How to keep free-range chickens warm in winter?

To keep chickens warm during the winter, you can keep warm and keep out the cold in the following ways.

1. Building a greenhouse (hothouse): The north has distinct four seasons throughout the year, with great seasonal climate differences and large temperature differences between day and night. It is essential to build a chicken coop that is warm in winter and cool in summer. The chicken house was located in a dry location with the wind behind it and facing the sun; a sun shed was built outside the chicken house in the shape of a vegetable greenhouse. This sun shed indeed played a particularly good buffering role between the chicken house and the outdoors.

2. Variety: Choose appropriate varieties, such as the traditional northern variety of oil chicken, which is more suitable for the cold winter climate in the north. The feathers of the oil chicken itself are plump and thick, so they have stronger cold resistance.

3. Management: When raising chickens in the north, the temperature outside the chicken house is not always ten degrees below zero all day long. When the temperature rises at noon, the chickens are allowed to move outdoors. After the temperature drops, the chickens are still allowed to return. Into a warm coop. Heat dissipation lamp, add light, ventilation and moisture removal, and increase temperature. In winter, artificial light should be supplemented so that the total illumination reaches about 16 hours.

4. Nutrition: Start with food, let them eat well and be healthy, and increase their resistance. To increase energy and supplement vitamin deficiencies, the method is to supplement energy feeds such as corn, sorghum, carrots, pumpkins, potatoes, cabbage, and alfalfa powder; add a small amount of chili powder to the feed to warm the stomach and promote digestion.

5. Chicken mattress material: hot air goes upwards. Even if the temperature inside the house shows 10°C, the temperature at the bottom where chickens live is only 2°C or 3°C. When chickens move outdoors in winter, the temperature is very low, which will also affect Normal production. The chicken bed uses bedding that can be insulated, which is enough to maintain a comfortable temperature for the chickens with additional heating measures.

In winter and spring, the temperature required inside the house is very different from the outside temperature. The chicken house should have good cold-proof performance and be equipped with appropriate heating methods and equipment to meet the insulation requirements. Currently, the commonly used methods of thermal insulation in winter and spring are mainly as follows:

One is the ground flue insulation method. It has a wide range of fuel sources, good air quality, and an accurate brooding effect. It is convenient to keep medium and large chickens warm and requires less heat preservation work. However, it occupies a large area and is suitable for promotion in northern areas.

The second is the charcoal pot heat preservation method. This method heats up quickly during brooding, but the workload is large. The air quality in the chicken house is poor after application, and it is not suitable for heat preservation of medium and large chickens.

The third is the insulation method of large coal buckets or gas bottles. It can be used in the stages of small, medium, and large chickens, and can be used alone. The brooding effect is good, but it also has shortcomings such as heavy workload and poor safety.

The fourth is the hot water circulation insulation method. This method has the accurate brooding effect, good air quality, convenient insulation, low combustion cost, and safe insulation; however, the insulation range is small, which is not convenient for medium and large chickens to keep warm, and the equipment cost is high, so it is more suitable for raising on the open ground in the south. Used during the brooding period.

The fifth is the insulation method of warm air stoves and hot air stoves. Thermal insulation is convenient and safe, with a good brooding effect and a wide thermal insulation range. Small, medium, and large chickens can be insulated, the air quality is good, and the litter is dry; however, the cost of the stove is higher, and the number of coal additions is slightly more, so it is suitable for most areas, especially closed Type or semi-enclosed chicken coops are particularly effective when used to raise chickens in cages.

In summary, the hot air stove and warm air stove insulation methods are more suitable for promotion and use in most areas, and the appropriate insulation method can also be selected according to the actual situation.

The chicken house building should have good thermal insulation performance and timely ventilation.

The climate is cold in winter, and the temperature required inside the house is very different from the outside temperature. It is necessary to ventilate and maintain the temperature inside the house. This is the main problem that should be solved in winter. The chicken house is required to have good cold protection performance and meet the requirements of winter heat preservation. Strictly prevent chickens from being squeezed to death due to low temperatures. While ventilating, be careful not to cause the temperature inside the house to rise and fall suddenly to prevent stress reactions and diseases caused by excessive temperature differences. The ventilation opening should be at least 1.5 meters above the chicken's back.

2. Heat preservation lamp

   If the weather is not too cold, it is also possible to use heat preservation lamps, which are more trouble-free. You can increase or decrease the heat preservation lamps appropriately according to the conditions of the chicken house. But if the temperature is too low, the insulation effect is not good. The local temperature is high, the surrounding temperature is low, and the temperature is uneven.

At the same time, using heat preservation lamps for heating requires electricity and is easily affected by external factors. For example, power outages caused by bad weather can easily cause the temperature of the chicken house to drop suddenly. In the breeding process, few people pay attention to the aging of the circuit. If used for a long time, it is easy to cause a short circuit or fire.