Chickens are surprisingly resilient birds where winter is concerned. This is especially true if your poultry belongs to one of the winter-hardy breeds such as Blue Andalusian, Dominique, Brahma, or Plymouth Rocks. Still, if a chicken coop is mismanaged or in poor shape during winter, the biting cold can bring about disease and mortality to its occupants. The following tips are the most essential to consider for helping your chickens through the winter.
Good Air Flow
Ensuring that your chickens stay warm during winter is necessary, but proper air ventilation is just as important. Simply sealing off rarely-used openings may eliminate drafts, but doing so can increase humidity which is the main instigator of winter diseases in chickens. Keep your coop warm and dry because any moisture that lingers can result in the respiratory or enteric diseases. Mix and match the following solutions to facilitate warmth and good air flow in your coop:
- Screened windows: invest in small screened windows for your coop so that the windows can be open during the day and closed at night.
- Consider installing a heater that may circulate air while keeping the coop warm.
- Inspect the coop; patch up any holes and cracks, seal off a vent or two if necessary and make sure the roof is water-tight.
Fortified Food And Warm Water
During spring, summer and fall your poultry may be free to forage in addition to the food you provide. Foraging gives them extra protein, minerals and vitamins. During the winter, this may be impossible. Chickens need more commercial feed in the winter even if their egg production has dropped. Calories from starch and fat help the birds stay warm and maintain body fat. Protein helps keep the integrity of feathers needed to stay warm. Boosting to a higher protein and fat feed may help them thrive through the winter. Supplementing with vitamins may help since there is nothing fresh for them to forage.
Fortified food is equally as important as warm, clean water. Your chickens will rely on water to reinforce their body temperatures and to stay hydrated, and the cleanliness and warmth of their 
drinking supply is important to keep them drinking and eating. The most straightforward method for ensuring that their water is not ice cold is to invest in a heated waterer or a heated base. This would provide the chickens with a constant supply without you having to warm and refill it for them.
Clean Bedding and a Clean Coop
A winter cleaning of your chickens' coop is necessary. Even if you keep your coop relatively tidy, a thorough cleanout prior to winter cold is beneficial to a successful season. Since the coop is more closed up in the winter, clean the coop out when air gets stale and before ammonia builds up to prevent respiratory diseases. Follow these steps to keep your chickens healthy and happy in their home:
- Take everything out of the coop: removable perches, food containers, etc.
- Replace all broken or rusty items.
- Scrape built-up litter and clean out the rest thoroughly.
- Replace bedding with a layer of shavings to absorb moisture and fluff straw on top in extremely cold temperatures. Straw has more insulating ability than shavings and helps block drafts. Consider using a treated lime freshener to keep the coop fresh longer between cleanouts.
- Supplemental lighting on a timer will help keep hens laying and in extreme temperatures, a heat lamp bulb may be beneficial. Ensure electrical connections are secure and grounded to help prevent a fire.
- Providing a pan in the run with diatomaceous earth and sand allows them to take a dust bath which helps control external parasites like lice that can spread easily through chickens in closed housing.
Your chickens will likely survive this coming winter well with a minimum of precautions, but to keep them thriving and productive, attention to their comfort is key. Keeping them dry and warm, healthy and hydrated and increasing protein and calories fed will reinforce their hardy nature. It will also lay the groundwork for a successful coming spring.
