In the Coop & Around the World - January 6, 2019
Meet the Flock: Here’s a shot of Moe the Salmon Faverolles hen taken last May, so we can all think wishfully about springtime when the snow is gone, the weather warms up, and the hens are all be outside foraging for all those bugs and plants and other yummy stuff. I’m sure the hens are thinking wishfully as well - every time they stick their heads out of the pop door and see all that snow!
The good news is that even though it’s winter and this is Minnesota, the Hipster Hens have a good, comfortable life. The coop is snug and draft-free, I keep it clean, dry, and free of dust, and there are heat panels that provide just enough heat to keep it above freezing. The chickens use their cozy covering of down and feathers to provide the necessary insulation to warm them the rest of the way up to 105 degrees - chicken body temperature.
If your coop gets too cold, too wet, or too drafty, it could seriously impact the health of your flock. One of the most common problems in northern coops in the wintertime is comb frostbite. There are a number of things you can do to prevent frostbite in your hens, and Kristina Mercede Urquhart outlines six of them in this informative article from Hobby Farms: 6 Ways to Avoid Frostbite in Your Chickens.
Another problem that most flock owners have to deal with in the winter and in the summer: Rodents! Chicken coops are heaven on earth for mice and rats - they provide a nice shelter to get out of the cold and away from predators, plus there’s all that chicken feed laying around to nibble on! This “heaven on earth” situation for the rats and mice is a little short of paradise for you and your chickens. Rodents can carry disease and parasites into your coop, and while chickens, little dinosaurs that they are, will happily eat any mouse they can catch, they sleep very soundly at night, and that’s when the mice can creep in and nibble on their feathers. And rats eat baby chicks! Flock keepers have tried a number of solutions to the rodent problem over the years, including keeping barn cats . But a legitimate question to consider about cats is, “Will they only go after the rodents, or will they also bother the chickens?” Victoria Peterson discusses all of this in her VJP Poultry blog post, “Mice, Rats, Chickens, and Cats.”
