Cold Weather

The Eglu will keep your pets snug and warm in really cold weather. The Eglu has a special twin walled construction which provides an insulating layer in the chicken coop which keeps the interior warm in winter and cool in summer so that the hens are comfortable all year round.  If you live in a particularly cold area with lots of days and nights below zero or in an very exposed area for example next to the coast or on top of a hill then it’s a good idea to provide your pets with extra insulation in the form of an Eglu Extreme Weather jacket or blanket available on the Omlet website.

Hens are remarkably hardy and their feathers keep them very well insulated in very cold weather. They don’t mind snow but don’t like being damp so try to provide somewhere dry for them to shelter during the rain if at all possible. The only recommendations for winter are to make sure that the water feeder doesn’t freeze by taking it into the house or garage overnight and to make sure that hens with large combs don’t get them frost-bitten by rubbing on some Vaseline to protect them.

Another way you can help the hens is to feed them things which release energy slowly and therefore keep their bodies warmer for longer. Foods like wheat and oats are wonderful slow energy releasers so sprinkling wheat as a scratch feed in the late afternoons or making wheatgerm or oats into a porridge with warm water for an afternoon feed will keep their little bodies warm overnight and will not put too much weight on as corn would.

This entry was posted in Chickens

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