Solitary chicken - need advice

[gavclojak]

What are you other guys giving your ladies to keep them warm overnight at the moment. Yesterday my girls enjoyed a jacket potato filled with corn and mealworms....today is tuna, mealworms and spaghetti, tomorrow is porridge with chopped fruit and mealworms. Is there anything you guys can tell me they feed there girls to give then a bit of added warmth overnight? Xx

Also I am thinking of getting a cube coat and a snugglesafe heat pad, have any of the more experienced chicken keepers got views or opinions on these products? X

[Jenthelibrarian]

Chook-supper at your place sounds better than family supper at mine

 

Unless you live in the more arctic bits of Scotland I really don't think you need to worry tooooo much. The Eglu houses are well insulated and chickens are walking feather duvets.

 

Normal hen body temperature is about 41C or over 100F. You will notice that a hen's feet feel warm if they perch on your lap even when there's snow on the ground.

 

I think I worried about mine for no reason last winter, although they did get very annoyed about the snow we had and refused to walk in it

 

Give them a little supper and shut their door overnight and they'll be absolutely fine

[Patricia W]

Mine get a handful or two of mixed corn, but otherwise the cube door stays open until it gets into the deep double figure minuses. I have noticed that my two aracaunas who prefer to perch outdoors have moved back into the cube.

[gavclojak]

I think I have been worrying a little too much by the sounds of it:)

[Olly]

Never bothered, and I don't even close the door. They don't really need heat as long as they have shelter such as the Eglu or Cube.

[redsunset]

Well I live in the arctic part of Scotland (though the East coast tends to get the lower temps and snow more), and my lot just get hot mash in the am's, warm water with ACV and corn, seeded bread in the afternoons. I never shut their doors, and they come and go as they please. It is freezing tonight up here (but only just), but nice and dry with no winds. Chooks are all snuggled up just fine. They either squash into the coveted nestbox area or roost (and cover their toes with their feathers) and snug as a bug in a rug as they say! We had an inch of snow the other day, and despite the initial whoa's from them, by lunchtime they were pottering about once they discovered the white stuff was not going to kill them!..

 

Thought my lot were a tad spoilt, but your lot live in the equivalent of the chicken 'Ritz'............

[redsunset]

p.s. no way am I telling my lot what menu yours get or they would all go on strike!!!

[ali-s]

I live on the East coast of North Scotland and redsunset is correct, it can get mighty cold and sometimes very snowy here. My girls do not get any warming extras in winter. The only time I have ever shut the Eglu/Cube door was when the temperature dropped to -18 deg. I would worry my girls would be not be used to cold Winter daytime temperatures outside if I have kept them too warm and cosy overnight in the Eglu. If I remember maybe twice a week if that I will give them a handful or two of mixed corn. A 5kg bag of mixed corn lasts my nine girls months

[Ain't Nobody Here]

My poor girls get no special treatment in the winter . They have a nice eglu but choose to sleep outdoors (inside the WIR) in all weathers.

[gavclojak]

Haha the chicken ritz...so funny redsunset:). Porridge today with chopped apple and sultanas....gone to bed happy girls x

[The Dogmother]

Never bothered, and I don't even close the door. They don't really need heat as long as they have shelter such as the Eglu or Cube.

 

Me neither, their body temp is 105deg and they wear warm duvets. They don't need empty calories.

[gavclojak]

["They don't need empty calories.

Ooooops don't I feel sheepish now

[Grandmashazzie]

I give mine sweet corn or porridge and I pop a snugglesafe in when it gets really cold,I got it from amazon and was quite reasonable.Others are right they probably don't need it but it makes me feel better.

[PoachedPlease]

Gav think about robins etc they live happily in a tree all winter!

Really you don't need to spoil them, layers pellets are enough. They might stop laying if you play around with their natural diet

 

Mine are still laying going into their second winter, so it must be ok. I think yours might need toughening up now though

 

Xx

[Sandychick]

Mine don't get any treats all week at this time of year it's dark when I go to work and dark when I get home so I only see them up and about at the weekend Getting the eggs out at night is enough for me to know that it is toasty warm in that eglu

[Redwing]

I have to agree that those foods are largely empty calories and stodge they don't need. No harm as fun treats but not good for overnight warmth

 

The thing that is good is dried corn/maize - if fed late in the day the effort needed by the body to digest it keeps the body temp up

 

So my chooks get corn when I remember and nothing when I don't! None of my coops are ever shut and many sleep outside with no issues

 

Don't worry about things - they will be fine

[Lavenders_Blue]

Another one here who does nothing special in winter Chooks come with their own feather duvets and in fact cope far better with cold than with heat. They will be just fine

[mrsatroy]

I'm surpised at the number of you who don't shut the doors on the eglus. I left mine open from about May to Sept but now trudge down every evening and early every morning to lock up/let out the girls. I did find tha they tended to sleep in the nest box when the door was left open and this was a bit annooying as the wood shaving in there had to be de-pooped every morning and changed very often as they got all yucky with urine . I am right down on the South coast of Ireland so it never gets really cold and we only get snow about once or twice every 10 yrs.

[Lavenders_Blue]

That's interesting mrsatroy, none of mine sleep in the nest box (apart from Bella, who has slept in the nest box, winter and summer, since the day we got her ). The rest of the girls are all roosting on the perches in the coop. There is a second nest box in my coop which is not slept in overnight, so I can only assume they are plenty warm enough cuddling up together on the perches.

[Olly]

I'm surpised at the number of you who don't shut the doors on the eglus.

 

There's a story behind my decision. Two weeks into chicken-keeping with my first ever hens, I had to leave at 5.30 am for a business trip. I planned the night before to top up food and water etc, knowing I wouldn't have time the next morning (it was March, and still dark). I carefully closed the Eglu door, and went to bed. Next morning my cab arrived on time and I set off confident that my chickens would be ok.

 

Oh - hang on - I closed the Eglu door? Yup, they were shut in all day. They were fine, but I wasn't when I realised what I'd done! I stopped closing the door then, and haven't done so since.

[Chickabee]

 

I did the opposite. Mine spent 8 nights in this tiny rabbit hutch. I'd. Cleaned the eglu before going away and forgot to open the. Door. The young boy looking after them had no idea

[The Dogmother]

I've only ever closed the doors on any of my housing on maybe a handful of nights over the years. They really don't feel the cold as some of us think they do.

[PoachedPlease]

I kept my door open after reading an excellent long article about how it was recognised decades ago that chickens were healthier in open barns. I can't find it now but it was fascinating. The fresh air is very important.

 

Leaving the door open also means no hassle morning and evening as chickens do there own thing.

 

Mine survived last year with a layer of snow, and one of my friends has a leghorn who roosts each night in a tree. In the winter she once had a layer of snow on her back in the morning. Amazing.

 

X

[paulad]

mine just get corn if i remember and we have stopped closing the eglu door now too - did at first but dont now - means we dont have to get up early at the weekends !

[JellyBean2605]

Does anyone have a recipe for a warm porridge mix? I've tried the mash and my girls hated it!