Originally posted by MountainEnigma
What is the recommendation about keeping chickens through the winter? Will they survive in their hen house or would it be necessary to somehow heat the hen house?

Heat is unnecessary. Keeping their area well ventilated and dry is important to prevent frostbite and respiratory disease.

Even with multiple subzero days and nights heat is unnecessary and may actually harm your birds by reducing their ability to handle the cold temps and thinning their feathers or contributing to moisture in the air which will damage their lungs.

Chickens have been kept long before their was electricity.

Everybody feels bad about them being cold. I do too. But heat does more harm than good.

You can feed them some warm oatmeal as a treat or fill their waterer with warm water (helps keep it from freezing all day) if you want but heating the coop is unnecessary and generally not recommended.

Originally posted by rickymouse
Nice chickens and eggs. did a great job on their living area too.

If something happens how do people expect to get food for the chickens though, that has always been something I wondered about. If you grow corn to make food for the winter it is all right but chickens eat quite a bit. Maybe having a rotating pantry for the chicks is good too, having four sacs of food or more for a dozen chickens may not be bad for stock. I see most people buying a months worth of feed with no stock, that could leave supplies low.

i agree and also buying ahead is good financial advise. i bought 12, 50lb bags of feed before the prices started going up and i should have plenty of feed for them through winter and spring. i have 8 birds, all female and they are a blast to watch them go about there foraging all day.

the only thing i would recommend to people is the sheer convenience a heated bowl has for keeping the ice out of the water because chickens drink a lot of water, especially when it's cold.

Originally posted by snowspirit
Make sure you bribe your neighbours with eggs so they don't complain.

We live rural, and plan on chickens and turkeys, but chicken wire isn't strong enough to keep out the coyotes. We have to get heavier gauge wire, buried into the ground, and completely covered on top.

The coyotes up here - I saw one the other day that looked as big as a small wolf. It was at least 80 lbs.

We pass out eggs to our neighbors and they help me with yard work
We used hard wire cloth for the entire coop to include the roof and inside of door!! The outdoor pen is a 12x12. At night we close them in, otherwise they are free roaming. I have a dog and cat that guard them from other interested cats LOL!! Not one death in over a year!

EDIT: I have a rooster and my neighbors all love him! Plus if needed, he can breed all the hens I have...

I grew up on a farm in Kansas. We had chickens, cows, hogs, sheep & horses. The hen house was a free standing structure with 2 or 3 levels of planks. On each plank were rows of boxes, each box just large enough for a hen to sit comfortably on her eggs. Let me add that the "boxes" were nothing more than 2'x2' square & maybe 3" high. The chicken yard was enclosed by chicken wire but large enough that there was no covering. Each morning the chickens were let out to roam the grounds eating bugs, in the evening they willingly returned to the coop, I closed the door and they were in for the night. Rarely were coyotes a problem but we had dogs who helped keep them out of the yard. As for keeping them warm in the winter - there was a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling of the chicken house that provided an amazing amount of heat along with the straw on the floor & in their nests. I would advise against grinding up their egg shells and adding to their feed as it "encourages" them to peck at & eat their eggs in the nest. You can buy a calcium to add to their feed or a feed that already has calcium added.

I was chased by a chicken when I was 3 years old. Been eating them ever since. To a 3 year old, that chicken was a huge flying monster. It had hopped the neighbors fence and made a bee-line for me.

I live in a large metropolitan city a suburb of New Orleans and we can have chicken here. A friend tried the chicken thing but gave up on them because she said they were smelly and gave lots of problems.

You said you didn't kill them for food, just got the eggs. If you had to, could you wring it's neck or chop it's head off with a hatchet?

If you've done this.. whats it like the first time? I am about to buy some land and perhaps will raise chickens. I want a heads up in this. Of course, I have never killed a chicken yet. I guess it's hard because they somewhat become your pets?

I find it absolutely outrageous that you can't have backyard chickens in most cities. Who gives anyone authority over your sovereign, constiutionally protected rights. And the real estate ponzy scheme of upping property values, its unethical, prevents affordable homes, is complete greed and BS, but also, realtors and town council is only empowered, like everyone else BY THE CONSTITUTION, and so anything like that is unlawful and illegal.

Think its time for people to take their power back one chicken at a time.

Up here, people are starting to get chickens in many places. They are getting tired of buying commercially bought flavorless eggs from the store. If people say that there is no difference in the taste of store bought and free range eggs, I think they are a little nuts or have had their tastebuds compromised by something. As far as nutrition, maybe with the current flawed way they are testing, they are much better. The chemicals of an egg from a free range chicken have much more protective and calming chemicals. They only test for certain things in those nutrition sites, the number of things they test for is slowly increasing but it is in no way complete yet. Everyone knows that food is just made up of vitamins and minerals now, they have identified lots of other chemistry now that is valuable to good health. And this is just a start to our increasing knowledge of the truth.

People were also tired of worrying about all the risk of buying eggs that have bad bacteria in them, being older the risk of contamination is higher. There are so many doing it, they are applying to have zoning changed and they are accomplishing this. It is not farmers anymore, even the richer people are doing it. It has become a fad of the elite to raise their food. I would like to see them get chickens at the white house, they put in their gardens. People have to learn that relying on the fragile economy is not only unwise but actually unhealthy. Instead of complaining about your neighbor raising chickens, talk to them about it. One rooster is enough and you should not have too many in town. six within the city limits is enough to supply a family with eggs. Make sure to clean their coops and process the waste into fertilizer quickly so others don't complain. If done right, chickens can stabalize a neighborhood, and remember everyone has rights in this country, not just people who don't want things in their neighborhood. I think little stores should be within walking distance also, not stuck in a mall ten minutes away.We have sure messed up this reality. We need to straighten it out.

The neighbors chickens bothering you? tell them you need a dozen eggs every couple of weeks to ease your stress. Say it with a smile, and remember that eggs do cost money to produce. Maybe you can get your eggs at a couple bucks a dozen or even less. It costs overall about a buck and a half a dozen to get eggs, that includes costs of the hen, food, and some meds if they get sick. Occasionally you have to superglue a beak on too. The cost of the enclosure is not included but won't bring the price up much if it is used for many years.

forgot to mention if you're really spoiled like me, you will buy yourself an automatic door for the hen house, can't tell you how many times i had to corral my chickens so my wife and i could go out for the evening.

When I was a kid, I remember my grandfather raising chickens. I'm going to give a description of his layout, as best I can recall. It's been over 50 years, but I'll do my best. He had a large building(I don't know how big; like I said, it's been a long time.) On the south end of the building he had his smoke house, possibly 8x10, sealed tight, so he could smoke his hams in the fall. Next to that was the roosting area. It was dark, with roosts made out of saplings and a ladder made out of the same material. This means they were high enough to keep them away from dogs, coyotes and foxes in the middle of the night. Next to that he had his broody house. 2'x2' boxes, just as you described. His hens used the boxes, becaused he placed a golf ball in each nest. His thinking was simple. You give the hen a reason to sit. If you collect the eggs, they will come back every time.
Since I lived about 100 yds away, I don't ever remember being short of eggs.
If you do have to kill one of your hens, when you get ready to pluck, pour boiling water over the chicken, then start pulling feathers. They will come out easier, and in clumps. Takes a lot of time out of prepping. Hope this helps.
I'm thinking about building a chicken coop, and getting a few hens(if I can get my wife out of time long enough.) She can't butcher, but she sure can cook!