Agree @Vanessa_A … @Grandma what a lovely picture, they look as though they are on a day out in a garden centre, so sweet, thank you for sharing.
I love sitting chickens too … they are fascinating and very calming.
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I love chickens!!!
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Chicken Lovers we need help with some questions about winterizing chickens … if you have the experience and the knowledge on how to care for our fine feathered friends as the weather gets colder please Direct Message me asap cut off 4.00 pm Nov 10th
… @Françoise-et-Youn @ChrisAndSuzeGoWalkies @ElsieDownie @Julie @UKSitter @Lindsay
Thank you
Would you share this information with the group too? Thanks.
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We have 1 rooster & 10 hens. Multiple breeds inc Silkies, Polish, Old English, Frizzles & more. Def have experience with keeping special breeds in cold climates.
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I only “chook-sat” once, and it was in Seattle not far from where I have settled. They were pretty easy (thankfully, not so long that I had to clean out the coop). Mostly I had to make sure the critters didn’t get them. I would text the owners, “everyone’s in bed.”
It was also a cat sit. 
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Hi Jennifer welcome to our community forum and thank you for responding to the “call”
I’m going to connect with you via a direct message so that we can chat in more depth about this request.
It’s great to have you in the forum and I hope that you will explore and join in more conversations …
Angela and the team
Sorry @Angela_L I didn’t manage to send you a DM (still my computer problem !).
Si here are few informations about poultry in winter :
Generally speaking poultry is naturally equiped to resist to low temperatures : their Heather is a very high insulation system !what is really bad for them is humidity, so it is better to put some fresh straw more often (and get rid off the menure one) and make sure the poultry house have no leakage.
You may also have to feed them more (they need more energy to fight against the cold) and maybe give them special feed with vitamins and minerals.
And to me that it’s. As long as it is not less than -10 C degrés there is nothing special !
I hope this helps ?
I would also be interested in reading what my fellow sitters share about this !
Amicalement
Françoise
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Their feather 🪶 !!!
Silly French phone 
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Hi @Françoise-et-Youn this is so helpful and I did realise that should read “Feather” I do have another couple of questions
- How can the weather conditions in the winter impact chickens?
- How can you tell if the chickens are too cold?
- How can people protect their backyard chickens during this season? For example, winterizing the coop by closing any holes that could cause a draft, adding extra heat and light, etc.
You have a addressed some of this so apologies if there is repetition …
Hi Angela-sorry, only just seen this thread. We have chickens but are in England and have only experienced temps down to -14 C. One essential thing is to make sure their drinking water does not freeze. We have a heat band that we slip onto the waterer as we are lucky to have an electricity supply to their hut. Even if it is very cold it is important to have air circulating in the hut otherwise the chucks may succumb to respiratory diseases. You don’t want draughts but ventilation holes, above head height of the roosting chickens, are essential. A warm mash (made outside of the kitchen - UK laws) in the morning sets them up for the day and a feed in the late afternoon of slow energy release foods such as wheat & maize, keeps them happy overnight. For our chucks this is in addition to their ad-lib layers pellets. Our hut is not too big for the number of chucks and the amount of heat they create overnight can be felt when we go in to let them out in the morning. Some people do give them extra light but this is more to do with encouraging them to lay.
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Hi @Margaret please no need to apologise and thank you so much for the information … there are many members with chickens and sitters who sit them and so having this information is so helpful … thank you for sharing.
Stay safe, warm and well … and your chickens of course, it’s getting especially cold here at the moment.
Just read that friends of mine (sort of family by way of a marriage) their chickens have now had to go back into lockdown. In the midlands UK.
So she was saying she’s going to have to think of stuff to keep the occupied as they already had a ling lockdown the first half of this year.
Does anybody have idea’s to entertain the chooks. Last count I know they have 18 or 19 mostly rescue chooks from battery farms.
All idea’s will be happily passed on to keep the feathered friends happy
Yes, poultry lockdown started today across the whole of the UK because of avian flu. Anyone with chickens needs to ensure they have no contact with wild birds and that wild bird droppings cannot enter their runs.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bird-flu-latest-situation-avian-influenza-prevention-zone-declared-across-great-britain
Our Christmas sit involves chickens, so we’ll be very careful with hygiene, making sure we disinfect if we come in contact with wild bird droppings.
yes thnk you for answering Debbie but my question was Does anyone have tips/fun ideas for keeping the chooks entertainend.
I already know a few but the more the better as the poor ladies have already been locked down for weeks on end this year so I’d love to be able to give them some more idea’s for the necessary entertainment.
Hope you enjoy your Christmas sit. Chooks are such fun and very lovable. I’d have loved to have gotten back over to the UK for christmas but with the new variants UK & south African and extra costs in uk for testing it’s a bit costly as well as being risky.
I’m afraid I have no particular tips for keeping chickens busy. I haven’t looked after any that were truly free range and would be worst affected by this change.
I did think that as the thread was about sits with chickens it was useful to link the official guidance and that it now applies across the whole country. I know that not all owners of small numbers of chickens keep up to date with the regulations, and many sitters would not be aware, especially those from other countries. It’s great that your friends are on top of it and trying to do what’s best for their chooks.
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Thanks Debbie always good to give this sort of info as as you say not everyone will be aware of the latest regulations .