What to feed your chickens so they survive winter. 

To those that don’t believe chickens are not meat eaters: I watched my Rhode Island red chase down a mouse and swallow it whole. I did not believe what I saw until I saw my Leghorn do the same thing with half the flock in pursuit. Remember the dinosaurs!

Our hen house is not wind proof at all. We live in n.w. Missouri and temps get down in the negatives. We have never lost a chicken from exposure in the last 5 years . Chickens are tough birds. One thing we do or not do is clean out the coop during winter. We just add fresh hay when needed.

Hello from TN! The moisture in the air is a real problem here in TN. We are humid here. It rains, a LOT! With that comes freezing in winter! The bedding can be thick, which is great, but, unlike others, we can't/shouldn't leave pine chips or straw on the floor to compost!! As someone said, MOLD will develop! Then it will cause diseases. I clean my chicken house once a week. I put linoleum on the floor of my chicken house to make it easier to shovel out! You can compost all of the pine chips and manure for your blueberries or anything that needs acid soil. I sprinkle Diatomaceous Earth (DE) everywhere (wear a mask)!! Make sure to clean your nesting boxes! Sprinkle them with DE too! Them put down the chips or straw. Scrub out the watering system too! Add a little Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) to their water. It's good for them.

Hi Becky, thank you so much for all the info you provide. I have 5 chickens and 1 rooster for the first time in my life and you have so helped me to keep them healthy & happy. You're the best! Thanks again, Maggi from North Florida.

Becky, this was a great video! I like in the beginning how you explained that where YOU are, it doesn't get very cold! How you don't have to put down pine flakes or straw. Your explanations on ways to STOP the wind and rain from getting into the chicken house! How you told us that your cooperation WASN'T what a person needed in a COLD climate!! I've learned so much from you on how to use DE on all the animal ! Thank you!!

I have chickens in very cold weather two things I can suggest if you have 45 F - 0 F degrees. 1. Collect old shipping crates and lay them on the floor of coop. Then wood chips on areas without crate. 2. Insulate the side walls and them close up with raw wood like a log cabin. 3. If it gets really really cold (my coop has electric) I switch the regular bulb with a heat bulb. Happy Winter Chicks!

Here in Alaska all my meat chickens are harvested and in the freezer by October. The laying hens do just fine in the mobile hen house with hay and straw on the floor with a cracked corn and oat feed. I grow sunflowers in the summer and hang them from the rafters just out of their reach. the hens need to jump up to peck a seed. I like to think it helps to keep them moving and from freezing, but they still do just fine in winter without. To calk like you suggested is silly. My hens would try to eat it thinking it's a grub.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom! Our chickens arrive in June and thanks to you we feel better prepared!

Becky, your information is priceless. Thank you. My mother raised 200 or more chickens on the farm. She sold eggs. I wish I could ask her so many questions now that I am starting to raise a small flock for personal enjoyment here in the Midwest where the winters are cold. We have a well insulated coop with interchangeable summer and winter doors with some small vents in the walls. My hubby built it and it’s fabulous. Thank you for all of your information. You don’t leave out any details and I appreciate that.

Thank you for sharing all you know! I have always wanted chickens although I've never been around them much & I live in Michigan. I have enjoyed learning more with you! Thank you!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Becky...you are my inspiration for my proyect

Merry, merry, merry Christmas to you Ms. Becky and your family.

Thank you for this great information. I am just staring out and I am learning so much from watching your channel. I am in the process of buying my land. Praying I get this land I am trying to buy. Chickens will my first project to start with. I am in a cold climate so this is a very educational video for me. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Really enjoy your videos ,they are informative and very upbeat .

I live in NE Ohio and would never use wood shavings on the coop floor!! I use 2 bales of straw for deep floor bedding. Straw will not stay wet whereas wood shavings will stay wet and freeze. Also I free feed both oyster shell & grit. The oyster shell helps prevent soft shell eggs. A coop needs ventilation to stay dry so I would never seal it up as you suggest! I actually have a vent in the roof!! There's a big difference in caring for & raising farm chickens vs. having some chickens in the backyard in a prefab coop.

I love your chicken videos, the best! I am a chicken lady now...23 girls...more in the spring...Love your channel, Becky! Thanks for all you do...in MN: cold and snowy winters....my hubby built a "mansion" for my girls! and a covered run for winter months....it's awesome.....have an awesome day out there! :) Dawn @ Rich & Dawn in MN :)

Thank you for the tips Becky.

You look great! I buy feeder mice and fish from the pet store. I keep a my own meal worm farm in my garage. This helps during cold weather. I just love your videos, they have helped me learn so much.

Thanks so much for the tips Becky

Becky I love your teachings😍

Becky your the best .thanks for all the tips for country living with chickens

Great info as always Becky thanks!

Thank you,very good information, im new with chickens and still learning!!

Thanks So Much for the AWESOME VIDEOS and DETAILED INFORMATION 🎯💝🎉

I’m always looking forward your videos 🥰

So excellent. Thank You!

I'm not interested in chickens but watch because I like you ...you are so adorable😍

Me encanta todos tus consejos!!! Muchas gracias por ayudarme a cuidado de mis gallinas!!😊

Just wanted to stop by and wish You and all the kids a Very Merry Christmas 🎄 🐔🐣🐮🐽🐓

Never seal up your coup the chickens breath creates moisture and collects on the waddles and combs and they can get frost bite air flow is needed to prevent this

I have a insulated heated coop, it stays about 40 to 45 degrees. The water has a heater, so it doesn't freeze I use the chips and hay. I also feed them warm water with oatmeal and berries, they love it.

Love your videos!

Love your videos thank you 🙏🏼

Hi coming from the cold Canadian North I add a heat lamp helps during those snowed in days

Hi Becky. You forgot to mention ventilation in sheds/coops. I would recommend ventilation on upper/ middle and lower level due to respiratory tract infections chickens have during cold spells. Chickens in cold climates need an undercover area outside their coop/shed.. Your advice about food is good. My girls have lots of different kind of food for their tea. They are laying well :) Plenty of 🌽. Grit is SO important ! My girls eat this everyday.. Thanks for taking time to share. Could you please do a video about chicken enrichment toys, IE Ladders, tunnels, etc. Many thanks Amanda Cribb

I read your book loved it

I use alfalfa for our chickens. They have fun peckimg at it first few days. Then they make a mess out of it, whatever alfalfa I put for them to lay on they end up kicking it to the ground. I am gonna try laying down the alfalfa thicker. Thank you for all the useful tips!

You are so intelligent, thanks you for all the cool info.

I was told it is easy to have chickens. OMG. That was so wrong! They are so high maintenance! Thank you for all of the information you share, I bought your book and managed to keep nine beautiful 2-3 day old chicks alive for two months now. They are now outside in their fortress. LOL. (We have large predators, so we secured the run well. My daughter says they live in a fortress). We love our girls, but we spent way too much money on them than we thought we would. They eat a lot more than I thought they would. I gave them table scraps yesterday and they barely touched it. They are hugely messy, pooping in their food and water, which I clean daily. They run from me as if they fear I will kill them. I don’t understand why they are afraid of me. We have two coops in the run because each coop only holds six chickens, yet all nine girls bed down in one coop every night. I don’t understand those beautiful girls. They are entertaining and cute. I love them and would be devastated if anything happened to any of them. But we have spent more time and money on them than we ever thought we would and we get no love in return. 😀🤷‍♀️

Very informative. Thank you so much 😊

Excellent video!

Always enjoyed your simple but educational lessons all the way from Gweru City Zimbabwe!!

Merry Christmas to you!

Good video going through cold weather now and freaking out over my chickens thanks I will get meat also other foods today

Hi dear! 👏👏👏 love! Merry Chistrimas!! 🎅

I love your video thank you so much 💓

Becky your awesome with chickens

i just love your videos

Gr8 info,Merry Christmas,tfs

I love the rooster. He is so elegant.

This was really good

Becky great video as always. You ever deal with chickens getting ascites and if so what do you do? Thank you

Also corn takes a longer time to digest keeping them warmer at night. Agape love ❤😊

This.really helped th that you are a great person

We just had to remove all hay bedding, *warning* MOLD! Those of us who have had one of the rainiest falls I can recall up north need to be aware and remove moldy hay from coops. Stick to your idea of thick kiln dried pine shavings of very low dust quality. Even our straw has had a mold issue! Cold wet and mold will kill!!

Great information 👍🥚

$23?! I’ve got em for $3 off the field here. We get -30 temps here in the NH mountains. I have a small flock. I build them a coop with a floor the size of a piece of plywood and have it raised about 3 feet off the ground. Sealed up good like you said. They’ve seen 3 winters so far.

Thank you so much telling me about chicken I have crack corn. And one of my chicken making egg a lot in the winter.

Good information TY

Becky my uncle was one of the first in Florida to custom bake hay in the central area. This happened eighty or ninety years ago.

Great info and tips. Merry Christmas

u seem like u r such a sweet person would love to meet u but I no that won't happen .just wanted to say that to u and thanks for your time u put in your videos ,so people can learn .God bless u and your family.

Becky, what part of Florida do you live in? I'm in Jacksonville, 13 miles from Jacks Beach. I'd be interested in some land out in the area of Fort White it's more farm land out there. I have learned so much over the past years watching you on homesteading, animal care etc. You have showed that we women can be successful in this. thank you. Ginny from Jacksonville Florida.

Hi Becky! I love your videos! I would like to recommend to all your followers in rhe colder climates, that when your chickens are spending more time indoors, its a good idea to find good quality pine shavings that are "cleaned" of most of the dust. Even my horses had breathing issues with regular pine bedding if they were in during the winter. I used Guardian bedding, but there are several other brands available also. This is also really important when you have baby chicks on bedding as well.

I buy the no sodium tuna and they LOVE shrimp!

I don't live up north anymore but I'm not sure I would caulk all the cracks and spaces. When winter is over and the summer humidity arrives, their hen house will roast them. I would think some sort of temporary barrier like a tarp or bales of hay stacked up like a wall. But be sure to leave some sort of ventilation up at the top? I like that you give them options of the type of surface they want to roost on. Some like a flatter surface, others like to wrap their toes around a round roost

love your chicken tips

Merry Christmas to you and your family Becky! From; Aka 1BIGGUN🎅🎅🎅😎

Hi Becky, you look great. What are your thoughts on Cinnamon Queens? Temperament and ease of raising? Thank you.

I had no idea how complicated it is to keep chickens healthy! O M G.

I love your videos❤️❤️❤️

Tuna is a HUGE attractant for Skunks, if you have them in your area so be careful with leaving it sitting around or over feeding with it, if you use it at all. You can use meal worms to give them winter time protein too.

I’m in Northern California in the valley and it gets so hot here we don’t even have a true winter so fortunately winter isn’t too hard...but summer 😩😩😩 I’ve lost two chickens to heat and they had water and shade

Check your bag of chips. The last 2 bags I bought had paint on the chips.

Can I be one of your hens? :)))) So loved and well cared for! Thank you Becky!

I put in my coop is suet.they love it.

Everything you mentioned in your video is right in target. You are spook right!!! And although we do live down here in Florida Be my iv e realized we too have some very cold nights. So I'm going put with a calling gun to fill in the drafty cracks today and maybe put extra pine shavings down cuz my thermometer was reading34 degrees this morning.....sunday...also Becky I went Rural king and saw a chicken coop heater . It looks like a flat screen tv. And it like heats up but there's no like red hot element that has to get super hot to heat the area..and there is just no chance of fire as there is with heat lamp bulbs or a regular little space heater....its a very nice and safe way to warm your coop.....Maybe you should check it out and do a video on this type of coop warming so everyone can see and learn about them. Their Awesome!!!!! Thanks for all your vids I love watching!!! LINDA IN FLORIDA

Don't forget the mealworms.

You are Good!!!!!!!!! I don't have any but your video just came up and I watched it all. So awesome!!! I bought land and building a house I want some chickens. It looks like a lot of work but I will do it. I live in Houston Texas so it gets a little cold now then the days warm up. Love you channel and sub you too...

4 yrs ago! WHERES BECKY??? Love her videos ❤️👍

How many times per week would you feed the protein like tin fish cat/dog food etc?

My chickens love tuna too!

Clean crushed egg shells. Free and a good calcium source for us too. Many of us are allergic to seafood. And its expensive. Food for thought 😊❤

Left a like

Huahu. You look Great. I have being following your videos, and notice that your loosing weight. JeKeepep the good work. I love your videos.

Hi! Another video of yours I enjoyed. U r in FL??? I thought u lived in CA?

Great

Is fresh sardines good for chicken or packed sardines? Which one is better?

Hello Becky! I Love your videos and Merry christmas! Can you feed your chicken worms, and bugs and stuff like that during winter as meat?

Great video, good information

chickens in general are very hardy and been bred many years to help them in that....My game birds roost in trees over barn and never lost one.

I love chicken for tick control

Hi Becky, I live your videos. You say you will leave a link to something you have said but I can never find the links. Thank you so much. Sharon

Quick question Becky, the tuna/sardine tins you mentioned... are they the tuna in brine or oil?

I can’t even stand next to my rooster without him trying to kill me lol

With the tuna do you get the one that’s in oil ,for extra fat or the tuna in brine ?

You can also feed them Chicken Scratch and Layer Pellets/Crumbles. LOL Comes in 50LB bags.

Hi nice video plz advice me hen is ill she is not eating n drinking perfectly what to give her for recovery and better Growth of her!

Becky, just wondering how many chickens you have?

Omg you are so nice