I have about 14 chickens that have done well over the spring and summer. I have 2 shelters for them as well as a barn, hay shed, and wood shed. What added measures do I need to take to keep them over the winter. By the way, shelter wise the tend to ignore all of the above.
You can only be young once … but you can be immature forever!
We have hawks and an eagle. So far we havent lost any livestock. The chickens clearly know how to stay under the trees. I do have 2 dogs for other critters.
You can only be young once … but you can be immature forever!
I don't know how cold it gets where you are. I'm in zone 7 and don't do anything extra. When I had to leave overnight for an emergency, I put an aquarium heater in the water so it wouldn't freeze. They have the chicken house and two dog houses for shelter. I wish I still had the picture of a snowy evergreen tree infested with chcikens😀 Most of mine tend to like walking through the snow leaving dinosaur tracks. Only have a few birds that don't want to leave the house. The rest still leave the run when I let them out to free range.
Sometimes on bitter cold days, I'll make a warm mash which they seem to like.
We did have a possum that tried to go after the ones in the tree and the dog was having a fit since he couldn't get to it. Dog and rooster made enough noise to wake us at 1 am so we could help it on its way. No chicken loss fortunately.
Over all, cold weather and snow doesn't seem to phase them at all. They have a harder time on high heat and humidity days.