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

Onion Storage

Onions and shallots like to be cured and then stored.  They prefer cool and dry storage conditions with ventilation of course.  Right now, nowhere in our house or basement is cool, so they will have to settle for less.

Baskets of Cortland onions

Cortland onions

Red shallots Conservor from Johnny's Seeds

French shallot Zebrune from Seed Savers

The onions and shallots hung in bunches on our front porch for several weeks until cured/dried.  I then trimmed the tops and roots and rubbed off the dirty outer skins and stored them in baskets in the basement.  I think the real key is trying to keep the temperature moderate and constant, without big swings.  I learned that keeping them cool and then having to move them somewhere warmer once my "cool spot" got too cold last winter is what really set them to sprouting.  Makes sense.

What's Happening on the Homestead this Week?

The nights have been cool, with very slim chances of much rain in sight.  It has been a very dry summer.  A crispness of approaching fall is in the air in the evenings.  The bees are making knotweed honey and I can smell it's rich aroma when I pass by the hives.

German Butterball potatoes with carrots and parsnips from our friends' garden

Long Island Cheese pumpkin

Tromboncino squash.  I liked picking these as small squash and using like zucchini

Boston Marrow squash

Hot Peppers: Maule's Red Hot, Burgarian Carrot, Trinadad Spice, Habanero, Criolla Sella, Golden Cayenne

Dried chile powders

Hops harvest (variety unknown)

Hops

Hops on drying screens

What is Happening this Week on the Homestead?

Criolla Sella hot peppers

Bulgarian Carrot, Golden Cayenne, Red Habanero, and Aji Colorado peppers

Sungold and Juliet tomatoes and Cayenne peppers

My beloved Juliet tomato

Juliet!

Chickens weeding

Chicken "Stay Out" fence

Blue Lobelia and Elephant Head amaranth

Chickens with hives, hop vine shade tower and coop in background

Chicken harvesting elderberries

Bees and chickens

Elephant head amaranth

Summer garden

Boneset wildflower

Fall Bees

Bees, bees, everywhere.  Small solitary bees and bumblebees have been crowding the flowers we have planted throughout the yard.  In terms of honeybees, it's time for fall management and preparations for winter.  What I'm doing now for late summer/fall management...

1) Checking honey stores.  I leave 20 frames of honey on each hive (100 lbs).  This honey is already in place so anything they gather that is extra from the fall flow (dark rich goldenrod, knotweed, and boneset honey!) I can harvest if desired.  I harvested spring honey earlier in the year from 2 of my 4 hives and got about 125 lbs, which is pretty good since they were splits, which generally make less honey than hives that are not split.  

2) Temperature management.  It is still really hot so on days reaching 90 degrees I give temporary shade.  The hives also have screened bottoms and upper entrances, which help them ventilate the hive.

2 hives with temporary shade cover with proof that chickens and bees can coexist.   

3.  Keeping an eye on Varroa destructor, parasite of the honeybee.  Long story short, humans moved the European honeybee to North America during the 1600s. Hives were kept for honey and swarming bees integrated into ecosystems around the country.  In the 1980s Varroa destructor was accidentally moved from Asia where it coexists in a balanced way with its host, the Asian honeybee, Apis cerana, to North America, where it wreaked havoc on the European honeybee, Apis mellifera.  Commercial beekeepers dumped chemicals into the hive, the mites developed resistance, and they are still a problem to this day.  

The beekeeper always has an eye on the mite count.  I'll never forget hearing the mite described in the first beekeeping class I took: "Imagine a mite the size of a dinner plate, attached to your shoulder, sucking your blood, weakening you, and transmitting viruses to you."  That is how big they are in proportion to a bee's body size.  A parasite doesn't want to kill it's host, but that is how the story is going right now.  Things are out of wack for the mite and the bee.  The complexities of this relationship deserve further writings, so I'll stop there for now on that subject.  

Varroa destructor

"Sticky Board" for monitoring mites.  Coat with oil and slide under the hive.  

I primarily monitor mites with sticky boards.  Since the bottom of my hives are screened, mites regularly fall off the bees and out of the hive.  Doing a passive count over 48 hours and dividing by 2 to see how many mites drop in 24 hours is a way to get an idea of the mite load in your hive.  Other methods are more accurate such as taking a measured sample of bees and either shaking them ino a jar of alcohol (which kills them) or powdered sugar (which doesn't) and then counting the mites that fall off them.  These techniques are called doing an ether roll or a sugar roll.  Sticky boards just give you a general idea of how many mites are likely in the hive.  Mite populations spike this time of year, so I need to keep an eye on them to make sure I am sending the bees into winter without too many mites.  

If I feel that I need to do something about the mites due to the number I observe, my treatment of choice is MAQS, or Mite Away Quick Strips, a product that utilizes formic acid in high concentrations.  Formic acid occurs naturally in honey, though in the concentration in these strips, it can be hard on the bees.  The temperature restrictions say you can use it when daytime temps are at a maximum of 85 degrees F, though I don't think I would use it over about 75 degrees.  I would like to experiment with Oxalic acid and Hopguard now that those treatments are legal in the US.  

Chemical treatments are still available, and commercial beekeepers generally rotate between different chemical treatments to minimize mite resistance.  A sad side effect of these chemicals (besides effects on the bees) is that the global beeswax supply is now contaminated with a myriad of chemical miticides.  

Mites love brood, so making splits is an effective way to break the reproductive cycle of the mites.  One of the splits doesn't have a queen, so there is no brood for awhile while a new queen is reared.  I have had lower mite numbers since I regularly make splits.   

4) Adding honey supers for the fall flow.  The main nectar flows around here are knotweed, goldenrod, and some other fall blooming wildflowers.  Yay for dark, delicious fall honey.

My dad making some honey supers with me

Supers with frames...still need 3 more frames!

Onions!!!!!!

Onion harvest 2015

Onions and shallots (hanging) curing on front porch

Mature Zebrune shallots from Seed Savers Exchange

Small onions will be saved for next year's planting