this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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I’m no professional but our Rhode Island Reds use to crazy for a little spaghetti once and a while but I’ll post some more realistic quality of life improvements that can lead to happy birds.
-Sunlight: it keeps the birds happy and happy birds lay more eggs
-Roost(s): I’ve had birds that preferred sleeping in nesting boxes (Silkies) and Leghorns that prefer roosting at night. Having a large roost or one that staggers is a nice sleeping area.
-Replacing the hay for the nesting boxes a little more frequently when cleaning the coop.
-Kitchen Scraps: I’m serious about the pasta if you have some kitchen leftovers and take care of what scraps to feed they will be ecstatic
-Heat lamp: It depends on the bird but if it gets below 40F a small heat lamp can do wonders for nighttime
I like the cement blocks, we use to put some smaller perches around outside and sometimes they’d get adventurous and try to walk them.
Silkies will do this because they cannot fly worth a damn. Be careful, I've had silkies go broody without any eggs simply because there was a nest box. They are baby crazy hens. You should never let your birds sleep in the nest boxes as they will foul the bedding quickly. I've had to add a curtain to mine to keep young pullets from avoiding the roosts and roosting in the nest boxes.
#1 way to burn down your coop and kill your birds. Chickens regulate their body temperature with feed, so just make sure they have plenty of feed and your birds will do just fine without a heat lamp. They just need to be out of the wind. While we don't get a lot of sub-freezing temps here in Central Texas, my girls made it through several cold snaps last winter that drove temps to or just below freezing overnight without heat lamps no problem.