Preparing Your Flock & Coop for WINTER

[jeepgrl]

Yes, it works really great. But when you buy it, buy about 12-18" more both width and length, that way you can have it up the walls a little bit...understand(??) I use pine wood shavings, but be careful if you go that route because they come in 'fine' and 'curly' (for lack of a better term!). You don't want the fine wood shavings, they pack down and get just awful. I use what I call the curly/fluffy stuff and it's great.

Best of luck to you!!

Thank you so much! How do you feel about sand?

 

[iwiw60]

I got it from target or walmart. Its green with a steak to go in the ground

Yes! I've seen those at Walmart...thanks!!!

 

[coop410silkies]

This is a great thread. I live in northern Colorado, and this winter will be my third with chickens. I've done a lot of things to make winter bearable for both me and my charges. After my first winter I ran electric cable out to the coop, and this made a huge difference. I use it to power water heaters and nothing else. I keep about 20 - 30 free-ranging layers in a coop about 200 feet from my house; they are hardy and very much prefer to be let out of the on all but the most miserable of days; often they just go into the adjoining open sheep shed. Some deal with snow better than others

This is the system I ended up with, and it works great: I built a sturdy stand in the coop to support a 65 gallon rain barrel with a garden hose spigot at the bottom. I put one of the flat 250* "bucket heaters" into it, fill it with water, and plug it in to one of my new outlets. Right under the spigot, I put one of the "concrete block with a light bulb " heaters, and on top of that I put a bucket (with a hole in the lid for filling that is plugged, in this case, with a largish cork to keep debris and poop out) fitted with the horizontal nipples. I attached a short length of garden hose to the rain barrel spigot, and put a shut off valve on the end of it. A 75 watt light bulb keeps the water in the bucket thawed enough for the nipples to remain functional MOST of the time, but I do check them on the coldest of days. The small flat "bucket heater" is thermostatically controlled and the spigot on the rain barrel remains functional down into the low single digits. For my 20 birds I needed to fill the rain barrel only once every 3 months, and I found this very doable with a few garden hoses from my house outlets. It was a piece of cake to pull the cork from the bucket waterer and fill it with the hose length running from the rain barrel. The horizontal nipples - I got them from an ebay seller - made this system both possible and economical. This year I am adding a Thermocube to control the light bulb heater for the bucket and I will be looking for a way to perhaps extend the life of the light bulb.

This summer I added some breeding pens to my backyard. I have modified and used both large resin deck boxes and trash can hideaways for sleeping quarters, and to provide shelter in the pens and quarters for keeping food and water, I made some very simple (and cheap) hoop shelters from PVC tubing and heavy tarp. All but the largest are open on both ends, and I've scattered Hay a few inches deep over the bare ground. I may bank the sides with hay bales. Again, I will be using the rain barrel with heated bucket system to keep water available for my breeding birds. So I am very busy making the stands, running extension cords and connections, and setting up the necessary lengths of hose and valves to get water to everyone. I am using one rain barrel, with a longer hose off the spigot, to provide water for 3 - 4 pens.

The other thing I am working on is making feeders that will hold a lot. I just finished a prototype of a bag collar I recently read about, and, with a few more modifications (the wind can be ferocious along these foothills), I think they can work fine in the hoop shelters. I am also working on a large trash can feeder for the big coop.

I am getting Vaseline for the combs.

I am getting a lot of straw to refresh the hoop and coop floors as needed.

I am refurbishing my roosts with with 2x4's so my birds can keep their toes warm.

And I'm getting more mouse traps.

I think automated doors would be nice. Anybody setting them up for winter?

I love all your inspirations. They are the shoulders upon which I stand. Hope all your charges stay healthy, well watered and fed this winter. Blessings

 

[MeepBeep]

I am getting Vaseline for the combs.

May I suggest Bag Balm instead? IMO it's a superior product due to the antiseptic and lanolin... It's been my go to for chapped or dry skin (and fly bites) on every animal I have ever owned and I even use it on myself and the children...

 

[lizardboy55]

Me either, @dheltzel
 ...not worth the possible tragedy of a fire. As for waterers I use the horizontal water nipples in my plastic bucket. I've ordered 250-watt mini stock tank heaters so my problem will be solved...no more frozen waterers. And the best part is...no more spilled/wet bedding!

I'm using a dome light (kinda like a heat light) but I'm only using a 40watt bulb. It's high enough that feathers won't get to it. Would this still be a fire hazard? Winters coming and I just want to make sure I don't need to think of a plan b so to say. Also if I keep the coop (inside,not the run) around 50°F the water should not freeze, right?
Thanks

 

[MeepBeep]

I'm using a dome light (kinda like a heat light) but I'm only using a 40watt bulb. It's high enough that feathers won't get to it. Would this still be a fire hazard?

Pretty much any incandescent light poses a fire risk around dry wood chips, hay or what not... If the light is just being used for illumination and not heating (and you want to use a screw in type light, go get one of the new LED lights, they cost about $7-$10 but they pose much less of a fire risk and should last for a LONG time and pay for itself over and over again in electrical savings... Plus they are far more 'robust' then spiral compact fluorescent bulbs...

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-GVRLAS6W27KND-Great-Value-LED-Light-Bulb-Soft-White/25524365

Also if I keep the coop (inside,not the run) around 50°F the water should not freeze, right?
Thanks

Water freezes at 32°F should you should be perfectly fine...

 

[iwiw60]

I'm using a dome light (kinda like a heat light) but I'm only using a 40watt bulb. It's high enough that feathers won't get to it. Would this still be a fire hazard? Winters coming and I just want to make sure I don't need to think of a plan b so to say. Also if I keep the coop (inside,not the run) around 50°F the water should not freeze, right?
Thanks

Well, that really depends on where in the country you live. Do you plan on leaving this light on during the winter as both a source of light and possible heating of the coop? If so you really need to re-think your plan. Chickens don't require 'heat' in the winter months. Feathers, while a big risk for fire, aren't the true culprit....it's the DUST that they can kick up either when flitting around in the coop, jumping down from roosts, etc.

I have a webcam in my coop and it is unbelievable the amount of dust particles flying around in the air at times...geez!!

 

[iwiw60]

I am getting a lot of straw to refresh the hoop and coop floors as needed.

First let me say....WHAT A GREAT POST TO THIS THREAD!! I read it with great interest...very nice. But is there any particular reason you're going to use 'straw' for additional winter bedding? Straw has a tubular makeup and is a great hideaway for mites/lice...I'm not saying this is a 100% done deal, but to avoid that possibility for me I'm using pine wood shavings instead...just FYI and MHO.

 

[coop410silkies]

Thank you for reminding me. I love this stuff, have used it for years, don't know why I didn't think of using it for their combs. Maybe because Vaseline is suggested so often. Like you, I favor its antibacterial and healing properties and use it for everyone of the ailments you've mentioned. (I am TORMENTED by fly bites, and you are the first I have ever heard speak of them.). Thanks again, my Roos already love you. Laurie in Berthoud Colorado

 

[coop410silkies]

iwiw60, thank you for your interest and endorsement. Yeah, straw is not my first choice, and I appreciate your concern. I am using it because 1), that is what was used in the past, 2), it is plentiful this year, and 3), it is cheap and easy for me to get. I know I should not be using it, but I needed a lot of something, and I needed it right now. I use wood chips in nest boxes, but to be truthful, my birds really like this crummy rye straw. I have worried about mites and mold and lice and even fleas, and I have dusted at least once with DE mixed with zeolite. I have not discovered the objects of any of my worries, yet, and my birds seem asymptomatic, but that may be because it is desert dry here - or maybe because I haven't looked hard or long enough. I do NOT use straw in small enclosed spaces (like the deck boxes and dog igloos). I have used the small wood chips here, and in brooders, and also a product called Carefresh - and I'm not pleased with any of these. My favorite substrate is COIR: it clumps poop, absorbs odor, stays fresh, and takes up moisture. My birds love it. It is the husk from coconuts and comes both ground and chunked, in compressed block form. Cons? It is pricey, and you have to soak the blocks to decompress them. I have to get it shipped in 11 LB. blocks.

So, back to the hay: I'll be using it mostly outside - in the open hoop shelters to keep feet off cold ground, and on the pathways where my birds walk in the snow (this is a great tip) - and on the floor of the big coop. I'll be moving the bales around to strategic spots and am hoping the open ventilation and dry air will minimize the risks that come with straw. Also, I think if I provide my flocks with the opportunity of a good dust bathing area - like a kiddie pool filled with coir - they will be healthier and less likely to get mites or diseases. Until I can get something better. It sounds like I am trying to make hay seem OK, but I cannot really make it OK; it's only a make-do solution until I can get something better. Meanwhile, I am sold on resin and plastic enclosures to reduce the incidence of parasites and pathogens, and that's why I've chosen the Suncast deck and storage units to house small breeding groups at night. Also, I keep on hand in my arsenal of chicken remedies, a spray bottle of benzalkonium and another of spinosad: the first is a super sterilant, and the second is a non-toxic organic pesticide that kills fleas, ticks, mites and lice - and more. I have used these as preventative agents and can say that no obvious or immediate harm has come from their use and that the spinosad can effectively rid an area of a flea infestation. I didn't say it before, but I'm also beefing up my birds' nutrition - to help them get through their molt and to prepare them for the hard months ahead. It is very easy for me to get so busy I forget to watch and observe them for any sign of weakness or need. And I keep reading and learning. Blessings, Laurie in Berthoud, colorado.