Our chickens, family photo (Girly is missing from photo, she had to go lay an egg)
I haven’t told you lately how much I love our chickens. But I do. They are doing wonderfully and I’m still grateful daily for the eggs they share with us and the extra fun that they add to our lives.
First I’ll give you a broody chicken update. Marmalade was broody for what seemed like forever. She just decided to get out of her funk this past week and I first told you about her broodiness September 21. We’re talking at least a month and a half of “I’m going to hatch these eggs, don’t touch me,” business. We did as many of you recommended and just left her alone. I took out the golf balls so I wouldn’t encourage her. My husband physically pulled her out of the nesting box every day when we’d let the chickens out and she’d poop (they hold it in when they are broody, it’s not good) and then she’d run around with the other chickens. I’m happy to report that she’s joined the flock again and doesn’t seem to be broody anymore! Let’s hope it stays that way.
Egg production is down. Our egg production started to decline when the broody chicken started hogging the nesting box. We went from having 4-5 eggs a day to having 2-3 with the broody chicken. Then the weather started cooling off and the days got shorter and we are getting about two eggs a day between our five chickens. We aren’t getting anxious about it – I’m grateful for any eggs we get and I think I read that egg production decreases in the winter – is this true?
We have been physically putting the chickens inside the hen house at night. Ever since we got our chickens, three of them have opted to sleep outside. But we got them in June – so it was warm. We don’t want them getting cold and getting sick (I hear this happens!) so we’ve been physically putting the chickens in the hen house at night. We are hoping they figure out on their own soon that they need to go into the henhouse at night to stay warm.
The coop is standing strong! I love our coop. We have never had problems with it being stinky (my biggest worry!) and we’ve been adding leaves from the yard into the coop to enhance the compost and for them to play with. They love sending them all around with their feet. One day I will do a post on how to build the coop – hopefully before spring. 🙂 Every couple of months we scoop out a lot of the compost in the bottom of the coop and add it to a big compost pile (we also have a little composter behind the coop – you can kind of see it in the top right corner of the coop photo). We add new pine shavings weekly to keep it fresh.
This morning we played outside for awhile and I took some chicken photos for you. They won’t stand still and I can’t bribe them like I do my children, but I did get a few good photos so you can see how they are doing. Ignore the messy yard. See how they’ve grown by comparing the photos when we first brought them home.
Princess Lay-a-n-egg, the diva of the flock
She is a Buff Orpington, I have decided I like this variety of chicken. No reason, but she is pretty.
Marmalade, a.k.a. Miss Broody, out and about.
It’s hard to tell by the photo, but I think she did lose some weight during her broody stint. But not enough to cause concern.
Chena, Marmalade’s sister, they are very hard to tell apart. Both are an Orpington and Jersey Giant.
Amelia, she’s the Light Brahma
For some reason, she reminds me of the Owl in Winnie the Pooh
She acts all old and smart, but really she’s just like all the other chickens.
Girly is technically my son’s chicken, he decided this when we brought her home. He named her. Every time we get an egg, he’s positive it’s from Girly. He kind of worships her. He gives her most of the worms he finds. I think she’s one of the prettiest of all our chickens and I love her feathered feet. She’s also the craziest – she runs faster than any of them! Good luck getting a photo of her! Girly is a Partridge Cochin.
The rain has started here in the Northwest and we won’t likely get a chance to dry out until spring. The silver lining is it’s good worm weather and the kids love finding worms for their chickens. Here Dad helps lift some big rocks to find worms
Got one!
If you’re feeling guilty about raking leaves, just go play in them. Then they serve a purpose and you intentionally are leaving them in the yard, right? Yep, I think so.
Click to enlarge – Go jump in a pile of leaves. It’s good for you.
SHARE YOUR ADVICE – I have a few questions for you Northwest chicken owners.
Do you use a heat lamp in the winter? Or lights to keep egg production up?
Do you use a heated water dispenser? We My husband has been filling it with warm water once a day to keep it from freezing.
Do you have other tips for keeping the coop in tip top shape all winter?
Are you thinking about getting chickens? What questions do you have? I’d love to help answer them or maybe some of our chicken experts can chime in and help!
You can follow our chicken and coop journey here.
Chicken resources:
- Building Chicken Coops For Dummies – $11.79 (reg. $19.99)
- Chicken Coops: 45 Building Ideas for Housing Your Flock – $13.30 (reg. $19.95)
- The Joy of Keeping Chickens: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Poultry for Fun or Profit (The Joy of Series) – $10.17! *price drop*
- Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, 3rd Edition – $13.30
Taunna says
My family always had chickens when I was growing up, in AZ. We had a nice big coop, which they stayed in most of the time. Once in a while they would get to roam around, but mostly they stayed in the coop.
Since we’re living in the Northwest now, it’s a very different situation. Instead of the hot, dry climate… Well, you know what I’m saying… Very different…
We moved from an apartment in the city, a couple yrs ago, to a house on an acre across the street from a lake in a rural area. I really would like to have chickens again and I have seen a lot of chickens on the way to and from town, just out, running free. I’m just not sure how ‘free’ they can be and still be safe. Any tips for this, previously, AZ girl?
Rachel says
We have raised chickens for about 3 years in wet southeast Alaska (Juneau). We get even more rainfall than WA/OR and it’s colder with more snow in the winter. We use a regular light bulb in a heat shield to give them the recommended “daylight” hours. In the winter, we only use a heat lamp when the outside temp is 12 or lower. They have always done fine with this. They only have a slight decrease in egg laying because of temp. Daylight hours makes a bigger difference in their egg laying. Also we have metal water-er on a heated metal base that is plugged in during the winter when it’s below freezing. I would recommend all of these tips to you or any other chicken “farmer”. They’ve worked great for us.
Heather says
I was born and raised in Fairbanks! I always wanted to make it to Juneau. 🙂 Thanks for the tips.
Celia Husmann says
We never use a heat lamp and just expect the production to decrease in winter, which is OK. Never used heated water, our chickens are hardy! Good idea getting yours inside because if they get used to it, they will eat your garden!! TRUST ME ON THIS ONE!! 🙁 Glad to see they are doing well!
DeAnn says
If you want more eggs in the winter (more than the decreased production, probably not as much as spring and summer) add a light in with them. Especially since we are in the Pacific Northwest, they aren’t getting very long days or exposure to light. They need 14-16 hrs. of light to lay their best. Here’s a link to a chicken hatchery blog with some advice: http://blog.mcmurrayhatchery.com/2010/10/27/why-arent-my-chickens-laying/
Brian says
I’d be inclined to say that your chickens don’t need extra light or a heater. If your only goal to having chickens was eggs, then yes, manipulate their environment to keep producing. But I think chickens (as all animals) need to go through an annual cycle of producing/not producing, which will also make them more hearty. You also have young, larger birds which should be more cold tolerant, plus giving them that break in egg production means they aren’t potentially trying to keep warm and make an egg all the time. As long as they have a place to get out of the rain and wind, they should be perfectly ok. You can increase the amount of scratch (corn=fat) they get to help them keep their body temperature up as well, but maybe just as a treat before sunset. You’ll also be able to tell how they’re feeling or if they’re too cold. If they can get up on the roost and tuck their feet under them, they’ll do ok. If they’re acting like normal chickens, they’re probably ok. If they’re staying ‘cooped up,’ not foraging/scratching, sitting on their roosts all the time, then that’s probably a sign that all is not right with them, but I don’t think that’ll happen. I’d also be concerned that if for most of the winter extra heat was provided, but suddenly we lose power for a week, then that sudden temperature shock could do worse for them. Chickens can get sick just like us, so listen for sneezes, running eyes and noses. You can also check them out weight wise when you’re holding them. Because of all the feathers, it’s hard to tell how they’re doing weight wise just by looking at them. Pick them up and feel along their breastbone. If there’s plenty of meat on both sides, they’re ok, but if it’s protruding, then they might need more food/fat. I’d also check under each wing-pit and their vent, just to make sure there’s nothing extra crawling around on them, as that will quickly drain their energy as well.
Patty says
Do you use a heat lamp in the winter? Or lights to keep egg production up?
I have an Eglu coop that is well insulated so I didn’t have to use a heat lamp even when it was nearly zero overnight.
I didn’t use a light to keep production up. Egg laying takes a lot out of these ladies, so I preferred their natural cycle of a few months on followed by a few months off
Do you use a heated water dispenser?
No, but in the morning I’d have to chip the ice off and then fill the bowls with hot tap water. It didn’t freeze during the day.
Do you have other tips for keeping the coop in tip top shape all winter?
Cover the coop floor in straw. They like to play in it and it keeps their feet up off the mud and muck. You may want to put plastic sheeting around 3 sides of your pen to protect them from wind and rain. As with most animals, they can handle the cold as long as they can stay dry.
Stephanie says
Good Morning Patty- I, too, have Eglu coops. This is my first year with chickens. I have 2 coops and 7 hens with plans to add a few more. I just moved them into a partially closed large greenhouse for the winter where they have plenty of shelter and it’s nice and dry. I wondered if you put straw inside the Eglu or just on the ground surrounding it? I bought a coop cover before we moved to our new house, but don’t know if I’ll need it this year due to the sheltered state of the coop area. Do you have the waterers from Omlet as well? I was wondering if they froze up.
Holly says
We don’t have chickens but my neighbor has several. The chickens get locked in every night of the year because of racoons.
Patti says
PS our water container is alot like your feed container
Patti says
Hi, We have 4 chickens for three winters now. We use a red heat lamp at night. It is on a timer and a thermostat plug. The timer is so it only turns on at night and the thermsostat makes the light only turn on if it gets below 34 degree inside the coop. We close the coop door at night also and bring in the food, so the other rats don’t have feast. To keep the water from freezing.. Our water is in a medal contanier sitting on a couple cement bricks under the coop. I put a heating padwithout the cover under the medel and it is plugged into the timer with the heat lamp. All the cords ran up into the coop walls and there is an extention cord ran for the house. All this is put away in the summer. I hope this helps.
Dee Wolters says
Straw/ hay in their coop should give some insulation for the winter. Also, the poop that builds up will add heat, clean it out in the spring. Water, you can bring the waterer indoors for the night so it does not freeze, then return it in the AM. They don’t drink at night anyway. It will also help the wateter not crack from freezing. If it is freezing during the day you might need a water heater. Check at the farm store for a heater, but then you will have to run an exetensioin cord from the house.
Depending on how big the coop is and how cold it gets at night, they probably don’t need a heat lamp. For local info, contact your university extension office, also known as the 4-H office. There should be an extension agent who can give you guide lines for wintering chickens.
Hens slow down laying eggs in the winter due to the reduced light. If you want eggs all winter you need to provide extra light for several hours each day. They will pick up in the spring when we get more light.
We have raised chickens for several years, but we are in TN, so the weather is not as cold as WA. But it is very wet here at times. When it rains the sheep and people head to the barn (or house) but the chickens don’t seem to mind.
Judie M. says
Hi, Heather. I’m a little bit south of Oly in Rochester and have had chickens for 4 years. We’ve never put a heat lamp out and they’ve been fine (even last year with the big storm in January). We check their water every day (when it’s below freezing, we check more often), but they’re pretty hardy girls. (We had a flock of 4, but expanded to 10 this year.) Production goes down in th fall and winter when the days are shorter. Your girls may also start molting (losing feathers), which is perfectly normal, but unsightly. 🙂
Angela says
I love your photos, Heather! I’m somewhat of an inspiring (very!) amateur photographer, and yours always look so great!
I have no idea about chickens 🙂
Kerrie says
Same questions here! 🙂 I’m in Yelm and have three Buff Orpingtons. They play out in the rain, but I feel so bad for them because they are always getting wet. This will be my first winter with them. I have a very small coop and the guys at the feed store said a heat lamp would be too much for such a small area. They said a regular bulb in a metal heat shield would be fine if I wanted to extend their laying. Haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet though. Good luck!!!
Rachel says
My mom has 3 chickens. Last winter she used a heat lamp in the coop and it worked great.
Wendy Jahns says
Hi Heather,
I have exactly the same questions~
Looking forward from somebody knowledgable to answer them. I really enjoy your website, thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Wendy
Mount Vernon, WA