Preparing Your Flock & Coop for WINTER

Beekissed said:

  I had every intention of sewing a cutesy curtain for that door but life takes hold and it never happened....but I found a plastic feed sack with both ends cut open fit that spot almost exactly, so I place it there when the winter really gets rough in Jan/Feb/Mar and keep it pushed to one side unless the wind is swirling in all directions and blowing into that opening...usually only when the snow is deep and temps sink below zero.  Directly across from that door is my roosting birds, though they are 8 ft. deep into the structure. 

The curtain rods I bought but one can do the exact same thing with a few pieces of twine and some eye screws or nails.  I'm not one for getting to complicated or costy.

That snow was lovely but as soon as I took that pic I flexed the wire on the hoop of the coop to bring most of it down.  The top part stayed but the snow on the sides all fell off in great sheets to land along the base of the coop.  Then I swept off the sides near the back, so removed all that insulation in favor of sunlight. 

Sounds like you are getting it all settled out and you'll likely change it as you go along, as I have done.  I don't think coop tweaking ever really stops, do you?

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No, it does not ever stop; sometimes it what gets me up in the morning. The feed sacks as curtains sound like a good idea. Am thinking if I spaced a curtain rod out from the door, the curtain could wrap around the edges a bit and still allow air in through the top and bottom edges. Would maybe work really well with the coop ends set back like yours. Would block light, though. My birds seem to prefer roosting where they can see out. Might not want to have something that flapped and made noise. Will keep thinking on it. Also on the bottom vents, as it is easy to see how, on my coop, they could so easily be blocked by snow, especially the drifting kind. I could perhaps shield them with a tarp flap of some kind - or hinged narrow lengths of ply wood or wood fencing.. Well, more stuff to think about and do.
I am trying out a few heated dog water dishes this winter, as you suggested to one BYCer not too long ago. In two of the largest bowls, I put a five gallon bucket waterer fitted with horizontal nipples, and I filled the bowls with whatever water they could hold. These waterers have worked flawlessly since the day I set them up; they are only 60watts instead of 250, and they have kept both the water liquid and the nipples functional in temps as low as 10* (our lowest, so far). There have been no maintenance issues with them, and they are so very easy to use. The other smaller bowl I've been using as is. It is up on a table, off the ground, It works alright for the chickens this way, but I find I have to empty and clean it almost every day. Am going to try to find a smaller bucket or plastic carbon or something that will fit in it, so I can use it to heat a horizontal nipple waterer. We'll see. I am going to try out some low watt PTC ceramic heaters. They are small, supposedly durable and long-lived, and cheap (~$5). I think they can be used a lot like light bulbs, but without all the drawbacks. We'll see. The issues with these - and the dog bowls - will be longevity, and only time will tell.

Right now? I have to go dig my hot water heater out of the mud in the crawl space. I probably won't get those curtains made, either. Oh, it's not even winter yet. First there is the Solstice, and THEN comes the winter. BLESSINGS

Hi guys, I am looking into putting a light in my coop so that my hens can keep laying through the winter (I haven't gotten 1 egg in 2 weeks!) What kind of wattage do I need?

prizepete said:

Hi guys, I am looking into putting a light in my coop so that my hens can keep laying through the winter (I haven't gotten 1 egg in 2 weeks!) What kind of wattage do I need?

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I would say 15-25 watts should be plenty, I would use clear bulb though without coating and make sure high enough and protected not to get feathers or dry materials that could start a fire. It's best to have the light early in the morning and turn off when sun comes up(7ish am) to simulate daylight. It wouldn't be an instantaneous result though might take few weeks to have them get adjusted to the lights and have them start laying again but that will also depends on the type and age of your layers.

prizepete said:

Hi guys, I am looking into putting a light in my coop so that my hens can keep laying through the winter (I haven't gotten 1 egg in 2 weeks!) What kind of wattage do I need?

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At this point light won't help, daylight is increasing. I upped my protein content and have a few that started up a month ago.

I've always been curious about the affects, if any, on using light to keep the chickens laying through the winter. Does it lessen their overall laying time? How hard is it on their bodies not to have the winter rest? We don't have a light in the coop and go several months without eggs. I'd love to have fresh eggs mid winter, but I've always let the girls rest. I'd be interested to hear what other folks thought.

I don't provide light for that very reason. If the good Lord had wanted those chickens to lay in the winter, they'd be laying in the winter. Far be it from me to second guess the Lord on a matter. No other birds are out there in the wild laying eggs during the winter months, it's just not natural. I eat canned chicken from the flock all winter and that's the food production from the flock for that time of year.

Wissa38 said:

I've always been curious about the affects, if any, on using light to keep the chickens laying through the winter. Does it lessen their overall laying time? How hard is it on their bodies not to have the winter rest? We don't have a light in the coop and go several months without eggs. I'd love to have fresh eggs mid winter, but I've always let the girls rest. I'd be interested to hear what other folks thought.

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Unfortunately, I think all you'll get is anecdotal evidence. It would be neat to take 2 groups of production layers acquired from the same source so that they are as genetically similar to each other as possible (and less prone to broodiness) and give only one group supplemental lighting and see what kind of egg numbers and mortality rates you get over a couple years.

I agree. I was kind of hoping that sort of study had been done and someone out there would know. Or...there would be some kind of general consensus from the long time chicken keepers.
Actually, from what I've been reading, seems like most folks who raise flocks for meat and eggs don't run into this issue because they cull their flock. We don't. They're basically pets that happen to lay eggs. Since my daughter has named them all we'll eventually end up with an old bird home.

I think we'll go with our gut and not light in the winter.

Oh well, just curious.

I don't use lights either, and I think the hens benefit from a rest. If I wanted eggs from overworked stressed hens, I'd buy them from the supermarket. Besides, I freeze extra eggs in the fall and have eggs to spare all winter long. I think a hen has a finite number of eggs, and she can lay them out fast (say, like a sex-link), or she can take her time and lay them over a longer span of years. Just a belief I have. That said, ALL my large fowl - Sussex, sex-links, barred rocks, and RIRs - stop laying for at least one month during the winter; my Silkies, though, are not very impressed with low temps and short days and I can usually count on getting daily eggs from them. They are my best winter layers - and they are looking especially ratty nowadays. They need a rest.

One way to get winter eggs is to get new chicks in the spring. By the time they start laying it will be late fall and they should lay through the winter. You may have a few that stop ( I did my first year) but some of them will keep on laying.

I hit a huge shut down this year. My older girls will be 2 in Feb, and they had their first big molt this winter. A few have not layed in a couple months, but I have some that have continued to lay. At least they have kept me in eggs and I haven't had to buy any from the store.

I don't use a light. I had thought about putting one up, but decided not to.