A couple questions about Winter...

[llombardo]

I have put tarps and plastic around the whole run, I made a door out of plastic to keep wind out of actual coop. I added two heated roost bars(have not put them on as of yet) but they are roosting on them.

The plastic/tarps around the run are extremely helpful, way less wind. They do go in and out of the coop during the day but the majority of the time is outside. We are in the 30s at night and in the mornings. They come right out and look for food.

I have a heated water bowl and a heated nipple waterer, not sure which one I will be using, but should I put it in the coop or outside? They have knocked down the regular waterer, so I hesitate to put the bowl for sure in there.

What does everyone do with the water? I also was reading another thread about shelter out in the run. I gave a couple pieces of wood leaning and I have rabbit hutches that they can stand in front of for wind protection purposes. The hutches are covered in plastic also. They also have an activity center that they stand under in the rain or to get shade, will that help with the wind? Should I attempt to make a couple sides for that(just leaning some wood to enclose the area more)?

Is the run being covered all the way around enough? The leaning wood enough? Is there anything else I should do?

First winter and I'm worried sick about them. So far they are still active and laying, not really phased by the cold.

 

[Folly's place]

Do you have a roof over your run? Chickens hate snow, so you will be shoveling it out or they will stay indoors a lot.
Plastic over the walls, leaving the upper six to 12 inches open for ventilation, will work very well. Blocking the wind is what you are trying to do, and still having light, sun, and ventilation.
I have heated metal bases with metal waterers in my coop during the winter, raised up to keep them out of the bedding (somewhat) and cleaner.
If you have cockerels or roosters with big single combs, they may have some frostbite. Otherwise, a protected dry environment is what they need.
Mary

 

[llombardo]

I do not have a roof over run--just net.

Can I use pet safe salt to melt snow or will they try to eat that? Shoveling will not be an option at all times because of my work schedule

I wasn't going to put plastic on the coop because I added plywood and I'm putting an electric fence around the actual coop. I left a couple decent areas for ventilation and I added 4windows(one that opens) to let sun in.

You can kind of see it here..I added a window on the top door and two windows on the lower left side, so they can see out or relax(sun will be on them)

 

[Folly's place]

Don't use a salt type product in there. That 'table' may work as a shelter in winter too, and shovel it when you can.
Make sure that your run top won't collapse in heavy snow either. Coop ventilation looks pretty good.
I do hate winter!
Mary

 

[llombardo]

A better picture of what I did and I added weather stripping to nest box area and the flap door on the bottom