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| JustTom... |
 Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:59 pm |
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I'm trying to prepare my small laying flock(s) for winter. Although I
made it thru last winter without a death, frostbite or any trauma at
all, I wasn't thrilled with my setup so I thought I'd try something
new this year.
I raise different breeds in rolling pens that I move each day.
3 large ones with 14 in them (each with rooster), plus some smaller
mobile breeding pens that each hold a couple of hens and a rooster.
Also have another 10 roos that are true free rangers that I'm sizing
up for either breeders or pot. The wels and marans are all year old,
while the others are two.
I'm thinking about bring the pens into an overgrown area that I'd kind
of like for them to scratch up for me, and plan on building a straw
stack enclosure to let them still wander around when they feel like
it. My normal pens have attached caged yards to avoid the very
visible hawk population I have which is fine when I move them, but
want to give more room to poke around when there isn't any real grass
going on.
I'm wondering if it would be alright to simply build one large one and
let them all co-mingle for the couple of months that we have truly
cold temps and dormant grass, or if I should build separate smaller
enclosures for each?
All are fairly similar in size, mostly heritage heavy breeds. Numbers
wise, in hens, I have 14 delawares, 14 dominiques, and 14 rocks from
the big cages, and another 6 welsumers, and 6 blue and black copper
marans, so all in all, around 40 hens, plus another dozen or so large
roos, most who are currently bachelors, but several who have their
own harems already.
I'm in US zone 6B, and it drops to the teens regularly in Jan-Feb, so
it would obviously be easier on me frozen water wise to deal with it
in only one locale and they could bunch more together for warmth in a
single coop in a smaller area, but I don't wan't the roos going nuts
on each other or all of the newly found ladies for a couple of months
either.
Curious to know what others with a similiar setup do for winter in
areas such as mine that are cold and snow bound for several months.
tom |
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| Chade... |
| Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 12:50 am |
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On 16 Oct, 20:59, t... at (no spam) nomail.please (JustTom) wrote:
[quote:b8751f11d5]I'm trying to prepare my small laying flock(s) for winter. Although I
made it thru last winter without a death, frostbite or any trauma at
all, I wasn't thrilled with my setup so I thought I'd try something
new this year.
snip
I'm wondering if it would be alright to simply build one large one and
let them all co-mingle for the couple of months that we have truly
cold temps and dormant grass, or if I should build separate smaller
enclosures for each?
All are fairly similar in size, mostly heritage heavy breeds. Numbers
wise, in hens, I have 14 delawares, 14 dominiques, and 14 rocks from
the big cages, and another 6 welsumers, and 6 blue and black copper
marans, so all in all, around 40 hens, plus another dozen or so large
roos, most who are currently bachelors, but several who have their
own harems already.
I'm in US zone 6B, and it drops to the teens regularly in Jan-Feb, so
it would obviously be easier on me frozen water wise to deal with it
in only one locale and they could bunch more together for warmth in a
single coop in a smaller area, but I don't wan't the roos going nuts
on each other or all of the newly found ladies for a couple of months
either.
Curious to know what others with a similiar setup do for winter in
areas such as mine that are cold and snow bound for several months.
[/quote:b8751f11d5]
Hello Tom,
I'm in the UK, temperatures usually drop that low for a few weeks over
winter here too. I don't have any great advice about dealing with
hawks and the like as the ones with have over here very rarely take
chickens.
If you mix all your chickens together as you've described I would
expect fights between your roosters. Roosters tend to fight when
they've not grown up together and if you add hens to that mix I'd say
it was a certainty. In a large enough area 'beaten' roosters could
hide out of the way (if they've got places to hide), but personally I
wouldn't be confident about doing it. If you try it be sure to have
lots of feeders, and probably more than one drinker, otherwise the
strongest will tend to guard them from the weak ones.
Although it's more work, I over winter my chickens in a small field
near the house surrounded by a big hedge. I split my flock into wooden
sheds, letting one shed out a day free range. Starting after Christmas
I intend to rig up electric lights on a timer to induce the hens to
start laying early. This is so I can catch the Spring poultry sales
when prices for 'heritage' breeds are higher than the later sales, at
least in the UK. I'm just getting ready to treat my birds and sheds
for parasites now as the birds will be vulnerable under these
conditions.
I'll feed a special 'breeder' ration, so plenty of nutrients in it for
breeding hens, plus mix in a little Maize when it's very cold. I
usually feed once in the morning for chickens that aren't growing or
being fattened, as much as they can eat in about twenty minutes. Again
when it's very cold if I can I give a second small feed before they
roost, so they face the night with food in their crop to keep them
warm.
I try to cut right back on chicken numbers in the autumn, just what
I'll breed from plus maybe a spare rooster or two. Saves me feeding
stuff that will not fatten well over winter (too busy keeping warm)
plus I'll need empty sheds for chicks.
Small wooden sheds are warmer but still need to be ventilated, without
being drafty, even over winter when chickens are shut up. |
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