Chicken Castle-rocking through our first winter

[Hawkeye95]

Hey, it's so adorable and cute! It really does look like Heather's coop, too! And you did it withOUT the plans she is selling! WOW! Good job! I think you have convinced me to put in doors under the coop so I can reach my chickens if I need to without having to go inside. You listed that as a complaint. Is that what you were thinking? Was putting a door to access under the coop? I had nixed the idea of putting doors under my coop thinking it would be overkill since I will have a people door into the run. But now I'm thinking otherwise again... ha! Anyway, gorgeous coop- and one I'm sure you'll be really proud to show off to everyone! I would be!!!

Oh- and BTW, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your Polish!!!!!!

 

[neVar]

no i like having the doors there- i just don't like that it's 4' across and my arms are to short- so the chickens can hide on the far wall and i really gotta climb into the bottom section to reach them. Perfect world maybe the coop needed to be 3x7 instead of 4x6

 

[neVar]

So a winter update- my dad oh so worried about the chickens- is down in Texas for the winter called daily during our cold spell. We had a good 2 week stretch of -20C temps for daytime highs already. Before leaving for texas dad installed a power bar on the wall and a light socket that plugs in. We've put a 40w bulb in and run it for the day off at night.

The Plexi glass door came out and an insulated door went in. We put a sliding door over the ventilation hole so it can open up for nice weather and shut up more for when it gets really cold.

A heated dog water bowl finished off our winter preps.

So far it's working great- the girls are comfortable and now that the light is on 12 ish hours a day they are laying eggs just like in summertime. They seem to be plenty warm enough. SO far moisture hasn't been an issue either.