当我开始养鸡时,最紧迫的问题之一就是冬天怎么养鸡。我住在蒙大拿州的西北部,习惯了大量的雪,一些美妙的北极风,温度从零下20度到零下。如果我们在1月或2月有支努干,那么我们在冬天剩下的时间里也会有冰,但那是另一回事了。
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我很想知道我该做些什么来准备我的鸡和它们的家,一个旧棚子,以应对严酷的冬天。我咨询了我的父亲,他是濒临灭绝的牛仔中的最后一个。他在祖父母的牧场长大,他的父母在一个旧棚子里养鸡,冬天只有一盏灯亮着。
It didn’t sound too difficult to me at the time.
The Concern Of Keeping The Chickens Warm
我真的应该考虑到我不确定我的祖父母是如何管理电力连接的这个事实。我的电线连接需要从屋内穿过窗户(因为我们没有外部插座——这又是另一回事了),穿过院子,进入棚子连接我给小鸡们用过的热灯。对此我有两个问题。
- First, I’d read that fire was a real hazard in chicken sheds using heat sources, so I was concerned about the dust and straw particles that would be kicked around all winter.
- Second, the extension cord would be lying on the ground all winter. Did I mention that I had four young kids?
- I also had a third concern. What would be the expense of running the light all winter?
考虑到我的情况,给鸡舍照明和取暖似乎不太可行。所以我问自己,“那些先驱者是如何让他们的牲畜活下来的?”
It certainly wasn’t with electricity!
I decided to experiment. I would leave the shed alone and watch to see if the chickens actually needed a light bulb.
I made a startling discovery. Chickens are birds!
Like so many other birds that fly about in the winter, chickens also have feathers that they fluff to trap air and keep warm. They also tuck their beaks in at their backs, and settle in over their feet to provide a skirt of feathers over their toes.
My converted shed to chicken house was built around 1980. Some of the shingling is gone, and there are numerous holes and leaky spots. We were able to position the coop in a somewhat protected location. The shed was blocked to the west (the direction from which the wind attacks) by another structure, and tucked in at the edge of the woods.
I use the deep litter method in my coop — adding straw or wood shavings to absorb droppings throughout the winter, rather than shoveling daily or weekly. This method helps insulate the floor and provide heat through decomposition.
在第一个冬天,尽管我每晚都养了十二只鸡,但不知怎么的,有一天晚上我错过了一只牛子·奥平顿。直到第二天早上我出来打开小屋,才发现她从另一个建筑下蹒跚而出。这个建筑是光秃秃的、干燥的泥土,是鸡最喜欢的受保护的藏身处。
She was looking chilly and quite repentant, but otherwise not the worse for wear. In she hopped for breakfast and nothing more was said. The overnight low had been somewhere in the mid-to-high teens.
Considering My Watering Options
I spent a lot of time that winter watering my chickens. I would bring them fresh, unfrozen water at least twice a day, yet they never seemed to drink much. By the time my second winter with the chickens came, I’d gotten wise.
我在一个很受欢迎的鸡肉论坛网站上看到一条评论,建议如果你需要离开一两天,用一堆雪来浇你的鸡。由于我在第二年又养了一些鸡,现在我要负责给30多只鸡浇水,每天多次运淡水听起来并不吸引人。
Taking this suggestion, I began placing a couple of plastic, medium-sized bowls filled with snow in the chicken house and refilling as necessary. I didn’t start watering again until the mud puddles were almost dried up in spring.
That second winter, knowing more, I was certainly less stressed. Using the snow to water the chickens helped me tremendously, and knowing that the larger flock would also be generating more heat inside the shed set me at ease.
While I did have a couple of fatalities during the winter, I can’t attribute either to the weather.
The second winter was harsher than the first, with lower overall temperatures. Even with the decreased temperature, it’s important to note that my chickens were outside more. They walked in the packed area around their shed or went under the buildings to scratch in the dirt.
The only thing I did differently besides watering with snow was supplementing their feed with oats. This usually happened when I was running behind on getting to the feed store or when it was particularly cold. In general, the flock didn’t seem particularly uncomfortable.
Maintaining Egg Production
当然,许多人在鸡舍里使用电灯的另一个原因是为了保持产蛋量。我发现我的“冬季养鸡”实验的这一部分非常有趣,因为它揭示了两个冬天的最终循环。
About a month prior to the winter solstice, egg production dropped dramatically. As the solstice drew closer, fewer and fewer hens were laying. Then, for a few days on either side of the solstice, there were no eggs.
最终,生产缓慢地重新开始,形成了一个近乎完美的钟形曲线。因为有几种保存鸡蛋的方法,所以在一年的早些时候多存一些鸡蛋可以在这短暂的黑暗月份里提供早餐。
By the time spring was in full swing, I was swimming in eggs. I hatched some, passed them out to neighbors and church family, and donated dozens to the local Youth Home.
A Learning Experiment
Overall, I learned that my chickens really only needed a protected, dry area in winter. preferably, the chickens would have a roost with plenty of fresh air, feed, and snow. All things considered, the midwinter egg production slowdown is less of an inconvenience to me than running power to my chicken house would be.
当然,每个人的情况都会有所不同,这取决于气候、环境、捕食者、当地疾病和经济状况。然而,就像我从我的孩子那里学到的,我才是最适合照顾我的鸡的人,而不是一本书!
Erin Arndt lives over the hill from where her great-grandparents homesteaded in northwest Montana. When she’s not writing, she divides her time between raising children and chickens, and has recently added rabbits to the menu, er, family.
Michellesays
Yes YES YES. Just like you said, I would rather read my animals (and kids!) than trust a book alone. Already, even though I’m only in my first year of homesteading, I’ve learned this lesson over and over. In the face of so much misinformation, fear, and uneccessary intervention–particularly when it comes to well-designed animals–this is a very needed, thoughtfully composed, and delightful article.