[Pixieswift]

Hello all, can anyone advise on how i can make the house warmer for my girls in the winter months (feels like winter now in Scotland). The house is large ish would house about 12-15 hens but i only have 4 girls and they all huddle together on one perch. I know it will be freezing in there soon and need to prepare. Could anyone advise me on what i could do i dont want a heat lamp in there, but would like to get it cosy for them asap. I have lots of natural wood shavings on floor and in nest boxes but need to make it warmer somehow any advice would be great thanks in advance x

[hillfooter]

There's no need for any heating.  If your roosts are single bars replace witha grid of 4 or more parallel bars.  That way they can all huddle together in a knot rather than side by side .  The biggest single mistake I see in house design is only having a single pole.

HF

[8doubles]

Chooks have their own duvets and do not need extra heat, if they get chilly their heads get tucked under a wing .
Some of them even decide to moult in mid-winter with 6" of snow on the ground with no ill effect.

If it does get Antarctic*  a small low wattage tube heater preferably splashproof as used in greenhouses on a timeswitch will do the trick.

* Penguins do okay!

[Pixieswift]

Ahhhh thankyou, i just worry about them getting cold. I feel guilty sitting inside in front of an open fire whilst they are outside in the cold. I think because the house is big and i only have 4 little girls. Someone said to pack the rest of the house with straw bails and that would keep it warmer. Thanks for the advice from HF. do you mean to have 4 perches running across instead of 1 i didnt really understand sorry.

[hillfooter]

Ahhhh thankyou, i just worry about them getting cold. I feel guilty sitting inside in front of an open fire whilst they are outside in the cold. I think because the house is big and i only have 4 little girls. Someone said to pack the rest of the house with straw bails and that would keep it warmer. Thanks for the advice from HF. do you mean to have 4 perches running across instead of 1 i didnt really understand sorry.

Chickens would naturally roost in trees like my legbars here,



Notice they tend to huddle up into a tight scrum for warmth.  they don't string out along a single branch.

This is an idea type of perch so that they can huddle up easily.



Also they need ventillation but not draughts so make sure ventillation is above head height and baffled so no direct wind can blow in.

Windows - there shouldn't be any, birds don't need them and they leak heat so block them off with internal shutters.  If there's a large access door a curtain of heavy duty polythene will help to reduce draughts.  Ensure the roof and walls are completely water proof and draught proof.  Have available a large tarpaulin to use in an emergency with ropes and bungees to hold it down.  

You can rub vaseline on their combs and wattles if they are large otherwise don't bother.

4 birds in a large airy space aren't going to be able to warm their environment much and so retain heat so bales of straw might work much better if they reduced head room too otherwise any generated heat will just be lost through convection.  I'm not sure that 4 birds in a large shed would actually have much heating effect on the air round about them anyway.  I think a better use of straw might be to create a dry fluffy litter they can bed down in.  

Their feathers will provide by far the most effective insulation so keeping the interior clean, dry and draught free should be the priority.  Do that and I very much doubt they will need anything else.

Good nutrition is the other requirement aso make sure they have a full crop before they roost and a couple of handfuls of mixed poultry corn in an evening will do this.   There's no need for water or feed in the house and particularly with water there's a risk of spillage which is a really bad thing.

In snow have some pallets available to act as dry snow free walk ways so they aren't wading through snow.  Cut in half length ways is best but check they won't fall apart if you do.  Some need to be modified to avoid this.

[outercircle]

I worried about this last year when I had my hens for their first winter and what a winter it was, even here in "sunny" Brum. It did not go above freezing for over two months but everyone was very happy cuddled up together in their house wearing their feather duvets. My husband is very technically minded and has installed a thermometer inside the hen house with a display in the kitchen (don't ask...) and every night after they've gone to bed, the temperature goes up loads.

I gave them hot water with glycerine in in the mornings before I went to work and sometimes hot mash, checked the leghorn's massive combs and put vaseline on like hillfooter suggests. One hen kept finding things to step in that froze on her toes so I had to thaw her out a couple of times in warm water.

Otherwise, all happy, trotting about in the snow by day and keeping each other warm by night.

[Pixieswift]

Hill footer thankyou so much for that VERY helpful advice and your wonderful photographs that has helped me alot. Great idea about the pallets i will get that sorted out in time for the snow and the photos explain the perch just perfect many thanks. I bought the big house which is a goose house with the intention of getting more birds and using there old little house for the broody bantam i have which goes broody at the drop of a hat but will wait until after the winter to get more girls. Will make sure i have plenty of shavings and straw on the floor nest boxes etc for warmth. I have 2 large gazeebos so i plan to use your idea of the pallets leading from the house to the gazeebos so hopefully there little feet will stay frost free and the advice from outercircle was helpful what does the glycerine do and do they drink the water hot. I will also give them hot mash to warm there bellys. Such a wonderful helpful site thanks so much.

[outercircle]

The glycerine helps to stop the water freezing during the day when I'm out at work - you can buy it in chemists or places that do stuff for icing. They don't drink the water hot, it's just another attempt to try and stop it freezing. Keeping their water supply liquid was the main problem last year.

[Pixieswift]

Thanks outercircle thats good advice i think its going to be a bad winter here in Scotland im trying to get prepared early many thanks heres hoping for no frozen feet 

[outercircle]

Don't worry too much about their feet - it's one particular hen who has a habit of getting into scrapes and always looks like she's dragged through a hedge backwards. If there is something to tread in, fall off, trip over, get stuck in or get mucky from, she will find it.

We had nearly a foot of snow before Christmas so we cleared them a space to run about and they were fine.

[hillfooter]

The glycerine helps to stop the water freezing during the day when I'm out at work - you can buy it in chemists or places that do stuff for icing. They don't drink the water hot, it's just another attempt to try and stop it freezing. Keeping their water supply liquid was the main problem last year.

While glycerine is safe for human consumption and indeed is used in many medicines & food stuffs it's use as an antifreeze is only really useful at higher concentrations than I'd like to feed chx.  A 10% concertration by weight for example only supresses the freezing point to about minus 2deg C and a 20% would give -6degC.  So really you'd need at least 20% to give a meaningful benefit.

Assuming 20% is safe and has no side effects 4 birds will drink circa 1ltr of water per day so you'd need 200ml of glycerine to get a 20% dilution which will cost you between £1.25 to £5 per day depending on bulk buying and source to get water at minus 6degC freezing  Sounds rather expensive.

I'm not sure what concentration would be safe for chx but higher concentrations are dehydrating and glycerin is a laxative.  So personally for the marginal benefits, high cost, unknown health effects I wouln't risk using it.  If someone with a professional veterinary knowledge can advise further I'd be interested to know more though.
HF

[Pixieswift]

Thanks for the advice guy's. Lucky i work on the farm where i live so will just keep checking there water through out the day and make sure it doesn't freeze