Winter Ducks and Chickens

We got our first real cold snap this past week.  Temperatures dipped down into the 20s and the ground froze hard for the first time this winter.  We got a beautiful snow that clung to the trees.  Then we got 3 days of temperatures in the teens during the days with single digits at night and wind chill below zero.  And last night came an ice storm that sadly broke some limbs off our pine tree.   For winter poultry care - the ducks' bathing tub has been downsized to a tiny basin they can fit in one at a time that is easy to fill.  Feeders and waterers are in a plastic hoop I built that I am hoping can double as a wee hoophouse for hardening off seedlings in the spring. 

Khaki Campbell trio preens and bathes

Winter duck bath

Poultry hoop

Winter feeders and heated waterers

Poultry Hoop

Former "Victim Hen" adopts 3 Ducks and becomes Matriarch

Our flock of chickens is living at my workplace for the summer.  I am there a lot, there is a big shade tree and lots of weeds for them to eat so they are happy.  Except that the move there threw some mysterious hen dynamic off, and they started really going after one hen.  They pulled her feathers out, ripped her comb and wouldn't let her eat or drink.  So, back home she came to live here on the homestead.  After her departure, all became calm again with the main flock.  Who knows...

Chicken plus duck

Chickens are flock animals, not solitary creatures, though I thought a lonely life was better than death by pecking.  She actually seemed to be enjoying herself.  She had the whole property to roam, and gained weight eating bugs galore.  Then, the ducks moved outside, and I had hopes that they might all bond.  At first, I kept the duck trio in their own pen when they would come out, and she didn't show any aggression to them.  Then, when it was warm enough, I popped them in the chicken coop and there they stayed.   She didn't seem to mind them.  I'd let them out and they would excitedly run around and forage, and she would saunter up like she didn't really care about them, but just happened to want to forage in the same place.

Now they are free ranging, and follow her around the place.  They are quite a motley crew, but a content bunch, as far as I can tell.

Time for a drink

The trio of ducks is always together.  No matter what they do, it is with company.  And if they need a clue on the ways of the world, they just find their chicken.

Lounging under the elderberry bushes

First Snow Accumulation of the Winter

hoop

waterer

straw bales with fiberglass panel on top - a fave hangout

winter hoop

December Pictures

Cover Crop for Chickens

Cover crop planted near chickens: Austrian Field Peas, Winter Rye, Oilseed Radish

Chickens eating cover crop that was cut and tossed over fence

Cut cover crop and fermented wet feed

Chicken Winter Hoop

Added items to the chickens' winter outdoor hoop.  In went the hanging feeder from their coop, the metal winter waterer with base that keeps water above freezing when temps drop, and straw bedding.

Winter waterer

Straw Bedding

"Gimmie Chiles!"

Our chickens love chile seeds.  Chickens co-evolved with chile plants to help spread their seeds, so they have no heat receptors that would make eating chiles painful.  They like all kinds and pick open the chiles to eat the seeds first.  There is anecdotal evidence that cayenne powder in chicken feed can prevent worms...not sure if all the chiles I grow could have the same positive affect but it can't hurt and they really relish them.  I pulled the plants out before the first frost and since we have all the hot sauce and powders we need, the extra chiles went to the girls.

New Hampshire, Dominique, and Partridge Rock munch hot peppers

Dominque with hot peppers

In the garden I have several beds seeded with cover crops (pictures are from a week ago, they are taller now).  We had our first hard frost of 27 degrees 2 nights ago, which knocked out the tomatoes, zucchini, nasturtiums, and hurt the peppers but didn't kill them.  Everything else was wilty with cold but promptly bounced back when warmed by the sun (parsnips, napa cabbage, cover crops, lettuce, arugula).  The kale laughed and just kept growing.  

Cover crop mix: forage radish, Austrian field pea, winter rye

cover crop

Aji Cristal

Veg from the garden

salad from the garden

Harvested my first cultivated mushrooms ever.  Wine caps from some spore I put on woodchips under our Sweet Bay Magnolia tree in early summer.  Score.  I tried them because I read they were fairly easy to grow - a good beginner mushroom.  Seems to be the case.  

first mushroom harvest ever: wine caps

Prepping Chickens for Winter Outside

"What do they do in the winter?" is a common chicken question.  Well, these birds don't give a crap, they want to be outside, come what may.  Snow? Rain? Freezing temperatures?  No problem.  The coop seems to be for sleeping, eating, laying eggs and not much else if they can help it.  The truth is the mix of birds I have are hardy breeds that can handle cold as long as they have wind and rain protection.  Last year I waited too late and rigged them up a wobbly plastic tunnel when it was already winter, (which they spent ALL their time in) so this year I am being proactive.

Chickens on compost with winter hoop in background

My ideal would be to make a walk in winter chicken run that could double as a spring hoop house for plants....something like this http://www.farminginmyfifties.com/how-to-build-a-cattlelivestock-panel-hoop/ and maybe that will happen in 2016, but for this winter I decided a small hoop that I can put up quickly will do.  I also made a "compost shelter" area out of hay bales to contain the garden waste I am giving them now so they don't spread it all to kingdom come with their scratching (and they like the windbreak from the hay bales).  

Now I just need a way to get them from the coop to this area on rainy freezing days...I have an idea for version of a covered chicken tunnel....but more on that later.

strawbale windbreak/compost area and plastic tunnel for hanging out in on rainy and snowy days

compost area

Once the compost area was hastily assembled, I moved hoops from a garden bed I was not planning to cover this winter and covered with hoops with 6 mil plastic we had removed from a hoop house at work.

winter outside area

winter tunnel...I'll likely put some straw bedding down in here.

screwed on fiberglass panels on coop as windbreak

If you want this whole "minimal winter protection for chickens, no heat in the coop" thing to work, you need:

• hardy breeds (New Hampshires, Australorps, Rocks, Easter Eggers, etc)
• ventilation in the coop at the bottom and top (important!)
• no wind blowing on the birds
• bedding that isn't too wet
• enough birds to keep each other warm...I'd say 3 or 4 minimum...we have 11

After learning from chickens for several years here are a few things I take into account when planning their winter quarters:

• they like to be outside during the day...the coop is just for sleeping and egg laying
• they like to feel safe when they are sleeping and egg laying so solid sides on the coop and curtains on the nest box give them privacy and make them feel secure
• they don't like to get wind whipped (duh!  who does?) and rained on when its cold (although they don't seem to mind summer rain) so covered plastic hoops or runs with covered plastic sides for wind protection are good for outside space
• they like new things to check out in their space, although they might be wary at first
• they can move a lot of (soil, mulch, whatever) with their digging so any use of them in the garden or on land has to take that into account
• they can turn grass to bare ground quickly - having 2 spaces they can rotate between is best
• an established raspberry patch can hold up to their scratching and they absolutely love the dappled shade and protection it offers.  it seems to be number one area for chicken nap pile

raspberry patch and farm cart on blocks - fav napping areas

What's Happening on the Homestead this Week

Let the chickens into the pumpkin patch to eat squash bugs

They also liked eating amaranth grain that I threw them (the red seedhead)

The fall garden winding down

garter snake

parsnips for fall and winter eating

napa cabbage

digging potatoes

got about 1.5 bushels German Butterball potatoes from a 25 ft row that received no irrigation

Chicken Garden Pen

Inspired by the chicken tractor we built at work to use chickens to clean out beds that had been harvested, I used some leftover fencing to wrap around hoops that were still in the ground from our low tunnels to make a temporary chicken pen.  The area was overwintered lettuce, spinach, and salad greens that had bolted and were done for the year.

There was about a 3 minute period from the hens of "I'm not sure about this" when I put the girls in.  Then I pulled up a few lettuce plants, and they got the idea pretty quick.

"hmmmmmm"

I put in four hens.  This is only good for an overcast, cool day because there is no shade cover for them.  A waterer is also a must if they are in the pen for any extended amount of time.

Salad bar

I think I'll still pull out a lot of the largest plants and throw them in the real chicken run for them to turn into compost, but I think a few days of putting some hens in here for an hour or two while I weed the garden will work out well.  I'll also add some sort of "guard" around the bottom (maybe cardboard) so they don't kick all the soil out of the bed with their vigorous scratching.

Going to town

Clearing out the bed

Below is the chicken tractor we built at Garden Dreams.

Chicken tractor