REALLY cold weather

[brendajj]

That's awesome!!! Oh my just noticed your BYC group name love it i could use a name like that to. I have 5 rescues...Not sure how they will take to chickens but i guess i will find out...For the most part my chickens will be in a large run...But i have a very large section of my yard fenced off that has the dogs kennel houses in it with 6ft high chain link fence and lots of panels left to add a extention on to the attached run i will have but i will be able to let the hens in the fenced yard when im home although i wonder about the dogs eating chicken poop haha

 

[brendajj]

is everyone using wood floors in there coops...I have seen where dirt floor can help hold heat or on a slab. For ease of cleaning i an putting down wood but i am going to put linoleum down and some kind of plastic wall board half way up the walls poop catch under perches when the weather finally gets nice after a long winter i can really give it a good cleaning.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Mine is wooden. I have painted it with porch and floor paint. I use shavings on top of that. So far so good. The poo that gets to the actual floor is easy to scrape off with the plastic feed shovel I use to clean the coop with.
I had linoleum in the old coop. I found that the mice used the curved area where I took it 6 inches up the wall as a freeway. I also found that it wore faster than expected.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I had dirt floors in some of my pens but there never seems to be a bottom when cleaning, so we have poured concrete in some pens, though there is gravel in one part, and where the donkeys are and where the goats are are dirt which is cleaned out once a year, than hay gets put down over the year. And I have sand over dirt in my turkey pen which we add a bit more sand every year. I have never had a wooden floor, I would think they would be prone to rot and mice and rats will chew through them, I'm sure you haven't thought about rats yet, as we get them every fall and I have had to agree to poison because they are too smart for traps, but I always am worried with poison.

In the winter I just shovel out under the roost as needed and replace the bedding, takes less than 15 minutes.

 

[brendajj]

Good to know something else to consider thanks for that...How many chickens do you have i'm thinking i will start with 12 coop size will be 8x8 ft...6 feet high does this sound like enough room for 12 and maybe a few more once i get started? or should i go larger

 

[brendajj]

well i am not even sure there are rats up here in the north i am right below the northwest territories border about 2 hours north...But we sure have mice...the reason i have 12 cats..I remember as a kid when my dad was raising leg horns i believe they were (don't quote me) but if a mouse ever made a run for the food trays in the chicken pen there was a mess of birds on it they would rip it apart and eat it....We do have muskrats, weasels, mink, and i know they love chicken i think i will be putting that builders cloth on the vapor barriers before i put the walls on maybe over lap the corners and i am sure those little suckers will still get in but hopefully it will keep out anything larger

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I think the formula is like 3 square foot a bird, but the bigger the better, crowding is bad, it also depends on how much time they spend inside, what they have to do, that does sound like,a good size, the problem will be if you enjoy them you will always be looking to add one more, and you have to decide if you're gonna be like me and let every chicken wander around until they drop dead, or are you going to be culling non productive birds, are you willing to eat them. Chickens lay good for about two three years than less every year, will you have room for replacements. Sorry I just keep complicating your plans.



I too have watched them fight over miceand dead birds, that are the descendents of raptors, some people feed them meat, I prefer to let them get their own.

You are really north, must be peaceful.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Since you're smart enough to plan ahead I'll add some more information, I had said pick the right breeds, by that I mean ones that are heavier, with smaller combs, especially if you're gonna have a rooster, large comb roosters will get frostbite and lose the points of their combs, and if they are larger they need the 4 up on the 2x4 so they can cover their feet, I had a rooster who lost toes one year, that his whole feet got frostbite the next year and he was culled. Hens combs will shrink down, especially if they have quit laying for the season. I have never had a hen with frostbite, they tuck their head under a wing while sleeping.
Most chickens will lay during their first winter, than molt the following fall, they quit laying and won't resume until early spring, some people use light to keep them in lay but that won't work after the molt, they need to rest, of course that's when some people cull them. Hopefully I'm not rambling too much for you.

I have always kept a light on to make 14 hours in the fall/winter. My chickens have always molted at their own pace regardless & started laying again in a month or so after they started molt. They never "wait until spring" & any chickens that slow down egg laying seem to pick up shortly after December 21, not in the spring. They all "rest" during their month or two of molting. Can't imagine feeding chickens all winter & getting no eggs.

 

[ccrow]

I have an insulated coop, no heat. When it's really cold, they stay inside; this past winter I had to do a lot of shoveling out in their pen and it ended up being like a snow fort. They range in the warm seasons but once there is snow, they don't want to go out anymore. For their water, I just swap out waterers twice a day, and if it's super cold I can do it more often. But I use warm water so it will stay liquid longer, and contribute a bit of heat to the coop. Plus I like to think it feels good to them to put something warm in their bellies

The coop has a wood floor, with a piece of vinyl flooring over it, and I use shavings over that. It's an industrial type floor so it isn't slippery at all, almost rubbery. When I clean out the coop I can easily scrape off any dried droppings. The coop is raised up off the ground; I wanted it like that so they would have access to the full size of the pen, without the coop taking up any of the area. They do their dirt baths under there, at least when they're not constructing new ones in the middle of my lawn!

I keep their feed and scratch in metal trash cans in back of the coop and have never had any rodent trouble... although at first I did have squirrels getting the lid off the scratch to get at it! Now I keep rocks on the lids, no more trouble.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have always kept a light on to make 14 hours in the fall/winter. My chickens have always molted at their own pace regardless & started laying again in a month or so after they started molt. They never "wait until spring" & any chickens that slow down egg laying seem to pick up shortly after December 21, not in the spring. They all "rest" during their month or two of molting. Can't imagine feeding chickens all winter & getting no eggs

I guess I have lazy chickens, I prefer to let nature be nature, just my choice, but I think the eggs are a by product of my enjoyment of my birds, and I'm not motel 6, I'm not leaving the light on. I was just explaining how I do things. And who knows maybe they lay. And I'm still going to feed them whether I get eggs or not.