Hello hivegardeners! Winter is certainly here in South Oz. It's not calendar winter yet but Parnati on the local calendar. The rains are infrequent but heavy and there is enough chill in the air to cause me to change from gardening things to gardening ugg boots. It was 2.1°C the other morning and it feels close to that this arvo. I think @riverflows and @minismallholding can vouch for the sudden chill.
It's time to get the chooks ready for the cold. I change their bedding material to Pine shavings in the cold weather. I hope the aromatic oils keep their beaks clear of congestion. It's always nice for me when I clean their house out too.
Time tooto cover the mesh walls with sheets of clear plastic in strategic places to stop the wind and some of the rain. I can't do much about the roof because the run is built around the apple tree but at least I can give them respite from the chill winds and sideways rain.
There is a length of LED strip light on the roofed area and this is attached to a small solar panel. It gives a bit more light when the Sun shines. That might sound weird but the chookrun is built to give the girls cool shade in the heat of Summer and gets a bit dark in Winter. The light gives them a little boost in the daytime which, I hope makes them happier.
I'm not into giving 24 hour light to boost egg production. Only one of our girls lays regularly and another pops one out when she feels in the mood. The others are happily retired so I let them relax and do chooky things.
In the Winter, I put a wide tub under the chook house and fill this with fine sand so that the girls can take dust baths even when things are wet. What a life!
Also, we change their feed. The fermented grain gets a little extra molasses to sweeten the girls up a bit. I've also changed how I prepare their sprouted grains.
I make them in larger, 10 litre plastic buckets. The girls eat more I Winter and actually don't like sprouts in Summer (when you'd think they'd like the extra juiciness). In Summer, too, bulk sprouts tend to go off in the heat, so I waste a lot. It's supposed to be a cost saving effort, afterall.
The Quail benefit from any changes to the chook house but I think they're made of tougher stuff and seem to like sleeping on the ground even as the temperature plummets. I do add extra sand to their run so they can do what they like to do best- dustbathe!
A while back, I experimented with a passive heating system for the chook house that was quite successful but fell apart in the bad weather. I'm thinking of getting it back together in more permanent form this year. I'll post about that too when it's up and running.
Stay warm folks!
I have a theory on why the chickens' diet changes in winter. I notice mine go for greens way more than higher protein foods in winter and I think it's because the protein rich foods are needed for egg production in summer. Maybe plants are craved in winter for body health to stave off sickness and they don't need to eat as much without piling it into eggs, so why not sprouts and greens? The nutrition then goes to the chook, helping them recover ready for the next season.
Some good ideas. I've noticed they eat heaps more during the cold. Mine love extra grain. They might behave differently this year, as only one is laying now even in Summer. Chooks do work in mysterious ways
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