Acre4Me
Crossing the Road
This is our first winter with chickens. We have an elevated (2.5' above ground) coop, behind a taller/ wider barn that shields the coop from the winter winds from the west. All eaves are open for ventilation (covered in HWC), as well as both sides of the upper part of the coop (which can be covered), and a window that can be opened or closed. So, ventilation on all sides of the coop. We are getting electric installed inside the coop soon. Since I've lived in this region, it has gotten as low as -17F at night before....with some stretches of time never getting above 4F as daytime highs. Of course, it could get colder than that, but would not be the norm.
So, my winter plan is to have the water inside the coop for extra winter protection and to ensure that the chickens keep drinking water. Should I also provide water outside of the coop? What is the best way to keep a quantity of water in the coop - open container or nipples (I have horizontal nipples I can put on a 5 gallon bucket, for example). Currently, they drink out of open container outside of the coop, that sits on the ground, but they used nipple waterers as chicks until they were about 16 weeks old. Product types (of heaters or water set-ups) you can recommend? thx.
Feed: Dry layer feed is what they get, with the occasional treat of wet layer feed. They also get some scratch occasionally. They normally are fed outside, but do I need to move feed to inside the coop for the winter? Our run is getting a partial metal roof soon (structure is going up over the next couple of weeks), but they always have cover under the coop and access deck - and I normally place their feed under the coop and deck due to the shade and rain protection.
So, my winter plan is to have the water inside the coop for extra winter protection and to ensure that the chickens keep drinking water. Should I also provide water outside of the coop? What is the best way to keep a quantity of water in the coop - open container or nipples (I have horizontal nipples I can put on a 5 gallon bucket, for example). Currently, they drink out of open container outside of the coop, that sits on the ground, but they used nipple waterers as chicks until they were about 16 weeks old. Product types (of heaters or water set-ups) you can recommend? thx.
Feed: Dry layer feed is what they get, with the occasional treat of wet layer feed. They also get some scratch occasionally. They normally are fed outside, but do I need to move feed to inside the coop for the winter? Our run is getting a partial metal roof soon (structure is going up over the next couple of weeks), but they always have cover under the coop and access deck - and I normally place their feed under the coop and deck due to the shade and rain protection.