Winterizing Question

kamichaud11692 said:

It's getting colder here and I am starting to think about how I am going to winterize my coop this year.

I am not familiar with the silky breed which may not be able to stand cold temperatures.


Thanks in advance!

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kamichaud11692 said:

It's getting colder here and I am starting to think about how I am going to winterize my coop this year. I have mostly Silkies and 1 Cochin hen in there. I understand the need for ventilation, the coop is roughly 8ft x 4ft, and has 2 windows about 1ft x 1ft, 1 in the front and 1 on the back. I was thinking about putting plastic over the front facing window, because that gets the most wind, and leaving the back open.On nights or days when it is very cold maybe I could temporarily cover the back window, or partially cover it..? Or, would it work if I put some sort of breathable fabric, maybe like loose burlap over the windows? I had the burlap idea because I was thinking that if the window were left open, snow would get into the coop.

I do not want to put a heat lamp in the coop because we are prone to loosing power in the winter and we do not have a generator. I don't want them to be accustomed to the heat and then loose it all of a sudden in a big snow storm.

We are at the top of a big hill without many trees, so the wind chill can make things much colder up here, what are you thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

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ChickenCanoe said:

Excellent point about not getting them acclimated to heat with impending danger of power outages.

Where are you located and how many birds are in the coop?
If they go outside, the wind will be more of a problem than in the coop. Unless the wind is swirling in the coop, the inside will be no colder than the ambient temperature, wind chill or no.

My best advice is, if you don't want to be posting on here about respiratory problems, then don't close off the windows.

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Ridgerunner said:

Knowing where you are located or at least the worst possible cold could help us answer this. I’m not worried about your normal cold, the extreme is where you will have problems. Since you get snow you do see cold weather.

You don’t want to create a wind tunnel where strong winds are blasting through your coop in colder climates, but as you said they need ventilation. Chickens don’t feel cold like we do. They can handle temperatures we think are cool quite well, but when you get below freezing or even close, it becomes more of a problem. There is no magic temperature where it switches from being perfectly OK to absolute danger. Each of us are unique in many ways so what temperatures will cause problems will vary.

I’ve never dealt with Silkies and don’t know how they handle true cold. I’d suspect they will do fine but don’t have any experience with them. Do yours roost? Some do, some don’t. If they do, how high are they compared to those windows?

In winter I like openings over their heads. That way the wind can whistle through and give you good air exchange without creating high turbulence where the chickens are. You want some air movement where they are to get air exchange, but not much. Depending on how high they roost and how high your windows are, you may not have big problem, though closing one end off is probably a very good idea. Perhaps you could have only the tops of those windows open, especially on the downwind side only. Or perhaps you’d be better off with new openings up high, some type of gable vent, roof vent, a cupola, or just openings under any roof overhang to help keep snow out.

Chickens are a lot tougher than many people imagine. They can sleep in trees in pretty brutal weather as long as they have the freedom to adjust where they are sleeping to weather conditions. In our coops we often take that freedom to get out of the weather away from them.

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Hokum Coco said:

Your efforts should be spent in winterizing your birds and letting them acclimatize to their surroundings.
This is done by feeding them whole corn if available or cracked corn as an added supplement in a separate feeder.


When it comes to lighting if you find you are short on eggs it does apparently help. I personally do not bother in my operation eggs are sold only to neighbours when they are available (if the sign is out I have eggs). Eggs in my operation have a tendency to crack and freeze during the winter months (we do not disguard them and are fine but use them in house not for sale) the more eggs you produce during these months the more eggs will fall into this category.

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SpoilMyPooch said:

This is a difficult one. It is not cold that will kill chickens in winter but a combination of cold and damp. Overnight, a chicken coop gets very very damp because of the chickens breathing and their poo. So ventilation is incredibly important because that dampness needs to escape- even though it seems contradictory to do this in cold weather. The ventilation needs to be placed so that it is not blowing cold air directly on the chickens. Ventilation needs to be placed above or below where you hens are sleeping. I have written an article which is a collection of the best advice available on the Internet. The focus of the article is on what needs to be in a chicken coop and run in order to make it near perfect. They are 23 elements that I target and one of these is ventilation (#18.) You can use the quick navigation button to get to that section of the article quickly. You can read it here http://www.allaboutchickens.info/better-chicken-coop-run/. I hope that it helps.

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kamichaud11692 said:

I forgot to mention... a neighbor told me that piling snow around all sides of the coop will keep it warmer. Since snow is only around 32 degrees, it will always keep a coop around that temp. He said since my coop is small, to pile it all the way to the roof.

Is this true? What do you think? Yes keeping in mind chickens need fresh air.

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