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How to Help Your Birds Throughout the Winter Months!

Winter is hard on poultry and with winter approaching rapidly, you want to help make them be as comfortable as possible!

Heres some helpful tips and tricks!

NUTRIENTS: Chickens need greens for nutrients, but with all the snow, chickens can’t get what they need. One of the easiest ways to give your birds greens is to hang a cabbage on a string! This gives them something to do and it’s a great source of nutrients. Another way is by giving them dark, leafy greens such as spinach or kale. This helps boost their immune system and helps them maintain a healthy diet during those harsh months!

ADDED PROTEIN SNACKS: Give your chickens protein rich snacks to entertain them and help them to stay heathy during the winter. Good options: Carrots (cooked or raw), eggs (cooked), fish (raw or cooked), nuts & seeds, and of course….. mealworms!!

DO’SDON’TS
Use normal waterers, fill them 1/4 way and re-fill it 4 times each day. It’s more work, but less risky. Don’t use heated waterers! They could very easily catch the shavings on fire.
Make a run that is wrapped in plastic and has a roof so that snow/ice does not get inside of the run. Let feathered-footed birds out in the snow. They could get frost-bite due foot feathers holding water.
Use the deep-litter method. Clean your coop every
1.5 – 2 months. Keep adding shavings on top of the old. Poop creates and holds heat!		Clean chicken coop every 2 weeks. Fresh shavings don’t hold heat!

Meat Chickens!!

Yesterday we got 200 Meat Chicks!!!!! When you get meat hens, it is important to have the following thing already set up. Water, food, shavings, and a heat source. The chicks don’t know what water or food are yet, so it is important to dip their beaks in the water and food. Then put them under the heat lamp, heat pad, or heat table. You would also want to take a head count to make sure you were sent the right amount. You also check for Splay leg (Leg splayed out), Pasty Butt (Poop build up on the vent), and Weakness. Here are ours 🙂

How to Raise Friendly Chickens

Here at H&H Poultry we try our best to raise friendly chickens, heres how.

STEP 1# When you get chicks sit with them and let them get to know you, chicks are very curious.

STEP 2# As the chicks grow, keep going in and handling and start giving treats to them.

STEP 3# Even when your chickens are adults keep handling, giving treats, and even just sitting and watching them be chickens.

STEP 4# You have friendly chickens (Sometimes even if you do this some will still be skittish)

Why do you Quarantine Chickens?

Here at H&H Poultry we quarantine our birds. Why? You don’t know if the chicken(s) has some sort of sickness. Keep them separated from the rest. Keep a close eye and look for any sneezing, coughing, nasal discharge, bubbles in the eye, leg mites, and mites. If they do have those symptoms keep them separated from your flock until it has been treated.

Gwen the Guinea Hen has an injury so we separated her from the rest of the flock.

Best Chickens to match your Climate

Some Cold Climate Breeds

  • Silkie ( A variety of colours they also come in Bantam and Standard sizes )
  • Plymouth Rock
  • Rhode Island Red ( Comes in Bantam and standard sizes)
  • Cochin ( There are a variety of colours and they also have a Bantam and standard size)

Some Both Climate Breeds

  • Speckled Sussex
  • Australorp (They come in different colours and they can be Bantams)
  • Wyandotte (They come in different colours and can be Bantams)
  • Orpington (They come in different colours and can be Bantams)

Some Warm Climate Breeds

  • Welsummer (Can be Bantams)
  • Leghorn ( they come in different colours and they can be Bantams)
  • Brahma ( Come in different colour and can be Bantams)
  • Sumatra ( come in Bantam sized and can be different colour)

Some Colored Egg layers

  • Amauracana
  • ( Come in different colours, Lay Blue eggs, and can be Bantams)
  • Easter Egger (Come in different colours and can be bantams)
  • Olive Egger (Comes in different colours, lays, green eggs, can be bantams)
  • Legbar ( They come in different colours, lay Blue, Green, Olive eggs, can be Bantams)