Meat birds in winter?

Hey there,

A few years ago, we got ourselves a nifty high tunnel, about 2000 sqft.  This year, the grant contract has ended and we're free to use the space for chimkins over winter.  But... can it be done?  We live in Barre, MA (usda zone 5b).  The major barrier is that the ding dang thing is so far from the house and it's a pain in the rear to get up there in knee deep snow.

We're willing to trudge up there if there is at least a good chance we could get decent meat birds without ridiculous amount of heating inputs.  I think we might be able to run a trough heater off of solar?  We could collect water off the roof pretty easily, I think (gothic arch).  And there is access to a densely treed area as well as an open field which was once our market garden (and may be again).

I'd love some design ideas from anyone who has done this in a cold snowy climate.  We're looking for as many automagic feed/water ideas as possible to reduce our need to be up there twice daily in case of terrible weather and can't get a plow.

Thanks heaps!

Hey Nissa, I'll offer my thoughts. I've raised meat birds before and they have a few things going for them that I think will make it possible for you. They have a rapid metabolism, and generate a lot of body heat. Depending on the variety of meat bird, they will have their feathers and down to keep that heat in. By variety, I mean anything but Cornish Cross. Cornish cross meat birds usually don't grow many feathers. May I suggest looking into 12 week meat birds such as the big red broiler from Mcmurray as an example. That is the breed that I have experience with. They have all their feathers and they're able to get up and walk around whereas mobility becomes a severe challenge with the Cornish Cross as they get large in size. Aside from choosing a variety better suited to keeping the body heat in, keeping them out of the wind is really what keeps survivability high, and that goes not just for meat birds but for laying chickens too. The wind can really strip heat away from them despite their feathers. And lastly, lots of thick bedding such as straw or hay will greatly help too with keeping them warm. While I have roosting bars in my chicken tractor I made for meat birds, many didn't bother and preferred to stay on the ground. Meat birds poop a lot more than layers, so adding to that bedding may become necessary or poop gets in their belly and chest feathers and they mat together in clumps exposing their skin. A bonus is after the birds are processed, all that poop laden bedding can become a righteous compost pile and turn into some garden gold.

Super, that's what I was hoping.  The high tunnel should keep them out of the wind.  

Interesting  discussion.
I only keep backyard layers, but I my birds do well overwinter sleeping in what is little more than a blanket and tarp covered cage.
That's with them going out everyday,  except for in new snow, which scares them for some reason.

I initially had them in a greenhouse with deep bedding before city regulations nixed that.
The chickens loved it.

I would consider a deep bedding system plus a 55 gallon automatic deer feeder.
The hunting and scratching for food will keep the bedding turned.
A big insulated water tank, like an old water heater or a chest freezer could be easy to keep thawed with minimal heat input.
I have a 5 gallon insulated water cooler I've added nipples to.
It mostly stays thawed without added heat.

We only have night time predators here, so I let them run the yard in the daytime, but I put them in a hardware cloth coop at night.
Rather than pating for hardware cloth on the entire hoophouse, building a chick-shaw style coop would save on materials and help them huddle together for warmth.
Come spring,  it can be moved to an outside run.

Nissa Gadbois wrote:Hey there,

A few years ago, we got ourselves a nifty high tunnel, about 2000 sqft.  This year, the grant contract has ended and we're free to use the space for chimkins over winter.  But... can it be done?  We live in Barre, MA (usda zone 5b).  The major barrier is that the ding dang thing is so far from the house and it's a pain in the rear to get up there in knee deep snow.

We're willing to trudge up there if there is at least a good chance we could get decent meat birds without ridiculous amount of heating inputs.  I think we might be able to run a trough heater off of solar?  We could collect water off the roof pretty easily, I think (gothic arch).  And there is access to a densely treed area as well as an open field which was once our market garden (and may be again).
I'd love some design ideas from anyone who has done this in a cold snowy climate.  We're looking for as many automagic feed/water ideas as possible to reduce our need to be up there twice daily in case of terrible weather and can't get a plow.
Thanks heaps!

In Central sands WI zone 4b, so yes, it gets cold here. I have an insulated coop and a high tunnel so that I can push my birds out there when I need to clean up the coop. [Yes, even in winter: I can do a lot with homer pails and a sled]
My first thought was: move the hoop house closer if possible: these things can usually be taken down and rebuilt in less than a day. But you are talking about a 2000 sq. ft building, so maybe not, especially if you have a concrete slab. You don't mention what kind of floor you have in the coop, but that would be my first.
Second: make the area that needs heat [watering hole and feed area] smaller: Chickens generate a fair amount of heat and will keep it if the space is small enough. I visualize a space within a space that would get that double protection. the chickens could still exercise in  the colder area.
Third: hay or straw bales. they are excellent insulators and you could build inside walls as I was suggesting in #2 but you can also place *a lot* of straw in there to keep your chooks comfy.
Fourth: Zone 5b tells me that you are generally warmer in the winter than I am but perhaps you get more than a couple feet of snow. If you get a lot of snow, my suggestion is to invest in a good snow blower to make a path to the coop/high tunnel. Beside clearing a path to it, you could pile snow, which is also an excellent insulator as high as you dare up the outside walls. I don't know how high your high tunnel is, I am just assuming a half cylinder. If the ceiling is transparent plastic, the sun will heat up the inside nicely. Keep a snow shovel at the door permanently so you don't have to trudge back in knee deep snow to fetch the #$%^&*(*&^%$#@!!! shovel to open the door. [Ask me how I know]
Fifth:  do you have, or can you get a working compost heap? Your chooks will love it if you have, and a working pile of compost will heat up the area, perhaps enough.
Sixth: transporting water. If you have to, one of those cheap plastic sleds can carry a couple of homer pails full of water. that will glide on a snowy path like silk. Keep the sled near your house, which is where I presume the water is.
Seventh: I read this one elsewhere in the comments: Your choice of chooks. Having meat bird means that you would not have to suffer through a whole winter of cleaning path and ferrying water, but indeed: Cornish Cross may not be the best. they really should be butchered at 8 weeks but they do not forage and once they reach their full size, they will just lay in front of their food/ water, losing all their belly feathers. [They are less well feathered than other breeds to start with so...]
Eighth: For feed, there are very good suspended feeders, like they use to feed deer [illegally, in my area]. That will keep them in feed for days at a time, but your biggest problem is really water, and they *must* have clean water at all times, so you will have to do a daily inspection anyway.
I hope you can use some of these suggestions to keep your chooks [and you] happy for the winter. although if you have enough meat in the larder to last you the winter, I'd wait until spring to get my meat birds. that would solve all your problems right there.
Unrelated, I would add that if you choose Cornish Cross, and a lot of them, you should line up a butchering facility and an appointment before you buy the chooks. Here again, ask me how I know: I just finished butchering 24 very large Cornish X with the help of my sister in law and her daughter. I timed my raising meat birds so that I would not have to clear a path, sled water, insulate in winter but I neglected this one detail.
I'm paying with my health now. Good luck to you. Lets us know how you are faring.

Edible Acres is a permaculture nursery in the Finger Lakes area of NY; they use chickens primarily for their compost production, but they over-winter them in high tunnels and may have some good ideas for how to streamline the systems needed to keep chickens healthy in that climate within a permaculture mindset. They have a youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/edibleacres that may be a helpful resource.

The one big issue (outside of just keeping them alive until desired slaughter day) is that in winter a lot more of the energy from their feed will go to keeping them warm rather than growing meat.  So for the same time you'll get a smaller carcass, or for the same size carcass you'll need a longer grow out.  

As mentioned by others already, I second the motion for not-CRX for this application.  Honestly I recommend not-CRX anyway, but especially for this.  They just don't have the feather coverage of other broiler breeds. I've always preferred Freedom Rangers.  They (or red rangers) should develop the down and feather coverage needed to stay warm enough.

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:
Unrelated, I would add that if you choose Cornish Cross, and a lot of them, you should line up a butchering facility and an appointment before you buy the chooks. Here again, ask me how I know: I just finished butchering 24 very large Cornish X with the help of my sister in law and her daughter. I timed my raising meat birds so that I would not have to clear a path, sled water, insulate in winter but I neglected this one detail.
I'm paying with my health now. Good luck to you. Lets us know how you are faring.

If you've done it plenty of times before, butchering a couple dozen (or even 100) broilers isn't too bad of a DIY project.  If this was your first time (or if you're not still under 60) I can see how this would be a daunting job.  For 100+ I'd definitely want a plucking machine to speed up the process, but this past Sunday my wife and I butchered 21 cockerels (egg layer breeds) and a BBW turkey and plucked them all by hand.  Got them done in about 4 hours of actual working time (had to take a break with 3 or 4 chickens and the turkey still to go so we could feed the kiddos).  And that was just the 2 of us, and included catching them, and heating the scalding water.  If the teens had been available to help it would have gone a lot faster.  It wasn't worth the time to pick up and return plus the effort of cleaning to rent the plucker I usually get for 100 bird processing days.