{"id":852,"date":"2026-09-03T19:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T19:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/?p=852"},"modified":"2026-09-10T17:37:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T17:37:39","slug":"what-to-feed-chickens-in-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/what-to-feed-chickens-in-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Feed Chickens in Winter (and What to Skip)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My first winter with chickens, I convinced myself I was starving them. It was January, the girls had stopped laying, they were hunched up and quiet on the roost, and every article I&#8217;d read said something different about cracked corn. So I did what a lot of first-year keepers do \u2014 I started tossing extra scratch in the run twice a day and hoping.<\/p>\n<p>They didn&#8217;t need any of it. What they needed was for me to leave their feed alone, keep it in front of them, and fix the one thing I wasn&#8217;t thinking about at all: their water kept freezing, and a hen who can&#8217;t drink stops eating. Here&#8217;s what actually matters when it comes to feeding a backyard flock through a Tennessee winter, and where I&#8217;ve learned to spend my effort.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"cmg-supplies\"><p class=\"cmg-supplies__title\">What keeps my flock fed and watered through the cold<\/p><div class=\"cmg-supplies__body\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B016AO5GAI?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A nipple-and-cup waterer<\/a> \u2014 clean water they&#8217;ll actually drink, which is half the battle once the temperature drops<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00EORGCXY?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A galvanized double-wall fount<\/a> \u2014 a sturdy second water source so nobody&#8217;s standing around thirsty on a cold morning<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00GRTA6AC?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sav-A-Chick electrolytes<\/a> \u2014 a vitamin-and-electrolyte boost in the water during a hard cold snap or a heavy molt tail-end<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div><\/aside>\n<p>The thing that belongs at the very top of any winter feed list is a good layer feed and a bag of oyster shell \u2014 and I don&#8217;t keep a listing here I&#8217;d stand behind to link you to yet. So buy those at your local feed store or co-op; I&#8217;ll add ones here when I&#8217;ve found bags I trust. More on both in a minute.<\/p>\n<h2>Layer feed still does the heavy lifting<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what-to-feed-chickens-in-winter-02-layer-feed.jpg\" alt=\"What to Feed Chickens in Winter (and What to Skip) \u2014 layer feed\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the part that surprised me my first winter: you don&#8217;t really change what you feed. A quality layer feed \u2014 somewhere around 16 percent protein \u2014 is a complete ration, formulated to be the whole diet. It&#8217;s just as right in January as it is in June. The instinct to swap it out for something &#8220;warmer&#8221; is where new keepers get into trouble.<\/p>\n<p>So the first rule of winter feeding is boring: keep good layer feed in front of them free-choice, all day, every day. Cold birds burn more calories staying warm, which means they&#8217;ll eat more of it than they did in summer \u2014 so check your feeder more often and don&#8217;t let it run empty on a freezing afternoon. That&#8217;s most of the job right there.<\/p>\n<p>If your girls are still in a hard fall molt heading into the first cold, bump their protein up toward 18 to 20 percent with a feather-fixer or grower feed until they&#8217;re feathered out. A well-feathered bird handles cold far better than a half-bald one, and feathers are almost pure protein. Once they&#8217;re covered, drop back to layer.<\/p>\n<h2>The truth about scratch and cracked corn<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what-to-feed-chickens-in-winter-03-scratch-corn.jpg\" alt=\"What to Feed Chickens in Winter (and What to Skip) \u2014 scratch corn\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>You&#8217;ll hear that cracked corn &#8220;heats chickens up&#8221; and that you should load them up on it before a cold night. There&#8217;s a grain of truth buried in a bad instruction.<\/p>\n<p>Digesting grain does generate a little body heat overnight, so a modest handful of scratch or cracked corn tossed in the run about an hour before roost isn&#8217;t a bad idea on a truly frigid evening \u2014 it gives them something to work on and a small warming boost while they settle. But scratch is a treat, not a meal. It&#8217;s low in protein and calcium, and if it makes up more than about ten percent of what they eat, you&#8217;re watering down the balanced feed that&#8217;s actually keeping them healthy. I&#8217;ve seen people replace half the ration with corn &#8220;to keep them warm&#8221; and end up with soft-shelled eggs and cranky, underfed birds by February.<\/p>\n<p>So treat scratch like dessert. A bedtime handful, scattered so they have to hunt for it \u2014 which also keeps them busy on the short, boring days when they&#8217;re cooped up more. Not a main course.<\/p>\n<h2>Don&#8217;t forget the oyster shell and grit<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what-to-feed-chickens-in-winter-04-oyster-shell-grit.jpg\" alt=\"What to Feed Chickens in Winter (and What to Skip) \u2014 oyster shell grit\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Laying hens need calcium, and they need it year-round, not just when the eggs are flowing. Even birds that have slowed way down in winter are still cycling. I keep a small dish of crushed oyster shell out free-choice, separate from the feed, so each hen takes what her body&#8217;s asking for. It&#8217;s cheap insurance against a thin-shelled egg cracking in the nest box on a cold day.<\/p>\n<p>If your flock free-ranges less in winter \u2014 mine barely leave the covered run when there&#8217;s ice on the ground \u2014 keep granular grit available too. They need those little stones in the gizzard to grind their feed, and they can&#8217;t pick up as much on their own when the yard&#8217;s frozen or snowed over. A hen eating plenty of feed but short on grit isn&#8217;t getting the good out of it.<\/p>\n<h2>The real winter feeding problem is water<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what-to-feed-chickens-in-winter-05-winter-water.jpg\" alt=\"What to Feed Chickens in Winter (and What to Skip) \u2014 winter water\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the one I got wrong that first year, and it&#8217;s the one nobody frames as a feeding issue: a chicken that can&#8217;t drink won&#8217;t eat. Feed is dry. Birds need water to process it, and in a real cold snap, laying and appetite both fall off a cliff if the waterer&#8217;s an ice puck by mid-morning.<\/p>\n<p>So more of my winter effort goes to water than to any fancy feed. I keep the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B016AO5GAI?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nipple-and-cup waterer<\/a> scrubbed and full inside the run, and I set out the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00EORGCXY?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">galvanized fount<\/a> as a second source so twelve birds aren&#8217;t crowding one cup. On the coldest mornings I swap frozen water for fresh two or three times a day if I have to \u2014 a heated base helps, but a plain thermos-of-warm-water refill on your way out the door does the same job for a small flock. I get into the whole freezing-water problem, and the tricks that keep it liquid, in <a href=\"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/how-to-keep-chicken-water-from-freezing\">how to keep chicken water from freezing<\/a>. When we hit a brutal stretch, I&#8217;ll stir a dose of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00GRTA6AC?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sav-A-Chick electrolytes<\/a> into one waterer a couple times that week to help them hold steady. Warm water, kept liquid, does more for winter appetite than anything you can pour into the feeder.<\/p>\n<h2>A few extras that actually help (in moderation)<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what-to-feed-chickens-in-winter-06-winter-extras.jpg\" alt=\"What to Feed Chickens in Winter (and What to Skip) \u2014 winter extras\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Once the basics are covered, a little something warm and rich on a bitter morning is genuinely good for them, and honestly good for you to give. A pan of warm oatmeal or a scoop of scrambled eggs on a single-digit day \u2014 the girls swarm it, and yes, you can feed chickens eggs without turning them into egg-eaters. A handful of dried mealworms or black soldier fly larvae adds protein and gives them something to chase. Sunflower seeds, a few kitchen scraps, a hung cabbage to peck at when they&#8217;re bored and stuck inside.<\/p>\n<p>The whole rule for the extras is the same as the scratch rule: keep it under about ten percent of the diet, and never let it crowd out the balanced feed and the calcium that keep a laying hen sound. Warm treats are for morale and a little extra body heat, not for nutrition. Get the layer feed, the oyster shell, the grit, and the unfrozen water right, and your flock will come through winter in good shape \u2014 and roar back into laying when the days lengthen after the solstice. (If your egg basket empties out this winter, that&#8217;s usually normal too \u2014 I explain <a href=\"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/why-chickens-stop-laying-in-winter\">why chickens stop laying in winter<\/a> in its own post.)<\/p>\n<p>I walk through the whole first year of keeping a flock \u2014 molt, the winter slowdown, the feeding rhythm, and getting the eggs back in spring \u2014 in my book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0H2LN9Q9L?tag=almanachouse-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Raising Backyard Chickens for Beginners<\/em><\/a>. Everything above is the version you can act on before the first hard freeze. The book is the one I wish I&#8217;d had the January I thought I was starving the girls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What to feed chickens in winter to keep the girls healthy: why layer feed comes first, when scratch helps, and the water problem that stops them eating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backyard-chickens","tag-affiliate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":919,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions\/919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confluencemediagroup.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}