At the time of this writing, we are currently at the beginning of a large winter storm. We always take extra steps to keep our chickens safe in the extreme winter weather. We are expecting wind chills as low as -46 degrees, 70 MPH wind gusts, and 4-8 inches of snow. I’m not so worried about the snow, but the temps and wind will be problematic.

I remember my first winter with chickens, I was trying to figure out what I could do to keep them safe. Here is all that I have learned over the last (almost) three years.

First, we cover the coop and run in heavy plastic. I can’t find the exact roll that we bought last year, but it is something like this. I had to do this part solo this year because my husband has been working insane hours. If I can do it alone, anyone can do this. I secured it with a heavy duty staple gun. When Scott came home, we cut thin boards and screwed those on to sandwich the plastic in. You can see that in the first picture above. Hopefully this keeps it more secured in the winds..

I started feeding the chickens extra mealworms at the beginning of the week. They will get additional treats at night also. Digestion helps keep them warmer. Mealworms help them pack on some extra fat to keep them warm.

Inside of the coop, they get a thick layer of bedding. We do deep litter in our coop through the winter. This means that we do not clean out the straw in the bottom before adding new. We add a new layer of straw each week, unless it starts to smell earlier. If you do this correctly, you keep the carbon and nitrogen balanced so that there is no odor. I had a bag of fine pine shavings that I threw in there also since there is going to be such extreme wind chills.

It is still really important to keep water available for the birds. I go out every hour to make sure their water isn’t completely frozen. I often take out some boiling water to pour over the icy water to make sure it doesn’t immediately freeze again. You can also buy a heated waterer. We don’t have electricity at our coop, so that’s not a good option for us.

I made sure to put extra pavers, bales of straw, or whatever I could find around the base of the coop and run. I’m trying to provide as much of a wind break as possible for them.

Some people do artificial heat in their coop during this weather. IF you do, please don’t use a heat lamp. They are SUCH a fire hazard in a coop, and I would hate for you to lose everything that you’ve worked for. Heat panels are really great options. They keep warmth in the coop, but you can put your hand against it and won’t get burned. We do have this one, which we use for our baby chicks. We did use it in the coop our first winter. Now, we don’t use any heat because we want the chickens to regulate their own temperatures well. I don’t think there’s really a wrong choice. Do your research and come to your own conclusions.

My fellow homesteaders/farmers, know that I am praying for you through this.. and any future storms. We do all we can to protect our animals and practice good animal husbandry. I am praying for minimal losses!

Preparedness is sort of a buzz word these days. I feel like most people think the term “prepper” means we are looking for a zombie apocolypse. That is a myth.

We have seen, especially over the last two+ years, a major shift in our country. We’ve seen empty shelves and shortages at the grocery store. Limits were placed how many canned goods and packages of toilet paper you could get in a single trip. We have seen our supply chain crumbling. Ships stuck at port. Shortages of truck drivers. It goes on and on. We can point our fingers and blame all kinds of people.

Really, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We’ve removed ourselves from the work required to provide for our own households. We rely on convenience and don’t want to take personal responsibility. It’s easier to go buy a loaf of bread than put in a little work and bake your own, for example.

Preparedness also goes so far beyond what is happening in the world. What if you have a natural disaster? What if you lost your job today? How long would you be able to feed your family? What if you get sick and can’t go to the store for a week? Will you have enough food? Do you have the medicines you need now so that you won’t panic if illness does come?

First, open up your cabinets. Look at what you already use. Those are the items that you want to stock up on for these circumstances. If you lose your job, your family will not appreciate eating freeze dried bananas and beef jerky every day. Buy the cans of vegetables and soup that you already purchase. Look in your freezer. What do you usually cook with?

Buy an extra __________ each time you go to the store. Are you buying green beans? Grab one more can than you need. Get an extra bottle of ketchup. Throw an extra package of bacon and ground beef in the freezer. You’d be surprised at how quickly these things add up in your cupboards and give you a little bit of security.

During cold and flu season, make sure your medicine cabinet has what you will need– whether homeophatic, holistic, or allopathic medicines. You do not want to wake up in the middle of the night with a sick child and be unprepared. Know what you will do. If you have to write it all down just to have peace of mind, do it.

It’s also time to skill up! We need to go back to our roots and cook from scratch again. I saw something recently that stuck with me. It said “I used to joke that I had grandma hobbies. Now I realize it’s because those skills weren’t passed on to the younger generation.” So, here is Grandma Ashley encouraging you to start learning some of these skills. Bread baking is not that complicated. Yes, it takes a lot of practice, and there will be mistakes. But, be willing to be bad at something before you get good at it. Make your soup from scratch instead of a can. It’s much more cost effective and much healthier for you. You can make a double batch of soup and freeze the other half. This also comes in very handy if you get sick.

Learn how to hunt. Jill Winger just did an amazing podcast with Stacy Lynn Harris about hunting that will give you so much good information.

Grow your food. Not everyone has the space for a full garden, but a potted herb on your kitchen windowsill is a start. I started out with a few potted plants when we couldn’t have a garden. It made such a difference. If you can’t grow your own, find a local farmer to support. There are many of us out there.

Homesteading is a different life. I’m aware of that. I’m aware of the blood and sweat we have put into what we’ve built. We sacrifice in many areas of our life to build what we have. This life is prepping in its own way. The goal is to put up food from the garden to last through the winter into the next garden season. It’s a lot of work, and I’ve not been successful in reaching that goal yet outside of garlic. But, it is a goal. And it’s not for everyone. I get that.

Your family is your responsibility. It is no one’s job to bail you out should any of these scenarios come to pass. Yes, community is great and we should be willing to help others if we are able. I have been on the receiving end of so much kindness when our lives crumbled. So. Much. Kindness. But, refusing to do the work and expecting others to carry your weight is unacceptable. Do what you can with where you are at.

I know that this often brings the question of “where will I store this extra?” Do you have space under your beds? Boxes or tubs of canned goods can fit underneath. A little bit of space in a closet? Maybe you have a bunch of junk that you don’t actually want anymore. Get rid of it and use that space for storage.

Rotate through your stock so that nothing expires. I refill my cabinets from our extra stock, and put new groceries away with the stock. That way, ideally, nothing slips through the cracks and gets wasted. Find a system that works well for you.

Everyone can do something. I’m not saying to go out and panic buy. That is also irresponsible and puts a strain on things. Just buy a little extra here and there. I challenge you to learn one new skill this month. Learn how to make scrambled eggs. Bake a loaf of bread. Cook one meal from scratch. Just do something. I encourage everyone to give themselves a bit of food security. It will help you to feel much less panicked if you go to the store and see bare shelves. At least give yourself the extra security in case of a layoff or job loss. I cannot stress that enough, friends.

I am curious what the stores are like where you are. I have noticed that meat seems to be the tricky spot for us. I have to grab meat if I see it because chances are good that I may not see it next time. I should also say that I do not go to the grocery store very often, so what I see may be skewed. We do one big trip a month and then the occasional trip to grab more milk or something I forgot or couldn’t find. Let me know in the comments below.

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If you are wanting to do a long term food storage situation, this brand has had a lot of sales lately. I personally would rather not spend my money on those things outside of a couple of things that I couldn’t grow or make myself should calamity come. Things that may be a treat and make the struggle more bearable. (Brown sugar, honey powder, and chocolate milk for example.) But, it may be the easiest thing for others.