon as the birds have molted and their feathers have changed, you can begin organizing winter care for your chickens to increase egg production. Laying hens begin to lay fewer eggs because... Their instinct for procreation is triggered in the spring. Organizing an artificial spring will help preserve egg production.
In winter, it is better to keep laying hens in a warm room where the air temperature does not fall below 15 ℃. This will help increase productivity by 40%. hens in the winter hut at home are illuminated for no more than 14 hours. Keeping chickens in winter with longer additional lighting reduces life expectancy. In some cases, extended daylight hours lead to premature molting. Then the chickens completely lose the ability to lay eggs and die 1-2 years earlier.
Wintering domestic chickens without loss of productive qualities is possible by installing a special device - a rheostat that controls the brightness of the lighting. This will allow the bird to roost in time before dark. Special sensors vary the light from yellow to orange to night lighting.
Conclusion
Chickens in a summer greenhouse in winter can withstand temperatures of 5-10 ℃ with proper care and compliance with hygiene rules. If chickens are properly cared for in winter, they fully retain their productive abilities.
Reliable workers - laying hens - often fail in winter. This happens for various reasons. The most common is improper keeping of laying hens in winter at home. Serious expenses will not be required, but all the efforts invested will be repaid with stable winter egg laying.
Preparing the chicken coop for winter
In winter, the chicken coop becomes the main place where chickens spend their time. Egg production directly depends on comfort. In unfavorable conditions, laying hens spend a lot of energy producing and maintaining heat. Stable temperature conditions, the right level of lighting, proper nutrition and complaints that chickens do not lay eggs will be a thing of the past.
First you need to decide on the optimal conditions of detention:
- The temperature in the chicken coop in winter should be within +12…+18°C. A sharp decrease or increase is fraught with a significant decrease in the number of eggs. If in the southern regions chickens can withstand the winter without an additional source of heating, then in the temperate zone, and especially in the north, lamps may be required to heat the chicken coop.
- Relative humidity is recommended to be kept at 60–80%. The indicator is maintained using a ventilation system, preferably with adjustable valves. The air in the chicken coop in winter should be fresh, but without drafts.
- The chicken coop should be illuminated for at least 14 hours during the day. If in summer birds have enough natural light, then in winter there is not enough of it. You can't do without electricity. It is recommended to carry out communications in advance, and switches can be equipped with timers for convenience. It is better to choose fluorescent lamps.
Make sure that there are no cracks or through holes in the chicken coop, into which cold air will penetrate and create the threat of drafts; Windows must close securely.
Lamps for heating the chicken coop and for lighting it are placed so that the chickens cannot be injured and damage the equipment. If there are frequent power outages in the area, consider a generator. It will ensure the winter maintenance of laying hens without unnecessary stress.
These are the basic conditions under which chickens lay eggs in winter. In addition, it is necessary not only to provide heating and lighting in the chicken coop in winter, but also to ensure hygienic standards of maintenance. To do this, the room must be thoroughly puttied and disinfected.
All surfaces (floor, ceiling, walls, perches, nests) are treated with an aqueous solution of lime (2 kg per standard 10-liter bucket) or another product with similar characteristics. Be sure to change the litter in the nests to new ones.
Maintaining optimal temperature
In warm climates, the problem of how to keep laying hens in winter, providing them with an optimal temperature, can be solved with improvised means. As a rule, to do this, it is enough to lay deep bedding and the birds will maintain the regime on their own.
The source of heat will be the droppings. As it decomposes, it will release methane and thus solve the problem of how to heat a chicken coop in winter. The main thing is to take care of hygiene and ventilation.
The bedding for the chicken coop for the winter is laid on top of the bare, pre-disinfected floor. Usually sawdust, peat, chopped straw or hay are used for it.
The minimum layer for bedding is 10–15 cm. It is poured in parts, compacted thoroughly, then more is added. A complete replacement of bedding material is done with the onset of warmer weather. In winter, make sure that it does not cake; to do this, turn it with a pitchfork or rake, each time pouring a new layer on top.
As a rule, deep litter provides the required temperature even in a temperate climate, provided that the chicken coop is solid, without cracks and with good thermal insulation.
In more severe conditions, so that chickens do not stop laying eggs, it is worth considering and using different heating methods, depending on the conditions and financial capabilities:
- heat guns;
- radiators;
- stove heating (as an alternative - “potbelly stoves”);
- lamps for heating the chicken coop.
When placing the heater, make sure that the chickens cannot be injured. It is important to ensure the fire safety of your wards.
Proper nutrition of laying hens in winter
The temperature and light in the chicken coop are far from the last conditions for chickens to lay eggs in winter. Without a balanced diet, the hen will not be able to produce a sufficient number of eggs in the required time frame. The body's own reserves will quickly be exhausted, which will lead to a premature end to the productive age.
For laying hens it is better to purchase high-quality feed. It contains the necessary balance of nutrients, vitamin and mineral premixes, and often medications to prevent health problems in laying hens.
If high-quality feed is not available, you can prepare it yourself. It is important to maintain a balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, and to enrich the grain mixture with animal proteins, minerals and vitamins.
For adequate nutrition of laying hens in winter, you will need cereals (corn, wheat, barley, oats), legumes, as well as cakes, meals, fish and meat and bone meal, chalk, salt, lime, and industrial premixes. Cereals can be given separately, without crushing. This way they take longer to digest and provide the necessary energy reserve.
Using wet mash is possible as long as you can serve it warm.
Chickens need to be fed twice a day: morning and evening. In this case, wet food is given in the first half of the day, and dry food in the second half.
In a separate feeder you need to give small river pebbles, sand, shell rock - they promote the digestive process in laying hens. Water is left freely available. They change it often, each time pouring it warmed up to the temperature of the chicken coop. Too cold causes health problems for chickens.
As a rule, the main problem in winter is the lack of vitamins and sunlight. The first can be solved with the help of grass meal, chopped hay, vegetables and root vegetables, and the second - only by letting the chickens out for free range.
Winter walking
In order for chickens to lay eggs in winter, they need to be provided with a sufficient level of physical activity; opportunity to soak up the sun. Despite the cold, chickens need vitamin D to absorb calcium. Even in severe frosts, they can be let out for a walk for 10–15 minutes.
The aviary should be adjacent to the chicken coop. It is fenced with a net not only around, but also from above - from birds of prey. It is recommended to lay wooden boards, straw or other bedding material around the walking area to prevent frostbite on the laying hens' feet.
You can hang bunches of dried nettles or hay in the enclosure so that the hens have an additional source of fiber and vitamins.
Despite the apparent complexity, keeping chickens at home in winter is easy to organize. Once you have taken care of a major chicken coop with all the necessary communications in the form of electricity and ventilation, you just have to follow a few rules:
If you maintain the recommended optimal conditions for keeping and feeding laying hens in winter, there will be no interruptions in egg laying. Otherwise, chickens do not lay eggs for other reasons, for example, they are molting, resting, too young or, conversely, already old.
Pleasant to the owner's eye and beneficial, domestic laying hens have always been considered unpretentious and profitable pets of a private farmstead. And remembering how many pleasant minutes it brings to collect delicious, fresh eggs from nests, there is no doubt - laying hens are simply necessary in the household.
Keeping domestic layers during the long, harsh winter is a much more troublesome process and differs significantly from the care and costs of poultry in the summer. True, creating the necessary conditions is not a difficult task and does not require large material costs. By properly preparing the place of detention for the winter period, by preparing nutritious and fortified feed, you can not only preserve the livestock, but also receive healthy domestic eggs all winter.
Keeping laying hens at home in winter - general recommendations and tips
Preparations for wintering laying hens should begin long before the first frost. First of all, when taking on a chicken coop or other place planned for housing feathered pets, you need to try to create comfortable conditions so that the coming bad weather and cold have as little impact as possible on the laying hens’ lifestyle. When preparing the chicken coop for winter, it is worth paying attention to the number of birds, leaving for the winter the necessary minimum of healthy birds that lay eggs well.
During the cold season, laying hens should eat especially well. High-quality and varied feed will help the bird cope with the winter more easily and allow it to maintain active egg production.
Features of the diet and rules for feeding laying hens in winter
The summer diet of poultry is very rich and varied. The abundance of plant and protein foods, vegetables and fruits, being a good supplement, fully meets the chicken's needs for nutrients, minerals, and vitamins. In late autumn, this wealth begins to fade, and the poultry house is required to diversify and saturate the feed with everything necessary as much as possible. Let's talk in more detail about the diet of laying hens in winter.
What is the best way to feed laying hens in winter?
Practical tips for feeding laying hens in winter:
When choosing a balanced diet and setting the daily amount of food, you need to remember that excess nutrition has a bad effect on the egg production of laying hens, including in winter. They gain excess weight, become less active, and lose weight.
One bird consumes about 150 grams of food per day. Based on this, the daily volume required for the entire livestock is determined. The correct indicator is if by the next feeding there is almost no food left in the feeders.
Each poultry house sets its own feeding schedule and accustoms the poultry to it. Usually the first visit to the chicken coop takes place from 6 to 8 am. For lunch, chickens are fed at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, at night between 5 and 6 o'clock in the evening. In the morning and for lunch they give mash, and at night they give cereal grains. Be sure to add fresh, warm water each time. Add fresh hay. Remove low-quality food residues.
Giving laying hens food from the home table need to remember that sweet baked goods, brown bread, and meat are not recommended. Beets should not be given in large quantities. Potatoes in the diet of chickens should only be boiled.
Video: what to feed chickens in winter
Note! Many poultry houses grow root crops and forage vegetables specifically for feeding laying hens in the winter.
Preparations for winter must be carried out long before the onset of the first frost. You need to start with a chicken coop or other place planned for housing feathered pets.
When preparing a chicken coop for winter keeping domestic laying hens, you must:
- Conduct general cleaning places of detention, disinfect the premises as efficiently as possible.
- Check ventilation operation.
- Conduct overhaul of chicken coop equipment, perches and nests.
- Qualitatively insulate the room, preventing the slightest drafts and moisture from entering the chicken coop.
- Prepare quality lighting, necessary for laying hens on a short winter day.
Video: lighting in the chicken coop in winter
The easiest way is to prepare a permanent chicken coop for winter. If the bird is planned to be kept in another place, it is necessary to create appropriate conditions for its maintenance.
Thorough insulation of the poultry house brings great positive results. For the health of the entire population of laying hens, it is very important to eliminate all drafts, as well as the possibility of moisture entering the room.
Video: heating a chicken coop in winter
How to insulate a chicken coop for the winter?
General requirements for a chicken coop intended for winter housing of laying hens:
- Comfortable temperature conditions. The optimal temperature for keeping laying hens in a chicken coop should range from +10...+18 °C. Lower or higher temperatures begin to significantly reduce the egg production of feathered pets. A thermometer should be installed in a convenient place for monitoring. If there is a fear of the temperature dropping below +10 °C in cold weather, you need to think about a stationary heating source. When choosing a heating system, special attention must be paid to the safety of laying hens.
- Optimal air humidity. The relative air humidity in the poultry house should be 70%.
- Properly placed equipment. Perches and nests should be at least 60 cm above the floor. There should be a convenient approach to drinking bowls and feeders.
- Efficient lighting. The chicken coop should have high-quality lighting that artificially prolongs the short winter day. Daylight hours for laying hens in winter should be at least 13 hours. Artificial lighting is used early in the morning and at sunset, extending daylight hours by the necessary hours. The chicken coop is best lit with fluorescent lamps. It is best to turn the light on and off at the same time, developing a mode useful for egg production in the hens.
- Good ventilation. The room must have effective ventilation.
- High quality bedding. The floor in the chicken coop should be covered in several layers of bedding. The materials used are hay or straw, sawdust, chopped reeds, and dry moss. Wet litter should be removed immediately and replaced with dry litter. Once every few days it needs to be stirred and turned over. High-quality bedding not only maintains room hygiene, but also serves as an additional source of heat.
- Mandatory presence of an ash drawer, fluttering.
It greatly simplifies the maintenance of a chicken coop in winter by installing automatic relays to turn on the lights, automate ventilation and heating.
Video: warm chicken coop in winter
How to keep chickens in winter in the absence of a warm room or without heating
If there is no warm, stationary chicken coop for keeping laying hens, you should not despair. Quite simply and inexpensively, almost any available room can be adapted for poultry. Chicken birds are not picky and tolerate winter well even in unsuitable conditions. Moreover, in prepared and equipped places they spend the winter with pleasure, constantly delighting the owner with eggs.
Whatever room is refurbished, the main requirement for it remains the same - to create comfortable conditions for feathered pets.
Considering the requirements required for a stationary chicken coop, you need to fulfill everything necessary as much as possible.
Is it possible to keep laying hens in a garage?
Many poultry houses have long and quite effectively used the garage for keeping laying hens in winter. Of course, a place that was initially unsuitable for the life of feathered pets will have to be re-equipped, creating acceptable conditions. The concrete floor of the garage has a negative impact on the health of the bird. Therefore, it is advisable to cover it with wooden flooring and pour bedding onto it. Typically poorly ventilated garages will also need to be modified to suit the needs of the new occupants. Create the necessary humidity, provide lighting. Converting a garage into a chicken coop does not take much time and effort, bringing benefit and pleasure to your nurses.
Wintering laying hens in a polycarbonate greenhouse
Recently, many poultry houses have found an interesting solution - wintering laying hens in greenhouses. Using rooms that are empty in winter is becoming increasingly popular and is considered a very effective and practical activity. In order for the wintering of the birds to be successful, it is necessary to create favorable conditions by carrying out work on arranging the greenhouse.
When preparing a greenhouse for housing laying hens for the winter, you must:
- clean the room, remove excess soil;
- eliminate drafts;
- make ventilation;
- provide artificial lighting;
- cover the floor with bedding;
- install the necessary equipment and perches.
The most important issue that the poultry house will have to solve is maintaining a comfortable temperature regime. Even in the most severe frost, the temperature in the greenhouse should not fall below 0 °C; chickens simply may not be able to withstand lower temperatures. Therefore, it is impossible to do without additional heating.
Video: wintering chickens in a greenhouse in winter
Important! In winter, the sides of a greenhouse adapted for a chicken coop can be covered with a layer of snow. This will significantly retain internal heat.
Video: how chickens winter in a polycarbonate greenhouse
Walking laying hens in winter
In winter, it is not only possible to release birds from the chicken coop, but also necessary. The walk should be arranged on a sunny, not frosty day. It is not recommended to let laying hens outside in winter when the frost is more than minus 10 °C; the bird can get frostbite on its paws and catch a cold. The total time spent on the street should be no more than two hours. The walking area should be lined with hay, and old bedding from the chicken coop will also work. The best time for chickens to walk in winter is considered to be a thaw and non-frosty, sunny days.
Factors affecting egg production of chickens in winter
Winter leads to a decrease in natural biorhythms in chickens. Egg production is also affected by a winter drop in temperature and a reduction in daylight hours. Vitamin deficiency and lack of plant and protein foods have a negative effect. Proper care, lack of stress, balanced nutrition helps to significantly extend the period of egg production and receive fresh eggs almost all winter.
Video: what to feed chickens in winter so that they lay eggs
Read more about the characteristics of egg production in chickens in winter.
Keeping laying hens is becoming easier and more profitable every day. New, more productive breeds are being developed, effective, balanced feeds and various additives are appearing. Manufacturers offer automated poultry care systems. New building materials are making it easier to build chicken coops. As a result, the number of poultry houses involved in breeding laying hens is increasing. Join us and you will always have fresh homemade eggs on your table.
Video: proper arrangement of a winter chicken coop
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