terri1nd's 2010 chicken coop
| Temporary Winter Coop |
Now is it just me & the husband (of 36 years), plus 1 cat & 1 dog, since our 3 children have grown up & left the nest. To help get over the empty nest syndrome, I got CHICKENS. Having chickens can sure be addictive too I'm learning. We live on a hobby farm near Carrington, ND. Up until late fall I had my chickens in a portable Hoop Coop. I had planned to get a winter coop done before fall, but with unforeseen events, it never got done, so I had to figure out what to do for the chickens for the winter, since it can get to -35F here in the winter. |
I have mostly Partridge Chanteclers, which I chose because they were bred for harsh winters of Canada, not unlike the winters that we have here in North Dakota. I also have a couple of Barred Plymouth Rock hens, Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Light Brahma, & Silver Laced Wyandotte hens, for a total of 24 chickens. I sectioned off part of our garage where we keep our winter supply of wood for the woodstove. As you can see in the photos the building has no added insulation. |
| There are no vents in this bldg & DH does not want to put any holes for vents in his garage, especially since this is a temporary bldg. I do have 2 windows I can open. |
| We were given a camper shell that DH put on a small walled frame & insulated it for the coop inside the partitioned side of the garage. |
| The higher I tried making the separation wall, they would laugh at me & fly over to the top of the wall from on top the camper shell. |
| Lots of frustration on that one. |
| I put a tarp over the chicken area, to keep dander from getting on everything and also to keep the chickens from getting over the other side. |
| (there is clear plastic sheeting behind the green snow fence material part of my temporary wall) |
| The bldg has huge sliding doors, but even when shut the blowing snow still manages to get in. I suppose that is a good thing, so long as no unwanted critters get in. I have seen signs of tiny footprints in the snow inside, so I have taken my rat zapper out, so we shall see how long it takes to get rid of them. |
| (Now for the back side (west)) |
| Since finding out about the ventilation issues I have opened the west window which has a windbreak of trees abt 20 ft away from the bldg., plus we have the portable hoop coop places against the west side of the bldg & that has tarps still on 3 sides. |
| I have it so the chickens can go out the little door & right into the hoop coop (I had to remove the roosts from the hoop coop, so they would go in the inside) |
I'm taking in fresh water & more oyster shell, grit & some scratch feed
Our dog KC making sure no rabbits or foxes are nearby
