Decided to put this here because I wanted to discuss coop design to prevent frostbite. First winter keeping chickens. My rooster and one small hen have frostbite on their feet. I think I will have to put one or two down it is so bad. Anyways I had a dirt floor as I had read about sand floors and this was pretty close to sand. Bad idea. I live in Minnesota and it gets very very cold. Ground froze as did the feet. So it's now got a decent layer of pine shavings.
It's a huge shed and extremely ventilated lol. I'm thinking that I actually need to seal it up a bit more. The vented peak lets snow it when it snows. There's a base of timber then about three feet up turns into metal siding. There are spaces where beams come up that there are holes where wind can come in. Expanding foam should fix that well enough. Any ideas about the vented peak?
I have also had another thought. Their roost is comped of 2x4s so they can stand on the wide side. What if I made a little enclosure around their roost and put a heat lamp in there? I could make it an open floor design and just put up walls and a roof. Heat rises anyways. It also doesn't need tobe very warm. Just not -40 f. Thoughts?
Any other suggestions? Again it's a huge unseated and uninsulated shed. I don't have time/money to heat and insulate the thing. I'm looking for some reasonable and easy suggestions to keep my chickens healthy in the cold.
As an aside. Will a rooster with one good leg still fertilize hens?
It's a huge shed and extremely ventilated lol. I'm thinking that I actually need to seal it up a bit more. The vented peak lets snow it when it snows. There's a base of timber then about three feet up turns into metal siding. There are spaces where beams come up that there are holes where wind can come in. Expanding foam should fix that well enough. Any ideas about the vented peak?
I have also had another thought. Their roost is comped of 2x4s so they can stand on the wide side. What if I made a little enclosure around their roost and put a heat lamp in there? I could make it an open floor design and just put up walls and a roof. Heat rises anyways. It also doesn't need tobe very warm. Just not -40 f. Thoughts?
Any other suggestions? Again it's a huge unseated and uninsulated shed. I don't have time/money to heat and insulate the thing. I'm looking for some reasonable and easy suggestions to keep my chickens healthy in the cold.
As an aside. Will a rooster with one good leg still fertilize hens?