Winter Chicken Care: 6 Tips for a Happy Flock All Season Long

The year-round tasks of watering and feeding your animals.
Maintaining their environment.
Keeping them safe and healthy.  
These can all be particularly challenging during the winter months.   

The best time to prepare ourselves and our animals for freezing temperatures, shorter days, and hungry predators is before winter begins!   

Fortunately, RentACoop has the seasonal solutions to melt your worries away. Keep reading for our best tips, ideas, and product solutions to address the many challenges of cold weather animal care. Ensure a happy and healthy flock and family all season long.  

1. Security: Install electric fencing in the fall 

Install electric fencing before winter, while the ground is soft and the weather is optimal for outdoor chicken chores. 

Choose an electric fence for chickens or an electric fence for goats to protect your animals from hungry predators and keep them contained. Providing a secure, free-range area for your animals enriches their days with space to spread out. It gives them the opportunity to forage and explore, which reduces boredom and stress.  

RentACoop makes it easy with our new electric fence accessory sets, including everything you need to set up and energize your fencing. With both solar and plug-in energizer options, you're sure to find the perfect combination for your unique setup!  

2. Hydration: Ward off winter watering woes with heated drinkers and bucket belts  

Trudging through snow or slush with a bucket of warm water from your bathtub no more! 

Heated drinkers - Simple and effective, our 2-liter heated drinkers for chickens and small animals get the job done. These all-season Drinkers include:  

• An insulating neoprene cover 

• 6-foot power cord 

• Freeze-proof horizontal nipple for chickens, turkeys, and more 

• OR a brass nozzle for rabbits, guinea pigs, and other small animals 

The included bracket makes the heated waterers easy to install on wood or wire. Convenient to refill from the inside or outside of your chicken coop, rabbit hutch, or other enclosure.  

ALL NEW from RentACoop: The Thermo Bucket Belt ~ COMING SOON! - We're feeling all the warm fuzzies for the pending debut of an all-new product for winter - our Thermo Bucket Belt for 2-gallon and 5-gallon waterers!  

Our NEW bucket belts pair perfectly with our 2-gallon or 5-gallon waterers and our freeze-proof horizontal nipples. Or pair with our DIY Series products and ANY 2 or 5-gallon bucket for a custom solution. 

These self-adhesive strips act as a warm hug for your chicken waterers all winter long. Coming soon, in Winter 2024!  Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll let you know as soon as they’re available. 

3. Environment: Clean and refresh with  hemp bedding 

Before the temperatures drop is the perfect time for a coop deep clean and refresh with premium hemp bedding. 

Why hemp bedding?  

• Dry + Clean = Warm - RentACoop hemp bedding absorbs up to 5x its weight to keep the environment dry and clean in your chicken coop, nesting boxes, rabbit cages, horse stalls, and MORE. It helps keep your animals warm.  

• Extra insulation - Hemp bedding is naturally insulating in every season with its finely cut, high-density, hollow, soft fibers. They keep your coop cool in the summer and snuggly in the winter.  

• Deep litter method - Hemp bedding is the best choice for the deep litter method! Using a deep layer of it creates a cleaner environment for your animals. And it requires less frequent maintenance throughout the frigid winter months.  

4. Feeding: Proper nutrition throughout the winter 

Ensuring your animals get proper nutrition throughout the winter can be an extra challenge. RentACoop has the solutions to keep your animals healthy and happy even if you’re inside keeping your toes toasty.  

Large capacity feeders 

Choose a larger capacity chicken feeder and spend less time filling up in frigid weather. RentACoop's 65 Lb. Metal Port Feeder lasts and lasts, and our 50Lb. Metal Trough Feeder will get you through the coldest days. 

Waterproof feeders / Weather-proof feeders 

Keep winter out of your feed and prevent waste with our line of weather-proof chicken feeders. Our 20 Lb. Port Feeders, Metal Port Feeders, and Metal Trough Feeders will keep your chicken, turkey, or duck feed dry and secure.  

Supplemental feeders 

Supplementing your chickens' diet has even more benefits in winter. There are fewer bugs and less vegetation which serve as natural dietary supplements in the warmer months.  

We offer a variety of small capacity, compact chicken feeders, like our 10 Lb. Metal Trough Feeder or our 5 Lb. Chick2Chicken Port Feeder, which are convenient ways to offer supplemental feed any time of the year.  

Our treat dispensers are another convenient and fun way to offer your chickens a variety of foods – as well as a fun activity – all year long!  

5. Enrichment: Provide opportunities to keep your chickens busy  

Bored chickens are stressed chickens, which is a challenge that can lead to overall poor health and bullying in the flock. Providing opportunities for enrichment is key!  

Best boredom busters 

Chickens are highly motivated by yummy treats, and RentACoop treat dispensers are the perfect way to deliver enrichment and supplemental nutrition.  

Both our wall-mounted Small Treat Dispenser, and our in-ground Large Treat Dispenser can be installed virtually anywhere. Fill them with scratch, seeds, bugs, or feed to keep your chickens busy.   

Chick supplies 

Planning to hatch or buy chicks this winter? We have innovative chick products to keep your family and your flock engaged and entertained.  

Our popular Big Red Barn and Little Red Barn Brooders promote bonding with your chicks with their clear, sliding doors for easy viewing and access.  

Our brooders also make a fantastic holiday gift. More than just a chick brooder, you can bring home the unforgettable experience of raising chicks and caring for chickens.  

The RentACoop Chick Swing pairs perfectly with our brooders and creates an irresistibly cute chick playground. Save space by attaching the swing to one of our heating plates.   

Just one more thing... we've saved our best advice for last:  

6. Stay warm, snuggle a chicken!  

We hope you'll use the tips, ideas, and product solutions we've shared here to warm up for winter!  

Please reach out to our Eggsperts at info@rentacoop.com any time, with questions or for more information on our products.  

Warmest regards,  

~The RentACoop Team