Did you know that birds form flocks in the winter because it is easier to find food and protection from predators as a flock? As winter approaches birds change their eating habits. As the days grow short and the temperature drops, their natural food supply diminishes. The insects that were available in the summer are no longer available; water is frozen and high energy food scarce.
Here are some tips to help feed your backyard birds.
1. Hang your feeder out of the wind. The side of a house on the east or southeast works best.
2. Use a suet feeder. Suet is a high enery food that replenishes depleted stores of energy and nutrients. Remember birds need extra energy to keep warm in the winter months.
3. Use a seed feeder filled with Black Oil Sunflower Seed as a source of high quality protein and oil that has a high calorie/ounce ratio. The thin outer shell is easier for smaller wild birds to eat.
4. Provide a source of water. Bird baths are perfect for this, but remember it has to be kept unfrozen in order to help the birds. Use a heater or heated birdbath to accomplish this.
A chicken coop or hen house is a small house where, typically, female chickens or other fowl are kept safe and secure. There are nest boxes found inside the hen houses for egg-laying, and perches on which the birds can sleep. A chicken coop usually has an indoor area where the chickens can sleep and nest, as well as a fenced-in outdoor area where chickens will feed and spend the majority of the day (which is typically made from chicken wire). The coop should be cleaned after every two weeks, and the straw shifted every day, similar to a litter box. At night, the coop should be locked with all the birds inside of it, so that they are protected from predators. Both the inside and outdoor floors of a chicken coop are often strewn with a loose material such as straw or wood chips to deal with chicken droppings and to provide ventilation.
The purpose of a chicken coop is to protect chickens from bad weather – heat, cold, wind and rain and secure them from predators-especially foxes and cats. One method to protect chickens is to put an isolation material between two layers of wood or bricks. As too much heat can prove to be fatal, windows should be oriented in such a way as to prevent overheating, and proper ventilation measures should be taken to prevent infectious bronchitis and overheating as well. The hens can be released outside by daylight but should be locked in a coop at night.
The Hen House Collection has the best chicken coop for your chicken feeding needs. All of your birds wild and domestic will be cheering up your backyard!