getting ready for winter

Last year was my first winter with chickens and it was a whopper of a winter to say the least. What saved my birds was my roofed and tarped run. I put clear poly tarps on all 4 sides of my run. Most days I kept the front one rolled up so they got fresh air, but if we were getting snow I'd lower it. It was blizzard conditions outside but my girls were happily scratching in their run. Definitely go with clear tarps to let the sun in.

I agree with others in thinking your coop is much too small. It's good that you are looking for ways to keep the run usable during the winter. It's even more critical that they have that space.

I'd look at buying or building a more adequately sized coop as soon as you can. Until then perhaps modify your existing one. Maybe remove the floor of the roosting area and enclose the entire structure. It looks like you'd more than double the available space and be able to provide more/longer roost space. You can also add some much needed ventilation.

After you've given them more coop space I'd suggest providing something in the run that allows them to use more of the space. Think up. Give them roosts in the run to hang out on. Maybe put a bench, table, or other platform in there so your birds can hang out at different levels. They'll be able to spread out more and their quarters won't seem as tight. It really makes a difference when they're snowed in and only have access to the coop and run.

TalkALittle,
Good idea about using the vertical space and adding a bench or such. I also find the suggestion on rehabbing the small coop into a larger one good.

I had tarps on a 12x6 chain link dog run and the wind picked it up and flipped it over. You might want to anchor your kennel to the ground.

As others have suggested, you might build a substantial wind break set outside the kennel to the north and west or wherever your worst winds come from, built from pallets, plywood, bales of hay, whatever. You can drive steel posts in the ground to hold things together. Or perhaps you could relocate your run so it has protection from another building.

If that were my setup, I'd probably bring the flock inside in my garage or basement in extreme weather, and just hold one or two birds each in several smaller dog crates, rather than shut all together for days at a time in a very small coop.

I am also trying to get ahead of winter as my small coop outside will be to small for the ladies of the house so in side my garage i built a 12 x 5 x 8 ft tall coop for the ladies and guines to enjoy this winter not a whole lot of sunlight unless they can get out to play i figured 3 sq ft per bird floor wise not counting the upstairs side of the coop lol.
So they should have plenty of room for sure to spread out and enjoy them selves

I have 15 total going to be living there

Thank you for your reply. They have 2 benches and 3 roosts in the run, just hidden from the picture. We will be working on a new coop or expanding the exhisting one, have not decided.