I've been preparing for the cold snap by cleaning out my coops. For the last couple weeks I have been using deep litter because I can't hoe out the frozen bedding, but with the warmish (above freezing anyway) temps we had the last couple days I took the opportunity between snow storms to fully rake out the coops. I had too much moisture building up in the coops even with the vents wide open. I decided the danger of frostbite outweighed the negligible benefit of added heat from decomposition in the old bedding. So the coops are freshly cleaned, smelling beautiful and dry as a bone inside. The runs are shoveled out again. We're ready.
New England Winter- bring your worst!