Cold weather questions

[BACOG]

What do you folks do for your birds in cold weather to keep them alive & healthy?

If I get this homestead it will definitely have chickens & turkeys. It has a pond so I am thinking ducks & geese too. But the winter temps can get well below zero and stay there for days. Not often for that long but it can happen. Minus 25 is not unheard of.

[jennigrey]

Good ventilation in the coop is mandatory. Chickens can withstand low temps - it is humidity that will cause frostbite. Choose breeds with smaller combs/wattles, as they are not as likely to get frostbitten. There is a reason that waterfowl migrate when the ponds freeze over! That will be tricky. Might want to re-think it.

[pfarms]

Here we get to -40 F and -50 F every winter for at least a week or two at a time. Rarely above -15 F for about four months. Ventilation is a must. Also roosts. You have to watch that the bedding downt get really wet. That is the primary cause of frozen and frost bitten toes. Dry bedding and roosts. Wooden roosts, no metal. Make sure their feathers cover their feet when they roost. I use 4" board for chickens and 6" for turkeys. The combs and wattles freeze when they get wet from drinking. Large combs will frost bite on the tops anyway. The turkeys do better then the chickens and never had any freezing of snoods or anything.

We also have ducks. Do a dirt floor and straw. I use a rubber bucket to water them and kick out the ice daily. When the pond starts to freeze you have to be able to keep them out of it though. You can keep them in the same yard as the chickens in the winter.