Chicken Feeding & Watering in Winter

The Chicken and Turkey Yards, here at Twin Haven Farm.

The girls out for a stroll after the first blizzard we had this winter.
Wylie, our English Springer Spaniel is keep watch over them.

Our poor chickens and rooster are sick of the snow already, the temperatures this past week have been nice and I noticed some grass showing through on the paths we have made in the yard with the 4 wheelers.  I will let them out of the chicken yard for a little while tomorrow.  We have more snow on the way, yay!!!

In winter, when the temperatures get so cold that the chickens won't leave their coop to even go into the run and snow covers the chicken yard and pasture, our free range chickens must be fed and watered by hand.

In the summer we let our flock free range for most of the day, but in winter when they aren't able to scratch we must supply them with food. We give our hens poultry layer feed, free choice, and we also sprinkle some scratch on the snow in the run for them.  They like to get out of the coop and exercise in the run when there isn't too much snow on the ground for them.  We also get them chicken feed blocks to keep them busy.

My hens are pretty tame and hubby says they are probably the most spoiled in the county.  They come when called and like to follow me all over the farm.

Rice with eggs, eggshells and peas.

I take the chickens scraps all year long and in the winter, I will make them salads.  Their favorite treat by far is cherry tomatoes.  I grow them for them in the summer and will occasionally buy them for them in the winter.  When the temperatures gets down into the single digits, I make the flock warm cranberry oatmeal or rice with eggs, shells included and peas. They love this treat.

Pumpkins & Butternut Squash that I grew last summer.

RicIn the summer time I grow winter squash and pumpkins for us and the chickens.  Pumpkins & Squash are Boredom Busters and have tons of nutritional value.  They also are natural dewormers.  Medical studies have shown that pumpkin & winter squash seeds act as a natural wormer.  They also s are rich in cucurbitacin. Cucurbitacin paralyzes the worms in the chickens digestive system, like tapeworms and round worms and they are passed through in the chicken poop.

Our rooster, Elmer Fudd, getting a drink from Heated Waterer.

Hauling water to the animals is the one job in winter that I hate.  I've tried most winter poultry waterers on the market.   I have found that the ones that work the best for us, are the 3 gallon heated plastic poultry fountains.  I keep 2 units in the chicken yard, one in the coop and one outside the coops.    These units plug in and you flip them over and fill them from the bottom, I prefer the ones with the screw in plug as opposed to the rubber stopper ones.  Be careful not to bang the waterers as they will break and make sure you do not unscrew the base from the waterer when flipping it over!  The water will go everywhere and in negative temps, this is NOT a good thing!!!

*Another good tip is if you have cats, save the kitty litter jugs and use them to haul water to your poultry, they are 3 gallons and easier to haul than the huge 5 gallon water jugs.  Well, that about does it for feeding and watering in the winter.  I'll be back with more fun winter stuff from here at Twin Haven Farm.