Big Freeze and Chickens

As ever with any threat of cold weather the media are predicting death and terror. Here on the west side of the country we tend to avoid major snowfalls, but when we do get them it makes life a bit tougher for the chickens, and along with the duty to look after them there is what happens to the egg yield to consider.

Ours are bright enough (a relative term as regards hens) to spend more time in their house when it gets really cold, but if there is a frost it still affects them - they can't for instance figure out what to do with frozen grass, the non-frozen variety being a big source of food for them when they roam the garden. That grass is supposed to help with the yellowness of the yolk, so I'll supplement the diet with scraps of our greens to balance it out. And if they are using loads of energy to fight the cold they lay fewer eggs (ours are intelligent enough not to lay less eggs), so I up their feed (not that they are ever without anyway) and include some cheap (cheep? I hate myself) porridge oats, said to be the best thing for them in the cold.

Anyone reading this and thinking about keeping chickens? A few pointers:

1: It's easy. Get a very basic book and read up before buying.
2: Make sure you fox-proof their home as far as that's possible.
3: Go for the bog-standard brown hens, not the fancier breeds. They are healthy and lay more frequently.
4: It's kind, and economic, to give them plenty of time ranging free. If you have a garden they can make a bit of a mess, but they fertilize it and make inroads into snails and slugs and other nasties, especially near fruit trees.
5: We had a rat problem briefly, as the hen-house was then far too near a hedge - good cover for the vermin - and probably because we were sloppy with the odds-and-sods we fed our hens. Make sure the hen-house is in the open.