how to keep chickens warm in winter
With the gradual arrival of winter, the temperature everywhere becomes colder and colder, many people are beginning to wear thick clothes. But it is difficult for the chicks to withstand the cold, so chicken farmers need to do a good job to keep chickens warm in winter in order to spend the winter safely, but how to keep chickens warm in winter? here we give you some advice on how to keep chickens warm in winter. you can check more about how to raise chicken in winter.
increase food to keep ckickens warm in winter
Eating well keeps the cold out. Chicken farmers increase chickens’ energy by adding fats and oils to the feed to improve the metabolic ability of chickens. fats are the best food to keep chickens warm in winter, Keeping chickens well-fed which improves their body’s ability to withstand the cold and also ensures egg weight and egg production rate. Adding vitamin C and brown sugar improves the chickens’ tolerance to cold stress and enhances their ability to resist cold stress.
Provide enough energy to enable chickens to withstand the cold in winter. Increasing the use of energy feeds, such as corn, in the normal diet can greatly increase the chicken’s resistance to cold from a nutritional standpoint, thus improving their ability to lay eggs in winter.
use best bedding to keep chickens warm
sawdust and wood chips
These shavings dry quickly, do not decompose quickly, and are not expensive. Pine shavings also have a mild, inviting scent that chickens find inviting. Another type of wood shavings that you can use as the one of best bedding to keep chickens warm during the winter is cedar shavings. These shavings give off a pleasant aroma that will make your coop smell great. You want to avoid fine shavings because they can be dusty and aggravate the chickens’ breathing. You also need to avoid cedar shavings because the oil in the sedative can be toxic to chickens. you can also use wood pellet mill to turn wood sawdust into pellets as the bedding for chickens.
Straw and hay
Straw and hay are excellent best bedding to keep chickens warm in winter. These are well insulated, which means your coop will stay warmer longer during the cold season. They also make thick bedding in any coop, making it suitable for providing much-needed heat to your flock during the cold season.
how to keep chickens warm at night in cold winter
keeping chicken coop warming is good for chickens growth. By using heating equipment to warm up the chicken coop, to provide a suitable temperature environment to protect the healthy growth of chickens.
Insulation lamp
You can use the heat preservation lamp appropriately according to the situation of the chicken coop. But the heat preservation lamp is simple and trouble-free, but the heat preservation effect is not good. The local temperature is high, the surrounding temperature is low, and the temperature is not balanced. The use of heat preservation lamp heating, the need for electricity, it is easy to be affected by external factors. For example, the problem of power outages caused by bad weather, it is easy to cause a sudden drop in the temperature of the chicken coop. It may also cause a short circuit or fire situation due to the aging of the circuit.
heater device
Nowadays, the conditions for raising chickens are getting better and better, and there are many farmers who have purchased heaters. you can control the temperature of the heater automatically, in this case, the night will be much easier. But the cost is relatively high, which is not suitable for long-term use, but is suitable for cooling weather, and when the temperature can not raise, or emergency heating after a power outage to use. this is the best solutions of how to keep chickens warm at night in cold winter. because it is very easy to use heater device.
Use sunlight to absorb heat
Winter days may be shorter, but you can still use sunlight during the day to gain heat and help keep your coop warmer for longer in the darker hours. Well-insulated windows can act as sun traps, especially if you have dirt or dark plank floors. Increasing the “thermal mass” contained in the coop will also allow it to retain heat longer. “Thermal mass” is a measure of how much heat is absorbed by a material for later release.
The more thermal mass in a coop, the more consistent it will be in releasing heat after the sun goes down. Materials such as stone or concrete will retain more heat during the day and release it throughout the night. sunlight is the best and free way of how to keep chickens warm in winter.
