Do THIS To Get MORE EGGS This WINTER! | Winter Chicken Care! 

Thank you for mentioning the shame. I'm on a small homestead with a family to feed. Chickens are not pets for us, can't afford that. When some of my "pullets" turned into roosters, I butcher them. Some people get very offended by this. We still have too many roosters, and they cause stress in the flock. Better to put them to use in a pot than to have them terrorize the other birds.

Brother, I've been following many RU-vidrs with similar content and have to say you are among the very best! You have a very down to earth, straight forward and transparent approach to your very educational videos! Well done!

Thank you so much for telling this to us nice and quickly, I’m so tired of finding videos on how to keep chickens laying in the winter too but I have to wait hours for them to say one little thing

this is an awesome presentation! I have been involved in the poultry industry for forty years and everything he mentions is spot on! I would only add that premiere one fencing company has SAFE heat lamps and nipple waterers with built in heater with 13 ft cord. I appreciate how he sees both sides of the eggs, no eggs issues. Thank you for presenting accurate info!

i use a solar power led for artificial light which is working fantastically. thank you for all the tips that ya give us.

Heat lamp safety. Make sure the heat lamp isn't near or over anything flammable. Theat it like a stove. Zip tie the electrical cord to something. The clamps that come on those light can be knocked of by the birds. Turn them off before you work on them and make sure they are cool. Turn them off occasionally and blow the dust off. Also check to make sure the bulb is screwed in tightly, and that the glass isn't separating from the metal base.

Are use an LED lightbulb on a timer. It doesn't get hot. I put it way above where they cannot get to it in anyway. I didn't used to give artificial light, but I cannot have 15 chickens and not get some eggs out of them. I do give them a little bit of a break. Friend since I haven't put the light up yet this year. But it's going up later this week.

Great info. So I built my coop this spring, I have a flock of 15. I started out feeding the scratch and peck from day one. I have 14 hens and 1 rooster. What I wanted to share was the window design on my coop. I have 3 windows that I can remove in the summer for added air flow in the hot months. They are east and south facing windows but instead of using what others have, I used pieces of greenhouse panels from the leftovers after the upgrade to my little greenhouse. I thought this way they would have a nice toasty coop to warm up in during the day. All the heat from the day will last thru the night until just before morning. I hope this info will help those that live in the colder climates. It has really made a difference.

To get eggs all winter, drop those white birds and get brown hybrid layers. They lay through the winter even when if it's -30 degrees F inside the coop like mine do here in Manitoba. The eggs freeze but you just have to pick them more often.

Tips from my Michigan grandfather on chickens in winter. Grandpa lived before any electricity or any fancy stuff we have now-a-days. Rolled barley at night fills their tummies and helps keep them warm on cold nights. Put a southern facing window into the coop for added light. We live in the Rocky Mountains @ 3500'. We also feed beef suet all winter long along with a good feed. No, my chickens don't lay like they do in the summer months. But, we do get some eggs. I am one for letting my chickens "rest" because God made them that way - and He usually knows best about these things. It is - what it is with little Fluff Butts :)

I use radiant heat panels if the temperature goes below 32°F. I just don't want my girls to be cold. They are about 16" from the roosting bar. They work great.

I like how I talk fast and get to the point

I've had a small 6 bird flock for 10 years and never thought about letting them rest over winter and have always had a light in the coup. Even with the light we only get on average 2 to 3 eggs per day, sometimes only 1 egg, so I'll just go ahead and remove that light.

I simply turn on the porch light when it is dark before 8pm so they have about 12 hours of light a day as my chickens sleep in the holly tree next to the porch. We are often in and out of the back yard anyway and would have the light on. This is my 10th year. My hens live a long time, 2 were 10 and my oldest now will be 7. They old girls do not lay but teach the young girls how to be wise. I leave no food out after they roost and have a heated waterer on the porch for them. They lay in a basket under a table- when they are not hiding the eggs. I do have a cold weather coop under the porch with lots of straw and no drafts. It has a 60 watt light bulb near the roosts. That's it. Good quality pellets and a 70 x 70 yard for about 6-8 birds with lots of excess produce and pumpkins. We find this easy to manage.

I’m the same as you. My chickens are my pets and will be with me for their lifespan. We are fortunate. I agree everyone’s circumstances are different and shouldn’t be shamed. That said, people need to EDUCATE THEMSELVES before they get animals so they know what they’re doing … at least “on paper”! Good job helping with that!

I'm amazed at how much my chickens drink in the winter.

Adding a small fluorescent light in the coop that just stays on can trick your hens into thinking there is more daylight and they will lay more. It’s not great for overall health and longevity of the birds, but it does work

Very nice! I use solar lights and feed crushed dog food for protein . A little sunflower seeds for treats. They need a lot of protein in the winter. Keep them happy and they will lay year round

The only extra light ours get is the clearing roof panels instead of solid metal roofing. All this does is add more natural light as there are no windows. Our only heat lamp is a clip on to a hanging chain with the red heat bulb. We only turn it on along with their water heater when below 30.

Been raising chickens for many years. My coop has clear vinyl panels to add daylight. I buy feed from my local farmers feed co-op not tractor supply junk. I also add a couple of new chicks every year. A heated water bucket solves the ice problem. So no added heat or light but eggs all winter.

I bought 7 pullets that were hatched in May back at the beginning of September. They have not started laying yet! We have done everything, and they're super healthy.

I appreciate your transparency and intelligence! 🐣

Wow! The best information ever. Thanks so very much.Carolyn

Since we have limited electricity extra light and heat are not an option unless it gets really cold. So I figured that vitamin d is liquid sunshine, so I decided to crush up some vitamin d tablets and added it to their water. It was amazing to see how much more my chickens laid throughout the winter. And where we live we don’t get a lot of daylight hours and it can get down to the -40 c so I am thrilled that I was able to continue getting eggs year round with this method.

ours molted and stopped. We also added scratch and peck goodies and they did start laying, warmed up the coop too, but also they were done molting.

I absolutely LOVE your videos!

Excellent presentation and information.

Wow! The greatest video on this topic . Thank you

Very well explained. Thanks

I like your soapbox, thanks for the info

Great video! Your a blessing to learn from.

Scratch and peck feeds is a great option. If you can afford it. When I had three chickens, even up to five chickens, it was not a big deal. But now I have 15 so it's not an option.

Very helpful. Will try 4 out of 5 of these.

Yes get the heater! I wanna see it in use!

I really like your video, and your honesty.

Ty. Love this video. I had to release some of mine to their ancestors as 100 birds and zero 🥚 since May. Have young birds now. So pray by spring? The ones in coop now are from Feb, June and July hatch. Fingers crossed 🤞

GREAT INFO i USE MOST 9OF THISE IDEAS ALREADY BUT ITS ALWAYS NICE TO HEAR YOURE ON THE RIGHT TRACK FROM SOMEONE ELSE,, THANKS FOR THE INFO

Thank you for explaining the side effects for trying to fool the chickens into thinking it’s not winter! First time I’ve heard that. I don’t add heat and light because I want them to have their annual break.

Thank you for your time and information. I appreciate u.

Great info, thanks for sharing

Give them kitchen scraps. (Safe foods only). Make sure they have oyster shell and rocks.

I do appreciate all the information here! We were away for a couple of week mid October. They continued high production while we were gone. Came back and it suddenly dropped drastically for how many hens we have. We made sure we started making food available more round the clock when we got back and it has gone up slightly but still not what it had been. But many molting girls now too. Considering light now even though I was vehemently against before. But being more practical minded that we can’t keep them forever so if their life is shortened a little, that’ll be ok as we have a pretty good size flock and I’m thinking it’d be nice to have new layers every year or every other year. Thank again.

Well done on this video, very clear and interesting information. Handsome guy as well.

Very nice, super informative ❤

Thanks for the information on getting chickens to lay eggs in the winter. I live in Wyoming and our winters can get dangerously cold for chickens I'm talking -30 to -50 in some places and keeping water from not freezing is something that is almost impossible to do sometimes. The only way to keep your water from freezing is to keep it heated inside a heated coop and that is one thing that I'm learning now that my family has chickens that we are using for their eggs and in a couple of years once they start to slow down we will get chicks and then butcher these one once the new ones start laying.

Feed them cayenne peppers every day and they'll lay every day. Or any hot pepper but cayenne works. A tip from my grandfather decades ago and is not ever failed me.

Just subscribed cuz your chickens are your pets! Mine are too! I'm obsessed with my girls!

Great info

Great information 😊

I appreciate all the advice, i am curious about the heat panels though

Channel pepper mixed in feed helps them stay warmer and will help them lay for longer into winter

If you gave younger 🐔, they lay very well evry day with high protein food. My flock was 5 months old in November last year and in January till March thes lay more than 85 %. Now they are 50 %.

I fed meal worms in a block during fall and winter. Gave oregano intermittently for its antibiotic properties. Vinegar in their water. Blessings

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾. Well done. I don’t have or plan to keep chickens, but i found this video interesting.

Great video.

Whole corn is better in the winter. But I agree with the rest of the suggestions. Personally cracked corn is a summer feed for us

just love it

The other day a saw a program on TV about an off grid homestead in Alaska with temperatures close to - 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, what they did in the chickens coop was to put double walls with sawdust in between and got to raise the temperature inside the coop., Another good thing to do to improve the Quality of the eggs is raising mealworms, they have 45-50% protein plus Omega 3 can You believe it???? Well , there's plenty of vídeos on RU-vid if anybody wants to know more about it, Thank You Brandon for sharing, Best regards & wishes

Chickens evolved where there is not winter and where there is always enough. They DO NOT need rest in the winters!. Adding heat or light is a blessing to give them the live God intended for them. NOT giving them heat or light is cruel Yet people say chickens need rest.

I kept a light on a timer but I let it longer at night. 2 AM is way to early for roosters to start crowing..😅

The amount of light a chicken gets may, or may not have anything to do with if they lay eggs, but if they have light to sea to be able to eat more that actually might be what’s going on instead of being in the dark not being able to eat with the lights on, they can see to eat for all those extra hours so what’s really going on here

I agreed with everything you said. Until you got to artificial heat. In my opinion, that is a very bad idea. Your chickens will adapt to the cold. As long as they stay out of the wind and stay dry, they can handle very very cold temperatures. If they get used to the heat, and suddenly the power goes out for a day or two, your chickens will die possibly. It will be too much of a shock to their system. One chicken equals a 10 W heat bulb. Or light bulb. So if you have 10 chickens that's like having 100 W lightbulb in your coop.

Bravo!

9:27 chicken tender! Bwahahaha! Spot on

For those of you who have a black soldier fly larva bin, I have found a way to keep them producing farther into the late fall months. This is almost the end of November in Northwest Florida and we are having occasional freezing temperatures right now, but my bin is still somewhat slightly active, because when I cleaned out my chicken coop, I layered the bin with 4 inches of fresh Chicken Manure, and it kept, the bin hot! I assumed that my soldier flies went dormant assume as we got some cold weather but apparently they’re still active on warm days! So in the early spring, and fall Layer your bin with fresh Chicken Manure, because they absolutely love eating it anyway, and it heats up the pile for the larva. I appreciate your video one of the things I’m going to try to continue Egg production in the winter is put a heater in the water. I would imagine if they drink warm water that would help keep them warmer too.

I feed the cheap food year around but I always feed them left over human food like yogurt that's close to off and veg and oatmeal and beans etc. and my chickens lay year around without heat

You can give 21% dog food for higher protein.Mixed in with whatever else you ou give

Have you seen our heated chicken waterer that during warm months it has a float valve to automatically refill?

I like to know about heat panels.Or those solar.

We have 6 new chickens who should have started laying in September. One is laying, the other 6 are just hanging out. We don't mind, but had hoped for at least a couple of eggs a day. We are considering Christmas LED lights, since they are rated indoor/outdoor. We can't convince her to lay her egg in the nice nesting boxes either! 😂

I would love to know mor ways on hoy to use the panels

I prefer to let my chickens take a break. If you preserve eggs while they are laying well, you don't need to force them.

Awesome explanation! Thank you, I really appreciate your time and care! 👍🏻❤️ So, does a heat panel, that you mentioned is not necessary but can make it easier on your chickens, cause any health issues?? Thank you!

Yes, the drop in heater disk works great inside our 3 gallon bucket nipple waterer. We run an extension cord, because our coop isn't too far from the garage, so that works for us.

So what kind of chicken food I need to get for the winter

Great video. I am also in Utah and my girls have slowed significantly. The younger girls are still too young, and the older girls (about 3 years old) are taking a break. We are getting 3-6 eggs from 17 chickens.

I have a glass entry door on my coop. We noticed not leaving the light on inside they were trying to stay outside. I keep 2 ceramic bulbs for heat in the coop. I have the stationary light fixtures instead of the regular pinch lamps. Not willing to take chances of them knocking light into bedding

I'm very new to having chickens and I still have a lot to still learn :) Thanks for this great video! Our young ones are now 30 weeks and still, no eggs. It has gotten colder and now shorter days, so all that makes sense and I believe in letting nature take it's course. I'm assuming that the shorter sunlight time is the reason this is happening with them too. I'm working on adjusting their food to better quality food from a local feed store instead of the corporate stores. (although they don't seem to like the pallet as much as they liked the crumble). We gifted some of our rooster away to help reduce the stress of too many roosters. I'm not sure what else I should do.. Is it possible that, naturally, they will not start laying until Spring?

Daylight hours does that have an effect?

100% I’m with you on light and heat! Grub terra I buy 10#s every other week! I also have my own BSF bin I row my own in spring summer and fall. Also grow fodder out of bird seed , sunflower seeds and whole oats. Usually let them free range 4 hours a day before daylight savings kicks in.

I1st time seeing ur videos… I happen to have the same exact shed that I am setting up as our new coop … do u have any videos of inside ur coop. I am trying g to design for 25 chickens

Not sure what part of the country your in, but it would help to know how applicable some of the things you say are. Very helpful vid, thank you!

My chicken's in the winter dropped down to about 1/4 of the eggs in the winter, So I bought a 2 stage red bulbed heat lamp, i keep it on the low setting and they started producing about half to 3/4 of the eggs i get threw the summer months. i'm not totally sure but i was told the red bulb is better for them in the winter month's. Hope this help's but do your own research...

Thanks for the video! What you say is my experience also. In addition, keeping plenty of fluffy bedding allows hens to spend less time maintaining core heat, and therefore more energy reserve for making the occasional egg in winter. Hens are born with only a certain number of eggs in their ovaries and when they run out, it's slaughter time even tho they're still fairly young as brooders go. I'm not in that big a hurry to take them out even when I have a coop full of sterile pets exhausted from laying year 'round. Egg Farmers probably don't care as much for the pet side of chickens, so replenishing a laying flock is probably not a big deal. For me, it would be gut wrenching. :) The problem with heat lamps in a coop is the combination of manure plus spark. Chickens want to get as high up as possible and they want to land on the shade or grill of a heat lamp as another ledge. Manure on the heat lamp eventually turns to dry fire starter, igniting methane in the air, and flaming slowly composting bedding along the way. It's not electrical fault, or cheap manufacturing or user error. It's chemistry and avian nature. This happens often with brooder lamps, with little hopping chicks pooping on the lamp when they discover it's too hot to stay up there. The shade should be some prickly and uninviting surface, or the shade should have it's own cooling lampshade to catch manure away from heat source. Alternatively, NO LAMP, and design a little sauna 'room' with perch for the hens to cuddle a bit and use body heat to fill the space. Most coops are too large for heating and we really don't need to heat ALL that open space, just enough to get by during the night. After all, chickens spent all their time after molting just building up that down jacket for winter, and will pull all that down back out to fluff their nests for chicks in Spring. Then, come Spring/Summer, take the coop divider down and make it one room again for good ventilation. One extra winter chore tho is to constantly check the "panic room" for manure and refresh bedding in just that space to prevent methane buildup, and they'll be fine without a lamp all winter long. I agree with the water thing. I have neighbors that will fill the food dispenser but leave a block of ice in the waterer for MONTHS. Doing that results in cannibalism of smaller hens as the dominant ones use them for liquids in their flesh and blood. Eventually the dominants remain, and after that ... "there can be only ONE". I go over there daily with two milk jugs of hot tap water and they climb over each other to get to it. Most new chicken owners don't do the math, thinking chickens are 'free eggs'. In reality, with cost of infrastructure and maintenance, a small coop is a liability and becomes a labor of love. The rough calculations are 1.5 to 2 lbs feed per hen per week or 8 lbs feed per hen per month (outside estimate), multiplied by number of poultry. Then, new coopers should calculate how many bags of feed they'll need on hand rather than being shocked the dispenser is empty "already!" and hens have to wait for the next shopping trip with nothing. Yes, sadly it happens. New coopers should know for every pound of feed, one hen drinks 3 pints of water, or roughly 3 quarts per week for ONE hen. For convenience, round that up to about a gallon PER HEN per week. Suddenly that 5 gallon dispenser isn't looking as convenient for just 5 hens per week if the coop has 20 birds! It will barely make the DAY requirement. The tragedy is small coop people often misuse dispensers. Farmers use them to insure their flock has enough available water per day, and refill the next day or so as needed on their daily rounds. Small coop people often look at a 5 gallon dispenser as a reason TO FORGET THERE ARE CHICKENS, and this is how chickens die of thirst when the owner doesn't want to come back for a month, thinking 5 gallons seems plenty., and well ... messing with water in winter is inconvenient and chilling For small coops (3-5 chickens), it may be more efficient to skip the dispenser and heaters, and just bring a couple milk jugs of hot tap water in the morning when checking on the coop anyway for predator holes or feed levels, or just to say hi to the girls. Milk jugs are easy to fill in the warmth of the house in your slippers, screw the caps on to keep them from slopping on the way thru the snow, so coopers are never cold and wet, and pour them out as needed INSTEAD of a dispenser. A DAILY routine is better than a monthly check, since a frozen dispenser is NO WATER, plain and simple. It's also NO EXCUSE for animal cruelty just because it's a bother to deal with water in winter. ;) Forgive the emphasis on water. It's a heated subject for me right now b/c the neighbors won't water their chickens even tho they KNOW the dispensers are solid ice and the heater doesn't work because nobody will go in the basement to check the fuse box to find out why. They have 17 remaining hens (out of 35 dead ones since 2018) and every year it's the same reason: They use dispensers to FORGET THEY HAVE CHICKENS, not to feed and water them daily.

Hi Brandon. I’m looking at the Scratch and Peck link. Do I need the layer feed or something else to give them more of what they need during the winter? I love your videos, by the way.

Hi

I use a heated water dog dish

What is the first bag you showed?

My three new pullets, the Golden Girls is giving me one to two eggs every other day. My two older hens (9 months old), the Black Beauties, have completely stopped laying. I was hoping that they would start laying again once the new hens came after seeing two of the original Black Beauties be eaten by raccoons. But they haven't. But I'm okay with the fairy eggs from the new pullets.

What about fermenting the feed? I've heard it makes the feed go farther... especially Scratch and Peck which is pricey...but does it improve laying? It would certainly help with hydration I think? Thanks so much! I'm helping my daughter with 20 hens on her homestead and it's a learning curve 😁🐓💓

Do I need to change the chicken feed for more high protein in the winter? Right now I’m giving 17% protein organic feed mix with grain scratch. I don’t supplement light or heater. Few chicken stopped to lay but my golden comets still laying every single day. Should I increase the protein or 17% is good?

Supplemental heat and light cost electricity. A better solution would be to buy breeds bred specifically to lay year-round, such as chanteclers and icelandics ;) The biggest issues that i see with heat lamps or any other kind of lamp are dust accumulation and security. The bulbs and lamp itself must be checked and cleaned frequently, and the lamp also needs to be secured in such a way that panicking chickens (think mink in the coop) cannot knock it down or break it. For ordinary lighting, 'rough service' bulbs are safer (they don't break as easily), but you will need to make sure that the coating used is NOT teflon (some are, some aren't, but teflon kills birds).

Ive worked in them large poultry farms. In them big coups they never turn off the lights. Also the chickens like water from a bowl or dish. Not a dropper. Something big enough to submerge there beck. Amino acids are key. Chickens do better with meat of some sorts in there diet. Just grain is limits them. And they will start to kill other birds to get it if needed.

I only have 1 small window in the coop itself. is that a problem?

Hi Brandon Love all your vids but especially the chicken info ones. I have a question for you about one of my 6 hens. All the girls were born 3/29 and have been giving up to five eggs daily. Each hen is a different breed w/ different color eggs. My olive egger has been laying 5x a week until this past week. We had no eggs from her for a whole week until today. Today’s egg is half the size of her previous eggs. Should I be concerned? She seems otherwise fine. Thanks in advance for your advice.

105° to 100° oops! I think you meant to say to 107°. Also studies have been done that laying through winter causes a chicken no harm. Chickens like humans, we make WAY more eggs and store them in our ovaries than we will EVER use. So I use a red light for about 4 hours a night to 1. Warm the chicky poo/ roo's up after a ling cold day foraging. 2. Adds a few more hours of light to their short days (they don't like going to bed so soon between their getting up for the day. 3. It does increase egg priduction with them getting about the 14 minimum hours per day to stimulate their egg production. 4. Red light helps calm chickens. And minimally some say does not interefere with their sleep. When bugs, plants, and time are short, this helps them to get along better and be less bullying and mean. Turn it off at 9-10pm and let them get their dark hours. Which I personally think is needed as we do for proper REM cycles. So what is linked to reproductive issues are breeds who's laying is production chicken frequency. Nearly every day. Yes they do need breaks but it seems a few days off are the trick and not months. And so this is why I almost don't have any hens that lay like this (I did get a Whiting True Blue and Whiting True Green and then learned this is why he, Dr. Whiting, cultivated the breed). BTW I love your shed turned coop. I have been considering this and noticed it changed to what looks like a resin shed. Do you find this is more heat conserving? I'm thinking they would be. At least a little. Anyhow much Thanks for your videos. I enjoy watching them. I'm also in Utah and addicted to raising chickens! I love our chicken crazy community here!

???Does the heat lamp cast enough light to artificially trick them into laying in the darker winter months ???

I’m done upping the light for more eggs, it’s just too hard on them and they don’t live as long either, just my own experience.

Hi there 👋 question about your shed/coop you got on KSL. We want to upgrade our coop similar to yours. How did you move this shed? Did you disassemble it first and put on a trailer? There is NO WAY we can spend 1600 on a brand new one to ship but we just dont know how to move it if we find a used one. Thanks so much!

That footage of the fire is horrifying and heartbreaking.