It’s no surprise that the winter months can be as long and arduous for chickens, as they are for us.
Gone are their days of roaming free in the sunshine, while scratching up treats and exploring new places.
The warmth of the coop becomes the new norm during these cold months, and the diet might start to feel as repetitious as their daily winter schedule.
Although commercial feed is an important mainstay for winter chickens, ambitious owners sprout grain to give their flock a winter treat of greenery.
Table scraps also add diet variety but be careful as wet soggy foods can dampen the coop litter and create odor.
Among the best table scraps for indoor feeding are small amounts of salad greens, pumpkin and squash seeds, and bits of vegetables, popcorn, and almost any other food that’s relatively dry.
Only put in as much as the birds can clean up in a few minutes.
Chickens love a snack of scratch grain or cracked corn, but only a few handfuls daily are all a small flock should have. Too much grain causes chicken obesity!
A NatureWise Scratch Block of compressed grain sold at feed stores and left in the coop helps to provide exercise and diversion as the birds gradually peck the blocks apart.
Perhaps the most important help a flock owner can give birds is space. Cramming hens together in winter guarantees squabbling, pecking, and other social problems. Four square feet of floor space per birds is an absolute minimum.
The more room the better, and a coop that has an array of perches and roosts at different heights and angles gives the hens a place to exercise, while adding three dimensions to a coop.
So go ahead, add some variety to their winter lives and just keep reminding your feathered friends, Spring will be back…someday!
