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I lived in Wisconsin for 18 months and know the cold very well thats why we did not stay up there we could not take it. I had a big dairy barn 4000 sq foot. I had a pen 8x8 and had one male and three females in it. At night it got cold so I made them a 4x4 box with the front door so they could get out and then return at night on a roost that I had in there which was a two by two inch roost. Then at night when it was below zero I would shut the door and had a light inside to put out heat but not light on their eyes. Their body heat and the light protected their combs and it worked out well for me for that venture which did not last that long.
If I had stayed there I would have had 4x8 pens with one female in my cow stall section. I would have had say six pens to start with . I would have one female in each pen and rotate a male from pen one to pen two Monday and Tuesday. Then on Wed the male would go into a separate pen to rest then rotate again back to the females . I would get the eggs as soon as I can before I go to work and put in the basement of the house. On cool days where the eggs would not freeze I would go home for lunch and get the eggs and put them in the basement.
Gary Underwood from No Illisnois started a new method and that was having his lights come on early in the am and go off at day light and then the final hour of stimulation was dusk. He developed a strain of R I Reds by the fit of the fittest principle that the eggs that would go into the incubator where eggs he collected before he left to teach school. The frozen egg where not hatched. He said over three to four years his female he breed and hatched would lay early and he then used this method most likely still today. This was 27 years ago. Just a thought. I would not worry his chicken house looked like a apartment complex inside. His chickens where in a insulated small chicken house and they where on top of each other. Large fowl on the floor and bantams about four feet off the floor in small breeding pens. With all the chickens they stayed very warm but watch out for moister issues as to many chickens in a tight building can cause respiratory issues with little ventilation.
If you live in the cold and cant protect your males combs during breeding season you can make boxes to put them in put in a female to help to keep him warm and then place him on the floor befor you go to work in the am. You need eggs in Jan and Feb to hatch you got to use your head and come up with some plan. The chicks can be raised in a room like my milk house or in the basement till spring and then it is warm enough to let them out in the pens you may have for them. Raising chickens in the north is so much harder than the mid west or the south which is a joke.
I have open pens and use plastic to block the wind. I do have to put my males in boxes a few times a year as its gets below freezing a few times. When I had large fowl I had them in 8x8 pole barn style pens open to the south. I could easy have a 5x5 with a run for a trio or a pair of large fowl. Remember during breeding season you can cut down the sq foot recommendations that boxes tell you about. They are only there for a short time. I have had females in my conditioning pens which are only 4x4 put a male in there they mate in a little while sometimes in minutes and then put the male back into his 4x4. I have put them on the floor to get exercise and wander around in the house they mate I catch them latter and put them back into their pens. The name of the game is a fertile egg and hatch a chick. However, when raising the chicks don't over croud them cull hard and as soon as you can to give them plenty of room and when you get the young birds you want to breed from next year give them the correct space or more that they need.
My males at the end of the year of breeding season have to go into their holding or conditioning pens. The females can go together in a larger pen they get along its called a pecking order. Remember these are not children they are chickens. Threat them like chickens and you will do all right many to many on this web site treat their pretty chickens not like chickens. Heck I have read treads where they scold them for being bad like a kid. Hope this helps. I plan to write a article on how to get started with White Plymouth Rocks in Southern Ohio and then you can take all this to the bank. Remember think how can I skin this cat. Use common sense and treat these feathered birds like chickens. But most important protect them from the varmints. Up north watch out for minks raccoons and possums. A mink can wipe you out in one night. One inch mess minimum to protect them from thee skinny varmints.
On vacation till Tuesday. No computers keep kicking the can down the road.
If I had stayed there I would have had 4x8 pens with one female in my cow stall section. I would have had say six pens to start with . I would have one female in each pen and rotate a male from pen one to pen two Monday and Tuesday. Then on Wed the male would go into a separate pen to rest then rotate again back to the females . I would get the eggs as soon as I can before I go to work and put in the basement of the house. On cool days where the eggs would not freeze I would go home for lunch and get the eggs and put them in the basement.
Gary Underwood from No Illisnois started a new method and that was having his lights come on early in the am and go off at day light and then the final hour of stimulation was dusk. He developed a strain of R I Reds by the fit of the fittest principle that the eggs that would go into the incubator where eggs he collected before he left to teach school. The frozen egg where not hatched. He said over three to four years his female he breed and hatched would lay early and he then used this method most likely still today. This was 27 years ago. Just a thought. I would not worry his chicken house looked like a apartment complex inside. His chickens where in a insulated small chicken house and they where on top of each other. Large fowl on the floor and bantams about four feet off the floor in small breeding pens. With all the chickens they stayed very warm but watch out for moister issues as to many chickens in a tight building can cause respiratory issues with little ventilation.
If you live in the cold and cant protect your males combs during breeding season you can make boxes to put them in put in a female to help to keep him warm and then place him on the floor befor you go to work in the am. You need eggs in Jan and Feb to hatch you got to use your head and come up with some plan. The chicks can be raised in a room like my milk house or in the basement till spring and then it is warm enough to let them out in the pens you may have for them. Raising chickens in the north is so much harder than the mid west or the south which is a joke.
I have open pens and use plastic to block the wind. I do have to put my males in boxes a few times a year as its gets below freezing a few times. When I had large fowl I had them in 8x8 pole barn style pens open to the south. I could easy have a 5x5 with a run for a trio or a pair of large fowl. Remember during breeding season you can cut down the sq foot recommendations that boxes tell you about. They are only there for a short time. I have had females in my conditioning pens which are only 4x4 put a male in there they mate in a little while sometimes in minutes and then put the male back into his 4x4. I have put them on the floor to get exercise and wander around in the house they mate I catch them latter and put them back into their pens. The name of the game is a fertile egg and hatch a chick. However, when raising the chicks don't over croud them cull hard and as soon as you can to give them plenty of room and when you get the young birds you want to breed from next year give them the correct space or more that they need.
My males at the end of the year of breeding season have to go into their holding or conditioning pens. The females can go together in a larger pen they get along its called a pecking order. Remember these are not children they are chickens. Threat them like chickens and you will do all right many to many on this web site treat their pretty chickens not like chickens. Heck I have read treads where they scold them for being bad like a kid. Hope this helps. I plan to write a article on how to get started with White Plymouth Rocks in Southern Ohio and then you can take all this to the bank. Remember think how can I skin this cat. Use common sense and treat these feathered birds like chickens. But most important protect them from the varmints. Up north watch out for minks raccoons and possums. A mink can wipe you out in one night. One inch mess minimum to protect them from thee skinny varmints.
On vacation till Tuesday. No computers keep kicking the can down the road.
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