How to Help Chickens Deal with Cold Stress

Cold stress is an often overlooked condition that is nearly unavoidable for most northern homestead flocks. Learning how to help chickens deal with cold stress will keep them healthier and productive through the winter months. Cold stress can cause illness and even death, so it is important to make sure you minimize the affects that cold stress can have on your flock during the winter is important. There are some simple measures you can take to help your homestead flock handle the stress in a healthy way. I use many of these tips for my flock during our cold Michigan winters!

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What is Cold Stress?

To get the full low-down on what cold stress is all about, make sure you check out Cold Stress-the silent killer. I discuss all the details on how cold stress affects chickens in that article. However, in summary, cold stress is any stress that a chicken experiences due to cold weather. Pretty simple right?

Cold weather causes stress because it requires a chicken to use more energy to stay warm, which taxes all of the other body systems, like the immune system, digestive system, and circulatory system. Cold stress opens up the way for harmful pathogens, parasites, viruses, and other diseases that flourish due to a suppressed immune system. Since cold weather requires more energy, that also means that feed consumption will go up and dietary supplements may need to be incorporated.

These tips for helping your flock deal with cold stress are meant to minimize the affect that cold stress can have on the health and longevity of your homestead flock. You can not completely prevent cold stress as you can’t control the weather. However, there are things you can do that will help your flock during times when cold stress may increase.

Make sure you know how to recognize cold stress in chickens so you can know what to do when your flock is affected by minor or severe cold stress too!

When to Help Chickens Dealing with Cold Stress

Some of the measures I will mention for how to help chickens deal with cold stress can be used all winter long. However, most of the time you will want to save them for times when cold stress may be increased due to the weather or health conditions.

Since chickens can’t talk, it’s up to us to determine when they are feeling the most stressed. Consider these conditions when deciding if you should step in to help your flock or an individual chicken:

Sudden Temperature Changes– Temperatures that fluctuate suddenly gives your flock no time to gradually adjust to the cold weather.
Prolonged Cold– Prolonged periods of extreme temperatures will constantly draw on a chicken’s energy reserves and be detrimental to their health.
Exposure– Don’t forget to look at the real feel and wind chill. These two factors do play a role in how much stress a chicken experiences due to the cold.
Health– If a chicken is already ailing or recovering from an ailment, it will be more prone to experiencing cold stress.
Age– Older chickens will experience cold stress sooner than young birds.

During times when these conditions may increase the cold stress a chicken experiences, you will want to implement one or more of the following measures for preventing cold stress in your flock!

Cold Stress Prevention: Coop & Enclosure

There are several things you can do to the chicken coop and enclosure to help minimize the affect of cold stress on your flock. Here are a few things that I do before the winter months and continue to implement throughout the winter months to help prevent cold stress:

Winterize the Coop– This means promoting good air flow, eliminating drafts, minimizing moisture, and providing insulating litter.
Put up a Wind Block- Shield the enclosure from wind and snow to reduce the wind chill factor and to trap heat within the enclosure.
Allow Sunlight In– When shielding the enclosure, make sure you leave an area where sunlight can shine through. I often find my flock basking in the sun on really cold days. Plus sunshine helps them stay healthy and happy.
Use Straw– Whether it’s in the coop or enclosure, using straw will provide insulation, entertainment and will reduce the exposure to cold ground.
Get/Make a Water Heater– Ensuring that your flock has access to unfrozen and even lukewarm water will help eliminate the stress of dehydration.

There are a few other measures that I take when I know that cold stress may be more severe for my flock due to the weather or their health:

Provide Heat

Yes, I did just say provide heat for your chickens! However, you need to make sure you provide supplemental heat properly. Make sure you read this article on Do Chickens Need Heat During the Winter?. Here are a few quick tips for safely using heat in the chicken coop:

Don’t provide too much heat (just enough to get the coop back up to average winter time temperatures).
Use safe heat sources. I recommend using a space heater that is placed in a spot that the chickens can’t access.
Only provide heat for as long a necessary, such as during sudden or prolonged extreme temperatures.

Make a Heat Box

This would be a small box that is heated that your chickens can go in and out of as they please. This allows them to make the choice of using additional heat or not. You can use a small animal heated pad inside the box to supply heat.

the complete guide to frostbite for backyard chickens

Cold Stress Prevention: Management

Management measures can also help decrease cold stress in your homestead flock! Observing your flock on a daily basis will clue you in on how they are handling cold stress. Minor cold stress is to be expected during the winter. However, severe cold stress can take a toll on a chicken’s health. Stepping in with preventative measures before your flock starts experiencing severe cold stress can help keep them healthy.

Here are some things that I do when I know my flock is experiencing a minor degree of cold stress:

Provide extra entertainment- Boredom busters that get your flock active will stimulate circulation, however, it also requires energy so energy needs will increase. Straw bales are my flock’s favorite boredom buster!
Switch things up- Instead of physically stimulating my flock, which uses energy, I sometimes like to mentally stimulate my flock. Rearranging the elements (like perches, pine boughs, logs, and stumps) in the enclosure will make your flock curious and give them something to explore.
Decrease stress factors- Other things besides the cold can cause stress too. Eliminate as many of these other stress causers as possible: e.g. loud noises, predators, sudden light changes, etc….
Bring them inside- This option can be used for old birds, sick birds, or birds visibly showing signs of more severe cold stress. Just remember, once they are inside, they must gradually be acclimated to outside temperatures before going back out to the flock.

Tips for Inside Birds:

If you do need to bring one or two of your flock members inside, it is best to keep them in a more temperate area. Instead of bringing them into a warm location, keep them in an area that is warmer than outside but not above 50-55°F. This will make the acclimation period shorter when they are ready to rejoin the flock outside.

I find that large dog crates or small animal play pens work well for setting up in my garage. Then I put straw down on the floor and make sure there is food and water in the pen. I only bring hens in who are suffering from extreme cold stress.

the complete guide to winter chicken keeping ebook

hens eating chicken feed out of a hanging feeder

Cold Stress Prevention: Diet

One of the most important factors to consider when helping your flock deal with cold stress is their diet. Cold stress is most directly related to a chicken’s diet and metabolic system. An increase in cold temperatures creates a need for more energy. An increase in energy needs creates stress. Besides making sure that your flock has access to food and clean water all the time, there are some other diet adaptions that you can do to help them handle the cold.

Winter Dietary Tips:

Increase the Protein: Cold stress reduces enzymes (proteins) which are essential to a chicken’s metabolism (where energy is created). Provide more protein in your flock’s winter diet by providing dietary supplements or gradually switching to a higher protein feed.
Use Supplements that Boost the Immune System- Since the immune system is suppressed by cold stress it is important to help stimulate it so that it can fight off disease and parasites. I put garlic in my flock’s water on a weekly basis during the winter to aid in maintaining a healthy immune system. Turmeric is another herb that I like to give my flock during the winter.
Stimulate the Circulatory System- Using ground ginger as a dietary supplement can stimulate the circulatory system without increasing energy needs. You can sprinkle it over fermented feed or add it to healthy warm treats for your flock.
Fats Provide Energy- Linoleic acid (a type of fat) provides a great source of energy. However, when supplementing fat, you need to decrease supplemental carbohydrates. That will help keep your flock’s diet more balanced and reduce the risk of obesity.
Carbs and Proteins Generate Heat- When carbohydrates and proteins are digested, they generate internal heat. Remember to balance the amounts of supplemental proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in your flock’s winter diet.
Regulate the Metabolic Rate- Fats slow down the metabolic rate, allowing more nutrients to be absorbed. Carbohydrates move through the digestive system quickly, providing a quick source of energy. Regulate these two factors depending on what your flock needs.
Use Electrolytes and Probiotics– Staying hydrated and keeping gut flora healthy will help chickens handle cold stress better. Only use electrolytes as needed so you don’t disrupt a healthy chicken’s normal electrolyte levels.

How to Feed Chickens During the Winter

Of the three ways to help your flock deal with cold stress (coop & enclosure, management, diet), diet is the most challenging one to regulate. My recommendation is to focus more on increased protein and herbal supplements. The increased protein will provide energy, keep all the body system’s functioning properly, and produces some amount of internal heat.

Herbal supplements like turmeric, garlic, and ginger will help minimize the affect cold stress has on the immune system and circulatory system. Elderberry syrup can help boost a chicken’s immune system for warding off disease. Garlic is a great natural supplement to supply on a weekly basis for maintaining good winter health.

Make sure you also check out these 7 Best Winter Treats for Chickens or this guide on What to Feed Chickens During the Winter for more flock diet tips!

Helping your flock deal with cold stress is important to their health and well-being during the winter. Hopefully you are now more aware of when your homestead flock might be experiencing cold stress and what you can do to help them! Cold stress is more common for northern flocks, however, it can be a problem for southern flocks too. If your region experiences unseasonal weather or a sudden cold spell, your flock may not be used to the colder temperatures. Winterizing the coop and enclosure, taking proper management steps, and regulating your flock’s winter diet will all help them handle the cold this winter. Your homestead flock will appreciate any little measure you take to minimize the affect of cold stress!

Don’t miss any other winter homestead chicken keeping tips, make sure you join our modern pioneer newsletter community! You can also check out my ebook on Winter Chicken Keeping!

by Alexa