How do free-range chickens survive the winter?

The Beginning of Winter has passed a few days, and the temperature is getting lower and lower, which is a severe test for free-range chickens. Unlike raising chickens in a greenhouse, they do not have complete maintenance facilities and measures, so how to spend the winter in winter has become a big problem. So how do free-range chickens spend the winter? Come and have a look with the editor.

1. Prevent cold and keep warm

The sheds of free-range chickens are relatively simple, and most of them are used to shelter from the rain and rest, basically leaking wind on all sides, which is completely impossible to use as a place of heat preservation in winter. In winter, the temperature of the chicken house should be kept above 10 degrees as far as possible, so wind barriers can be set up around the chicken house. Avoid the cold wind attack, and then in the cracks in the walls, doors and windows and other possible air leakage places covered with plastic sheeting, plug the wall leakage, prevent the thief wind and cross the hall wind. At the same time, we should appropriately increase the feeding density and rely on the population temperature to survive the winter.

2. Increase the duration of light.

Light can not only enhance the physique of chickens, but also promote the secretion of pituitary gland hormones and exuberant egg production of hens. But in winter, because the day is short and the night is long, the lighting time is long, so it is necessary to fill the light manually in the chicken coop according to the electric light. Generally, the lighting time should be more than 15 hours a day. The lighting time can be turned on early in the morning and off at night. When the temperature is right, drive the chickens out of the henhouse and let them accept the light for as long as possible. This is also a good time for chicken house cleaning.

3. Increase nutrition

With lower temperatures in winter, chickens need to consume more energy to resist the cold, while free-range chickens in winter can not get more nutrients from the outside world, so these need to be obtained from feed. Therefore, in winter, we should have appropriate conditions to scatter the energy level of chicken feed, so that it has sufficient energy to resist the severe cold, and we should also pay attention to the content of vitamins in the feed.

4. Strengthen the prevention and control of epidemic diseases.

During the floating season of respiratory infectious diseases of chickens in winter, once the disease occurs, the corresponding drugs should be used to take preventive measures in time. At the same time, it is necessary to disinfect chickens with disinfected chickens every 5-7 days, which can kill Escherichia coli, salmonella, chicken Marek's disease virus, chicken Newcastle disease virus and so on.

The above is the introduction of how to spend the winter with free-range chickens. I hope it can help you. If you want to know more about it, please pay attention to us.