How I Doubled My Egg Production in the DEEP WINTER!

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Egg production naturally goes down during the colder months. But there are things you can do to keep your chickens laying eggs through the winter!
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About Curtis Stone:
Curtis is one of the world’s most highly sought-after small farming educators. His book, The Urban Farmer, offers a new way to think about farming𑁋 one where quality of life and profitability coexist. Today, Curtis spends most of his time building his 40-acre off-grid homestead in British Columbia. He leverages his relationships with other experts to bring diverse content into the homes of gardeners and aspiring small farmers from around the world. Learn more at FromTheField.TV.
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[@TheMrothe]

Chickens use daylight to regulate their egg production. When the days get shorter they stop laying and use that saved energy to moult and grow new feathers to keep warm.you have a young flock so they will be fine but it is important to allow them to go through their cycle as they get older. I usually allow my birds to stop laying for a couple months then give them 12V battery powered lights in the early spring. Frozen and cracked eggs are not sellable anyways and that's what I get when my birds lay in the deep cold winter.

[@theplanelife4097]

Yes. I'm always trying to explain these cycles to people. Even where I live in the south zone 8b, it's not about the temperature, it's about the daylight hours. Same with my garden. Influenza---influence. It's the influence of the season. Our bodies go through these cycles as well. No boogy man V needed.

[@chrisa6682]

This is why I always have a few new chicks every spring. They will start laying in the fall and go right through the winter laying until their first molt the following year. They have to grow new feathers quickly and that requires energy and protein that can't be wasted on producing eggs. They are not 'slackers' as some people like to say, it is the life cycle of a chicken. My old girls are just starting to lay again now and will continue to ramp up production as the year progresses.

[@Christian-jx3nx]

@@chrisa6682 Like succession planting. I like it!

[@terrijuanette486]

I agree. Allowing their bodies the time to rest - like a Sabbath rest - is healthier for them. His eggs don't freeze, though. @11:15 he explains how he achieves this.

[@TheMrothe]

@@terrijuanette486 Yes the heat mats is an interesting idea. It will be neat to see if it works when the cold sets in. My hens and I live in an area that gets down to -30C for several weeks and I believe Curtis lives in a similar climate on the top of that hill. It would be great to run those mats off a small solar system if they work when that cold, although I suspect there may be a few battles and it may encourage broodyness.

[@bambamnj]

This is great idea and you have done people a great service by showing what you have done. FYI.. for people who might want to try this. I have seen this type of greenhouse made from PVC pipe. I don't remember the whole plans (I am sure you can find videos if you search) but basically you create the top (spine) with PVC straight pieces and PVS "cross" connectors. Then you can slightly bend long straight pieces to make the sides (ribs). The ribs connect into the cross connectors of the spine and then you create base pieces that match up with the spine by using straight pieces and "T' connectors (the "T" connector on the two base pieces need to line up with the cross connectors on the "spine" so when you bend the ribs they line up straight with each other left and right. Fill the "base' pieces with sand to give the structure weight to hold it down in wind. Then put caps on the ends of the base pieces. I forget exactly how the two ends were closed but again I think it was just with "T'" connectors and "cross" connectors to make a door on one end. Then wrap the whole thing with heavy gauge clear plastic. You want clear because you want the sunlight to pass through. Don't use dark plastic because it will shutout the sunlight.

[@CreationBound]

Been wintering our chickens in greenhouse for several years now. Definitely helps egg production. Pay attention to weather and you will notice a lag of about a day. Cold cloudy day very few eggs next day, sunny warm day almost all the hens will lay an egg fallowing day.

[@offgridcurtisstone]

Totally. Noticed that today.

[@Anonymous-km5pj]

gr8 tips, thanks so much. Hav both a Heat Trak and seed mat i can bring out, noticed that when the dog wasnt laying on Heat Trak last winter chooks would stand on it and production not zero.....- who doesnt like heat really.... Ive been thru the desert on a horse w no name......🎶🎶

[@pamschwager522]

I am a new chicken mom and notice the same. My Barred Rock is the most inconsistent, but the other girls are most prolific when it is sunny. They probably have SAD like many of us in the Northeast US!

[@angelofamillionyears4599]

we pickup expired greens and food from the markets here every other day so our feed is free. You hit the target on sunlight, the commercial growers have still not figured out that all of their chicken houses need to have roofs and sides that allow sunlight !! The reason they are getting avian flu is that they are not getting sunlight !! DUMB corporations !! Sunlight prevents flu in birds and humans !! The SUN is the source of all life !!

[@TheStickinator]

Im interested in more info on the mats under the nesting boxes. Is it run off solar low voltage?

[@whereswendy8544]

Heat AND light. An increase in day light also helps a lot.

[@charlesharris3571]

Hello how are you doing?

[@oldmanVR]

Makes sense to me. We have also found that chilli peppers can boost production short term.

[@chrisa6682]

Try fermented some of your feed. It helps them through the cold days of winter. Lots of youtube videos on that but basically soak your feed the first time 2-3 days and feed them 3/4s of that. The remaining fermented feed will inoculate the next batch in 24 hours...then repeat. I use non gmo pellets and add a bit of grains.

[@offgridcurtisstone]

Yes, we do that. Works great.

[@codeypendent1899]

This is freaking awesome. They do not look like its -10 at all. Active as and clucky just scratching away. Perfect

[@rickmoore52]

Makes sense. What I do on the coldest days is give my hens a warm mash to eat and warm water to drink. I get good egg production even on the coldest days.

[@makaveli1085]

We have a completely isolated mobile chicken coop that has an air exchanger inside. In the summer our 100 chickens go from coop to outside (full free range) and in the winter we move it to our 40x25 greenhouse. Since there is no natural light in the coop we have lights on a timer. We also have lights in the greenhouse to keep "sunlight " hours to about 16h a day. It's been 2 years now and we've never had a drop in production...

[@TheFarmacySeedsNetwork]

Awesome! I always wanted to do a dual sided greenhouse.. one side for birds the other for plants.. switch every year... But the real estate is pricey that way. Amazing daytime heat can improve productivity! Nice coop layout!

[@paulchristianson8714]

im down south of you in bitterroot valley, mt. anyway, my 40 chickens live 24/7 in the my 20x40 high tunnel. on nice days they go outside into the surrounding garden. healthy birds, free ferts, cleaning up dead plant matter and seeds. synergy!

[@WarriorGnome]

How do you keep raccoons from getting them?

[@paulchristianson8714]

@@WarriorGnome some people run a hot wire around the perimeter. i have a 6' fence around the garden, which has so far been enough.

[@WarriorGnome]

@@paulchristianson8714 the hot wire is definitely a good idea--- I have some huge raccoons and opossums along with wandering cats thru my yard day and night !!! Probably would use a couple strands if I stay here next year.

[@ruyguy8888]

What you may want to try as well Curtis is adding some mixed in whole or cracked corn to their feed during winter months. We don't have a coop heater or greenhouse setup but find the birds to be better off with a bigger grain to digest as it takes more energy/heat for the bird to do that. I've not found any significance in food consumption either. We stay pretty steady at 12 -14 layers and a rooster with 150lbs of feed every 8 or so weeks eating constant out of the feeders. Mind you we also feed table scraps and market farm veg waste over the growing season.

[@LadysFarm]

I need double egg production ❤. I’m still getting 10 eggs a day with 23 ladies. But I’m happy right now. But would be nice to have more for baking goods ❤

[@kristraub7788]

They are born with all the eggs they will ever have...all those does is burn the girls out faster

[@Ironrodpower]

My 17 layers are not putting out... Need to feed more and warm up the barn...

[@jenn8470]

@@Ironrodpower I have 7 girls and haven’t had eggs in days, finally got one but in spring/summer I usually get 4-5 a day.

[@PurpleHeartRecipient]

Awe! I love that!

[@LadysFarm]

@@Ironrodpower yeah we have a wood stove in our barn we put on twice a day. Plus we feed them more now that it’s cold and they hardly go out now. But it’s like a spa for them here on the farm

[@elemental_self]

ever since we moved out of the city and began development for "market garden" style homestead production for veg plots and orchard, we incorporated chickens straightaway. they have been one of the most important fertility and weed managers in the plots to date. "little garden machines" is quite right. they're quickly assisting with us achieving as close to a closed-loop fertility system as possible. and the eggs are a great by-product as well. we did a round of broilers in the vein of justin rhodes just recently and that was an epic experience for us as well. chickens are indispensable for the garden/farm/homestead

[@roberthaviar8243]

Great work brother! The real creative solutions to our lives in the time of transformation. Observing the patterns, learning, improving. Beautiful!

[@robindevellen7038]

Light stimulates the pituitary for the chicken to start laying eggs. Keep them dry keep them out of the wind and cull the birds that are over two years old.

[@jdt2631]

Best part of the whole 14 minutes…“That’s just for chem-trails…Don’t worry about that”

[@cindy2616]

When young, chickens will lay throughout the winter. Next year you'll probably find that even with this setup your egg production will be down significantly. I have a similar setup for my chickens and only the younger ones are laying, the older ones have stopped. If I increased their hours of daylight or even added a red heat lamp at night their production would go up but I like my chickens to have a break for a few months, they live longer, remain in production longer and their eggs are better in spring/summer.

[@voiceofmanywaters3720]

This is true. When I was a Newby at chickens, I was all excited about trying to get them to lay yr round, but now I am realistic. It is easy to get 1 to 2 yr olds to lay in winter by upping their protein alone & when they are molting but the older ones that are 2 + naturally slow down as they should.

[@soronos8586]

And then you cut their heads off and eat them

[@voiceofmanywaters3720]

@@soronos8586 Yes...most people do just that.

[@tystone48]

Same here I water glass my extra summer eggs so my hen can rest...I still have a few laying now I so plenty I live in Tennessee so we stay pretty warm most the winter

[@losnolt]

@@tystone48 When you start using your water glassed eggs, do you just pull one or two from the jar as you need them or do you need to remove them all at the same time?

[@jdwilsun]

Curtis, the movable bars & heat mat under the eggs are super ideas! There are other factors affecting the chickens; LIGHT, GROUND MINERALS & NATURAL EXPRESSION. I think it is the increased light, not the heat that causes greater egg production.

[@PurpleHeartRecipient]

Wish you, your loved ones, your friemds, and all of your subscribers the BEST Thanksgiving of ALL Time!

[@PaulLadendorf]

@ 9:28 "that's just for chemtrails don't worry about that" 😂😂😂

[@kimclayton7728]

Love your enthusiasm in this video. I’m on year 3 of my Chunnel. My ladies love it!

[@garypeluso3300]

We have 3 adult hens, chickens, and 4 adult hen ducks. The ducks are still laying 1 egg each per day. Two of our chickens stopped laying and one lays about every other day. But we get 4 duck eggs a day. The ducks we have are Khaki Campbell.

[@nathaniellarson8]

Celsius is logically and functionally easier, Fahrenheit is a better descriptor for temperatures in relation to human environments. 100 is towards the top end of what a lot of people will deal with, 0 is towards the bottom. Yes, it gets hotter and colder, and people still go out in those, but it's still the general rule. I wouldn't mind using both systems.

[@DonnaRatliff1]

Curtis? Can you do a video specifically on your pot with vinegar? I'm really interested in that. Exactly how does it work? Just heat straight vinegar? Or dilute? Just simmer or does it need to boiling? What have you observed by using it? The chemtrails just split and move away? I think all of us are interested in that. Thank you.

[@offgridcurtisstone]

No. I don’t want to share it out loud because it’ll get censored and or it will freak too many people out and frankly, I don’t want to spoil something so good.

[@DivinityHealings]

@@offgridcurtisstone Can you please share if you are boiling vinegar on this comment, so those of us who are interested can try it out. Thanks! I will share something that works for me, if I see a "plane spraying" I say: "I now bind all demons, princes, principalities, thrones, dominions, all unclean spirits and all that serve the evil one and the evil one himself, anything associated with spraying my skies in the name of Jesus Christ and I lose Arch Angel Michael, Arch Angel Gabriel, Arch Angel Raphael and any other angels or saints that The Heavenly Father sees fit to to come down from his holy heavens to stop these trails from sticking. This is a violation of my free will and the will of The Heavenly Father, you shall not stick, I bind you! in the might name of Jesus Christ!" Try it, it will amaze you what happens, the trails stop forming as the "plane" is spraying the trials will disappear. The key is to have absolute faith! I sometimes just say my words and not focus on whether or not it has worked and I just go about my business and when I look up later I see nothing but blue skies. Try it!! God bless you all who fight them. This is a spiritual battle.

[@offgridcurtisstone]

@@DivinityHealings Yes. Boil 4 litres of white vinegar do to 2 litres and put it outside. Watch the sky clear. Boil it outside if you have a hotplate and it works faster.

[@AlSwearengen4]

@@offgridcurtisstone No way! Must be because vinegar has an abundance if electrons and reacts with the positive ions? They chemtrail the crap outta us😕

[@offgridcurtisstone]

@@AlSwearengen4 I have no idea how it works, I can just observe that it does.

[@cynthiabuckingham8889]

I have seen where you can start a compost pile in the hoop coop to give them something to do and add to their nutrition and the nutrition of the soil.

[@greenclawbear4043]

Great video, I have 18 hens now producing six eggs tops daily. I like the greenhouse idea I’m gonna try and implement that myself. Thanks for sharing

[@cheriwaller7598]

This is very helpful. Love the design and how it flows with your greenhouse area.

[@CharlesGann1]

Thank you for the walk through. Love the ideas and logic of your observations. Headed out now to switch the summer shade. to clear plastic. Hope my crew follows with increased production like yours!

[@michaelparis983]

Happy Saturday Curtis! I'm new to your videos as of today. Now I can hopefully get all my hens to lay eggs because only one out of five, has been laying, one egg daily. You are a great teacher, Curtis and I appreciate all your info, that you have shared today . Thank you! 👍

[@philliphall5198]

I’m feeding goat pellets and TSC scatch grain and there back to laying normal Weather really effects there eggs production and all way will Just switch feeds up helps and blk seeds also

[@greggmcclelland8430]

I have found that light makes the difference. If I put a light on a timer in the coop and increase the light to a total of 16 hours per day, egg production matches summer. last winter had production down to almost nothing and then I added a light and my 36 hens started producing 2 dozen eggs per day consistently. Another thing I noticed that helps is to give them purina Layena omega III. It jumpstarts the egg production. The regular Layena while you get a 50 lb bag versus 40 lb, does not have the same effect on the Hens.

[@chrisa6682]

Just remember that chickens have specific number of ova for their life an adding supplemental light will reduce the years that they produce. They need to take a break from laying after the first year and first molt in order to grow back their feathers.

[@inaslump]

You are ruining the natural life cycle of the chickens by adding artificial light..

[@PaulLadendorf]

what kind of light?

[@robinham2796]

It’s nature, Let it be….if they are warm all day and cold at night, That’s not good for chickens.

[@deangriffin8997]

HI bro. I have about young hens, i put a 600 grow light in the pen, comes on in the eve and goes off two hours after sundown, then back on at 5 am. I am getting lots of eggs since then. Like 32 eggs a day now. With about 65 young hens, bought day old in the Spring. Eggs are getting bigger and i do see some small eggs, meaning some hens are beginning.

[@wooden136]

Its all light cycles not heat. Get a light in the coop and they will keep laying through winter. Gotta get eggs before they freeze and crack tho.

[@RevivalHomeDecor]

Omg! I used to watch Curtis before he went off You tube and onto private videos- I love that he’s a prepper now. Very smart because when the shit hits the fan the looters would’ve ravished his little farm. I’m surprised he went to such a low growing zone though

[@samseddie01]

Looking good Curtis! Great idea with the heat mats! You are an inspiration

[@TheNewMediaoftheDawn]

That’s a cool setup…. Maybe cover 2 or 2.5 of those 3 wire coup openings in -30 C BC mountain winters, I think it would kill them in January?

[@FaveWasteOfTime]

definitely passing these ideas along to my brother to try with his chickens. good stuff.

[@gregorya326]

Thanks for the input, I thought about doing the same thing, I built a movable hoop house and was considering covering it in plastic for the chickens in dead of winter. My egg production fell off hard when the deep freeze hit so I'm going to give this a try.

[@Metaphysics-for-life]

This is such valuable information! I will definitely implement this, thank you!

[@christophershreiner5114]

Similar to my setup except mine is like a semi-mobile high tunnel. The plastic is always on but can be rolled up on one side or the other or both. I have to move it with a truck or small tractor though. I have a built in laying box and perch. There’s a man door for me to get easy access and an egg door on the back for easy collecting. Mine is 8x8. I wish it were lighter so I could move it by hand though. In the last year, I’ve had two storms that moved it though (one moved it about 20’). So, if it were lighter, it may have blown away totally.

[@AgnesMariaL]

Have you considered getting heritage breeds specifically for cold climates? Like, the Chantecler have absolutely no qualms about going out in the snow, and indeed will go out and eat snow or chip up ice and eat that versus drinking from the fresh water bowl in the coop! Silkies, as much as I am so NOT a fan of the breed, also go out in snow, and will dig through 6" of it to find the green stuff beneath. Icelandics are also an excellent choice for a low-maintenance year-round layer: for a medium-sized bird, they don't demand a lot of feed, but pump out large white eggs.

[@offgridcurtisstone]

Many considerations out there. We're happy with what we have.

[@hughmanatee7433]

My hen house is at the back of my greenhouse. When I finish growing veg I simply leave the door open and the girls come out and eat everything that is left. They eat all of bugs and bug eggs, all the weeds and the weed seeds and they fertilize wherever they go. Leaving the door open also heats the hen house as well as their foraging area. It is important to insulate the hen house away from the heat of the greenhouse because the summer heat can kill your birds. My egg production remains very high throughout the winter. I have also raised pigs in the greenhouse from November until mid February. Pigs grow as well as they do outdoors in the summer. I provide a deep pile of straw for bedding the pigs. I just put electric fence wire on the inside of the walls to keep the pigs from breaking out through the the walls.

[@philliphall5198]

Light does help and the cold I think is why they slow down and I feed them more during winter

[@adamwallace8082]

You should just build a "Shed" type building on the end of that high tunnel, walk in hen house... build some knee high roosts in the polytunnel, birds will like it

[@papapetad]

Great tips. The quintessential first animal species to have in a homestead, huh. Thanks for sharing. (I was totally ready to hear more about the chemtrail apparatus and what its function is 😃)

[@tystone48]

Mine free Range on 7 acres and we only get snow 1 or twice a year about 2 inch never stays longer the day or 2 ..just keeping them in grubs for extra protein in winter

[@WheelerRanch]

I’m implementing this, my chicken is framed in, my husband just got free roofing panels left over from one of his metal jobs. Can’t wait to have my flock! Brilliant Sir, thank you for all you share! Cheers from the Southern Cascades of Oregon!

[@WheelerRanch]

@fofnweeznfarm chicken house*

[@jenniexfuller]

What an excellent observation on the egg laying in the side with the sun. I’ve always noticed a preference but had never thought about the why. It makes perfect sense! Our production has dramatically decreased as our most productive girls are going through a molt. I might try doing the greenhouse thing - I have a homemade hoop house we could finish with a cover.

[@terrywereb7639]

You can trigger or hasten a molt by providing higher protein levels.

[@thomasreto2997]

Love it! We have 5 layers…urban Pittsburgh…noticed egg production start to drop a bit, but warmer days we still see 4 or 5 a day🤙

[@jeffdible8171]

Intelligent design. Makes so much sense. My birds were in a barn that was fairly dark. Rotating the birds to your other beds in other seasons could be and option.

[@juliahelland6488]

Great tips and thanks for sharing this!❣️

[@dhansonranch]

Cool set up and it sounds like it works well for that few of birds. A person could scale up I suppose. I have quite a few more layers than this and find that a low wattage light to extend "day length" helps a lot. My birds don't get outside and so yes, moisture can be problematic. I do have passive ventilation however. Because of the number of birds, they actually keep it very warm in there although I do have a small heater if needed to warm to just above freezing when its -40. But the biggest thing I have noticed is that if your birds go into lay going into winter, they will lay all winter long, even without added heat - I did have a dim light however. I am trying with two year old birds this year. I never keep birds longer than 2 years unless they are specialty breeds. Longer than that and I find that they become "high maintenance" - a chicken has a predetermined number of eggs she can lay.

[@ienekevanhouten4559]

Love it, will share with my local chicken raising friends. My days are over. You are getting so much winter sun. My 10x20 greenhouse barely heats up on cloudy days but I guess the chickens act as heater.

[@mpolanetz]

Thank you so much for sharing this video. Absolutely brilliant and practical. Love from Australia

[@shonaswearingin1831]

I think the raccoons in my area would tear into it. Great idea!

[@brokenbear809]

Just like the Big Bear Curtis is always crushing.

[@Nuru_77]

Amazing video, great homestead genius at work as always Curtis ! One more 'heat retainer' hack that's amazing is bubble-foil reflectix. Get it by the roll in any home depot, its that silver reflectic bubble insulation. It will work wonders to retain about 2X the heat if you use it in keys spots to insulate the coop, especially the floor. And to add to floor insulation, if you close in the area under the coop with plywood, and bubble-wrap insulating on the inside of that plywood enclosure, to create a dead warm air pocket under the coop....especially since you have those heat mats - they will 'leak' some good heat down into the space under the coup. That air gets trapped under the floor by closing it in and insulating. Here's a quick video from Off-Grid Homestead channel (formerly Boss of the Swamp) demonstrating how he insulates with bubble foil. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKW7oJivZratbKc

[@maynardosullivan]

My grandmother would feed the laying hens warm cooked laying mash to increase production.

[@jimobrien7061]

great content...i was missing the heat mat ideas and was trying all sorts of things.

[@RoseWoodruff]

I also just set my chickens up with a diatomaceous earth pen to use during the winter.

[@Akribelasurfacing]

I use one of the plant heating pads under the hen’s water bowl to prevent it from freezing.

[@Usonian7]

Jaggweeds! Why didn't anyone tell me this channel existed!?!?!?!?

[@bryguy3260]

From Manitoba I’ve honestly been looking at grabbing those Mats for my nesting box area but haven’t seen anyone do it thanks. Makes me a bit more confident in going that route I used a bunch of glass from repurposing a couple leaky aquariums to let in more light into the enclosed run I will say tho my barred rock ladies are outside tons and we currently have close to a foot of snow. But I snowblowed trails in the back for them and the dogs I love the green house by the way Subscribed to this great content cheers

[@briansmith4724]

Great Content Thank You Curtis 😊

[@Chickenlady96]

Thank you for sharing lots of great ideas for our feathered pets.

[@sixfigurebookkeeper7588]

That was very valuable content - thank you!

[@philliphall5198]

Let the hens take a break is a good thing Freeze your eggs in summer and it’s no big deal when they slow down and rest up during winter 🥶

[@repurposedart9897]

This is a great idea.

[@susanjordan2130]

Thanks for the info.

[@tomcondon6169]

Considering chickens, I want to avoid ingesting grain, seed oils, and animals that consume seeds/grains. I was considering raising black soldier flies and meal worms for animals. I'm also considering quail.

[@jamesworthy8916]

I'm just getting set up with chicken's. Building the coop on the back side of my solar array, putting a window on the east side to catch as match day light sun as possible. I'm fencing the area under the solar panels 10ft X 32ft, after watching this video thinking of putting up plastic on the underside of panels and on both ends for a green house effect. Also will now be putting in nesting boxes on the east side of coop so the warmth of the sun might be beneficial as well.

[@AgnesMariaL]

East only catches morning sun. South is best, as it catches a bit of the morning, the bulk of the day, and then a bit of the west. Unless you're in the southern hemisphere, of course, in which case you want to orient north.

[@cryptostormer2512]

Can you elaborate on your anti Chemtrail method please?

[@brusombear3823]

he is evaporating vinager

[@ftnwo868]

@@brusombear3823 which does?

[@offgridcurtisstone]

When you see them spraying, boil 4 litres of white vinegar down to 2 litres and put outside, or just boil it outside like I was.

[@ftnwo868]

@@offgridcurtisstone I'm very curious how this could work and if it does shouldn't it trigger a tax audit, framing of a crime or at least some suits showing up to intimidate? It is a trillion dollar a year operation that I can't see such a simple countermeasure being allowed to be out there. Hope it does though.

[@offgridcurtisstone]

How it works, I have no idea, but it does. I get your point and it's why I don't make a video about it.

[@WarriorGnome]

Adding wheels will definitely make moving it easier. 😀

[@geneeddleman2132]

Igotta give this a try. got most of the mat'l for the greenhouse, and have to build a hutch from scratch anyway to house my hens when I move them out of the garage. (they're 8 weeks old now and I started them in late fall here in northeast Missouri, so they are not acclimated to the cold outside the building. glad to find you again. I used to watch your urban farmer vids, but yt stopped recommending you on my acct, so - out of sight out of mind, you know? Anyway, I just subbed to this channel and will be watching for more tips in the coming months.

[@derekk2708]

Really Great Video. Thanks Curtis. ; )

[@danh3075]

Could you talk about what the chemtrail stuff works

[@ingevankeirsbilck9601]

Curtis has mentioned it in previous videos. Here's the recipe : Take 4 litres of vinegar, boil/heat until the volume has reduced to two litres. Take it outside, watch the chemtrails disappear. It works best when they start spraying, but don't hesitate to experiment and see if you can still get rid of them later in the day. Also, it works best in the countryside, and not very well in busy cities due to the density of the trails. I live on the outskirts of Brussels, Belgium, and it does have some effect. Enjoy the blue sky 😀!

[@v01.]

Thanks bro 🌞

[@freevideos051]

A solar panel, battery and wire round resistors, a low maintenance heater

[@henryhenry5897]

I hear my customers tell once I spray foamed there chicken coops they’re egg production goes up by a lot. Some from 15 back to 60 a day

[@zaneenaz4962]

Great tips....Thanks

[@travispummer7286]

really great ideas. I have questions. 1) don't you have to worry about predators ripping through the plastic? and 2) don't the birds want to sleep in the warming mats?

[@offgridcurtisstone]

No. Predators come at night when the chicks are locked in their coup. The birds don't sleep on the mats.

[@AgnesMariaL]

Proper guardian dogs are a god-send! We have three Kuvasz for the job, but have recently been experiencing a smaller vermin that has been able to evade them somehow... (multiple tunnels into the chicken run which the dogs don't have regular access to), so we're adding a rat terrier to our pack :) I actually just put one of our dogs in the one chicken unit that said culprit keeps getting into, despite all my hole-patching efforts... It's a small critter, no bigger than a rat... Dog should get it tonight, provided it's brazen enough to enter with the dog inside 😆

[@silviominconetti]

Very good video, I was just wondering if with warm water mixed with their feed it would help the chickens to warm up better..thanks

[@GoFishOffice]

This was really interesting

[@hasanyilmaz5140]

Just loved it

[@joompah7]

Just curious, if you're collecting eggs in the day anyways, why not move the nesting box into greenhouse and then you won't have to use heating mats? We started putting plastic on our enclosed chicken run ( the Henitentiary) a couple of years ago because the hens wouldn't come out in snow and would go stir crazy and fight in coop. A few bales of hay in the yard, clean it out by next fall and great mulch and fertilizer to over winter my garden beds. I still use a heat lamp in coop for those -25C or more nights, frostbite is an issue on the combs.... we're in the Ottawa, Ontario area for context. But yes I HIGHLY agree with the greenhouse run idea, it makes the chickens and the farmer happy!

[@offgridcurtisstone]

This works great. No need to change it.

[@fiercenovahunter]

What is the part where you said, that's just for chemtrails don't worry about it? I want to get rid of chemtrails too. Thank you for showing us around!

[@catherinemcmartin8275]

Nice! Thank you.

[@charlesharris3571]

How are you doing Catherine?

[@john3_14-17]

When I saw the heat mats I realized you might be able to use them as a radiant heat source for raising young chicks. Way cheaper than those radiant heat devices, and more reliable as well (the one radiant heat device I had started to burn up within two weeks for some reason). I’ve never seen an issue with a seed mat and I’ve had seed mats for years.

[@john3_14-17]

One thing would be making sure the mats are warm enough, I’m not sure if they’re warm enough to mimic a hen’s body heat.

[@juliejames917]

My first year layers still lay. Second year hardly at all. It’s all about daylight hours not warmth. It takes about 14 hours a day of light to make an egg if they aren’t molting in that is.

[@karimhayes3134]

in this world we all have different things to live by and to use to our advantage. i here in australia wa perth area .the solar winters are no where as severe as yours. thats why curtis needed so many batteries as so so little sun in winter with short days. more even days throughout the year here. 0 c is about as cold as it gets here.

[@lukesvensson6108]

Great info, looking to get some chickens at my place here in Melbourne Australia, so quite a different climate but love your heatm mat idea. Are you boiling vinegar? I imagine you heard that from ADV. Have you noticed any effects?

[@deepghetto8968]

Since you are keeping a warm area for the chickens, might as well use it to develop black fly larvae to feed the chickens for practically free. Black fly larvae videos are abound on youtube. Hope this helps.

[@offgridcurtisstone]

For the record, I'm not keeping an area warm.

[@nchestercountynews4955]

looks good

[@jordanwanberg753]

Soild should be great there in the spring and summer.

[@TheRenekruse]

Very nice

[@josephgee2515]

I've had a pretty decent coop out my backyard, in my suburb about a 30 minute drive outside of Downtown LA some years ago but, someone snitched me out. I'm planning on resurrecting my coop in the near future and have learned much from you, thank you Curtis! I was just curious, do you not have predators in your area?? What do you do to protect your chickens from them? I assume you would have all the wild ones, unlike the Coyotes, Racoons and Opossums I'm accustomed to.

[@buffster948]

We've just hit a cold snap in my area of the UK and the hens haven't produced any eggs for 3 days, which is very unusual for them. Thanks for the tips. Guess I'm buying a greenhouse then! :D

[@angelofamillionyears4599]

we pickup expired greens and food from the markets here every other day so our feed is free. You hit the target on sunlight, the commercial growers have still not figured out that all of their chicken houses need to have roofs and sides that allow sunlight !! The reason they are getting avian flu is that they are not getting sunlight !! DUMB corporations !! Sunlight prevents flu in birds and humans !! The SUN is the source of all life !!

[@joannmahaffey1068]

brilliant

[@nguyenbobuidsanewlife1433]

Beautiful

[@ChopChic1]

This may be a dumb question because I have never raised chickens-- but could you eliminate the coop all together and use only the greenhouse? Could you add the laying boxes and roost beams to the greenhouse and just simplify the operation? That way if you want to move the structure to a new location, you'd just need to add wheels to the greenhouse.

[@lexiluphotosluanneshilling4738]

We have this set up. An old greenhouse 24 x 68, converted into a coop/playground/egg laying area for 60 plus birds, 10 ducks, 3 geese, 2 free range rabbits and 8 alpaca. The alpaca have the front of the structure which is gated from the birds on the interior and open door at the front. Our birds have access to the outside and come inside to roost at night Our issue is the rain showers from the humidity. I'm trying to figure out a solution to this The open air seems like that's what I'm missing. Also, I may double layer the covering on top. Please offer any suggestions if you have them. We've used the greenhouse run for years and never had such an issue with humidity before.

[@ChopChic1]

@@lexiluphotosluanneshilling4738 Wow, that sounds amazing! I have a very small greenhouse that's 10x16. We just completed building it a month ago, so I'm no expert. I also have issues with the rain droplets inside in the morning. We installed a solar fan that circulates the air nicely, but it's much too small for your size of greenhouse. I wonder if some larger fans would help with airflow for your set up?